Prayers strengthen the main practice. There are hundreds of prayers worldwide. Here are some:
God grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change, COURAGE to change the things I can, and WISDOM to know the difference. Thy will, not mine be done.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Four Protective Meditations: Buddhists have Four Protective Meditations which are much easier than the main practice of awareness + equanimity. These four meditations are: (a) Loving-kindness meditation, (b) Contemplation of Buddha, (c) Meditation on Foulness, and (d) Meditation on Death. We discuss a couple of these below.
Loving-kindness Meditation: The goal is to develop compassion for everybody, especially those who have harmed us. In Pali language, this meditation is called Mettā
Sit quietly with eyes closed, repeat each of the sentences below in your mind and develop the corresponding feelings. Spend a minute or so per sentence.
A couple of points to take away from the meditation above. It is easier to forgive others if we first forgive ourselves. In other words, cleansing ourselves of blame is easier if we first cleanse ourselves of guilt. Also, the phrase 'knowingly or unknowingly' is important: many times, others have hurt us and we have hurt others unknowingly!
The idea of wishing that everybody be at peace is universal. For example, the Arabic greeting 'Wa alaykumu as-salam' means 'May peace be upon you'. The Hebrew greeting Shalom aleichem also means 'Peace be upon you!'
Meditation on Death: A Buddhist book whose name I forget had the following idea: Every day, spend 5 minutes on the following two truths: 'My death is certain; the time of my death is uncertain.' Absorbing these two truths makes us mellow and relaxed. Different Buddhist schools teach different versions of this basic idea. Some versions involve imagining what happens to the body after death, step by step. While this may sound gross, it's a potent technique to help us realize the ephemerality of bodily existence and to come to terms with it (accept it).
All traditions have lists of dos and don'ts in terms of actions. Adherence to these precepts and commandments makes it easier to follow the main practice (acceptance, non-attachment, equanimity).
For example, Buddhism encourage us to stay away from 10 unwholesome actions (see Kammapatha): (a) destroying life, (b) taking what is not given, (c) wrong conduct in regard to sense pleasures, (d) false speech, (e) slanderous speech, (f) harsh speech, (g) idle chatter, (h) covetousness, (i) ill will, (j) wrong view. In Buddhism, having good moral conduct is called Sīla, which is essential to even get started with meditation.
Self care goes a long way in keeping ourselves calm and joyful!
In ordinary English, the word 'self' commonly denotes our body + our mind. Once the concept of 'nothingness' (see Who Am I?) is understood, it would be realized that we are merely a 'witness' (with the understanding that 'I am not the body; I am not the mind'). Irrespective of whether the 'witness' concept has been understood or not, it helps to take care of the body and the mind. Such 'self care' may be done as service to God by treating our body as a 'temple', a place of worship.
Food: A quote from Who Am I? by Ramana Maharshi:
Sattvic food is plan and simple food, consumed in moderation. In the modern world, a plant-based diet comes close to a sattvic diet.
Fasting: Is curative and calming. The article Benefits of Fasting (1977) by Paul Martin traces the history of fasting in various traditions. In USA, there is the True North Health Center in Santa Rosa, California. In this center, doctors conduct guided fasts for multiple days. Also see Fasting and Eating for Health (255 pages, 1998) by Joel Fuhrman.
Juice fasting: Recently, the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (97 min, 2010) started the 'juice fasting' revolution. In the documentary, Joe Cross, an Australian businessman did a 60-day juice fast to cure himself of a rare autoimmune disease. He was guided by Joel Fuhrman. Joe then set up the website Reboot With Joe to promote 'juice fasting'.
The traditional technique for fasting is 'water-only fasting'; the idea is to drink only water for successive days and rest at home. Juice fasting is a relatively new technique; it's not time tested. An advantage of juice fasting is that we can continue to do our daily activities like going to work. Also, medical doctors like Joel Fuhrman and Michael Klaper believe that there is sufficient medical evidence in favor of juice fasting that they recommend it.
For more information on juice fasting, see Juice Fasting for Calmness and Clarity.
Exercise: Exercise boosts calmness and joy. For example, it is well known that Exercise combats Depression. However, many people find it hard to exercise, so they gravitate towards depression medication instead.
Spark by John Ratey (304 pages, 2013) is a great book that cites research showing how exercise beats stress and lifts our mood.
In India, the best ways of keeping fit is through yoga and pranayama (breathing exercises). In fact, these are two pillars in the Ashtanga Yoga system. Both steps are part of a journey that take us towards the practice of acceptance, non-attachment and equanimity.
Our surroundings: Keeping our surroundings bright and clean boosts peace and joy. Our surroundings include our room, our homes, our workplace, our car, and so on. Keeping all of these clean may be done as service to God, as brought out beautifully in the lecture The Way of Love (62 mins, 2017) by Swami Sarvapriyananda. This lecture is an exposition of 'Bhakti Marga' (the 'Path of Love').
Part E: Positive Psychology lists ideas from modern psychology in detail. For example, Positive thinking, Opening Up, Thankfulness, Self Belief, Acts of Service, Social Connectedness, Forgiveness & Compassion, and Flow Activities. Employment of these ideas is helpful in practicing acceptance, non-attachment and equanimity.
Apart from techniques found in positive psychology books, it helps to address specific psychological challenges via therapy. For example, if we suffer from specific negative emotions like fear (PTSD, for example) or fear of attachment (see Attachment Theory) or anger or anxiety, the psychology community has developed a slew of therapeutic techniques for relieving us of these emotions. One of the well known techniques with wide applicability is CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).
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