mindfulness goes mainstream

There is a yoga studio on every corner and everyone seems to be dabbling in meditation these days. The NY Times recently reported on mindfulness's ubiquity. It must be a sign of growing awareness in all of us (I am hopeful). I have dabbled in meditation - on and off - for many years.  Nonetheless I struggle with it and sometimes think it is overrated (oh well, many ways lead to Rome).  I love guided meditations (there I'm off the hook) but I don't seem to have the willpower to make solo meditation a regular practice and I am probably not alone.

Mindfulness is my thing and it is not so different from meditation and how it trains your mind.  Mindfulness is simply intense monotasking, sometimes I also call it Deep Living.   We can practice mindfulness with just about anything and we do.  Practicing yoga, Taekwondo or any other sport can become a moving meditation when you keep to the task (being in the moment) instead of trying to remember your shopping list or that you have to pick your child up at daycare at 5PM.  Chopping vegetables and cooking can be a meditation in action - that's my favorite one.  I find it very relaxing and grounding to stand in the kitchen at the end of the day and just chop away and stir and taste (perhaps have a sip of wine) and concoct - it comes very easily to me and I don't think of anything else during that time (I'm in the zone).

Try doing something you like doing with relaxed concentration (no fierce determination here).  It's actual not that easy because we need to remind ourselves to let other thoughts float through without hanging on to them and letting ourselves be carried away and off task.  Just like meditation mindfulness requires a mental effort to stay with the task.  You could be washing the dishes, or driving, or brushing your teeth, or composing a report in mindfulness.  Anything done mindfully with deep focus is done better, deeper, with more meaning and quality.   Getting a task done "in order to get it done" is the exact opposite.  You will not find meaning in it and the task will not get done as well.  Having your cellphone next to you in anticipation of the next ding and distraction won't do either.  Thich Nhat Hanh famously described how to eat a tangerine mindfully in his classic 1975 book The Miracle of Mindfulness.

Why not pick a task now, any task you are about to undertake, and do it mindfully? Try it.

Please also visit related previous posts on "Now" and "Just Being."

homemade

I was so happy when our daughter came back from an event on Saturday and announced that she had won first prize for her Halloween costume.  Why was I so happy about that?  Because she sewed the costume herself (with the help of her sewing teacher), which was part of the reason she won. We have always made our own Halloween costumes.  "We" has meant "me" when the children were smaller; although I also remember my husband getting involved.  When our son was five I made him a robot costume out of aluminum-foil-clad boxes including boxy shoes, while my husband wired the costume up so it would blink.  The costume was so impractical that our son had to leave his shoes alongside the road because he couldn't walk in them, and he couldn't see too well through the boxy box head's cut out eyes (good try - but we really had fun making it).

Why does any of this belong in a holistic living blog?  Because holistic living is about living in the moment and enjoying it, it's about authentic, or deep living.  Sewing your own costume instead of buying one is so much more satisfying.  Our daughter got a great sense of accomplishment and empowerment from it, she had a good time while she was making the costume, and she learned a valuable skill along the way.  Meanwhile,  I got the satisfaction that I taught the children a valuable lesson.  What would we have gotten out of a purchased costume?  A shopping trip (blah) and money and time not well spent (ok, so the sewing lesson was as much as a purchased costume), and probably (almost) the same amount of time spent (ok, a bit more - it took her four hours to sew the cat outfit).

Whether it's making jam, cooking dinner, sewing something, tending to a vegetable garden, or building your own bookshelf, it's time better spent (in my opinion) than screen time or shopping-and-driving-around time because it develops a hands-on skill, the activity itself is enjoyable and the result is handmade and unique.

divorce is not an option

That's what Bill Clinton said about our interdependence with our planet in his keynote address at Omega Institute's recent conference on sustainability which I attended. We must all wake up to the fact that climate change is here and that it is real, that it is manmade, that it is happening fast, and that it is a scary thing.  As a matter of fact, Jeremy Rifkin, the writer and economic and social visionary actually called it "terrifying."

