Diane Dreher's Blog

You CAN Make a Difference

2012-01-25T18:32:00.001-08:00

As we create with words, images, and ideas, we participate in a powerful pattern of transformation. When we release our creations to the world, we never know how far they will travel, how many souls they will reach.

In 1848, a young man spent a night in jail for refusing to pay a poll tax, protesting against slavery and the Mexican-American War. The next morning, a friend paid his tax and he was released. A small action, unremarkable, perhaps. Yet this action inspired Henry David Thoreau to write Civil Disobedience, which later inspired Mahatma Gandhi’s campaign of nonviolence, liberating India from colonial rule; Martin Luther King’s campaign of nonviolence that began liberating African Americans from oppression and segregation; and countless other acts of nonviolence, large and small, that continue to liberate the human spirit.

We are all connected in the intricate pattern of life. Never doubt that your call to create is part of a process of transformation in which our individual actions ripple out to change the world.

Lately, I’ve been inspired by people in the Occupy Movement, raising their voices against corporate greed, injustice, and economic inequality. Now Maxina Ventura of Occupy Berkeley, has found a creative way many of us can connect in support and solidarity. She founded the “knit-in for the sit-in,” inviting people to knit at the Berkeley farmers’ market and send hand-knit hats, mittens, and scarves to help Occupy members keep warm this winter. So far, I’ve knitted four hats which have been sent to Occupy Wall Street, Tahrir Square, and Fukushima, Japan. Knitting these hats has become a kind of spiritual exercise, affirming my personal connection with this courageous campaign for change.

Because we are all connected, everything we do makes a difference, continuously creating the world we know. How can you make a difference in your own creative life? Following your heart will show you how. Together, we can create new possibilities for our world—right here and right now.

For More Information about the “knit-in,” see http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.c om/2011/11/26/crafters-organize-knit-in-in-solidarity-with-occupy-berkeley/. If you’d like to knit warm items for the Occupy Movement, you may send them to Occupy Berkeley, c/o Maxina Ventura, 2399 E. 14^th St. No 24, San Leandro, CA 94577.

Follow Your Dream in 2012

2012-01-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

Despite our many challenges, the new year always brings a ray of light, a promise of new possibilities. This time last year, Alicia Forbrich left her secure job to follow her dream. In January, 2011, she opened opened the San Jose Learning Center in California's Silicon Valley, offering

: Alicia Forbrich

continuing education to working adults--helping them learn new skills, develop their creativity, and lead more balanced lives.

The child of a German father and Japanese mother, Alicia has always been fascinated by other cultures. After getting a degree in International Business from the University of San Francisco and an M.B.A. from San Jose State, she had a successful career with a company building international shipping containers. But she dreamed of starting a school.

Today, she says “I’m fortunate to be able to go for my dream." The San Jose Learning Center reflects her vision of a successful, creative life in the 21^st century, offering courses in 15 languages including Mandarin, Cantonese, Persian, Korean, Tagalog, Russian, Vietnamese, Arabic, ESL, and American Sign Language as well as Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, and French.

The curriculum helps promote a balanced life: languages to expand students’ international understanding, practical classes in business and computer skills, classes in the arts—writing, drawing, calligraphy—to promote creativity, and health and fitness classes—yoga, body toning, martial arts, and nutrition—to help students lead more balanced lives. “Most busy people don’t take the time to study what they need for their own health,” says Alicia. At Silicon Valley companies people spend all day sitting at their desks, sit in their cars to commute, never giving their bodies the exercise they need. Most students come to the Learning Center to learn a language for their work, with their tuition often paid by their companies. Health and fitness classes are scheduled before and after the language classes, so people can conveniently add them to their schedules. Since“a company can only be as strong as its owner,” Alicia works out every day. Running is her passion—“the only time I get pure silence,” time to organize her thoughts, answer her own questions, and get inspiration for the next step in her journey.

The Center’s classes are reasonably priced, seven weeks long, and small, giving personal attention to students. Classes are offered on weekday evenings and Saturdays, to accommodate schedules of working adults. The Center has ample parking and a break room with healthy snacks and wi-fi where people study and meet friends between classes, building community--another part of a balanced life. The Center also offers some free classes, such as Small Business 101, to help people start up their own small businesses, and Money Management, to help with personal finances.

