“I’ve always envied people who sleep easily,” one insomniac wrote. “Their brains must be cleaner, the floorboards of their skull well-swept, and all the little monsters closed up in a steamer truck at the foot of their bed.” People can have trouble sleeping for lots of … [Read more...] about Taming the “Little Monsters” of Insomnia
Search Results for: inner freedom
Deliverance from Low-Level Anxiety
Many people suffer from low-level anxiety, which produces, as one sufferer said, “a frequent feeling of dread, a sense that I’m not up to the challenges that face me, a fear that I won’t make it, that everything will crumble.” I had this distress and tension in my mind and … [Read more...] about Deliverance from Low-Level Anxiety
Enjoy the Quality of Your Consciousness
Why don’t we feel more simple pleasure from being alive and conscious in a fascinating world? That has to be one of life’s great enigmas. We can feel pleasure easily enough when we’re stimulated by art, literature, movies, sports events, relationships, sex, food, alcohol, and … [Read more...] about Enjoy the Quality of Your Consciousness
Overcoming Incompetence and Its Miseries
One way to be happy (or happier) is to operate in the workplace at a higher level of competence and effectiveness. Performing at our best is a great source of pleasure. Performing at our worst is, well, just ask Dilbert. The comic strip featuring that forlorn character and … [Read more...] about Overcoming Incompetence and Its Miseries
Terrorism and the Death Drive
The front page of today’s The New York Times has a photo of the aftermath of a suicide bomber’s horrific attack on a group of Afghan Shiites who were taking part in a religious ceremony. Human perversity sometimes seems unfathomable, but we must keep trying to make sense of … [Read more...] about Terrorism and the Death Drive