Reddit reviews How to Meditate: A Guide to Self-Discovery

How To Meditate by Lawrence LeShan

Genuine HAPPINESS can be achieved by 5 simple daily behaviors.

1. Three doses of FELT gratitude upon waking.
   
   This can be simply writing down 3 different things you're thankful for, for those without emotional blocks. Or you can remember the time you felt most thankful and let yourself re-experience in the moment. Make sure you use real gratitude, not relief masquerading as gratitude.
   
   
2. One act of kindness.
   
   Kindness is characterized by gentleness, affection, and helpful results. Make sure you actually FEEL the affection. The emotional states flowing freely through your body, mind, and 'spirit' are the key.
   
   
3. Exercise.
   
   Half an hour of moving your meat. I suggest https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/
   
   
4. Meditation.
   
   I'll provide links to the book that helped me learn.
   
   http://product.half.ebay.com/How-to-Meditate-A-Guide-to-Self-Discovery-by-Lawrence-LeShan-1999-Paperback/214380&cpid=294921
   
   https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316880620/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1478190128&sr=8-4&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=how+to+meditate
   
   
5. At least 2 minutes of celebration of something good from the day before bed.
   
   Implies that you should make sure something good happens to you in the day. Then re-experience and appreciate those enlivening emotions before you go to sleep.
   
   The longest it should take to do this is 15 weeks. A whole semester, I know. But it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Start with one, solidify it, keep it up while you start the next, rinse and repeat. Or you could start them all now and be habitually crafting Happiness in 3 weeks!
   
   Happiness, like Love is a CONSTRUCT, not a simple emotional state.
   
   LOVE is: the exchange of exceptional results, through harmless methods, intensely charged with enlivening emotions, geared towards mutual growth.
   
   We can do it. The N's won't cause it ain't about them. Prosper. And leave them to their misery.

I found this book very helpful as well. I read it after going to sangha a few times. My next sitting, I found it much easier to focus, and it was much more peaceful.

You can't so much will yourself to stop thinking about something, but you can work to change how you react to these thoughts. Tell yourself to stop thinking about a pink elephant. What are you thinking about now?

I would suggest two things: get organized and practice meditation. There are so many different tools available these days for organizing your life. KeePass is an excellent tool for managing all your accounts and passwords. It uses encryption that's currently impossible to crack, and all you have to do is remember the master password. Use a service like Google Calendar to record all events and have it send email or text reminders. Write in a journal as often as possible to clear your head and organize your thoughts, then review that journal often so you can see those thoughts in a different light.

Meditating is an amazing tool for centering yourself and calming an overactive brain. How to Meditate is one of the better books on the subject. The Relaxation Response is excellent as well. It's a discipline that you practice and become better over time. It's just like riding a bike. Don't expect yourself to get it on the first try.

Overall, it's not so much your thoughts as it is your reaction to them. Mindfulness meditation will help you observe the thoughts as they occur and rather than getting caught up in them and experiencing all the fear, doubt, and worry, you'll recognize their irrational nature and allow them to pass on their way.

learn to meditate. I would recommend reading How to Meditate: A Guide to Self Discovery. Then after you understand the basics try ang find a good group on craigslist or something (just watchout for those 'guru' types, they're usually self-obsessed fakes).

and seriously, smoke some pot. If you're against smoking, vaporize it, eat it, whatever you need to get it in your system. It's magical for anxiety attacks and after regular use improves your mood all day (not just when high).

Pills suck, good luck.