"Everybody has an ongoing dialogue running in their head all day long. The dialog consists of all the things they are working on, all the things they are afraid of, all of the things that bother them, all the plans and machinations they are in the middle of, etc and wanders all over for hours or even days at a time.

"Meditation helps break out of that for a few seconds at a time so you can see it for what it all is. Nothing. At least, nothing you should waste hundreds of hours of your life obsessing on."

James Altucher recommends we practice meditating for 60 seconds several times a day.

I found the 60 second meditation in the spiritual part of Altucher's article on how to be lucky in four easy steps by working on physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual every day.

My favorite part of that article is the emotional:

1. Cut out anyone who's a drag. No exceptions. If there's someone who consistently brings you down, reevaluate whether s/he should really be a part of your life or if you can at least minimize contact.

2. Be completely honest with people. All the time. Strive not to be dishonest.

3. Don't do anything you don't want to do. Question your desires. Consider the long and short term. Have goals. And live in the moment while enjoying life. (And if you can figure out how to do all this *please* let me know !!!)

I'd soften those three bullet points, Adam. Altucher is a little more nuanced in his language and may be exaggerating for comic effect and clarity.

Truly following those three as written would be a very, very bad idea. Frankly, it would ruin the life of anyone not independently wealthy and even the rich would end up lonely, immature and unhappy.

Thanks Eric. Good point.

Any suggestions on how to soften these rules so they'd actually be practice-able?

Rough and quick and trying not to go all legalese:

1) If there's someone who consistently brings you down, question whether they should really be a part of your life or if you can at least minimize contact.

2) Strive not to be dishonest.

3) Question your desires. Consider the long and short term. Have goals. And live in the moment while enjoying life. (And if you can figure out how to do all this *please* let me know.)

Thank you Eric! I made those edits.

Rule 1: haters (or softened to critics) sometimes help you focus on what you should be doing better and help formulate your plans, strategies and actions better (more defensible).

Ironically reminds me of this quote:

Listen carefully to first criticisms of your work. Note just what it is about your work that the critics don't like-then cultivate it. That's the part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.

— Jean Cocteau

Ironically, both of those quotes remind me of this quote:

“The trouble with quotes on the internet is that it’s difficult to determine whether or not they are genuine”

- Abraham Lincoln

I see what you did there!

3 exercises to be more present: http://pandawhale.com/post/18988/3-exercises-to-be-more-present

I found the meditation link in a double hop from Altucher's article on how to deal with sudden wealth.

My favorite part of that article describes how a startup delays the health effect of stress on a person's body and then later can hit that person all at once:

Your body, in a high adrenalin situation, will postpone punishing you until the situation is over. But don’t think when the stress is over that your body will forget. It doesn’t. You must focus on health after achieving sudden wealth. Here is the key thing to remember. When you are mugged, your body goes into a fight or flight mode. Adrenaline shoots up. The same thing happens when you start a business. Only difference is: you are mugged every day and you sit immobile at your computer. So once that adrenaline calms down your body is going to do some very weird things. Unless you keep in good health.

Starting a company is like getting mugged every day.

Take care of your health.

It's a great practice. I need to do it more!

We need to do 60 second meditation every day, Lara! :)

tai chi!

Not to be confused with chai tea.

Zen Habits has an interesting piece on how to create a daily meditation habit in 2 minutes a day that I found useful for beginning to begin.

See also what happens to your brain when you meditate:

http://pandawhale.com/post/25964/what-happens-to-the-brain-when-you-meditate-and-how-it-benefits-you