Value Your Health - Body, Mind and Spirit

‎

"Health is the greatest possession.
Contentment is the greatest treasure.
Confidence is the greatest friend.
Non-being is the greatest joy."

                                                                          - Lao Tzu

Mindfully Making New Years Resolution

 



Generally speaking, these aspirational changes are quite helpful and healthy. They guide us to make substantive, meaningful change in our lives. 

We might decide to get in shape in order to feel better and (hopefully) be able to live longer to spend more time with our family. We might decide to get a new job in order to feel more satisfied at work.

Whatever the desired change and motivation, New Year's resolutions provide an opportunity to recognize important personal values and articulate related goals for fulfillment.


So, what does mindfulness have to offer?   

 Is an objective awareness of the present moment with its focus on acceptance applicable to the establishment and pursuit of life-changing actions?  Put simply, "no."

 Mindfulness with its emphasis on experiencing the present as it exists is not too keen on changing it. 

Unless one of your resolutions is to practice mindfulness or acceptance more regularly in 2010, then the emphasis on being present in the now won't help you realize your goals. 

Think about it: is mindfulness going to get you to go to the gym or line-up a series of job interviews?   Of course not. 

 However, some of the essential qualities of mindfulness can be helpful for you.

In his seminal book, Full Catastrophe Living, 
Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn outlined what he described as -

the "attitudinal foundations of mindfulness."

Non-judging

Patience

Beginner's Mind

Trust

Non-striving

Acceptance 

Letting Go






In addition, I would add "Non-identification" as another aspect of mindfulness.  

Taken together and applied sensitively to your resolutions, these qualities will help you approach your desired changes in ways that are sensitive, respectful, and supportive of change.



 
Non-judging

This perspective involves suspending our tendency to evaluate experiences.

However, if you've made a resolution for 2013, then it's too late: you've already made a judgment in deciding on something to change. Fortunately, we can adopt a non-judging approach to our resolutions subsequently. We can stop second-guessing our resolutions as good, bad, or "not enough," for example.


Patience

This one is probably obvious. Change typically doesn't happen overnight, and we need to be patient as we try to bring about something new in our lives. Intellectually, we understand this fact, but it's harder to appreciate through actual experience.


Beginner's Mind

This principle refers to the ability to experience the present moment as if it were existing for the very first time, which-of course-it is. You haven't been in this precise time and space until now. For the New Year, it means that these resolutions of ours are brand new. Even if they're something that we've made in the past, we've never had the opportunity to make them in 2013. Thus, we need to approach these resolutions with an attitude of freshness and curiosity. Whatever happened previously is over. All we have is our resolutions manifest in the here-and-now.


Trust

Trust refers to the ability to have faith in our intuitive wisdom as well as the present moment. For our resolutions, it means cultivating the ability to recognize that we'll know how to best approach them. Even if we don't know how to accomplish something, we can be confident in knowing when we don't know, and perhaps seeking some advice or guidance.


Non-striving

This one might seem a bit antithetical to having New Year's resolutions. Aren't they all about striving for something? Sure. However, we can embody our desire for change through gentle persistence as opposed to brute force. There's no need to push hard for realization of our resolutions when a simple nudge or light pressure will suffice.


Acceptance

Just as the present moment needs to be accepted as it exists, so does our relationship to whatever change we're trying to make. We are here, regardless of where we want to be. Telling ourselves that we need or should be someplace else (physically, emotionally, occupationally, etc.) provides little motivation. More often than not, we feel miserable and discouraged as we work towards change. For example, if you've lost one pound, you've lost one pound. This is true regardless of the fact that you want to lose 20 pounds or that it's Week #8 of your new diet and exercise regimen.


Letting Go

We need to abandon our desire for things to be different than how they are? Obviously, this is not relevant to resolutions in which we're actively trying to be different. However, sometimes we hold on to fantasies about our past or future, which make it more difficult to engage the present. For example, reminiscing about how athletic you were in high school is not likely to help you much in getting in shape now. So, we often need to let go of these remembrances and desires in order to better address what's happening for us now.


