Kindness Daily: A Simple Bowl To Drink From
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Archive for March, 2012
The Language of Love
The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. — Helen Keller
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Inspiration of the Day:
“Love is a funny thing. As the saying goes, we often find love when we least expect, but it might be equally true that when we do find love it’s different than we expected. This beautiful short film was created to raise awareness and money for a good cause, which it did. But it has gone so much further in showing us what love looks like, and how we can connect with each other when we have the courage to break down our own walls and become vulnerable.”
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16AAA11:C3009629A010612CC7E8F106AB4E4D23B4B847859706E37D&
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Be The Change:
Love someone in a special, unexpected, and unconditional way today.
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Dalai Lama Quote from Snow Lion Publications
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Dalai Lama Quote of the WeekOne day, when a very learned scholar or geshe and I were discussing the fact that the self is an elusive phenomenon, that it is unfindable in either body or mind, he remarked: ‘If the self did not exist at all, in a sense that would make things very simple. There would be no experience of suffering and pain, because there would be no subject to undergo such experiences. However, that is not the case. Regardless of whether we can actually find it or not, there is an individual being who undergoes the experience of pain and pleasure, who is the subject of experiences, who perceives things and so on. Based on our own experience we do know that there is something–whatever we may call it–that makes it possible for us to undergo these experiences. We have something called discernment or the ability to perceive things.’ In fact, when we examine the experience of suffering, although some sufferings are at the sensory or bodily level, such as physical pain, even the very experience of pain is intimately connected with consciousness or mind and therefore is part of our mental world. This is what distinguishes sentient beings from other biological organisms, such as plants, trees and so on. Sentient beings have a subjective dimension, which we may choose to call experience, consciousness or the mental world. ….One thing we can understand, both through scientific analysis and also from our own personal experience or perception, is that whatever experiences we have now are consequences of preceding conditions. Nothing comes into being without a cause. Just as everything in the material world must have a cause or condition that gives rise to it, so must all experiences in the mental world also have causes and conditions.(p.74) –from Lighting the Way by the Dalai Lama, translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications Lighting the Way• Now at 5O% off! |
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Video of the Week: Earth Hour 2012
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13-Year Old Gymnast: Fearless …& Legally Blind
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. — Confucius
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Good News of the Day:
Most athletes have the benefit of seeing what’s ahead of them — an opponent, the bars, a vault. But for 13-year-old Lola Walters, she usually has no idea what’s coming until she’s literally five feet away from it. Walters, a Washington resident, is legally blind, and suffers from a disease called nystagmus which causes her eyes to shift constantly, leaving her with double vision and no depth perception. She may fall more often than her peers but gets back on the bars with a grace and grit that has won her the admiration of her friends and teachers alike. This article and the accompanying video afford a glimpse of her fearless spirit.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16AA778:C3009629A010612CE09269003E996297B4B847859706E37D&
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Be The Change:
Accept one of your own limitations, but fearlessly, and with the resolve to rise every time it causes a stumble.
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The Importance of Imagination
Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. — Lewis Carroll
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Inspiration of the Day:
“While growing up, I’d never really considered how important it is to be imaginative. It’s a childhood profession, you could say. It comes naturally. Then we hit an age when we’re presented with a scantron of bubble-in options, a template for a CV that we need to create, and Excel. At that point, our learning has to fit into certain parameters: within that little bubble, within the one page limit, and within a tiny digital graph. So, what happens to our imagination? It seems to fade.” In this reflection, journalist Esha Chhabra shares a reflection on the gentle power of imagination.
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Be The Change:
Practice imagination today — perhaps even six impossible things before breakfast. 🙂
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Dharma Quote from Snow Lion Publications
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Dharma Quote of the WeekThree Meditations If one does not sow the seed Human life is rare and precious, All living beings have been our mothers, The colophon [inscription] for this poem reads, “Written at the request of Ritropa Samdrub, an Amdo monk from Dechen Monastery, who begged for a short teaching….” The Seventh Dalai Lama advises him to establish three central pillars in his spiritual practice: (1) a disciplined spiritual connection with his teacher; (2) awareness of the preciousness of life, and the uncertainty of the time of death; and (3) the mind of love and compassion for all living beings, coupled with the aspiration to enlightenment as the best means of fulfilling that love and compassion. –from Meditations to Transform the Mind by The Seventh Dalai Lama, translated, edited, and introduced by Glenn Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications Meditations to Transform the Mind • Now at 5O% off! |
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Kindness Daily: To The Airport, With An Unexpected Chauffeur
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I see him making progress every day now. Having never been around anyone with this challenge, meeting him has been an inspiration to me! And hopefully has also shown my family that people can change, and that it’s important to reach out to someone whom others might ignore.Quote of the Week | Don’t Cover the World with Leather
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| Teachings by Pema Chödrön, from works published by Shambhala Publications. Photo by ©Andrea Roth. |
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Five Poverty-fighting Women to Watch
The mother’s battle for her child with sickness, with poverty, with war, with all the forces of exploitation and callousness that cheapen human life needs to become a common human battle, waged in love and in the passion for survival. — Adrienne Rich
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Good News of the Day:
Across the globe, women are taking on the challenge of poverty in creative, smart and sustainable ways. This article highlights five dynamic women whose work collectively spans Haiti, India, Afghanistan, Kenya and beyond. Their uplifting and diverse contributions seem poised to reach new heights in the coming year. Learn more about them and how to keep up with their journeys here.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16AA334:C3009629A010612CB516E0016635B229B4B847859706E37D&
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Be The Change:
“I used to think the opposite of love was hate. But life experience tells me that’s not true. … the opposite of love is power.” A short passage by Patty De Llosa
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**Share A Reflection**
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Sangha of Auspicious Companions 