"One instant of total awareness is one instant of perfect freedom and enlightenment."-The Wisdom Deity, Manjusri
"All are architects of fate, working in these walls of time."-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"If one advances confidently in the directions of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet success unimagined in common hours."-Henry David Thoreau
"Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact."-William James
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Karma and Living Your Life in the Moment
Karma: Every cause has an effect, and every effect has a cause.
Every moment, you have the power to make new karma. According to the book, Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das, "The law of karma spells out very meticulously that everything has its implications; every thought, word, and deed has an effect."
Everything that we say, do or think will impact our lives. Each moment, you have the chance to change your future. When you change, your future changes as well. This is what karma is-you are in control of your destiny.
Be aware of each and every moment. Do not walk around like a zombie. Be alive and in each moment. No matter what you believe happens when we die, it is an inevitable fact that we are all going to face. I would rather live each moment fully, graciously, gratefully and harmoniously with all sentient beings and nature, and have no regrets when my time comes to pass from this world.
Every moment, you have the power to make new karma. According to the book, Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das, "The law of karma spells out very meticulously that everything has its implications; every thought, word, and deed has an effect."
Everything that we say, do or think will impact our lives. Each moment, you have the chance to change your future. When you change, your future changes as well. This is what karma is-you are in control of your destiny.
Be aware of each and every moment. Do not walk around like a zombie. Be alive and in each moment. No matter what you believe happens when we die, it is an inevitable fact that we are all going to face. I would rather live each moment fully, graciously, gratefully and harmoniously with all sentient beings and nature, and have no regrets when my time comes to pass from this world.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Women and Having Babies
I have a confession to make. I am a woman who does not want to have children. I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to bear a child. Not even holding other people's babies makes me want to have one of my own. I really don't even want to hold other people's babies for that matter, but I am not going to be rude.
And I am finding that there are other women out there who feel like I do. We are not heartless or cruel people. I am actually a very nice person. I give to charity, I care about the environment, I have a cat (I had two cats until December of last year) who I love with all of my heart and would do anything for, but I just don't want children.
I don't want the enormous responsibility of raising a child into a well-adjusted, decent human being. It is an enormous amount of responsibility that I know I am not equipped for. I feel like I can barely take care of myself sometimes. And I truly feel like it is the right decision for me. And I am tired of everyone assuming that just because I am a woman I should have children, that I should want to have children, that it is just the way it should be.
These days, a woman has a choice what she does with her body. Having children is a huge decision and a responsibilty that should not be taken lightly. It is not my right to have children. I should want to have children. I should be ready. All women should have this choice and make this choice. Children are not bargaining chips or pets or accessories or toys. They are small human beings that need to be nutured and loved and molded into big human beings. I am a woman, and I do not want to have children. I think it is the most selfless decision that I have ever made.
And I am finding that there are other women out there who feel like I do. We are not heartless or cruel people. I am actually a very nice person. I give to charity, I care about the environment, I have a cat (I had two cats until December of last year) who I love with all of my heart and would do anything for, but I just don't want children.
I don't want the enormous responsibility of raising a child into a well-adjusted, decent human being. It is an enormous amount of responsibility that I know I am not equipped for. I feel like I can barely take care of myself sometimes. And I truly feel like it is the right decision for me. And I am tired of everyone assuming that just because I am a woman I should have children, that I should want to have children, that it is just the way it should be.
These days, a woman has a choice what she does with her body. Having children is a huge decision and a responsibilty that should not be taken lightly. It is not my right to have children. I should want to have children. I should be ready. All women should have this choice and make this choice. Children are not bargaining chips or pets or accessories or toys. They are small human beings that need to be nutured and loved and molded into big human beings. I am a woman, and I do not want to have children. I think it is the most selfless decision that I have ever made.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Live Each Day With Childlike Wonder and Enthusiasm
I have really been contemplating how to live my life more harmoniously. How to maximize my happiness from moment to moment, day to day. I am reading a really good book now titled Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das. In his book, he gives some exercises that you can do to incorporate Dharma with your daily life. Dharma is truth, reality, the spiritual way, the path to enlightenment.
Breathe and smile. Relax. Take a moment to let go, and just be. Enjoy it.
Do standing meditation, while waiting in line for a movie or bus or train. Just stand there, breathe, and awaken.
