Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circle Montreal

Life where you’re always doing something you love is art. — Leo Babauta

~~~~ Tip of the Day: “For at least a couple of years, Zen Habits was one of the top productivity blogs, dispensing productivity tips for a nominal fee (your reading time). I’d like to think I helped people move closer to their dreams, but today I have different advice: Toss productivity advice out the window. Most of it is well-meaning, but the advice is wrong for a simple reason: it’s meant to squeeze the most productivity out of every day, instead of making your days better. Imagine instead of cranking out a lot of widgets, you made space for what’s important. Imagine that you worked slower instead of faster, and enjoyed your work. Imagine a world where people matter more than profits. If any of that appeals to you, let’s look at some traditional productivity advice, and see why we should just toss them out.” http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=169C85E:C3009629A010612C0F03BA8654209504B4B847859706E37D&

~~~~ Be The Change: Experiment with your own day: is there a balance between uber productivity and tossing productivity out?

**Share A Reflection** http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=169C85F:C3009629A010612C0F03BA8654209504B4B847859706E37D&

You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you. — Ruth Smeltzer

~~~~ Good News of the Day: What happens when someone who has spent much of his life on volunteerism and generosity keynotes an event for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs? “My instructions for the talk were: don’t be humble, talk about scale. I actually laughed out on the phone, when I heard that, only to realize that it wasn’t a joke. The other keynote was a billionaire, who had invented 33 medical devices and held 150 patents. And I was warned that this will be an audience of hyper-alpha-males. 🙂 I like entrepreneurs because they are always looking to broaden the pie. The best of them don’t hold a scarcity mindset but rather focus on creative expressions for creating new value in the world. […] Unfortunately, what was also run of the mill was a singular focus on money. Greed. People cheered when a speaker spoke about unethical behavior to get ahead, as if that was truly heroic.”
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=169C4D5:C3009629A010612C06DABEA33C20C9EBB4B847859706E37D&

~~~~ Be The Change: Today, do something for someone for which you can’t be repaid.

**Share A Reflection** http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=169C4D6:C3009629A010612C06DABEA33C20C9EBB4B847859706E37D&

Shine one corner of the world — just one corner. — Shunryu Suzuki

~~~~ Good News of the Day: Today is World Kindness Day, and we thought you’d enjoy this real-world story of spreading smiles. “‘Right on. This is my kind of protest,’ he says while going past me. I hadn’t thought of it way before. But perhaps it is a protest — for lack of smiles in the world. About 15 of us gathered earlier today to create poster boards that we would proudly hold up on busy street intersections of San Francisco. The posters would say simple things like ‘Smile’ or ‘Smile Anyway’ or ‘Spare a smile?’ or ‘Smile, it’s Free.’ We weren’t doing this as a part of any organization but rather as friends and well-meaning citizens of the world. After our morning creative sessions, we split up into teams of four and spread out over various intersections on San Francisco’s Van Ness Road.” http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=169C48D:C3009629A010612C0A4D9FB2A5024C2AB4B847859706E37D&

~~~~ Be The Change: For World Kindness Day, do your bit to shine your corner of the world. Ideas: http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=169C48E:C3009629A010612C0A4D9FB2A5024C2AB4B847859706E37D&

**Share A Reflection** http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=169C48F:C3009629A010612C0A4D9FB2A5024C2AB4B847859706E37D&

We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows. — Robert Frost

~~~~ Good News of the Day: One of the oldest, most widespread, and effective tools for creating personal and social change is the Circle. This organizational form is used for an array of purposes and appears under different names in a variety of contexts and cultures in countries around the world. In the United States, millions of people form self-organized literature circles, otherwise known as book clubs. In Japan, hundreds of companies like Toyota and Honda invite employees to join quality circles, a kind of self-managed work team. And in India, NGOs and banks regularly create lending circles to deliver financial services to the poor and to encourage community development. This article delves into the beneficial power of circles and how to leverage them. http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=169C3F5:C3009629A010612C55E36A61A4773C2AB4B847859706E37D&

~~~~ Be The Change: Take a moment to reflect on the circles you are a part of in your own life and their impact on you.

**Share A Reflection** http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=169C3F6:C3009629A010612C55E36A61A4773C2AB4B847859706E37D&

The secret to being wrong isn’t to avoid being wrong! The secret is being willing to be wrong. The secret is realizing that wrong isn’t fatal. — Seth Godin

~~~~ Tip of the Day: “The intricate mechanisms of the human mind are endlessly fascinating. We’ve previously explored various facets of how the mind works — from how we decide, to what makes us happy, to why music affects us so deeply — and today we’re turning to when it doesn’t: Here are five fantastic reads on why we err, what it means to be wrong, and how to make cognitive lemonade out of wrongness’s lemons.” Cultural curator Maria Popova shares further. http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=169C109:C3009629A010612C42F45D63F73720ECB4B847859706E37D&

~~~~ Be The Change: Make a conscious effort to be willing to be wrong.

**Share A Reflection** http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=169C10A:C3009629A010612C42F45D63F73720ECB4B847859706E37D&