Lektion 1
Introduction To The Four Mental Habits
Lesson one begins with a short meditation to connect with your intention for the class, and then lays a foundation for the 10-day class. You will learn why your brain is running on some outdated survival programs, and you will be introduced to the four mental habits we will be exploring.
We will also discuss some good news about how these mental habits can become your greatest allies, and why you don’t have to wait for your life circumstances to change to experience greater well-being. The groundwork will be laid to learn how to shift from surviving to thriving.
Lektion 2
Working With The False Alarm: Understanding Our Stress Response
In this lesson, you will learn about the mental habit of the “false alarm.” We will discuss the physiology of the stress response and why our habitual responses are not always so helpful in solving our modern-day challenges. You will have an opportunity to reflect on how the false alarm shows up in your life and gain insight that can help you begin to think about and pay attention to your stress signals in a new way.
Lektion 3
The Stuck Dial & Our Wandering Mind
In lesson three, we will explore our second mental habit called the “stuck dial.” You will gain insight into the nature of your wandering mind and I’ll share some examples of how this commonly shows up. We will also do a mini-experiment for you to observe your mind. You will gain greater insight into both the default setting of “automatic pilot” and the moments of presence that are possible.
Lektion 4
The Noisy Person In The Movie Theater & The Stories We Tell Ourselves
In lesson four, you will be introduced to “The Noisy Person in the Movie Theater” as our third mental habit. You will learn about how the mental narratives that we construct can affect us in ways we often don’t realize, and we will explore the problem of taking our thoughts and stories at face value.
You will have an opportunity to reflect on how the “noisy person” shows up in your life and be encouraged to become increasingly aware of your inner dialogues.
Lektion 5
The Velcro Problem & Our Negativity Traps
In this lesson, we explore the fourth of our mental habits called “the Velcro Problem.” You will learn about the negativity bias of your brain and why it’s easier to remember and hold onto negative experiences rather than positive ones. You will also gain insight into how the Velcro Problem shows up in your life so that you can begin to notice this mental habit in ways you may not have before.
Lektion 6
The Power Of The Flashlight To See Clearly
This lesson offers an introduction to using the tool of “the flashlight.” You will learn about the power of the flashlight (a metaphor for mindful awareness) to help you see clearly when any of the mental habits are arising. You will also learn how, when you are the one observing what is occurring in the light of the flashlight, it shifts your relationship to what is happening and creates possibilities that weren’t there before.
Lektion 7
Deepening Our Practice With The Flashlight
We begin this lesson by exploring how focusing on our breath can help us step out of automatic conditioning. A short meditation practice is offered using an anchor to notice the difference between being lost in thoughts, and noticing when you are lost in thoughts. We also work with another short exercise to help you further experience the power of the flashlight.
Lektion 8
Cultivating Caring Attention & Using The Tool Of The Diet
After reviewing the power of the flashlight to help us step out of our mental habits, we work with a short meditation practice to help cultivate feelings of compassion and caring attention in addition to the mindful awareness that we are deepening.
I then introduce the tool of “the diet” and you will have a chance to discover through a short exercise how powerful our thoughts and words can be. You will also learn about a diet that can help transform how you experience difficulties.
Lektion 9
Deeper Work With The Diet & Bringing The Magnifying Glass Into Our Day
Lesson nine gives you an opportunity to work more with the tool of the diet. You will gain further insight into how the narratives of our minds contribute to our suffering, and you will learn some powerful ways to loosen the grip of the unhelpful narratives and create more nourishing and accurate ones.
I then introduce the tool of the magnifying glass and we start to explore how this tool can help transform ordinary experiences.
Lektion 10
Working With The Magnifying Glass
In this last lesson, you will learn how the magnifying glass can help to face life’s challenges with greater resilience, and how the magnifying glass can help improve relationships by seeing the good in others. We also will work with two short meditation practices to experience the power of the magnifying glass.
The course will wrap up with a summary, circling back to where we began, and end with a poem to help remind you to use your tools.