Neurodharma

there are three pillars of Buddhist practice: virtue, wisdom—and concentration. Concentration stabilizes attention and brings it to a laser-like focus that fosters liberating insight.

Pick an area of your life such as work, or something more specific such as a project. Ask yourself these questions: Are my efforts aimed at what is truly beneficial for myself and others? Am I pursuing these aims skillfully? Can I be at peace with whatever happens?

The four wishes are for others and ourselves to be “safe, healthy, happy, and at ease.”

For a day, or even just an hour, use only wise speech (that is, well intended, true, beneficial, not harsh, timely, and—if possible—welcome).

The “mind,” as I mean it in this book, consists of the experiences and information that are represented by a nervous system.

The painful residues of events can get caught in the nets of emotional memory, but without context and perspective. The conscious mind may forget, but as Babette Rothschild wrote, the body remembers.

“May my practice serve others” or “For the sake of all beings, may I be awake in this life.”

resting in fullness is about developing a bone-deep sense of peacefulness, contentment, and love—no small thing in itself—which

Very simply, compassion is wishing that beings not suffer, and kindness is wishing that they be happy.