In the making of career unhappiness and misery, self perceptions can be your own worse enemy. The appraisal of your work, friends, and image dictates attitudes and expectations. Self evaluation is often used to inflate the ego instead of putting thoughts and actions in check. As a result, your self portrait become laced with inaccuracies. Let's make it clear that this is not an invitation for self loathing and deprecating behaviors. The point is to draw attention to the harms of an aggrandized sense of self on relationships, work product, and skills development. Some comments are drawn from His Holiness the Dalai Lama's The Art of Happiness at Work's Chapter 6: Self Understanding help explain the role of self understanding in your career.

HH Dalai Lama says the view of ourselves affects reactions to any given situation. The difference between a person that strongly clings to "I" and one with a balanced mind is stark. A balanced and realistic self image provides a way to identify weaknesses and strengthes. If the image of yourself is balanced then projects and tasks will neither be beneath or above self propagated standards. At the same time, a balanced self image begets a balanced attitude towards co-workers, bosses, and friends. When the self isn't clung to so tightly, there is more room to learn and grow because the mind is not restricted. Real self reflection can only occur with open minds and flexible attitudes. When evaluations are accurate then meaningful change can take place. In other words, spotting the wrong issue and reacting to it too extremely can set you back/push you in the wrong direction.

The body and mind are intimately tied with the principles of physics, which means, in some ways, we can easily learn how to harness its potential. Details into the relationship between the body, mind, and physics in a previous Practice post:  Stillness and Getting Started. If you still need some convincing in this area then read the previous post, otherwise proceed with the assumption that natural science applies to what makes up the physical and mental you. For the purposes of this post, the only rule necessary is Newton's First Law that says an object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain unless an external force is applied to it. Objects have a tendency to remain in their current states. Only with an outside force will the existing mode of being or attitude become something else.

Motion in the mind and body functions in similarly, where physical motion occurs when an object moves from point A to point B and mental motion happens when synapses fire in your brain. Find a concrete example by comparing a body in an inactive state, siting at a desk, and in an active state, running down the street. Then, observed the mind closely. Thoughts in the mind are easily attached and looped. In a state of worry, fear, or bliss, thoughts are likely to remain in that state. In a fight or bought of illness what types of thoughts flow through the mind. So we know through the natural science rules, meditation or yoga practices can only flourish with a little extra motivation. Some reasons to convince yourself 5 minutes is doable and easy:

This week's mindful media brights to light effects of street design on our sense of community and lifestyle, including friends, access to shared spaces, and overall satisfaction. The video is produced by Streetsfilms, a great resource on the built environment, active transportation, and community spaces, and related resource Streetsblog. So there is lots of reading and viewing materials if this video sparks one of your interests.

It is getting hot and closer to summer, which means more delicious tomatoes for our taste buds. Believe it or not, I disliked the taste and texture of tomatoes until three years ago. A large portion of culinary delights were unknown to me. I have no idea how my mind came to my tomato break through. My parents cook with tomatoes all the time and harvest homegrown organic tomatoes since I was young. I even heart ketchup. One of my favorite tomato recipes is Provencal Tomatoes and without the cheese is totally Paleo. Here, pictured are tomatoes in 3 different stages of preparation, from left to right: (left) completed with string mozzarella cheese, (middle) covered with mixture, and (right) cored with chopped garlic stuffed inside.