“I’ve never worked so hard in my life,” says Alicia, “and I’ve never been happier.” While old job brought her money, security, and benefits, following her dream gives her a deep sense of purpose. She sees her school “making a difference every day,” she says, as students gain new knowledge, become more fit and confident, building the skills and courage they need to make a positive difference in the world. That’s Alicia’s dream.

Now it’s your turn. The year is new. What dream has been calling out to you? Take a deep breath and see yourself living your dream.

Now ask yourself, “What is one small step I can take to get started?” Take that step to make 2012 a bright new beginning-- right here and right now

For more information about the San Jose Learning Center, visit www.sanjoselearningcenter.com

490 West San Carlos St.
San Jose, CA 95110
(408) 722-1785

What CAN You Do?

2011-12-12T15:41:00.000-08:00

The problems that fill the news these days seem so vast, so overwhelming that they can make us feel powerless. We can spiral into endless rounds of rumination, so caught up in the problems that we cannot see our way to any solutions, an attitude that psychologist Martin Seligman has called “learned helplessness” (1991). Yet in order to move forward in our lives, to stay sane in what often seems an insane world, we have to believe that we can make a difference.

Actually, we are always making a difference. Our actions either reinforce or redefine the status quo. As Frances Moore Lappé has said, “the choice we have is not whether, but only how, we change the world.” She encourages us to find “entry points,” small openings where we can begin making a difference (2010, pp. 118, 184).

We can begin looking for entry points by asking “What CAN I do?” With all the news of the big banks refusing to make loans and refinance mortgages, this month I transferred my savings from a big bank to a community credit union because it lends to small businesses and gives mortgages to low-income citizens, reaching out to rebuild our economy.

Over Thanksgiving, I heard about the “knit-in for the sit-in,” a creative idea from Maxina Ventura of Occupy Berkeley, who invites knitters to affirm solidarity with the Occupy movement by making hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves to send to people camped out this winter. This week I knitted my first stocking cap for a brother or sister in the movement.

When we reach out in hope, we are never alone. On the wall of my study is a quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

In her new book, Ecomind, Lappé tells of a small group of citizens in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the air quality was so bad in the 1960s it made national headlines. In the 1980s, 50 citizens came together to search for solutions. By the 1990s, the smog was gone with greenhouse gases reduced by 29% by free electric buses, a new riverside walk had transformed the city, crime was down, and tourists were coming to see the new aquarium. Affirming creativity over the status quo, the citizens are now planning a zero-emissions industrial park and a green convention center (2011, p. 185; 2010, p. 123-24)

The next time you feel overwhelmed by national and global problems,
ask yourself, “What CAN I do?”
and begin to make a difference,
right here, right now.

References

Lappé, F. M. (2010). Getting a Grip2. Cambridge, MA: Small Planet Media.

Lappé, F. M. (2011). Ecomind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want. New York: Nation Books.

Seligman, M. E. P. (1991) Learned optimism. New York: Knopf.

For information about the “knit-in,” see http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/11/26/crafters-organize-knit-in-in-solidarity-with-occupy-berkeley/. Knitted and crocheted items may also be sent to Occupy Berkeley, c/o Maxina Ventura, 2399 E. 14^th St. No 24, San Leandro, CA 94577.

The Power of Water

2011-11-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

"Nothing on earth
Is more gentle and yielding than water
Yet nothing is stronger."

(Tao Te Ching 78 )

Water nurtures all life on earth. Falling from the sky to the ground as precipitation—rain or snow—it flows as surface water through rivers into lakes and oceans, or percolates deep into the earth through layers of sediment, becoming aquifers, vast underground lakes. With the sun’s heat, surface water evaporates, rising as vapor to form clouds, and the cycle begins again. There is always the same amount of water on earth. We drink the same water that the dinosaurs drank. The golden wheat fields of the American Midwest are irrigated by water from the Ogallala Aquifer, a massive underground lake that dates back to the Pleistocene era

Throughout its cycle, water takes many forms--from snowflakes, tiny lace mandallas from the sky, to shimmering icicles, to a summer’s day heavy with humidity, to the rapids of a roaring river.

Water can be beautiful or destructive. A few weeks ago, violent rain storms flooded El Salvador, washing out roads, trapping a group of students on a mountain top, destroying crops, leaving many people homeless and hungry. As the water cycle connects us all, so in the cycle of life, we are all connected. Many of us are reaching out to help, sending our thoughts and prayers and contributing what we can to Programa Velasco to help the disaster victims at http://programavelasco.org/diaster-relief-?lang=en

All contributions, large and small, are welcome.