But then, out of crisis and chaos new things are born.  Environmentalist and entrepreneur Paul Hawken's message at that same conference was to embrace carbon, our supposed enemy.  "Carbon," he says, "is the business of life and the answer to our nightmares," the subject of a book he is currently writing, because carbon is "the currency of abundance," a concept we lack in our present interest based economics of scarcity (see also Charles Eisenstein's Sacred Economics).  Interesting, because spiritual traditions have always advised us to embrace our enemies who mirror back to us what we lack or need to embrace.

So, since divorce from our planet is not an option, and closing our eyes and ears just prolongs the agony, we each need to wake up - quick quick.  The break, or consciousness shift, that the Mayans may have seen in the ending of their calendar with the year 2012 is here.  Change is opportunity, and we choose how gently or how chaotic change happens.  Through embrace and acceptance change happens more gently.   Do your bit  -  we must get off carbon as an energy source and embrace it in other forms.  Get a Prius, insulate your home, realize that the world is changing, eat much less meat and not the supermarket kind, open up to your intuition, speak kindly to others, and most of all enjoy life!  That way "life does not come at you, it comes from you," as my wise yoga teacher Aura Lehrer said.

It's no longer business as usual!

Also see recent posts on what sustainability is and the conference notes.

spontaneous acts of kindness

"Ma'am, your burger has been paid for. "  When I see articles on positive cultural observations in the newspaper, as opposed to reports on catastrophes, calamities or simply negative observations, I am hopeful that we may be on the right track.  The track to what you may be wondering? The negative stuff is so pervasive in our culture and the media.  We get this quick jolt of negative energy, similar to a sugar high, then it's over and in the long run that constant stream of negativity is draining.

So back to the positive stuff.  The NY Times had a wonderful article this week-end on the apparently increasing occurrence of spontaneous acts of generosity.  Totally gratuitous, these acts do not come from a calculated expectation of something in return, but rather a spontaneous opening of the heart to others. This is more where we're headed - eventually - if I interpret the signs correctly - more empathy, more kindness, more opening of our hearts to others.

Any idea for a spontaneous act of kindness?

what if you had chosen your parents?

I always think that a radically different perspective helps us adjust our outlook on things.  I know the thought of choosing your parents might sound crazy to some or many of you.  But then I have made it my business to further our/your/my thinking and help change our current cultural thinking because much of it has become stale and ossified (I like that word) and could use some refreshing. Do you have an axe or two to grind with your parents?  We easily blame them for what they sent us into this world with; for what they did or didn't do.  Looking at it from a different perspective helps.  As my yoga teacher Aura Lehrer said recently "life is not about right or wrong, life brings you experiences and opportunities."

So think about your parents from that opposite perspective, not the one in which you are the victim, but the one in which you are the recipient of a valuable quality or trait or ability or realization.

I have a lot to be thankful for from my parents. They have been lifelong learners and taught me to become a critical thinker.  We lived in different countries when I was young and so I learned to love traveling, discovering different cultures and how people do things elsewhere, and to explore and enjoy the different foods all these cultures have brought forth.  On the other hand I could blame them for not being very emotional and showing their deep love and appreciation for me enough (they are kind of "Northern" in their emotional behavior - hiding their emotions and you have to read between the lines.

But parents can also teach you by default, by not showing you love or acceptance, or whatever else you think you need.  In that case their behavior may be making you aware of a quality you'd like to add to your life that is currently not there.  You could turn your attitude around and instead of blaming your parents for what they didn't give you, you could be grateful for making you aware of something you need that you are currently lacking.  By default my parents have taught me to tell my children all the time how much I love and appreciate them, something my parents never openly expressed - although they are changing a bit as they are becoming older.

So what if you had chosen your parents before incarnating (oh, another radical thought) in order to learn and become aware of specific themes you need to work on?  Just a thought....

boring homogenous food

I love food, I love to travel, and I love to try food from other places in the world.  Bill Clinton said "we need to look at how people do things in other places."  Of course he did not say that with regard to food.  He said it at the sustainability conference about expanding our insular and one-sided perspective on politics, energy policy and sustainability here in the US.  But the idea is the same. Fast food joints turn out the same food whether you are in Paris, Los Angeles or New York.  Whether food or Western culture at large, homogenization simply goes against nature's grain, because nature is all about diversity and increasing complexity with ongoing development.  And what we eat depends on what grows where we live.  Different soil, different climate, different culture, different ecosystems create different foods, which in turn allow us to create completely different dishes.

