Some people don’t realize they are biological robots, Deepak Chopra says, but they are.
“They are machines. There is no difference between you and your computer,” the award-winning author and physician told Business Insider this week while promoting the new documentary he’s in, “Mindfulness: Be Happy Now.”
To combat this, people can practice mindfulness, or the art of being present. It’s practiced by a number of successful people, including Oprah, Anderson Cooper, and actress Sharon Stone.
Chopra says that mindfulness is a “conscious, unattached, nonjudgemental awareness” that is useful to bring “clarity to mind and more insight and intuition and creativity” into one’s life.
He offered us some tips for those who are interested in mindfulness and how it might help their lives and careers:
- Stop and ask yourself if you are aware: “Stopping and asking yourself questions about if you are aware and what you are aware of will bring you to the present moment. That’s what awareness is. It has no location or sense of time; it’s a state of being,” he explained.
- Close your eyes and focus on your body and how it is functioning.
- Concentrate on your breathing for five minutes.
- Before you react to anything, observe your reaction and ask yourself why you are reacting that way.
“People have to be interested [in mindfulness],” he said.
“You can show them the tools, but it’s up to them to use the tools and have a more fulfilling life.”
And for those who say that the concept is easier said than done, Chopra has this simple piece of advice: Be aware.
“Once you become aware, it’s easy. If you are not, of course it’s difficult,” he said. “You first have to practice being aware.”
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