Via Daily Dharma / Free Time vs. Freedom

Free time is of a different order than free-dom. Freedom, at least in the dharmic sense, depends on the quality of attention that we bring to our interactions. Only to the extent that we can be fully present in our relationships with ourselves, with our children, and with each other, are we free.

—Soren Gordhamer, "Finding What’s Right in Front of Us"

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - March 26, 2017

You learn not to act out your emotions, but just to appreciate and acknowledge them. That’s part of the way you can use them spiritually. You don’t deny them, you don’t push them down. You acknowledge that, “I’m angry,” but you don’t have to say, “Hey, I’m angry!” You acknowledge it; you don’t deny it. That’s the key.

So, the way you would use emotions in devotional practices is aiming them towards God. For the other kinds of emotional realms, you witness them and you sit with them, and you watch them change and come and go, and you don’t deny them, you allow them; because that’s part of your human condition.

When you talk about service, you’ll see that it awakens intense emotions, and you have to let your heart break. But you’ve cultivated another plane of reality, which is the one that notices and allows it. A quality of equanimity that lies with it.

Via Daily Dharma / The Importance of You

Dharma is what the Buddha taught. It is the way of understanding and love—how to understand, how to love, how to make understanding and love into real things.

—Thich Nhat Hanh, "The Three Gems"
 

Home(less) [Short Film] - Full Movie

FiveFilms4freedom 2017: In conversation with Jonny Ruff

Via Tiny Buddha / FB:

Via Daily Dharma / Facing Pain

You don’t have to be afraid of pain. If it’s going to be there, you can let it be there—but don’t let the mind be in pain with it.

—Upasika Kee Nanayon, "Tough Teachings to Ease the Mind"

Via Daily Dharam / The Value of Inexperience

Unlike a subject like, say, carpentry, where we learn from the experience of those who have gone before us, meditation is defined by spontaneity, by not knowing.

—Barry Evans, "The Myth of the Experienced Meditator"

Via FB: Dorothy Day

"No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless.
There is too much work to do.

~~ Dorothy Day (Catholic social activist)

Via Daily Dharma / Joining in a Common Effort:

We can be true to our own basic insight of what we see as true, but we can embrace other people, knowing that they also may have their truth too, and we try to find where we can join together in common effort.

—Alfred Bloom, "Beyond Religion"

Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom - March 22, 2017

 

It’s a very delicate task to interpret things like ego and fear because we tend to interpret from where we’re sitting, and we’ve developed these structures around it.

The root of fear is the feeling of separateness that can exist within oneself. The root of fear is within the model one has of oneself. That’s where fear starts. Once that feeling of separation exists, then you process everything from either inside or outside in terms of that model. Then it keeps reinforcing the feeling of vulnerability, because there are incredibly powerful forces moving both inside and outside of you.

The transformative process of spiritual work is reawakening to the innocence of going behind that model of separation that one has, that cuts you off, that made you a tiny little fragile somebody. A lot of the power comes from a freeing of our own fragility.

Via Daily Dharma / The Joy of Problems

People get stuck for decades with the same problems over and over. Focusing expands you. Then you live in more ways and have new problems. Somebody once asked me what I thought mental health was. I said, “New problems!”

—Eugene T. Gendlin, "Focusing"

Via Thinking People / FB: Ignorance

Via FB / Shared brilliance from an anonymous source:

"Why should coal miners pay for PBS"? This was an actual question asked by the Trump administration yesterday. Obviously a blatantly stupid question. We have questions too. Why should a poor black family in Detroit pay for the President to go golfing? Why should a single mother of 3 who's working 2 jobs in Louisiana be denied health-care so that the CEO of Aetna can get a tax-break? Why is the guy washing dishes in Baton Rouge paying for the President's wife's secret service protection so she can live comfortably in NYC? We could do this all day. But here's the real question the Trump administration and the Republicans who empower him need to answer: Do you have a heart? Did no one teach you to care about your neighbors? Do you know what "empathy" means? Did no one ever teach you to "share" when you were in kindergarten? Have you never heard the phrase "do unto others"? I can't think of a group of people who need to watch Sesame Street MORE than the Republican party. Perhaps they would learn some common decency." 

Not sure whose brilliance this is but I was instructed to copy and paste.

Via Daily Dharma / Reality Check

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.

—Philip K. Dick, "Drowning in Narcissism"

Via Daily Dharma / The Right Way to Cling:

The only permanence is the permanence that I cling to in my mind: my ideals of how to live; how to be happy; how to raise my children; how to furnish my home; how to better the world; how to fill my time.

—Judith Hertog, "Circling Lhasa"

Via FB: Adulting 101 and self-care

Recently, I've noticed an uptick in the number of people who are suffering from depression, anxiety, and stress. Many people are experiencing fear, anger, sadness, guilt, shame, and grief. Some of these negative feelings and emotions can be attributed to Trump, Republicans, and our geo-political situation. A variety of factors contribute to our mental health and it is important that we employ daily self-care. 