Non-identification

Mindfulness encourages us to recognize the present moment without becoming too wrapped-up in it personally.  Similarly, our self-worth is not dependent on whether or not we succeed or fail in realizing our New Year's Resolutions. If you abandon or forget your resolution, it's okay. You are not a better or worse person. And, if it truly troubles you, you can always try again in the next moment or even wait until next year.


Finally, it's important to recognize that your realization of your New Year's resolutions likely will not happen in an instant.

It's not as if you suddenly will lose 20 pounds or instantly land a job. Rather, it will take a series of successive moments as you work towards the change that you seek. Hmm...successive present moments? What can we do with those?

 Source:
The Mindful Gorilla

 http://themindfulgorilla.blogspot.ca/

Practice Mindfulness

Fully Present: The Book

MARC announces the publication of Fully Present, The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness by Susan L. Smalley, Ph.D., founder and director of MARC, and Diana Winston, Director of Mindfulness Education at MARC.

Fully Present brings together the cutting  edge science of mindfulness with clear explanations of how mindfulness  works and practices to make it part of your daily life.

Uploaded on Aug  3, 2010

Sue Smalley, PhD describes how when  you practice mindfulness you learn to relate to your thoughts and  feelings and bodily sensations differently.


Susan Smalley is a  Professor of Psychiatry, and the Founder and Director of the Mindful  Awareness Research Center (MARC) at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute  of Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

Fully Present introduces you to the science, art,  and practice of mindfulness:

Mindfulness—being in the present moment—  can be cultivated through
explicit practices, such as meditation, yoga, or t’ai chi, through
creativity or even by walking in nature.

All of these are various means of enhancing your awareness to be more
present in life. We coined the term “Mindful Awareness Practices,” or
MAPs, to refer to this general class of practices and to the mindfulness
practices we teach throughout the book and at UCLA. MAPs can be done by
anyone, regardless of age, background, or religion.

Each chapter of Fully Present offers a scientific and
experiential look at how mindfulness can shape your life, along with
practical exercises, alternating between what we call “The Science,”
“The Art,” and “The Practice.”


What the Research Says:


The research exploring mindfulness, although still relatively new, is
demonstrating that repeated practice can lead to changes in our lives,
including:

• Reducing stress
• Reducing chronic physical pain
• Boosting the body’s immune system to fight disease
• Coping with painful life events, such as the death of a loved one or major illness
• Dealing with negative emotions like anger, fear, and greed
• Increasing self-awareness to detect harmful reactive patterns of thought, feeling, and action
• Improving attention or concentration
• Enhancing positive emotions, including happiness and compassion
• Increasing interpersonal skills and relationships
• Reducing addictive behaviors, such as eating disorders, alcoholism, and smoking
• Enhancing performance, whether in work, sports, or academics
• Stimulating and releasing creativity
• Changing positively the actual structure of our brains

Link: http://www.fullypresentthebook.com/about





Category

Education


License

Standard YouTube License

Source:

Fully Present: The Book | UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center



 http://marc.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=60

Pictures of the Day at Smithonian

 

 

 

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A Spooky Tree on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Photo of the Day: October 31, 2012, Halloween
Bill Mcclung (Hendersonville, NC); Photographed October 2007, Mt. Mitchell, NC

 

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Have Fun. Make Money. Change the World.

 

“Smile, breathe, go slowly.”
Thich Nhat Hanh

 

“There is no charge for awesomeness, or attractiveness.”

Po ~ Kungfu Panda



Life flies by. And the older we get the faster it seems to go.

There never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done. Let alone squeek out a moment of peace for ourselves.

So with all of responsibilities and obligations is there something that can help us?

What can we do to not feel overwhelmed, overworked, or overtired?

Maybe it’s time for a different approach to life.


 

Source:
3 Keys To An Awesome Life From A Zen Master | Success For Life - Have Fun. Make Money. Change the World.

 Link:
http://ianpaulmarshall.com/3-keys-to-an-awesome-life-from-a-zen-master/

Quotes

Thoreau: "I had three chairs in my house: one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society."



Virtue is unfailingly the means to happiness because it is supremely rational, making it impossible to err in the choice of means. Aristotle

 "A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle." -Benjamin Franklin


 

"Achieving durable happiness as a way of being is a skill requiring sustained effort in training the mind..." -Matthieu Ricard ‪

 

"The most robust finding of positive psychology is that other people matter." -Chris Peterson 

 

Willpower is a muscle that gets tired over the course of the day, and improves with use. Build your willpower starting with small tasks. 

