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Mindfulness Matters

NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu said yesterday, “Not answering an email in 10 minutes used to mean you’re dead, but now 10 seconds is enough. After 10 minutes, they’ve already filed away your obituary.” We’ve come to the nanosecond availability of smart phones and social media. Where, then, is the silence?  We can find this silence…

Surgeon, author, and inspirational speaker, Sherwin Nuland discusses hope. He mentions that the Oxford English Dictionary lists 14 definitions of hope and none of them are particularly satisfying.  His remarks on hope are consistent with mine from yesterday and take a different angle to the “change of direction” that hope can represent.  He speaks of…

According the Random House Dictionary, hope is the feeling that what is desired is also possible; or that events may turn out for the best. These seem to be very different senses of the word. The first suggest confidence; the second, well, hopefulness. The first sense suggests agency; the second an abandonment of that very…

It’s Stress Reduction Sunday. Read my weekly post in the Connecticut Watchdog, This week’s entry, Sleep-Deprived Society: Getting A Better Sleep, Part 1 In last week’s entry, we touched on the dangers of sleep-deprivation. Today we’ll begin to focus on how to get a better night sleep. These practices are called “sleep hygiene.” They offer general and…

Mindfulness has been taught, practiced, and lived in medical settings for over 30 years now. Jon Kabat-Zinn started the revolution and now his students and colleagues Bob Stahl and Elisha Goldstein are taking the revolution to your living room. While Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is being taught in hundreds of centers worldwide, we haven’t had the do-it-your-self home…

One of the freshest voices in the community of Buddha, Noah Levine, provides a brief meditation tutorial. He eschews Buddhism in favor of Buddha and recommends a revolutionary path. He suggests that we: •• Defy the lies •• Serve the truth •• Beware of teachers •• Question everything He has authored two books, his memoir…

A British veterinary study reported in the New York Times finds that dogs who have separation anxiety can demonstrate what the researchers call “pessimism” — a more enduring state of negative emotion. We’ve known for a long time that dogs are capable of complex emotions. As mentioned in my entry from yesterday, Martin Seligman pioneered…

Martin Seligman is one of the biggest names in the field of psychology. He did the original research ont he concept of learned helplessness and has now helped to found the field of positive psychology with concepts like learned optimism. He, and the field, have come full circle from a view of humanity that has…

A recent Tricycle Daily Dharma (click here to receive these daily emails with brief excerpts of writing from Tricycle Magazine) the great Thai teacher Ajahn Chah gave the metaphor of plowing your own field.  When people genuinely meet the dharma, they realize it directly within themselves. So the Buddha said that he is merely the…

It’s Stress Reduction Sunday. Read my weekly post in the Connecticut Watchdog, This week’s entry, Sleep-Deprived Society :: The Critical Importance for Sleep in Managing Stress In previous entries we’ve explored the nature of stress and how paying attention to the present moment through mindfulness can be an effective antidote to stress. Today we’ll begin to…
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