I'm not qualified to give anyone advice with respect to mental or emotional health and well-being. However, I do validate you as an individual, and I can empathize with your situation. 

To date, I'm angry (at Trump et al). I'm ashamed of my fellow countrymen. I'm anxious about the future, and I feel grief and sadness for what could've been. 

Here are some rudimentary coping mechanisms that I incorporate to keep myself sane, healthy, productive, and happy. We all know the benefits of the following and sometimes a reminder helps. 

You may or may not agree with my wellness philosophy, which is fine. Please share your wellness philosophy. 

Sleep - "Sleep plays an important role in your physical health. For example, sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke." - National Institute of Health. Naps are wonderful! 

Exercise - The Mayo Clinic reports that regular exercise combats diseases, controls weight, improves mood, boosts energy, better sleep, better sex... Health conditions can limit or inhibit exercise. (Talk to your medical health professional).

Stress Reduction - Mayo Clinic: Meditate, breathe deeply, be present in the here and now, slow down, reach out and talk to others, laugh, listen to music, exercise, enjoy nature and the environment, unplug, yoga, join a community, create ART, get a massage, take daily walks, journal... 

Eating well - "Eating vegetables provides health benefits – people who eat more vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet are likely to have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. 

Vegetables provide nutrients vital for health and maintenance of your body." US Government Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Balanced diet.

Alcohol & Tobacco - Be smart with the substances and chemicals that you put into your body. Moderation. 

Vitamins - I take a multivitamin daily. I see my doctor regularly and keep my vaccinations up to date.
Hydrate - I drink at least 1 gallon per day. 

Massage - Get a regular massage if this is possible.

Support - We all need a supportive community of family and or friends. I consider myself a life-long learner, and I'm always enrolled in courses continuing education. 

Professional help - if you find yourself suicidal or depressed, seek out help from medical professionals who are qualified to help you heal. If medical help is not possible, talk to someone.
Avoid the temporary diet-mentality - we must strive to do these thing for life. When we fall, and we will, get back in the saddle at your earliest convenience. 

What would you add or do differently?

So when you have a rough day, or when "He who's name shall not be mentioned" passes a new tweet... there is always: Psalm 109

Psalm 109

¹ My God, whom I praise,
    do not remain silent,
² for people who are wicked and deceitful
    have opened their mouths against me;
    they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
³ With words of hatred they surround me;
    they attack me without cause.
⁴ In return for my friendship they accuse me,
    but I am a man of prayer.
⁵ They repay me evil for good,
    and hatred for my friendship.

⁶ Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;
    let an accuser stand at his right hand.
⁷ When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
    and may his prayers condemn him.
⁸ May his days be few;
    may another take his place of leadership.
⁹ May his children be fatherless
    and his wife a widow.
¹⁰ May his children be wandering beggars;
    may they be driven^[a] from their ruined homes.
¹¹ May a creditor seize all he has;
    may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
¹² May no one extend kindness to him
    or take pity on his fatherless children.
¹³ May his descendants be cut off,
    their names blotted out from the next generation.
¹⁴ May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord;
    may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
¹⁵ May their sins always remain before the Lord,
    that he may blot out their name from the earth.

¹⁶ For he never thought of doing a kindness,
    but hounded to death the poor
    and the needy and the brokenhearted.
¹⁷ He loved to pronounce a curse—
    may it come back on him.
He found no pleasure in blessing—
    may it be far from him.
¹⁸ He wore cursing as his garment;
    it entered into his body like water,
    into his bones like oil.
¹⁹ May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
    like a belt tied forever around him.
²⁰ May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,
    to those who speak evil of me.

²¹ But you, Sovereign Lord,
    help me for your name’s sake;
    out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
²² For I am poor and needy,
    and my heart is wounded within me.
²³ I fade away like an evening shadow;
    I am shaken off like a locust.
²⁴ My knees give way from fasting;
    my body is thin and gaunt.
²⁵ I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
    when they see me, they shake their heads.

²⁶ Help me, Lord my God;
    save me according to your unfailing love.
²⁷ Let them know that it is your hand,
    that you, Lord, have done it.
²⁸ While they curse, may you bless;
    may those who attack me be put to shame,
    but may your servant rejoice.
²⁹ May my accusers be clothed with disgrace
    and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.

³⁰ With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
    in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.
³¹ For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
    to save their lives from those who would condemn them.

 

The question is, how do you awaken out of the illusion that you are separate?

The doorway out of that is through the heart. We say, “My heart goes out to you.” The heart keeps a doorway into the unitive nature of the universe, and it’s the love that flows through it. Love doesn’t know boundaries. The mind creates the boundary of separation between me and you. The heart just keeps embracing and opening out, so that when you open your heart you open into the universe to experience the preciousness, the grace, the sweetness, and the thick interconnectedness of it all.

It’s even more than interconnected. It’s all one thing, and it just keeps changing its flow and patterns, and you’re just a part of it.