Thinks I find along the way
Philosopher Peter Singer and philanthropist Julia Wise talk with Buddhist monk and author Matthieu Ricard about why altruism leads to innumerable benefits—not only for ourselves and our loved ones, but for all beings.
Go to the source: Put Your Compassion into Action – Lion’s Roar
If you have any lingering goals you want to accomplish this year, now is a great time to renew your focus on them. The last few months of the year are prime to buckle down on them, end on a high note, and start off next year strong. Since you only have a few months left, you may need to adjust your goals to be a bit more realistic given the time you have. For example, instead of redoing your whole budget or trying to meet a huge savings goal, you could opt for an end of the year financial tune-up. Instead of trying to lose 20 pounds, adjust to hitting the gym twice a week for the rest of the year. Making an effort to wrap up side projects or jump back into personal goals ends your year on a productive note and gives you a fresh start to the new year. You’ll have a clean slate to set new goals, continue habits you built at the end of this year, or start new projects.
Go to the source for more: Use the End of the Year to Focus on Wrapping Up Your Goals
Have you ever wondered what the last place to be discovered was?
Letting go is about freeing yourself of everything that’s not real and authentic. Letting go is about finding the inner courage to say no to your fears, doubts and limitations. Letting go is about embracing all that life created you to be and allowing your Light to shine.
Source: 25 Minutes to Letting Go: Guided Meditation – Purpose Fairy
I don’t know where David Kanigan finds this stuff. I’m just glad he does. I’ve never heard a musical selection that wasn’t at least interesting…
A Winged Victory for the Sullen is the name of an ambient music duo consisting of Dustin O’Halloran and Adam Wiltzie. They met backstage in 2007 in Bologna, Italy, and agreed to form the duo. They are based in Brussels.
The intro runs to 1.35 min of this video and then is followed by a selection of their music: Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears.
Stick with this to the finish.
Find this tune on their album on iTunes or Amazon. Their site can be found on Facebook.
Source: Thank you DeepSauce
Yes…
Today, at the sacred site of your soul, make peace with your present reflection as you go in search of the body and face you were born with and excavate the many extraordinary faces that have evolved during your many lives…
Embrace the lines that stare back, the parts that sag in the middle or stick out where you think they shouldn’t, the hair that never keeps a curl or never loses it. Invoke the Tibetan poet Saraha’s psalm of praise:
“Here in this body are the sacred rivers; here are the sun and moon as all the pilgrimage places. …I have not encountered another temple as blissful as my own body.”
~ Sarah Ban Breathnach, from “Our Pilgrimage Places” in Something More: Excavating Your Authentic Self
Notes: Quote: Thank you Beth @ Alive on all Channels. Photo: Philippe Conquet
I discovered this Serbian-born blues player through Google Play. Wow! Where has she been all my life?
I always stop to read Mary Oliver…
As deep as I ever went into the forest
I came upon an old stone bench, very, very old,
and around it a clearing, and beyond that
trees taller and older than I had ever seen.
Such silence!
It really wasn’t so far from a town, but it seemed
all the clocks in the world had stopped counting.
So it was hard to suppose the usual rules applied.
Sometimes there’s only a hint, a possibility.
What’s magical, sometimes, has deeper roots
than reason.
I hope everyone knows that.
I sat on the bench, waiting for something.
An angel, perhaps.
Or dancers with the legs of goats.
No, I didn’t see either. But only, I think, because
I didn’t stay long enough.