What fear of life let's us be comforted by the knowledge that we can eat the same hamburger and French fries even if we travel halfways around the globe?  I will scream if one more pizza joint, one more Italian restaurant or Chinese take-out opens in our town.  Instead, give me Indian, Thai, a fish restaurant, real Chinese, or true local American.

It's about discovery, it's about opening up to new tastes, new experiences, new ingredients, a zest for life and all it has to offer.   I tried duck tongues (tough and

chewy) and chicken feet (didn't like those) in China, green papaya salad in the Phillipines (delicious), chirimoyas in Peru (creamily yummy), jackfruit in Hong Kong (so so; ripe ones are so smelly they are forbidden on the Singapore subway), and of course frogs' legs and escargots in France (love them).

Let's celebrate the diversity of life, let's discover what people have to say in other places, how they eat in other places, how they do things differently from us.  Why must we be politically correct?  Why can't we live with our differences and appreciate them?  Discuss them?  Learn from them?  We need to accept that the entire world cannot be homogenous.  Imagine if the whole country were Republican?  Or Democrat?  If everyone wore the same outfits?  Boring.

The Great Transformation

Hold on to your seats ...then go with the flow.  The Germans are calling it "Die Große Veränderung," "The Great Transformation."  The shift is here, the consciousness shift (the Mayan calendar ending, 2012 et al.) that is driven by climate change.  Or we could say that climate change (which we created) is now accelerating our consciousness shift.  Oh well, they all inform each other reciprocally anyhow.

It is the Great Transformation to a cooperative, peer-to-peer (as Jeremy Rifkin, the economist, writer, public speaker, and consultant to the German government, says), lateral (no more from-the-top-down) culture and consciousness structure that will radically transform our approach to energy and its distribution, and with it to our culture at large.  And, Rifkin states, it will all happen within one generation!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (If we don't get off carbon in 30 years, he says, we are doomed, so we better go with the flow, and fast, than resist, because otherwise it'll be even more painful).  I do want to scare you a bit out of your slumber, as Rifkin did at this past week-end's conference on Sustainable Living, when he said about climate change that we are really not being told the seriousness and urgency of the issue here in the US - Germany, Denmark, as well as Costa Rica are on the forefront of all things climate and energy change.  Rifkin says about climate change "It's terrifying!"

So this consciousness transformation, that my book and blog are about, albeit from a slightly different twist (more about returning to a more balanced heart and spirit based way of living as a basis for healing from the inside out) is actually forcing itself on us from the environmental side.  And from there it will transform our economy from the bottom up, and with it our entire culture.  Out with scarcity based economics, in with an economy of abundance (see also Charles Eisenstein's Sacred Economics).   In importance this shift is bigger than the Fall of the Roman Empire, and it will happen faster and reverberate around the entire globe.

Cultural change here it comes!  The thing is - if you are an active participant it's an exciting opportunity to help create a new cultural paradigm; if you resist it (or even deny that climate change is happening) you will be dragged kicking and screaming along in the wave of change.  So, you choose - creative opportunity and empowerment vs. victimization.  We live during such a crucial, a bit scary (why is change scary?), yet such an incredibly momentous period in the history of humanity, let's make the most of it!

Also visit my previous post on the notes from the conference on Sustainable Living.

conference notes - sustainable living conference

Totally inspiring conference at Omega on Sustainable Living this past week-end, awesome speakers, all on the forefront of this new consciousness paradigm. Bill Clinton made two major points: Americans are not politically active enough (hence the Congressional mess - 40 years in the making he said, go vote, not only in the presidential elections), and from here on in it's  all about cooperation and community, win-win for all.

Economist Jeremy Rifkin, who consults the Germany government on how to transition to the new energy paradigm (not enough people listening on this side of the Atlantic yet, oops) foresees the new cultural paradigm arising out of the climate change calamity and predicts a lateral energy and infrastructure development, solar go! - Germany and Denmark are developing it now, America - look there for the future.

Environmentalist Paul Hawken is currently writing a book on loving our enemy: carbon - isn't that what they teach in all the spiritual disciplines, to love your enemy?

