The Energy of a Place

     New Mexico for us, and for many before us, felt quite obviously holy. 
     If one walks into a room full of people, or someone's home, there's often a prevalent, almost palpable, energetic atmosphere. And so it seems to be with geographic locations. 
     It would seem reasonable to assume that the energy of each thought, word & action should more powerfully impact the environment in which it occurs, than more distant places.
    

     “Be always mindful of what you are doing and thinking. So that you may put the imprint of your immortality on every passing incident of your daily life.”    Abd’l-Khaliq Ghijdewani, 13^th century Sufi 

       Walsh R. “Essential spirituality. The 7 central practices to awaken heart and mind.” John Wiley & Sons Inc, NY, 1999.

Chernobyl

Fully Awake? Fully Alive?

     "In an odd way, though, there were times when I missed the adventure, even the danger, of the real war out in the boonies. It's a hard thing to explain to somebody who hasn't felt it, but the presence of death and danger has a way of bringing you fully awake. It makes things vivid. When you're afraid, really afraid, you see things you never saw before, you pay attention to the world. You make close friends. you become part of a tribe and you share the same blood ..."

     O'Brien T. "The things they carried." Mariner Books, Boston, 1990.

Greyser   www.dpreview.com

A Divided Life & Wholeness

Love After Love
The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.                               Derek Walcott

 

cand1d   www.dpreview.com

Peer Pressure

     "It was as if there were an audience to my life, that swirl of faces along the river, and in my head I could hear people screaming at me. Traitor! they yelled. Turncoat! Pussy! I felt myself blush. I couldn't tolerate it. I couldn't endure the mockery, or the disgrace, or the patriotic ridicule. Even in my imagination, the shore just twenty yards away, I couldn't make myself be brave. It had nothing to do with morality. Embarrassment, that's all it was.
     And right then I submitted.
     I would go to the war - I would kill and maybe die - because I was embarrassed not to."

     O'Brien T. "The things they carried." Mariner Books, Boston, 1990.  
 

Meaningful Conversation Heals

     When was the last time you felt genuinely attentive, curious & appreciative, and at the same time, completely open, honest, deeply listened-to & appreciated during a conversation? I've just described a meaningful conversation - a sadly rare, yet incredibly vital part of human life. See: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2014/03/meaningful-human-relationships.html
     Too many conversations are problematic:
       "Conversational narcissism is a term used by sociologist Charles Derber in his book, The Pursuit of Attention: Power and Ego in Everyday Life. 
       Derber observed that the social support system in America is relatively weak, and this leads people to compete mightily for attention. In social situations, they tend to steer the conversation away from others and toward themselves. 'Conversational narcissism is the key manifestation of the dominant attention-getting psychology in America,' he wrote. 'It occurs in informal conversations among friends, family and coworkers. The profusion of popular literature about listening and the etiquette of managing those who talk constantly about themselves suggests its pervasiveness in everyday life.'" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversation

     In genuinely meaningful conversation, trust, respect, kindness & nurturing dominate. One may feel & accept one's personal need for attention, approval etc, but it's relatively easy to put these on the back-burner - prioritizing deep listening over speaking - to help give life to this miracle of shared openness, freedom & caring.

     During meaningful conversation, we embody the spirit of Namaste: the depth of my being recognizes & honors the depth of your being.

     See: http://www.johnlovas.com/2013/07/patiently-observe-bare-experience.html
     and: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2013/06/sense-of-belonging-through-embracing.html
     and: http://www.johnlovas.com/2012/02/deep-listening.html
     and: http://www.johnlovas.com/2012/01/whats-in-my-mind.html

Steve McCurry   stevemccurry.com

Meaningful Human Relationships & Engagement - in a Digital Age?

     "A lot of people don't talk directly to people anymore, they just text them. I think it is kind of creating another life behind screens. The thing is when you text or message someone, it's almost different than when you talk to them face-to-face. When I talk to my friends online, and them I meet them - it's like awkward, because I don't feel as comfortable to say as much as I normally do online." 14yo student interviewed by Pauline Dakin.
     Face-to-face, & even phone conversations are becoming rare, awkward, & anxiety-provoking, particularly among those under 35. 
     How in-depth & meaningful are online "conversations" (& relationships)? 
     What is the impact of having no relief from digital distraction during most of one's waking life? We're running an uncontrolled human experiment right now - no ethics approval, no informed consents.