The water cycle includes us all, and there’s a powerful parallel between water and the energies of our lives. Some energies are creative, life-sustaining; others, destructive streams of fear or greed. Each day, we contribute to the collective energy of the planet, the cycle of life within and around us.

Living creatively means becoming more mindful of our energies. Take a moment to ask yourself:
--Am I adding to the currents of fear flooding our planet?
--Or does my heart open in currents of compassion, loving kindness, to nurture and create?

Whatever challenges you are facing in your life,

Take a deep breath.
Breathe out fear.
Breathe in love.
Connect with the eternal cycle of life

Right here, right now.

References:
For the Tao quote, Dreher, D. (2000). The Tao of Inner Peace. New York: Penguin Putnam.

To contribute to disaster relief, http://programavelasco.org/diaster-relief-?lang=en

2011-11-04T16:15:00.000-07:00

Do you have a nagging inner voice that says you’re “not good enough,” lashing out critically whenever you make a mistake? If so, you’re not alone. When we fall short of our goals, we often sabotage ourselves with harsh self-criticism.

Most of us are kinder to the people around us than we are to ourselves. We give our friends kindness and support when they make a mistake but often blame ourselves when we’re in the same situation.

We treat ourselves this way because we’ve been sabotaged by competitive consumer values, internalized the critical voices of our parents, or grown up blaming ourselves for family patterns of alcoholism, neglect, or abuse. Haunted by a deep sense of unworthiness, we develop a pattern of harsh self-criticism that assaults us when we’re down, increasing our suffering and blocking our path to higher creativity.

University of Texas psychologist Kristin Neff, Ph.D., has found that we can stop this painful pattern with the power of self-compassion, a lesson drawn from thousands of years of Buddhist practice. As she explains in her new book, Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind, this means to “accept ourselves with an open heart, to treat ourselves with the same kindness, caring, and compassion we would show to a good friend.” Neff, the leading researcher in the field, has inspired over a thousand scientific studies that show how self-compassion helps overcome anxiety and depression and leads to better psychological and physical health, including emotional intelligence, happiness, wisdom, curiosity, optimism, autonomy, competence, social connections, life satisfaction, resilience, initiative, and the ability to learn, grow, and overcome challenges—qualities that nurture our creativity.

Self-compassion involves three steps.

Mindfulness. The next time you’re feeling down, instead of blowing things out of proportion, ask yourself, “What is this?” “What am I feeling?” Name your feelings to yourself—“I feel sad, scared, hurt, angry, confused.”
Common humanity. As the Buddha taught, suffering is common to all humanity. Tell yourself, “It’s OK. No one’s perfect. Everyone makes mistakes.”
Kindness to yourself. Then actively soothe yourself with kind words, even giving yourself a hug, as Neff suggests in her book, by crossing your arms over your chest and squeezing your upper arms, saying, “Poor dear, you’re really hurting right now.”

You can build self-compassion with this loving-kindness meditation.

Take a deep breath, close your eyes and visualize someone for whom you feel unconditional love—a loved one, a dear friend, even a beloved pet.
Say, “May you be filled with loving kindness. May you be well. May you be peaceful and at ease. May you be happy.”
Cross your arms over your chest and breathe deeply into your heart, saying for yourself: “May I be filled with loving kindness. May I be well. May I be peaceful and at ease. May I be happy.”
Then send loving kindness to other people you know, ending with a blessing for all beings: “May all beings be filled with loving kindness. May all be well. May all be peaceful and at ease. May all be happy.”

You can find out more about self-compassion, including more self-compassion exercises in Kristin Neff’s book and on her web site, http://www.self -compassion.org.

Seeds of possibilities

2011-10-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

The daily news mesmerizes us with messages of lack. There’s not enough—not enough energy reserves to meet our future needs, not enough food to feed the hungry, not enough jobs in the US economy or enough money in the federal budget for education, health care, environmental protection, Social Security, and Medicare, not to mention the arts. As concerned citizens, we may wonder what difference we can make when the problems are so vast. As creative artists we may think that there are not enough opportunities for us, or feel at a loss for ideas, wondering what to do next.

