Loading practices
Loading practices
Every practice in the library, in one list. Narrow it by how long you have, who it is written for, and where you are right now.
Try a small dab of something cooling on the tip of your nose before a meal you expect to be tense. The cool spot gives your attention somewhere ordinary to sit.
Balm, a menthol stick, cold water on the wrists: the substance is not really the point. What helps is a mild, unusual sensation you can keep…
Clench your fist a few times, then open it a different way each time: fingers first, thumb last, slowly, all at once. The second half is the harder half, and it is the whole exercise.
Clenching runs itself. Opening on purpose takes a small piece of attention back from the automatic. It fits in a pocket, nobody at the table can see…
Watch your hands. A fist that has closed without you deciding to close it is often the earliest honest report you get that you are angry.
Being told to notice when you are getting angry rarely works, because noticing is the first thing anger takes away. One specific, checkable place is…
By the time you feel angry, your body has been at it for a few seconds already. Anything that starts with noticing is always starting from behind.
That is not a reason to give up on noticing. It is a reason to have something ready that does not need much noticing to begin. A rehearsed routine,…
Looking for a whole subject rather than a single practice? Start from the nine areas.
Deliberation has liberation sitting inside it. Cheap as wordplay, but it is the point: the space you take before you act is the freedom you have.
Cues like this earn their keep by being reachable when you are too hot to reason anything out. Tie it to something physical, so the hand position…