      Listen to Pauline Dakin's 2-part CBC Radio program, "Re-Wiring Our Kids": http://www.cbc.ca/atlanticvoice/

       Also see: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/07/360-technology-must-be-balanced-with.html
     and: http://www.johnlovas.com/2014/01/gotta-serve-somebody-something-or-wake.html

attributed to Carrie Miller

Mechanism Equals Ultimate Cause???

     "Addiction neuroscience has been valuably informed by animal models. ... The neurobiological power of these behavioral models has perhaps contributed to underemphasis of the subjective dimension of addiction, where the conscious experience of urge and tension during withdrawal may be treated as an epiphenomenon. ... Interoceptive models of emotion propose that subjective feelings ultimately arise from interoceptive signals."

     Gray MA, Critchley HD. Interoceptive basis to craving. Neuron. 2007;54(2):183-6.

     This wild leap, from animal MODEL - to - ULTIMATE CAUSE in HUMANS, is not characteristic of science. See: http://www.johnlovas.com/2014/03/science-scientism-what-it-means-to-be.html
    
     Subjective feelings are multi-factorial on the grandest scale, CAUSED BY everything that occurred previously - the entire biopsychosocialspiritual & genetic history of the human being experiencing them. Westward migration in North America was not CAUSED BY wagon wheels!

Steve McCurry   http://stevemccurry.com/

 

Energy Medicine - a Zen Perspective

     “Some people understand energy medicine as a process whereby the healer gives energy to the person in need of healing. From a Zen perspective energy is not viewed as a commodity or thing that can be given or received. Your energy is not separate from the energy of the whole universe. You are not separate from the whole. A healer helps you stop building walls & barriers within yourself and between yourself & the world. Letting down the walls & barriers that block the flow of energy allows you to experience wholeness & healing.”

       Birx E. “Healing Zen. Awakening to a life of wholeness and compassion while caring for yourself and others.” Viking Compass, NY, 2002. 

Michael Wood   http://miksang.com//michael_wood.html

 

Deeper Teaching, Deeper Learning

     Our consciousness is flooded with data, a great deal of which can be categorized as distraction or outright spam. Anxiety keeps us focused on the future; depression on the past. Mindfulness - our natural wisdom - rarely has a chance to manifest.
     "Ellen Langer writes that perhaps one of the reasons that we become 'mindless' is the form of our early education. 'From kindergarten on' she writes 'the focus of schooling is usually goals rather than on the process by which they are achieved. This single-minded pursuit of one outcome or another, from tying shoelaces to getting into college, makes it difficult to have a mindful attitude toward life. Questions of "Can I?" or "What if I can't do it?" are likely to predominate, creating an anxious preoccupation with success or failure rather than on drawing on the child's natural, exuberant desire to explore.'"
     Fortunately, contemplative practices are increasingly being introduced into all levels of the education system. It is possible, indeed foolish not to, intentionally cultivate our inherent natural wisdom.
     "The (contemplative) exercises are relatively simple and mainly conducted in (students') own minds, relating directly to their personal experience discovered through attention and awareness, yet these private investigations yield increased empathy with others and a deeper sense of connection around them.
     Formally legitimizing their experiences changes students' relationship to the material being covered. In much of formal education, students are actively dissuaded from finding themselves in what they are studying. All too often, students nervously ask whether they may use 'I' in their papers. A direct inquiry brought about through their introspection validates and deepens their understanding of both themselves and the material covered. In this way, students not only more richly understand the material, but they retain it more effectively since they have a personal context in which to frame it."

       Barbezat, Daniel & Allison Pingree. (2012). Contemplative Pedagogy: The Special Role of Teaching and Learning Centers.  In James E. Groccia and Laura Cruz (Eds.), To Improve the Academy, 31, 177-191. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

How Deep is the Wound? How Deep is the Healing?

     Young clinicians hope to see very simple problems so as to be able to quickly, precisely diagnose and cure. Open & shut problem, case closed, next!
     Fear of complexity, ambiguity, liminality & therefore avoidance of the depths of the human condition is very common in youth, and remains too common even when we should be maturing into wise elders.
     As we gain clinical & life experience, we realize that all people, even those with easily curable, trivial presenting problems, come with a complex context. Our ability to appreciate the depth & complexity of our patients' suffering & woundedness, is directly proportional to our ability to see, accept & appreciate the depth & complexity of our own suffering & woundedness.
     There are many important, direct parallels between the relationship of healers-to-patients and that of meditation teachers-to-students. A more mindful healer should be a more effective healer.
     See: http://www.johnlovas.com/2014/03/meditation-teachers-students-both.html