But these conclusions are based on the status quo, on what we know now, not what may be. My garden reminds me that we live in a world of dynamic growth, a world of possibilities. The bright red clusters of tomatoes in my garden, “Sweet 100’s,” offer silent testimony to the seeds of possibilities within and around us. During a single growing season, each Sweet 100 plant can bear over one hundred tomatoes. That’s a sign of abundance right there. But depending on the variety, a single tomato can contain from 16 to over 300 seeds, each of which could become a tomato plant. At this point we’re in the realm of higher mathematics. How many potential tomatoes exist within one tomato plant?

How many creative ideas exist within one human soul?

Never believe that there is not enough. As long as the vibrant forces of nature embrace this planet, as long as men and women can breathe and create, there will be new possibilities we haven’t even dreamed of.

Two keys to creativity are vision and faith. As thousands of potential tomatoes exist in one small seed, so the fruition of our creative work exists in the first flash of inspiration. As we open our hearts in faith, we can follow that inspiration to creative fulfillment.

Over 25 centuries ago, Lao Tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching:

A tree that reaches past your embrace
Grows from one small seed.
A structure over nine stories high
Begins with a handful of earth.
A journey of a thousand miles
Starts with a single step.

(Tao Te Ching 64 from The Tao of Inner Peace)

Take that step. Embrace your creativity, and open your heart to new possibilities right here, right now.

Diane

2011-09-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Our attitudes affect our creativity, health, and well-being. When researchers Erika Rosenberg and Paul Ekman studied the connection between angry facial expressions and myocardial ischemia, an abnormal cardiac response in heart disease patients, they found, as expected, that hostile “Type A” behavior is toxic to our hearts. But they also found something else--an equally strong connection between unhealthy cardiac reactions and phony smiles.

We pay a price for being too nice. A phony smile may fool others, but cannot fool our bodies. Rosenberg’s and Ekman’s research shows that pretense—repressing our frustrations beneath an acquiescent smile--puts us under excessive stress.

Real positive emotions, on the other hand, help us become healthier, happier, and more creative. As psychologist Barbara Fredrickson explains in her book, Positivity, love, joy, elevation, and gratitude strengthen our immune systems, making us physically healthier, while broadening our vision and building our resources. Positive emotions expand our perspective, helping us see more clearly, discover new possibilities, build connections with other people, who share ideas and insights, supporting us in our creative work. In order to truly flourish, Fredrickson says, we need at least a 3-to-1 ratio--three positive emotional experiences to one negative one each day. As she explains in Positivity, once we reach this point, we will experience greater energy, inspiration, and insight, opening us up to greater creative accomplishment and joy in life. To find out more about Dr. Fredrickson’s research check out her video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds_9Df6dK7c

You can track your own positivity ratio on her web site, https://www.positivityratio.com/

You can begin building greater positivity by:

Practicing mindfulness.
Meditating
Doing what you love
Pausing to give thanks
Playing
Reading inspiring books.
Laughing
Exercising
Being with people you love
Doing your creative work

Our greatest natural resources are our hearts and minds. You can begin making a positive difference in the world by strengthening your creativity, building your personal resources by embracing greater joy--right here, right now.

Staying Creative in Challenging Times: An Interview with Michelle Chappel

2011-09-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

All the news on the media these days seems to be bad news. Negativity clouds our creativity. To keep moving forward as creative artists, we have to keep our spirits up.

Michelle Chappel is a Billboard-winning singer-songwriter with a Princeton Ph.D. in psychology. She’s also a creativity consultant who teaches personal growth classes and conducts innovation workshops for Silicon Valley companies.

Drawing upon her psychology background, she offers songs of hope on her new CD, “Shake It Up,” available on her web site, http://www.michellechappel.com/. In a recent interview she shared a powerful key to maintaining our creative momentum.

The key is controlling attention.
When #@$% happens, or we’re surrounded by bad news, we can easily get stuck in the negative. We ruminate, going around and around in a downward spiral that drains our energy. But there is a way out. “Try to see the bigger picture of what’s going on,” says Michelle. Referring to classic research in cognitive psychology on the figure-ground effect, she calls this process “figure/grounding” it. As the classic illustration shows, we can see either the central vase or the two profiles as the figure. We have a choice.

“We always have a choice,” says Michelle, “no matter what is going on. There’s always a background. When I’m stuck in a negative thought, I figure/ground it–and something else comes into the foreground.” Shifting our attention gets us unstuck. We can revive our spirits and become re-energized by focusing on what is going well in our lives.

Try this for yourself the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed by bad news. Remember: you always have a choice. And as creative artists, it is our duty and destiny to keep our spirits up so we can participate in the ongoing creation of a new reality for ourselves and our world.