– Mary Oliver, “Such Silence,” from Blue Horses
Sources: Poem – Thank you Whiskey River. Photo – Delta Breezes
We talk with Dr. Rick Hanson about hardwiring happiness into our brains. We discuss how our brains are like velcro for the bad and teflon for the good…
Go to the source to listen to the interview: 082: Dr. Rick Hanson – The One You Feed
Good stuff from Rick Hanson…
As the most social and loving species on the planet, we have the wonderful ability and inclination to connect with others, be empathic, cooperate, care, and love. On the other hand, we also have the capacity and inclination to be fearfully aggressive toward any individual or group we regard as “them.” (In my book – Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom – I develop this idea further, including how to stimulate and strengthen the neural circuits of self-control, empathy, and compassion.) To tame the wolf of hate, it’s important to get a handle on “ill will” – irritated, resentful, and angry feelings and intentions toward others. While it may seem justified in the moment, ill will harms you probably more than it harms others. In another metaphor, having ill will toward others is like throwing hot coals with bare hands: both people get burned. Avoiding ill will does not mean passivity, allowing yourself or others to be exploited, staying silent in the face of injustice, etc. There is plenty of room for speaking truth to power and effective action without succumbing to ill will. Think of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, or the Dalai Lama as examples. In fact, with a clear mind and a peaceful heart, your actions are likely to be more effective. Ill will creates negative, vicious cycles. But that means that good will can create positive cycles. Plus good will cultivates wholesome qualities in you.
Go to the source: Do People Ever Make You Mad? | Psychology Today
This kid makes an instrument out of PVC pipe and plays everything from Lady Gaga to Ozzy on it…
Good post from Guy Finley on PositivelyPositive…
Read the next three sentences very carefully. I [the author] have separated this trio of important ideas for ease of reading, but they are very much connected to each other. Each higher idea leads to the next one, and when they are absorbed all together, they will tell you a great secret.
Before you can get anything different from this life, you must first do something different.
Before you can do anything different with your life, you must first know something different.
Before you can know anything different, you must first suspect and then confirm that it is your present level of understanding that has brought you what you now wish you could change.
Now let’s reverse the order of these right ideas so that we can see how they work from the other way around.
Until you know something different you cannot do anything different.
Until you do something different you will not get anything different.
And until you really get something different from your life you cannot know what you have missed and how much more there is to understand.
Trying to change what you get from life without first changing what you know about life is like putting on dry clothes over wet ones and then wondering why you keep shivering. You must stop trying to change what you are getting for yourself and go to work on changing what you are giving to yourself.
Go to the source for more: How to Change the Life You’re Giving Yourself
Whatever your political stance, we can all agree that this whole election is kind of a mess. Both candidates are surrounded by scandals. In this John Oliver segment, he digs into both sets of scandals.
Source: John Oliver runs through both Clinton’s and Trump’s scandals – Holy Kaw!
My favorite German blog…
I found this article interesting because thanks to an app I recently installed, I am already doing this and receiving the benefits of it…
So, if the “monkey mind,” as the Eastern practitioners call it, has a mind of its own, how does one become more “mindful?” How can your mind remind itself to be mindful, when it loves to wander? Isn’t mindlessness the more typical – and even normal – condition?Here’s an easy way. Let’s imagine that you have a special relationship with a helpful little bird, one that likes to keep your attention in the now. Imagine that your feathered friend takes on the mission of reminding you, periodically, to just “tune in.” Only you can see and hear her, of course, and she comes to you only during your waking hours.Imagine that once every hour, she lights on your shoulder, politely chirps into your ear, and flies away. That little chirp is your signal to interrupt whatever you’re doing, however engrossing it might be (unless it’s reacting to a dangerous situation), and take five or ten seconds to look around, reorient to your surroundings, and remind yourself how great it is to be alive.This can be your moment of gratitude; or your moment of acknowledging the wonderment of the experience of life; a moment of giving thanks for all that you have in life; taking joy in the rewarding relationships you have with others; recommitting to taking care of your health; and for living wisely and gently. Just five or ten seconds, every waking hour, can have a remarkable effect on your sense of well being, and it can begin to condition you to return to immediate reality more often, and to appreciate what joy there can be in just living.“But,” you ask, “where is this magical little bird, and how do I make a deal with her to wake me from my trance every hour?”
Source: If You Want to Become More Mindful, Check Your Watch | Psychology Today
The app is called Mindbell and you can find it here…
Ahhh. Yes…
Dew evaporates
And all our world is dew…so dear,
So fresh, so fleeting.
~ Issa, 1763 – 1828, on the death of his child
Notes:
Read a great article on this topic here…
Bright, shiny objects! 
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