A Healthy Mind

Today quote seems a perfect fit for our times. You might want to read further.

Alain de Botton on the qualities of a healthy mind . . .
“How to cultivate a mind that faces the gauntlet of living without making of it a hell is what Alain de Botton, philosopher of poetic pragmatism, explores in A Therapeutic Journey: Lessons from The School of Life . . .

de Botton writes:
“A mind in a healthy state is, in the background, continually performing a near-miraculous set of maneuvers that underpin our moods of clear-sightedness and purpose. . . . A healthy mind is an editing mind, an organ that manages to sieve, from thousands of stray dramatic, disconcerting, or horrifying thoughts those particular ideas and sensations that actively need to be entertained in order for us to direct our lives effectively.”
“A mind at its best, de Botton argues, is equally capable of self-compassion and of what Iris Murdoch so wonderfully termed unselfing. He writes: “ A well-functioning mind recognizes the futility and cruelty of constantly finding fault with its own nature. . . . [it] can quieten its own buzzing preoccupations in order at times, to focus on the world beyond itself.”

A Therapeutic Journey by Alain de Botton

      Undergirding his formulation of a healthy mind is the intimation that cynicism is the unhealthiest of mindsets and the surest pathway to despair:

“A healthy mind knows how to hope: it identifies and then hangs on tenaciously to a few reasons to keep going. Grounds for despair, anger and sadness are, of course, all around. But the healthy mind knows how to bracket negativity in the name of endurance. It clings to evidence of what is still good and kind. It remembers to appreciate; it can—despite everything—still look forward to a hot bath some dried fruit or dark chocolate, a chat with a friend or a satisfying day of work. It refuses to let itself be silenced by all the many sensible arguments in favor of rage and despondency.”

     <em> [The above is from – newsletter@brainpickings.org - October 29, 2023]</em>

           Thank You for reading, JoAnnLordahl.com    

[My apologies: Reading, Writing currently consumes most of my dwindling energy.]

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