Where do creative ideas come from?

2011-08-12T18:42:00.000-07:00

I began asking this question in college while reading the English poets. Traherne, Blake, and Wordsworth found their inspiration looking back on childhood. Donne was inspired by love, Milton by a passionate commitment to his ideals. Shakespeare’s characters danced out of his imagination to grace the London stage.

But where did their creative ideas come from? As Shakespeare wrote in A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven,
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
(V.i. 12-17)
Over the years, from my own experience and that of others, I’ve found that creativity requires a clear channel, a sense of openness, and faith in the larger process.

Creativity can be blocked by ego. Whether we become too full of ourselves or surrender to incessant worry, inferiority and self-doubt, either way we focus solely on ourselves, leaving no room for creative insight.

Creativity can also be thwarted by distractions. As Coleridge was writing “Kubla Khan,” he was interrupted by a knock on the door from a person from Porlock. When he returned to his desk, his inspiration had fled. The poem remains unfinished, leaving only mysterious glimmers of “caverns measureless to man.”

Creativity can be cultivated by meditating, by reflecting on the patterns of nature, by taking time to embrace whatever brings you joy.

Creativity brings vision and the courage to pursue new possibilities. I grew up hearing John and Robert Kennedy say, “Most people look at things the way they are and ask ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were and say, ‘Why not?’”

Now, more than ever, our world needs creativity—yours and mine. To transcend today’s monumental challenges, we must each cultivate our creativity to offer new visions of possibility to this beautiful, troubled planet we call home.

What is one thing you can do to cultivate your creativity today?

Diane

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Trust the Process

2011-08-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I wrote a book, Inner Gardening: A Seasonal Path to Inner Peace.

Gardening has long been associated with spiritual practice. Medieval monasteries had their cloister gardens, green chapels of contemplation and renewal. Right now, I’m looking out my study window at my own garden, grateful for the sunlight-shadow patterns through the wisteria vines, the lemon and laurel trees, for what the poet Andrew Marvell called “a green thought in a green shade.”

Gardening teaches vital lessons: to be patient, to have faith in the eternal creative process. Years ago, my friend Pat, a gifted fiction writer, had a thriving garden on the balcony of her West Hollywood apartment–pots of herbs, lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions. But when she planted an avocado seed in a pot, she grew impatient.

Weeks went by. Nothing. One day in frustration she dug up the seed to see what was happening. Then she found that beneath the surface the seed had germinated; a young seedling was ready to emerge. An important lesson–she told me her impatience had killed the plant.

In writing, as in gardening, a lot goes on beneath the surface. Creativity takes time. We cannot rush the process. A few weeks ago, I planted Kentucky wonder beans and set up teepees of six-foot wooden poles. For days, nothing. Then one morning a few seedlings broke ground, raising their tiny heads, reaching for the sky. This week their delicate vines have begun climbing up the poles. Finding their way by their own intelligence, they grow higher each day, spiraling around and around, ever upward. In time they will flower and bear fruit, all part of the creative process that includes you and me, our writing and our lives.

A key to creativity is faith in the larger process. What seeds are you planting now? What dreams are you cultivating in this season of your life?

Declare Your Independence

2011-07-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

Picnics, fireworks, barbecues—most people celebrate the 4^th of July this way. But it’s an invitation to much more: the liberation of the human spirit.

I have a copy of the Declaration of Independence on the wall beside my desk. On July 4, 1776 something almost unbelievable happened. By signing this document, 56 courageous individuals pledged their "lives, [their] fortunes, and [their] sacred honour" to an ideal, a new vision of government, to something that had never been done before. Yet they were willing to hazard all they had to reach for this invisible ideal and make it a reality.

Freedom requires the vision and moral courage to follow our dreams. Today what would you like to declare your independence from? It can be personal or political--an unproductive habit, a limiting belief, incessant self-criticism, violence, injustice, or fear that is holding you back from your dreams.

Today, I invite you to embrace the invitation to declare your independence, to summon the courage to follow your dreams. For as we do so, we can bring new hope and light to the world.

Seeds of life

2011-06-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

This morning, tiny carrot and lettuce seedlings emerged in my garden. I'm always amazed when seeds suddenly spring to life--small miracles, affirmations of new life and new possibilities. What seeds are you planting in your life's garden this summer?

