hopefulforpeace:

onielar:

A Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Catholic, Muslim, Sikh and a Christian praying together.

so amazing! <3

(via stardust-faerie)

The truth is like a lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.

(Source: torrid-wind, via stardust-faerie)

meditation journal - 05.07.13

Today I saw how profoundly working on Each Mind Matters  has opened my heart. As I sat doing metta practice, I sent loving kindness to myself, then a loved one, then a neutral person, as usual. But then, I couldn’t find any difficult people. I searched hard, but everyone who came to mind for that unenviable spot, I found I already loved. I already wanted happiness for them. Even those I’ve called forth as my difficult person in past practice, even the people who have caused great harm.

And when I got to “all beings,” I realized my metta phrases align perfectly with the campaign messaging.

What joy. I am living my practice.

My metta phrases:
May you be safe and protected from inner and outer harm
May you be truly happy and deeply peaceful
May you live your life with the ease of an open heart
May you accept yourself completely, just the way you are

mental health awareness month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which is a really super big deal. Because as a society, we don’t have a lot of mental health awareness.

One in four American adults is living with a diagnosable mental illness in any given year. But many of them won’t get the help they need or the support they deserve.

Because of fear. Fear of judgment, discrimination and isolation.

The stigma associated with mental illness is often more destructive than any diagnosis. But fortunately, the stigma is something each of us can do something about, right now.

If you believe that mental health is as important as physical health … If you’re ready to stand up for people who are afraid to stand up for themselves … If you believe that each mind matters …

Then tell someone. Hell, tell everyone. Here’s a good place to start:

http://twibbon.com/Support/each-mind-matters

With love to my fellow beings who are suffering. I stand with you.

[I encourage you to reblog as you see fit.]

friendly reminder that:

• you are not weak if you want meds for your disorder
• you are not weak if you relapse once
• you are not weak if you relapse a thousand times
• you are not weak if some kinds of therapy don’t work for you
• you are not weak if some kinds of meds don’t work for you
• you are not weak if you have a mental disorder.

(Source: cishetssuck, via loveyourchaos)

Let me keep my mind on what matters…which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.

(Source: jennasfawn, via brannu)

The only thing certain is nothing is certain.

(via parkstepp)

beingblog:

“Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it.”

~Ray Bradbury from Farewell Summer

photo by Thomas Leuthard/ Flickr, cc by-nc-nd 2.0

It’s not enough to merely prevent oneself from crying.

We have to learn to laugh over spilled milk.

In a Constantly Plugged-In World, It’s Not All Bad to Be Bored

EXCERPT:

“Boredom is the brain’s way to tell you you should be doing something else,” said Gary Marcus, a professor of psychology at N.Y.U. “But the brain doesn’t always know the most appropriate thing to do. If you’re bored and use that energy to play guitar and cook, it will make you happy. But if you watch TV, it may make you happy in the short term, but not in the long term.”

So if your child is bored and you give him an iPad, he may not be bored anymore, but he hasn’t learned how to entertain himself, or self regulate, Professor Fenske said.

And “that self-regulation transfers from one situation to other,” he said. “Your kid doesn’t just learn to entertain himself, but gets more self-control in other areas.”

__

With thanks to lowindustrial.

How The Brain Rewires Itself

AS SCIENTISTS PROBE the limits of neuroplasticity, they are finding that mind sculpting can occur even without input from the outside world. The brain can change as a result of the thoughts we think, as with Pascual-Leone’s virtual piano players. This has important implications for health: something as seemingly insubstantial as a thought can affect the very stuff of the brain, altering neuronal connections in a way that can treat mental illness or, perhaps, lead to a greater capacity for empathy and compassion. It may even dial up the supposedly immovable happiness set point.

(Source: simplyisis, via brannu)

homework: mindfulness in contemporary culture

[I’m currently enrolled in the Certification in Mindfulness Facilitation program at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Resource Center. This is one of my writing assignments: an investigation of mindfulness in contemporary culture. My last paper was a narrative of what happens when I meditate.]

I currently hold two fairly strong convictions:

1. Mindfulness is gaining ground in the public’s cultural consciousness with increasing momentum.
2. Due to its deep integrity, mindfulness will continue to meet the needs of any people and any culture it encounters.

Apart from these, I feel compelled to explore the topic of mindfulness in contemporary culture through questions rather than answers, predictions or educated guesses. I hope the result will be more thoughtful, more interesting and potentially more productive than a didactic essay.

Does mindfulness evolve to meet the needs of different cultures across time and space? Or does it abide in its core integrity, remaining whole and perfect so that we can come to it? Can each culture be depended on to provide an opening for mindfulness? After all, what culture can be exempt from suffering?

What does an enlightened culture look like? Could suffering be eradicated, or would we just not take it all so seriously? Could we smile at sadness and laugh at pain, knowing them to be friendly, trusty indicators that we still exist? Is there any greater cause for celebration?!

Is individual growth amplified in an enlightened society? Would we learn faster, heal stronger, live longer? Is the enlightened culture expansive and inclusive, fully accepting and celebrating all people, all phenomena? Isn’t that ultimately what we should aspire to in our world, nations, communities, families and partnerships?

Read More

parkstepp:

 

I am celebrating Earth Hour this year not because it saves a whole lot of energy; I will admit that one hour doesn’t make a whole lot of difference and that driving to an Earth Hour event across town might be counterproductive. I am celebrating Earth Hour to stand up against negativity. To stand with millions around the world in a visible demonstration that we actually care about the planet, about climate change, about the future.

via I am tired of the damn trolls. This year I am turning out the lights for Earth Hour and you should too, Saturday night at 8:30

treehugger:

parkstepp:

 

Literary Birthday - 23 March

Erich Fromm, born 23 March 1900, died 18 March 1980

12 Erich Fromm Quotes

1. Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. ‘Patriotism’ is its cult. 
2. Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.
3. To die is poignantly bitter, but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable.
4. Immature love says: ‘I love you because I need you’. Mature love says ‘I need you because I love you’.
5. We all dream; we do not understand our dreams, yet we act as if nothing strange goes on in our sleep minds, strange at least by comparison with the logical, purposeful doings of our minds when we are awake.
6. Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.
7. The only truly affluent are those who do not want more than they have.
8. There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.
9. The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.
10. That millions of people share the same forms of mental pathology does not make these people sane.
11. Paradoxically, the ability to be alone is the condition for the ability to love.
12. I am convinced that boredom is one of the greatest tortures. If I were to imagine Hell, it would be the place where you were continually bored.

Fromm was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, and humanistic philosopher. His works include The Art of Loving; Love, Sexuality, and Matriarchy; and Man for Himself. He was associated with what became known as the Frankfurt School of critical theory.

by Amanda Patterson for Writers Write

(via amandaonwriting:)

theantidote:

Yes and yes and yes and…