Whenever you sit down or stand up, stop and appreciate a moment of change, of freedom.
Whenever you cross a threshold, go through a doorway, or enter a room, see it as entering a temple and do so reverently.
Walk barefoot in the grass or on a thick carpet and feel fully each sensation with your toes and soles.
Walk on the edge of a beach, where the water meets the sand, with your eyes closed, feeling your way along, totally vigilant and attentive.
Walk slowly upon crunchy snow or autumn leaves, attending to the crackle of each step.
Sing, chant or pray until you totally forget and lose yourself, then stop and drop into a moment of inexpressible isness, completely beyond concepts, stories, and strategies.
Experience simple, repetitive work like sewing, embroidering, or even washing dishes as meditation in action, focusing totally on the moment in hand and nothing else.
Try doing manual labor in a sacred manner, just doing what you are doing as if it is the ultimate divine service, for it is.
When eating, chew each mouthful fifty or one hundred times, getting the most out of the food as well as being further nourished by the richness of each moment.
Try chewing one single raisin for several minutes and experiencing everything you can about it.
Before speaking, notice what motivates your words.
Set a beeper on your watch or alarm clock to ring every hour on the hour, reminding you to wake up and appreciate the miracle of every moment. Call yourself by name and say, "Wake up!"
Recognize the Buddha-light shining in everyone and everything and treat others accordingly.
Enjoy the indescribable joy and peace of meditation.
Live your life. Find the things that make time stop for you. For me it is riding my bike, reading a good book, taking pictures. I am in the moment, living the moment.
Live your life with childlike innocence, wonder and enthusiasm. See the world for what it is-a big, beautiful, magical place full of mystery and promise.
There is one more thing I want to leave you with. There is this game I like to play called the elevator game. When you are standing at a bank of elevators waiting, see if you can guess which one is going to come. It is a good exercise of being in the moment and enjoying it. And I found out today from a woman I happened to be on an elevator with that her four year old son likes to play the elevator game and is uncannily good at it.
Breathe and smile. Relax. Take a moment to let go, and just be. Enjoy it.
Do standing meditation, while waiting in line for a movie or bus or train. Just stand there, breathe, and awaken.
Whenever you sit down or stand up, stop and appreciate a moment of change, of freedom.
Whenever you cross a threshold, go through a doorway, or enter a room, see it as entering a temple and do so reverently.
Walk barefoot in the grass or on a thick carpet and feel fully each sensation with your toes and soles.
Walk on the edge of a beach, where the water meets the sand, with your eyes closed, feeling your way along, totally vigilant and attentive.
Walk slowly upon crunchy snow or autumn leaves, attending to the crackle of each step.
Sing, chant or pray until you totally forget and lose yourself, then stop and drop into a moment of inexpressible isness, completely beyond concepts, stories, and strategies.
Experience simple, repetitive work like sewing, embroidering, or even washing dishes as meditation in action, focusing totally on the moment in hand and nothing else.
Try doing manual labor in a sacred manner, just doing what you are doing as if it is the ultimate divine service, for it is.
When eating, chew each mouthful fifty or one hundred times, getting the most out of the food as well as being further nourished by the richness of each moment.
Try chewing one single raisin for several minutes and experiencing everything you can about it.
Before speaking, notice what motivates your words.
Set a beeper on your watch or alarm clock to ring every hour on the hour, reminding you to wake up and appreciate the miracle of every moment. Call yourself by name and say, "Wake up!"
Recognize the Buddha-light shining in everyone and everything and treat others accordingly.
Enjoy the indescribable joy and peace of meditation.
Live your life. Find the things that make time stop for you. For me it is riding my bike, reading a good book, taking pictures. I am in the moment, living the moment.
Live your life with childlike innocence, wonder and enthusiasm. See the world for what it is-a big, beautiful, magical place full of mystery and promise.
There is one more thing I want to leave you with. There is this game I like to play called the elevator game. When you are standing at a bank of elevators waiting, see if you can guess which one is going to come. It is a good exercise of being in the moment and enjoying it. And I found out today from a woman I happened to be on an elevator with that her four year old son likes to play the elevator game and is uncannily good at it.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Inspiring Quotes
"Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it."-Ted Williams
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."-Eleanor Roosevelt.
"It takes a person who is wide awake to make his dreams come true."-Roger Ward Babson
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."-Eleanor Roosevelt.