Yin and Yang

2011-04-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

I’ve been interested in Eastern philosophy for a long time—because the Western World too often traps us in the logical fallacy of the false dilemma, reducing the whole world of our experience into only two choices: either/or, right or wrong, all or nothing, us or them.

Such thinking violates us at a deep level, turning conflict into combat, leading us into war.

Taoism originated 26 centuries ago during the warring states period in ancient China, inspiring two philosophers with very different visions of order.
Confucius developed an elaborate series of li, rules, social etiquette, reverence for ancestors & tradition.
Lao Tzu, the Henry David Thoreau of ancient China, found a dynamic order in the cycles of nature, sunlight and shadow, mountain and valley, action and repose--yin and yang.

Yang is the active element, yin the contemplative. Both are essential--yin and yang: valley and mountain, night and day, listening and speaking, self and other.
To be healthy, we each need both in dynamic balance--and we all need such a balance now more than ever to move from our conflict-ridden, chaotic world into new patterns of peace.

Finding Open Spaces in Your Life

2011-02-11T00:11:00.000-08:00

Pushed and pulled by competing demands, rushing to catch up, juggling family needs and work expectations assaults us with chronic stress. Toxic to our systems, it literally making us sick. Research has linked toxic stress to increased risk for anxiety, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart attack, atherosclerosis, stroke, early dementia, and clinical depression. As Stanford University neurologist Robert Sapolsky realized researching baboons in Kenya and London scientist Michael Marmot learned studying British civil servants, it’s not so much the demands themselves, but the lack of personal control that breaks our systems down.

Buddhist teacher, musician, and high-tech entrepreneur Lewis Richmond offers a simple, subversive way to break through toxic stress.

In his book Work as a Spiritual Practice, Richmond tells of Christine, a nurse in a large urban hospital. Downsizing had increased her work load. She was always rushing down the halls from one patient’s room to the next. Richmond asked her to try a Buddhist practice, saying a mantram (or mantra), a short affirmation or spiritual phrase, while walking down the halls. By reclaiming that in-between time, Christine became less stressed, more caring with her patients, more at peace in her life.

This simple act of reclaiming the open spaces—finding margins in your days—can help you break the stress response as well.

Try this subversive practice. Instead of filling your mind with what you have to do, should have done, shouldn’t have done, find the open spaces in your days:
• When walking into work, to lunch, to a meeting—claim this time as your own.
• Take a deep breath and release it.
• Feel your body relax.
• Say a mantram or just look at something beautiful.
• Take another deep breath, release it, and feel new freedom in your life.

January 17, 2011

2011-01-17T18:08:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2011--a new year of challenge and change and, on Martin Luther King Day, a call to live more creatively. I just heard Dr. King's eloquent words on the radio, a reminder to live by our deepest values, to never stop living the dream.

The political climate in this country is polarized, dismissive of differences, riddled with fear and defensiveness. What we need now is the courage to listen with compassion to ourselves and one another. To create new patterns of peace, we must continue to dream, to reach out in hope, to open our hearts to a better tomorrow.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-23T15:15:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is a very old holiday, not only in this country but in many cultures. At this time of year people have traditionally paused to give thanks for the year's harvest.

As the sun shines golden through the bright autumn leaves, I, too, pause to give thanks for my friends, my family of choice, and the beauty of the natural world. Psychologists tell us that "the gratitude practice," the simple act of finding three things to be thankful for each day, can make us happier and healthier.

May you find health, happiness, and a deep sense of peace in this holiday season and may this spirit of peace go forth to heal this beautiful but troubled planet we call home.

Our Greatest Natural Resources

2010-08-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

Just posted this article about using our strengths on Ode Magazine's exchange site. We can each create greater joy in our lives and new possibilities for our world by using our strengths more each day.

Contemplative Practices in Action

2010-08-07T15:37:00.000-07:00

I'm excited about our new book, Contemplative Practices in Action, published with Tom Plante and my colleagues in Santa Clara's Spirituality and Health Institute. Featuring a foreword by Huston Smith, the book describes contemplative traditions from East and West--including Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Islamic approaches--offering history, current research, and step-by-step instructions for each. We have chapters on the 8-Point Program of Passage Meditation, Centering Prayer, Mindfulness Stress Management, Mantram Meditation, Energizing Meditation, Yoga, and Zen as well as discussions of how a regular contemplative practice can help people deal with job loss, stress, bereavement, chronic pain, psychological disorders, and the challenges of daily life.

