Seeds of life

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.