Summary of Douglas Harding's Head Off Stress

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The secret of the stress-free life is the simplest of all experiences: simple to point out, simple to get, simple to share, and simple to renew. You must observe three rules: The first is that you carry out the tests. If you just read about them, nothing will happen and you will be wasting your time. The second is that you go by what you find.

#2 Everything on Earth is stressed. If you were no thing, you would be stress-free. Conversely, if you were all things, you would be stress-free. And if by great good luck you were both no thing and all things, you would be stress-free.

#3 Your appearance to others is that you are solid, opaque, colored, and shaped. But when you look at yourself from a distance, you see that you are actually a blob in the landscape. This is the most accurate view of you.

#4 You are the perfect union of stress-free exclusiveness and stress-free inclusiveness. You can see that there is nothing inside you, and that you have nothing of your own to be stressed about.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822514003

IRB Media

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Insights on Douglas Harding's Head Off Stress

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The secret of the stress-free life is the simplest of all experiences: simple to point out, simple to get, simple to share, and simple to renew. You must observe three rules: The first is that you carry out the tests. If you just read about them, nothing will happen and you will be wasting your time. The second is that you go by what you find.

#2

Everything on Earth is stressed. If you were no thing, you would be stress-free. Conversely, if you were all things, you would be stress-free. And if by great good luck you were both no thing and all things, you would be stress-free.

#3

Your appearance to others is that you are solid, opaque, colored, and shaped. But when you look at yourself from a distance, you see that you are actually a blob in the landscape. This is the most accurate view of you.

#4

You are the perfect union of stress-free exclusiveness and stress-free inclusiveness. You can see that there is nothing inside you, and that you have nothing of your own to be stressed about.

#5

When you are not stressed by the stress in your hand, you can’t help but be different from all that. You are essentially free from all the ills that things are subject to. Just notice where the absence of stress is: in yourself, as the no-thing that is taking in those things.

#6

The first case is of a Frenchman who, because he thinks of himself as such, is awkward and ridiculous. He is not a real person but a living lie. The second is of a Canadian girl who, because she views herself as no-thing, is beautifully at ease. The third is of an American who, by realizing his unstressable no-thingness, becomes one of the more admirable presidents of the United States.

#7

Stress is the result of keeping your distance from your problems. When you go up to them, they disappear like a mirage. The initial step in your first-aid treatment for stress is to locate an area of stress, however slight.

#8

All stress and negative emotions thrive on avoidance and distance. You must go deeply into them and find out what happens when they are not there, but here.

#9

The first-aid treatment for stress is the same as the basic and long-term treatment: ceasing to overlook the stress-free center. It is a way to reinforce the long-term treatment. By welcoming stressful situations as warnings to get back to your stress-free Home, you can build this positive association between your stress and the unstressable core of you.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

Everyone has unwanted muscular tensions from time to time. These tend to be very noticeable in your neck and face, and especially around your eyes. They are bad for you.

#2

The Third Eye is an ancient and much-desired experience, better known in the East than the West. It is situated between the eyes and slightly above them. Many believe that