Discernment

2010-06-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

Here we are on the edge of summer--with a chance to reflect before plunging into a new season.

Living with a the joy of vocation means living our deepest values. Vocation doesn't just happen; it requires ongoing discernment. You can begin by pausing whenever you've finished a task to ask whether you feel:
--a sense of accomplishment
--or just relief.

The answer can light your way to wiser choices and greater joy in life.

New Beginnings

2010-05-19T12:32:00.001-07:00

Yesterday on campus I met Juan Gonzalez, who's in the US Air Force, stationed in Colorado. He'll be retiring soon, and is reading Your Personal Renaissance, finishing his master's degree, and planning for the next season of life. I was heartened and inspired by our discussion. May we all embrace life's new seasons with joy, courage, and faith in new possibilities.

Today's challenging job market offers us an unexpected opportunity

2010-04-28T12:58:00.001-07:00

Check out
>my new OPED about hope for new graduates--picked up nationally.

The power of YES

2010-04-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

The news is filled with people saying "No"--to political opponents, health care and other government initiatives--seeing each other as enemies, degenerating into polarized camps. But what are we saying "yes" to? What are we creating?

Shouting "no," may bring a momentary rush of power but dwelling on negativity only undermines our collective future. To build a better tomorrow, we need to focus on the power of "yes."

I invite you to join me a spiritual exercise--whenever you hear complaints, put the power of Appreciative Inquiry to work by looking at what IS working and how to build on it. Don't be reactive; be creative--ask yourself what you'd like to see, then begin to make it happen.

Our greatest natural resources are our hearts and minds. When we use our energy to say "yes," we can create new possibilities for ourselves and our world.

Wisdom for turbulent times

2010-03-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

Amid all the poisonous rhetoric this week, I found a welcome voice of wisdom in Frances Moore Lappe's latest video and forthcoming book. To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, "most people look at things the way they are and ask 'Why?'" People with vision, like Lappe, see possibilities where others see problems, giving us the courage to build a better tomorrow.

2010-02-24T13:25:00.000-08:00

I'm excited about the new edition of Your Personal Renaissance in Spanish: Tu Renacimiento Personal, published by Ediciones Urano in Barcelona.

Muchas gracias, amigos, for this beautiful edition, available in summer 2010.

Enjoy the present moment

2010-02-17T15:16:00.000-08:00

What does the world look like through the eyes of a dog? My dachshund, Ginny, doesn't rush to get things done, doesn't worry about tomorrow, and has no problems with work/life balance. She naturally practices mindfulness and enjoys the present moment.

Focus on quality, not quantity

2010-02-17T15:13:00.000-08:00

Finding Time: How Corporations, Individuals, and Families Can Benefit from New Work Practices by Leslie A. Perlow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Subversive study! Perlow's research shows that most corporations rate their workers on quantity (time spent at work), not quality (productivity). When we focus on the task and block out interruptions, we can get a lot more done and enjoy a more balanced life.

View all my reviews >>

State of the Union: 1998 and 2010

2010-01-30T15:37:00.000-08:00

"For 209 years, it has been the president's duty to report to you on the state of the union. Because of the hard work and high purpose of the American people. . . we have more than fourteen million new jobs, the lowest unemployment in 24 years, the lowest core inflation in 30 years, incomes are rising, . . . crime has dropped for a record five years in a row, and the welfare rolls are at their lowest in 27 years. Our leadership in the world is unrivaled. Ladies and gentlemen, the state of our union is strong.For three decades, six presidents have come before you to warn of the damage deficits pose to our nation. Tonight, I come before you to announce that the federal deficit, once so incomprehensibly large that it has eleven zeros, will be simply zero. "

These were Democratic President Bill Clinton's words in 1998. Now, after 8 years of disastrous Republican policies under George W. Bush, our current president has inherited an enormous deficit, an illegal war, an economic crisis, and an epidemic of cynicism, distrust, and despair. As President Obama seeks to move America forward again, Republican extremists are trying to undermine him.

Let's stop this Republican war against the American people, encourage our elected officials to get back to the work of representing us, and give Barack Obama--and America--a chance to create a better future.