Biologist Janine Benyus teaches think tanks to use the natural world as a model for new technologies.

Rob Hopkins of the Transition Movement, which is about living without fossil fuels, preaches local + community + cooperation.

Environmental professor David W. Orr and architect Bob Berkebile are developing entire sustainable communities, not just individual buildings.

Live stream of conference can be watched until December 5:  http://www.eomega.org/workshops/conferences/where-we-go-from-here

Let yourself be inspired!  These are people we need to listen to.

finding the You in You

It's nothing new - that beauty comes from within, and that that beauty also entails youthfulness.  As Jane Brody explained in her recent NY Times article you can lather yourself with all the creams in the world, dye your hair, tuck your tummy - if you are miserable it shows.  And if you are happy it shows also.  The French word for the state of mind that makes you shine from within is épanouie  - the best translation is radiant. Radiance shines through.  When everything works well for you in life, when you are who you need to be (or working on it) and do what you need to do (or trying to get there), it goes way beyond manicured nails, the next bigger car, or a breast or nose job.

I'm never so sure what women are trying to achieve when they dye their hair or otherwise tweak their external features (granted there are exceptions).   After all the world's oldest model Carmen Dell'Orefice (she is 82!!!) with her signature white hair would no longer be Carmen if she dyed her hair.  She looks radiant and unique with it.  And if Sofia Loren had had cosmetic surgery to make her into a standard Barbie beauty she would no longer be Sofia Loren.  Her lips and eyes are so uniquely Sofia.

There is no one more unique than you!  And all that is special about you will come out and shine and glow and radiate when you do that inner work.  It's about finding the You in You.

on sustainability

You may wonder what all the buzz is with sustainability and "green" practices and what it actually means. Most of our current manufacturing processes are linear, energy intense and they create waste, thus damaging the environment one way or the other. Just imagine how corn flakes are made (not that I'm an expert). The various ingredients - GMO corn (oh no), food coloring (just saying), high-fructose corn syrup (oh well), preservatives and additives (ahem) - have to be shipped to the corn flakes factory from various locations at the expense of a lot of energy (trucking, gas) and packaging material. The packaging waste of the corn flakes ingredients goes into the garbage or recycling (if we are lucky) stream. Then the cereal is being manufactured (don't like that word for food) by machines with high energy input and some waste products (waste water, steam and fumes, and who knows what else). After that it gets packaged into sealed inner plastic bags and outer cardboard boxes (another high energy/high supply input process) and shipped to distributors (trucking, gas - you get the picture), after that to the supermarkets, where they have to recycle or throw away the pallets/shrink wrap/outer cartons. Finally the cereal gets purchased, and the retail packaging goes into the waste (the inside plastic pouch) or gets recycled (the exterior cardboard box).   Overall it's a process that requires huge material and energy inputs all along and creates enormous waste and pollution.

A sustainable process should require no exterior input of energy or material. It is a cyclical and wasteless process that repeats itself indefinitely without damage or side effects to the environment. The easiest example of such a process is a vegetable garden. If we save the seeds from one year to the next, if we fertilize with compost created from organic home and garden waste, if we use manual labor to tend to it, it becomes a wasteless indefinitely renewable cycle that requires no outside energy or product purchase other than elbow grease. All natural cycles are thus sustainable. Permaculture is such a sustainable agricultural/cultural system (please refer to an earlier post on permaculture).

On the homefront the better our houses are insulated for example, the less outside energy we need to introduce to heat and cool them, and the more sustainable the home energy cycle becomes. The Passivhaus is a residential building concept with such stringent insulation specifications that the house retains a constant temperature and requires no heating system (heating the hot water is another story, and energy to run appliances and lighting is yet another). A Passivhaus also takes into account the heat output from lights, people, and appliances in its energy calculations. There is also a zero-energy house, which is sustainable and generates its own energy needs. A zero energy house may include a geothermal heating/cooling system, solar panels to offset the electrical needs, LED lighting (the lightbulbs are good for 50,000 hours!!! - something like 20 years, and consume minimal energy), triple-pane windows (see a previous post), and a few other new cutting edge mechanical systems, in addition to superior insulation.

Sustainable is the way to go, it is gentle on the planet!