 "Happiness is a skill, a manner of being, but skills must be learned." -Matthieu Ricard

"Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power." ~Seneca


80% of Prozac Power is Placebo. Placebo is Latin for "I shall please"




Hedonist Philosopher Epicurus Was Right About Happiness (Mostly): "If a little is not enough for you, nothing is."

How to be Happy in 12 Simple Steps

By SONJA LYUBOMIRSKY



STEP 1 - Show gratitude 

(* There's a lot more to gratitude than saying "thank you." Emerging research shows that people who are consistently grateful are happier, more energetic and hopeful, more forgiving and less materialistic. Gratitude needs to be practised daily because it doesn't necessarily come naturally.)


STEP 2 - Cultivate Optimism


STEP 3 - Avoid overthinking and social comparison

(* Many of us believe that when we feel down we should try to focus inwardly to attain self-insight and find solutions to our problems. But numerous studies have shown that overthinking sustains or worsens sadness.)


STEP 4 - Practice kindness



STEP 5 - Nurture social relationships


STEP 6 - Develop coping skills


STEP 7 - Learn to forgive 

(* Forgiveness is not the same thing as reconciliation, pardoning or condoning. Nor is it a denial of your own hurt. Forgiveness is a shift in thinking and something that you do for yourself and not for the person who has harmed you. Research confirms that clinging to bitterness or hate harms you more than the object of your hatred. Forgiving people are less likely to be hostile, depressed, anxious or neurotic.


* Forgive yourself for past wrongs. Recognising that you too can be a transgressor will make you more empathetic to others. )


STEP 8 - Find more flow

(* "Flow" was a phrase coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1960s. It means you are totally immersed in what you are doing and unaware of yourself. Happy people have the capacity to enjoy their lives even when their material conditions are lacking and even when many of their goals have not been reached.)


STEP 9 - Savour the day



STEP 10 - Commit to your goals 

(* People who strive for something personally significant, whether it's learning a new craft or changing careers, are far happier than those who don't have strong dreams or aspirations. Working towards a goal is more important to wellbeing than its attainment.)


STEP 11 - Take care of your soul

 (* A growing body of psychological research suggests that religious people are happier, healthier and recover better after traumas than nonreligious people. ...

* Find the sacred in ordinary life ...)

STEP 12 - Take care of your body

"The How of Happiness" Sonja Lyubomirsky - TalkRational



Sonja Lyubomirsky

link: http://lyubomirsky.socialpsychology.org/

Robbie Burns: To A Mouse

 

 

TO A MOUSE

ON TURNING HER UP IN HER NEST WITH THE PLOUGH, NOVEMBER, 1785

by: Robert Burns (1759-1796)

I

 

EE, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,

Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty,

Wi' bickering brattle!

I was be laith to rin an' chase thee,

Wi' murd'ring pattle!

 

II

 

I'm truly sorry man's dominion

Has broken Nature's social union,

An' justifies that ill opinion

Which makes thee startle

At me, thy poor, earth-born companion

An' fellow-mortal!

 

III

 

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;

What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!

A daimen-icker in a thrave

'S a sma' request;

I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,

And never miss't!

 

IV

 

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!

Its silly wa's the win's are strewin!

An' naething, now, to big a new ane,

O' foggage green!

An' bleak December's winds ensuin,

Baith snell an' keen!

 

V

 

Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,

An' weary winter comin fast,

An' cozie here, beneath the blast,

Thou thought to dwell,

Till crash! the cruel coulter past

Out thro' thy cell.

 

VI

 

That wee bit heap o' leaves an stibble,

Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!

Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,

But house or hald,

To thole the winter's sleety dribble,

An' cranreuch cauld!

 

VII

 

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,

In proving foresight may be vain:

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men

Gang aft a-gley,

An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,

For promis'd joy!

 

VIII

 

Still thou art blest, compared wi' me!

The present only toucheth thee:

But och! I backward cast my e'e,

On prospects drear!

An' forward, tho' I cannot see,

I guess an' fear!

