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Archive for December 2011
Year of Dancing with Life – Week 12
December 27, 2011
Love, the Most Powerful Medicine
December 26, 2011Love is the way messengers from the mystery tell us things. — Nisargadatta Maharaj
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Inspiration of the Day:
For a brief time, hospice nurse Dean Nash is able to break down the barriers of sickness and the reality of dying through his 10-year-old Australian Shepherd, Stormy. Bringing Stormy into the Crossroads Hospice, Nash says, offers patients unconditional love — allowing them to temporarily forget about dying and instead focus on the delight of a “ball of fur and a wet nose” to lift their spirits.” She gives good love,” Nash says. In this three minute video Stormy shows just that.
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Be The Change:
Serve up some tender love and care to someone going through a tough time.
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Seven Tips for Fostering Generosity
December 25, 2011Kind hearts are the gardens. Kind thoughts are the roots. Kind words are the blossoms. Kind deeds are the fruits. — Kirpal Singh
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Tip of the Day:
“We all know gift giving is an essential, ritualized part of the holidays. But what about the rest of the year? There’s good reason to practice generosity even after you’ve greeted the New Year. As we’ve reported in the past, giving activates parts of the brain associated with pleasure and social connection; releases endorphins in the brain, producing a ‘helper’s high’; and provides many long-term health benefits. But we aren’t always as giving as we could be. Fortunately, we’ve published dozens of articles on how to foster generosity in children, institutions, society — and within ourselves. Here are seven top tips, culled from the Greater Good Science Center’s archives, for encouraging people to give all year round.”
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Be The Change:
Author Isabelle Allende shares a poignant short passage explaining her motto: “You only have what you give. It’s by spending yourself that you become rich.”
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Dalai Lama Quote from Snow Lion Publications
December 24, 2011
Dalai Lama Quote of the WeekGlobal Responsibility That individual ethics–or rather their absence–can have an impact on the lives of many is powerfully demonstrated by the global financial crisis that began in 2008, the repercussions of which are still being felt around the world. It revealed the way unbridled greed on the part of a few can adversely affect the lives of millions. So, just as in the wake of the 9/11 attacks we started to take the dangers of religious extremism and intolerance seriously, so too, in the wake of the financial crisis, should we take the dangers of greed and dishonesty seriously. When greed is seen as acceptable, even praiseworthy, there is clearly something wrong with our collective value system. In this age of globalization, the time has come for us to acknowledge that our lives are deeply interconnected and to recognize that our behavior has a global dimension. When we do so, we will see that our own interests are best served by what is in the best interests of the wider human community. By contrast, if we concentrate exclusively on our inner development and neglect the wider problems of the world, or if, having recognized these, we are apathetic about trying to solve them, then we have overlooked something fundamental. Apathy, in my view, is itself a form of selfishness. For our approach to ethics to be truly meaningful, we must of course care about the world. This is what I mean by the principle of global responsibility, which is a key part of my approach to secular ethics.(p.84) –from Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, trans. by Thupten Jinpa Langri Beyond Religion • This Week’s Featured Quote! |
4 Misconceptions About the Simple Life
December 24, 2011Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing. — Oscar Wilde
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Good News of the Day:
“It is important to recognize inaccurate stereotypes about the simple life because they make it seem impractical and ill suited for responding to increasingly critical breakdowns in world systems. Four misconceptions about the simple life are so common they deserve special attention. These are, equating simplicity with: poverty, rural living, living without beauty and economic stagnation. A central and exciting task for our times is consciously designing ourselves into a sustainable and meaningful future, from the personal level outwards. In envisioning what this future could look like, it is important to not be bound by old stereotypes and to instead see the realism and the beauty of simpler ways of living.” This inspiring article by ‘Voluntary Simplicity’ author Duane Elgin, shares further.
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Be The Change:
Make an effort to have a simple and beautiful holiday season.
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Kindness Daily: Marvin’s Prayer Book
December 23, 2011
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Video of the Week: The Good Life Parable
December 23, 2011
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A 13-yr-old Secret Santa
December 23, 2011Give like a small sun: touch the world with shafts of your light, bring smiles into bloom like flowers. — DailyGood Editors
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Good News of the Day:
For the second straight Christmas, a philanthropist from Utah’s Capitol Hill has been warming the hearts of the homeless and brightening the smiles of hundreds of their children. The benefactor works year-round raising money, networking with businesses, buying and wrapping gifts, and encouraging random residents to pitch in with presents the underprivileged kids otherwise would never see. Jocelyn Hanrath, an adopted girl too humble to take any credit, is 13. So how did it all start? Jocelyn and her mom got a call from Bonnie Peters, executive director of Family Support Center, saying her Sub-for-Santa collection could use diapers for a single mom with a baby. “Jocelyn said, ‘Babies don’t get diapers for Christmas, they get toys,'” Jocelyn’s mother remembers. “She said, ‘You go buy diapers, I’m buying toys. Kids know what kids need.'”
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Be The Change:
Click on ‘more’ and write a note supporting / encouraging Jocelyn in the “Add New Comment” section (we’ll make sure she sees it).
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Dharma Quote from Snow Lion Publications
December 23, 2011
Dharma Quote of the WeekSpeech that is not harmful is the meaning of “right speech.” It is wise speech. Wise people can still be quite firm and decisive when that is what is needed. It means finding generous and productive ways of saying things. There are times when we need to be strict, but we do not have to denigrate or harm the person or child who is out of line. Firm speech can also be wise speech. Wise speech is another tool that can be practiced. We can begin by practicing wise speech to ourselves–replacing the inner voice of guilt that is putting us down and opening a space to listen to our deeper needs. What can I say which will be helpful to someone? What tone of voice will I use? And when is it wise to say nothing? Imagine yourself actually saying something helpful and supportive. Imagine the difference it would make in your life if you could say just one helpful thing to one person. Imagine your life if your speech always came from wisdom.(p.136) –from Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from Addictive Patterns by Chonyi Taylor, published by Snow Lion Publications Enough! • Now at 5O% off! |
The Neuropsychology of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
December 22, 2011The true musician is to bring light into people’s hearts. — Bobby McFerrin
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Inspiration of the Day:
“In 1988, Bobby McFerrin wrote one of the most beloved anthems to happiness of all time. On September 24 that year, ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ became the first a cappella song to reach #1 on the Billboard Top 100 Chart. But more than a mere feel-good tune, the iconic song is brimming with neuroscience and psychology insights on happiness that McFerrin — whose fascinating musings on music and the brain you might recall from World Science Festival’s Notes & Neurons — embedded in its lyrics, whether consciously or not. To celebrate the anniversary of ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy,’ I unpack the verses to explore the neuropsychology wisdom they contain in the context of several studies that offer lab-tested validation for McFerrin’s intuitive insight.” Cultural curator Maria Popova shares more on the truth behind the tune.
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Be The Change:
Give the “Don’t worry, be happy” credo a chance today 🙂
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Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circle Montreal 