"It takes a person who is wide awake to make his dreams come true."-Roger Ward Babson
Finding Inner Peace in a World Full of Turmoil
This was the title of a public talk that the Dalai Lama recently gave, and I was fortunate enough to get tickets to hear his words of wisdom. He would be the first to tell you that he is just an ordinary human being like you and me, but I assure you, he is much more than that.
In order to find peace and happiness in your life, you must learn to live with complete awareness of your mental state. And ultimately, you must always remember that we are all part of the same community (humanity) and no matter how much you feel like you have been wronged by someone, remember that we all desire the same thing from life-contentment. All sentient beings share the desire for a happy life. We must always remember this and not be controlled by our emotions. Anger, fear and jealousy keep you from achieving true inner peace.
In the end, we are responsible for our thoughts and emotions. You can only achieve inner peace by working through your negative emotions and cultivating the postive emotions of compassion, love and hope.
"When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher."-His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet
In order to find peace and happiness in your life, you must learn to live with complete awareness of your mental state. And ultimately, you must always remember that we are all part of the same community (humanity) and no matter how much you feel like you have been wronged by someone, remember that we all desire the same thing from life-contentment. All sentient beings share the desire for a happy life. We must always remember this and not be controlled by our emotions. Anger, fear and jealousy keep you from achieving true inner peace.
In the end, we are responsible for our thoughts and emotions. You can only achieve inner peace by working through your negative emotions and cultivating the postive emotions of compassion, love and hope.
"When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher."-His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Women and the Illusion of Equality
Equal Rights Amendment: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
Did you know that this was never ratified? It is not a Constitutional Amendment. It has only been ratified by 35 states. It still needs 3 more before it could become an Amendment. We do not have equal rights under the United States Constitution.
According to a recent blurb in the May 7, 2007 issue of Time Magazine, women with college degrees still only make on average 70% of what their male counterparts make. For doing the exact same job, women are paid 30% less than men. And the gap just widens over time. Louisiana has the largest disparity of 64%, while West Virginia has the smallest with 89%.
Let's put a dollar amount on that. Let's say a man makes $35,000 annually for being a Customer Service Representative. Well, a woman doing that exact same job will only be making $24,500 annually. Do you have any idea what that means over her lifetime? How much less money she has to invest? To save for retirement? What that means if she is the sole breadwinner for a family (ie. divorcee, widow, single mother)?
Look at all the nasty comments that people are making about Hillary Clinton. She is an intelligent, ambitious, strong woman who is perfectly capable of being the President of the United States. I think she is one of the most qualified people running for 2008. But she is reviled by so many people. Because she is a woman.
We claim to be so righteous in this country, telling other countries that they should want to be like us. But the truth is, we are not all equal in the United States either. If you are a woman, a minority or a homosexual, you are not equal. You have to obey all of the same laws and pay all of the same taxes, but you are not afforded all of the Constitutional rights. How is this fair?
Did you know that this was never ratified? It is not a Constitutional Amendment. It has only been ratified by 35 states. It still needs 3 more before it could become an Amendment. We do not have equal rights under the United States Constitution.
According to a recent blurb in the May 7, 2007 issue of Time Magazine, women with college degrees still only make on average 70% of what their male counterparts make. For doing the exact same job, women are paid 30% less than men. And the gap just widens over time. Louisiana has the largest disparity of 64%, while West Virginia has the smallest with 89%.
Let's put a dollar amount on that. Let's say a man makes $35,000 annually for being a Customer Service Representative. Well, a woman doing that exact same job will only be making $24,500 annually. Do you have any idea what that means over her lifetime? How much less money she has to invest? To save for retirement? What that means if she is the sole breadwinner for a family (ie. divorcee, widow, single mother)?
Look at all the nasty comments that people are making about Hillary Clinton. She is an intelligent, ambitious, strong woman who is perfectly capable of being the President of the United States. I think she is one of the most qualified people running for 2008. But she is reviled by so many people. Because she is a woman.
We claim to be so righteous in this country, telling other countries that they should want to be like us. But the truth is, we are not all equal in the United States either. If you are a woman, a minority or a homosexual, you are not equal. You have to obey all of the same laws and pay all of the same taxes, but you are not afforded all of the Constitutional rights. How is this fair?
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