Insights for today from ancient China

2010-01-27T12:19:00.000-08:00

Taoism was developed over 25 centuries ago, around 530 BCE, during the warring states period in ancient China, a time of challenge and change much like our own. Lao Tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching, a book of 81 poems translated more than any book in the world except the Bible, offering principles especially relevant to us today. Lao Tzu and Confucius were contemporaries. Each came up with his own response to challenging times. Confucius emphasized ritual, obedience, and observation of social rules, while Lao Tzu studied nature, basing his philosophy upon the interrelatedness of all things, the patterns of energy within and around us.

Taoism has always appealed to creative thinkers, artists and innovators, such as Hegel, Dag Hammarskjold, Abraham Maslow, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Carl Rogers, who carried in his wallet this quote from the Tao:

With the best of leaders,
When the work is done,
The project completed,
The people all say
"We did it ourselves."
(Tao, 17)

In the spirit of Tao leadership, I'm delighted to link to a new blog that Rebecca has begun, meditating on Tao principles from my book, The Tao of Inner Peace.

Fascinating read

2010-01-22T12:05:00.000-08:00

In Search of Bill Clinton: A Psychological Biography by John Gartner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Carefully researched, beautifully written biography, fascinating psychological analysis of a complex personality and one of the most compelling leaders of our time.

Don't give up

2010-01-20T11:39:00.000-08:00

Disheartened and disappointed by the Massachusetts senate election, the conflict and confusion in our world, I draw strength from the example of Winston Churchill.

Don't give up in challenging times.
As great leaders have always realized, we overcome the darkness and disappointment around us by increasing the light within us. Our greatest natural resources are our hearts and minds.

What is your calling now?

2009-09-09T14:28:00.000-07:00

I was surprised to learn that my alumni presentation next Saturday on "Finding Your Calling in This Season of Life" has enrolled twice what we'd expected. Clearly, this "back to school" season beckons many of us to pursue new projects, new intentions. Studies have shown that people of all ages are happier and healthier when they pursue their own meaningful goals. And as citizens in a world of challenge and change, we are architects of our collective future. We have the power not only to change our lives but to create our country anew with the small choices we make each day.

What is your intention for this new season?
What do you feel really called to do?

Think of one small step you can take in that direction and begin moving forward.
As the Tao Te Ching reminds us:

"The journey of a thousand miles
Begins with a single step."

I wish you joy on the path.

What do I really value?

2009-06-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

Each day we hear of new economic crises as old paradigms of security crumble beneath us. Yet amid the debris of broken dreams, there's a chance to renew our dreams, to ask, "What do I really value?"

My favorite quote from Bobby Kennedy shines today with greater clarity than it did in 1968:

"The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play.

It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials.

It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile."

Address at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, March 18, 1968.

Discovery

2009-05-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you really played? My puppy, Ginny, insists on playing. All young animals play. It's how they learn, develop their brains, exercise their creativity.

There's a part of you that is forever young, forever in discovery. As a child, you followed your natural curiosity to explore your world, discovering what you were good at, what you loved to do. Beneath all the layers of adult responsibility, all the shoulds and obligations, there's still that young child within you, your source of energy, joy, and creativity.

In chapter 1 of Your Personal Renaissance, I ask readers to reflect on their childhood, to remember what they loved to do. You can do this by visualizing your child self, asking what you loved to do, and making a few notes to yourself.

Did you feel energized when you recalled what brought you joy in childhood? What gifts or talents did your young self demonstrate: a love of nature, courage, kindness, resourcefulness, interpersonal skills, a sense of adventure, teamwork, leadership, artistic talent, or something else?

Now choose one of your favorite gifts and find a way to use it in your life today. If you loved nature as a child, take a walk in a garden or park. If you loved playing team sports, begin an exercise practice or find a way to develop a sense of teamwork in your life. Studies have shown that when we use our gifts--our inner resources--we are happier, healthier, and more successful. Discovering your gifts is the first step on your journey to find your true calling.

You can find more ways to discover your gifts in Your Personal Renaissance, pages 20-37.

Beginning the journey

2009-05-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

As I was meditating this morning, the words of Rabbi Hillel echoed through my mind--

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am for myself alone, what am I?
If not now, when?"

Beginning your personal Renaissance involves a revolution in consciousness.
Living your true calling is a perfect synthesis of personal fulfillment and altruism. Instead of reacting to others' demands and expectations, you will reach deep within yourself, listen to your heart, and bring your own personal gifts forward. Living your calling means living more creatively, discovering a deep reservoir of inspiration. As you add new energy, joy, and meaning to your life, you will bring new possibilities to the world.