NEURAL PATH THERAPY --- HOW TO CHANGE YOUR BRAIN'S RESPONSE TO ANGER, FEAR, PAIN & DESIRE by Matthew McKay and David Harp, 2005
1) STEP 1 --- THE POWER OF THE BREATH
2) STEP 2 --- THOUGHT WATCHING
3) STEP 3 --- COMPASSION
4) STEP 4 --- SOFTENING AROUND PAIN
5) STEP 5 --- WISE PATHS
6) STEP 6 --- BEYOND THE STEPS
Steps ONE and TWO are concerned with the "level of coping," of dealing with the issues of daily life by changing them, or changing our relationship to them. Steps THREE and FOUR are concerned with the "level of acceptance," of dealing with mental or physical pain through compassion and softening.
However, there are levels of coping that are "higher and deeper" than the first four. This chapter presents ways of bringing happiness and meaning into your life and then looks at ways of transcending your body, brain, and sense of SELF. These levels have been the subject of hundreds of thousands of books during the past.
[1] Happiness and meaning
The two words, "happiness" and "meaning," may not seem to go together. Yet, research studies increasingly indicate that the elements usually thought to increase happiness, such as winning the lottery, good health, sexual satisfaction, have little positive effect on a person's happiness. Instead, people who say that they find meaning in their lives, from their jobs, hobbies, or charitable endeavors, for example, tend to rate themselves as happier than those who don't have such positive experiences.
In fact, a growing number of articles indicate that doing altruistic acts --- as many as five a week --- makes people happier. The recent research on happiness also indicates that writing down a few things that make you happy each day can increase your level of happiness (p128)
(1) What you see is what you get
(2) Compassion in action
(3) Forgiveness
(4) Historic focus on what's not right
(5) Modern focus on what's not right
(6) Cultural focus on what's not right
(7) Existential pain
[2] What can be done?
(1) Vicious cycles, benevolent cycles
(2) The state of compassionate awareness
(3) Transcendent states
(4) Enhancing the experience of prayer
(4) Transcendence without religion
(5) The life of meaning and the meaning of life
[3] A few words of gratitude
www.neuralpaththerapy.com
TOTAL OUTLINE OF BOOK CONTENTS
Go to happy #1.1.2. Self-Liberation and Focus on Happiness and Satisfaction
Go to index: Interactive Index of Factual Ideas