Chris Niebauer > Quotes

“when you become conscious of the interpreter, you are free to choose to no longer take its interpretations so seriously. In other words, when you realize that everyone's brain is constantly interpreting, in ways that are subjective and often inaccurate or completely incorrect, you might find yourself able to grasp this as “just my opinion” or “the way I see it” rather than “this is the way it is.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself—and there isn't one.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“Hope lies in a genuine embracing and nurturing of one's neurosis”
― Chris Niebauer Phd, The Neurotic's Guide to Avoiding Enlightenment: How the Left-Brain Plays Unending Games of Self-Improvement

“To live in a world of abstractions—based on language, concepts, beliefs, patterns, labels—is to live in a dream world rather than reality.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“it is the process of thinking that creates the self, rather than there being a self having any independent existence separate from thought. The self is more like a verb than a noun. To take it a step further, the implication is that without thought, the self does not, in fact, exist.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“It is the desire for peace of mind that is the biggest block to happiness and peace….in fact, it is the only block. Or as Alan put it so perfectly, “The reason you want to be better is the reason why you aren’t.” Do you still think you can be happy by trying to be happy?”
― Chris Niebauer, The Neurotic's Guide to Avoiding Enlightenment: How the Left-brain Plays Unending Games of Self-improvement

“I invite you to redirect awareness to the space between your hands, the space between you and the next person you see, the space between any objects in front of you now. There is so much space that there are infinite variations of this practice, and you don't have to leave Earth to experience it. One practice is to look outward into the night sky and focus on the space between things. There is something about space that slows the mind, since the mind has no way to understand it because it has no content and no container.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“the left brain also becomes so dependent on language that it mistakes the map of reality for reality itself.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“Biography is fiction, autobiography is hopelessly inventive” and “The self is a fiction invented by the brain.” You might also find yourself emphasizing this is “Just my opinion” or “The way I see it” rather than “This is the way it is” and this is enough. This small difference is enough to change how we live with each other and ourselves.”
― Chris Niebauer, The Neurotic's Guide to Avoiding Enlightenment: How the Left-brain Plays Unending Games of Self-improvement

“because many people are not conscious of the left-brain interpreter, they can't even consider that their thoughts are interpretations, but rather feel secure they are seeing things “as they really are.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“In one study, subjects listened to music while half of them tried as hard as they could to be happy.5 The half that tried to be happy were less happy than the group that just listened. Another study found that those who put a high value on happiness had more negative emotions.6 Of course, long ago the Buddha explained how desire leads to suffering; this seems to also hold even for the desire to be happy.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational
mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society
that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. —Albert Einstein”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“In your world, the unspoken has no existence. In mine the words and their contents have no being. . . . My world is real, while yours is made of dreams.” To live in a world of abstractions—based on language, concepts, beliefs, patterns, labels—is to live in a dream world rather than reality.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“it is also true that by constantly looking for patterns the left brain “complicates” what is perceived in a way that can be unnecessary and unhelpful.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“For one who has conquered the mind, the mind is
the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do
so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy. —Bhagavad Gita”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“A sense of freedom can emerge from the realization that you are under no obligation to be consistent.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“We are the only species that we know of that can believe in ourselves, lie to ourselves, convince ourselves, love or hate ourselves, accept ourselves, push and even pull ourselves.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“Rather than embrace reality as it is, the left brain is hopelessly addicted to storytelling and interpretations about reality, which provide a short-term hit of purpose and meaning but an inevitable crash of suffering. And most people never even know this cycle is going on.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“When you listen to someone speak, or when you speak yourself, bring some attention to the silent space between the sounds. Can you sense in the same way a figure is dependent on the background that sound is dependent on silence? Without silence, sound would have no meaning.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“Instead of being so identified with the “me” in our heads, we find ourselves noticing things like “that's my left-brain interpreter telling stories.” When the stories it creates don't evoke as strong a mental or emotional reaction, our suffering lessens as a result.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“Mistaking the voice in our head for a thing and labeling it “me” brings us into conflict with the neuropsychological evidence that shows there is no such thing. This mistake—this illusory sense of self—is the primary cause of our mental suffering. What's more, I contend that it blocks access to the eternal, expansive thread of universal consciousness that is always available to us.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“if you have a why, you can deal with any how.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“Perhaps the reason we can't find the self in the brain is because it isn't there.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“During a now famous lecture, the Eastern philosopher and spiritual teacher J. Krishnamurti asked the audience “Do you want to know what my secret is?” According to several accounts of this story, in a soft voice, he said, “I don't mind what happens.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“Our association of our true self with the constant voice in our head is an instance of mistaking the map (the voice) for the territory (who we really are).”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“there is greater activity in the right brain when subjects experienced the sensations of gratitude,”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“We are the only species that feels good when we are unhappy and anxious when nothing is wrong.”
― Chris Niebauer, The Neurotic's Guide to Avoiding Enlightenment: How the Left-brain Plays Unending Games of Self-improvement

“usually felt worse.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism

“our mind wanders about 50 percent of our waking day. So, not only do we spend half our lives not living in reality, but this tendency of our minds to wander makes us measurably less happy.6”
― Chris Niebauer, The No Self, No Problem Workbook: Exercises & Practices from Neuropsychology and Buddhism to Help You Lose Your Mind

“Marvin Minsky put it, “The mind is what the brain does.”
― Chris Niebauer, No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up to Buddhism