"To a Mouse" is reprinted from English Poems. Ed. Edward Chauncey Baldwin & Harry G. Paul. New York: American Book Company, 1908.

 Source:
 http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/to_a_mouse.html

  

 Robert Burns by Alexander Nasmyth
(By permission of the National Galleries of Scotland) 

WE NEED AN AUTHENTIC MEASURE OF WEALTH

 “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.”
- Mahatma Gandhi

The Mismeasure of Wealth | NationofChange
 

Anatha Duraiappah and Partha Dasgupta

Project Syndicate / Op-Ed

 "As a whole, humanity has achieved unparalleled prosperity; great strides are being made to reduce global poverty; and technological advances are revolutionizing our lives, stamping out diseases, and transforming communication.”

The Measure of Wealth

http://www.nationofchange.org/mismeasure-wealth-1333891185

Despite many successes in creating a more integrated and stable global economy, a new report by the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability 


 Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing

 recognizes the current global order’s failure, even inability, to implement the drastic changes needed for true “sustainability.”

The Panel’s report presents a vision for a “sustainable planet, just society, and growing economy,” as well as 56 policy recommendations for realizing that goal. It is arguably the most prominent international call for a radical redesign of the global economy ever issued.

But, for all of its rich content, Resilient People, Resilient Planet is short on concrete, practical solutions.

 Its most valuable short-term recommendation – the replacement of current development indicators (GDP or variants thereof) with more comprehensive, inclusive metrics for wealth – seems tacked on almost as an afterthought.

Without quick, decisive international action to prioritize sustainability over the status quo, the report risks suffering the fate of its 1987 predecessor, the pioneering Brundtland Report, which introduced the concept of sustainability, similarly called for a paradigm shift, and was then ignored.



Resilient People, Resilient Planet opens by paraphrasing Charles Dickens: the world today is 

“experiencing the best of times, and the worst of times.” 

As a whole, humanity has achieved unparalleled prosperity; great strides are being made to reduce global poverty; and technological advances are revolutionizing our lives, stamping out diseases, and transforming communication.

On the other hand, inequality remains stubbornly high, and is increasing in many countries.  

Short-term political and economic strategies are driving consumerism and debt, which, together with global population growth – set to reach nearly nine billion by 2040 – is subjecting the natural environment to growing stress. 

By 2030, notes the Panel, “the world will need at least 50% more food, 45% more energy, and 30% more water – all at a time when environmental limits are threatening supply.”

Despite significant advances in the past 25 years, humanity has failed to conserve resources, safeguard natural ecosystems, or otherwise ensure its own long-term viability.
Can a bureaucratic report – however powerful – create change?
Will the world now rally, unlike in 1987, to the Panel’s call to “transform the global economy”?
In fact, perhaps real action is born of crisis itself. As the Panel points out,it has never been clearer that

 we need a paradigm shift to achieve truly sustainable global development.

The 2010 Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress echoed the current consensus among social scientists that 

we are mismeasuring our lives by using  per capita GDP as a yardstick for progress. 

We need new indicators that tell us if we are destroying the productive base that supports our well-being.

...working to find these indicators for its “Inclusive Wealth Report” (IWR), which proposes an approach to sustainability based on natural, manufactured, human, and social capital. ...to provide a comprehensive analysis of the different components of wealth by country, their links to economic development and human well-being, and policies that are based on social management of these assets.

The first IWR, which focuses on 20 countries worldwide, will be officially launched at the upcoming Rio+20 Conference in Rio de Janeiro.

Preliminary findings will be presented during the Planet under Pressure Conference in London in late March.

The IWR represents a crucial first step in transforming the global economic paradigm, by ensuring that we have the correct information with which to assess our economic development and well-being – and to reassess our needs and goals. 

While it is not intended as a universal indicator for sustainability, it does offer a framework for dialogue with multiple constituencies from the environmental, social, and economic fields.

The situation is critical. 

As Resilient People, Resilient Planet aptly puts it, “tinkering around the margins” will no longer suffice – a warning to those counting on renewable-energy technologies and a green economy to solve our problems. 

The Panel has revived the call for a far-reaching change in the global economic system.

 

ABOUT Partha Dasgupta

Partha Dasgupta is Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. His most recent book is

"Human Well-Being and the Natural Environment".