Sangha of Auspicious Companions

Video of the Week: Find No Enemy

You’re receiving this newsletter because you are a KarmaTube subscriber. Having trouble reading this mail? View it in your browser. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe Video of the Week Mar 23, 2012 Find No Enemy Akala’s lengthy hip-hop poem is somber and clear-eyed in its disappointment with race-relations, global politics, and contemporary culture. And yet it retains both hopefulness and an action-plan. “The only way you can change anything,” he slams, “is to look in the mirror and find no enemy.” Share: Related KarmaTube Videos Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir The Fun Theory: Piano Stairs Designing For Generosity Strongest Dad In the World About KarmaTube: KarmaTube is a collection of inspiring videos accompanied by simple actions every viewer can take. We invite you to get involved. Other ServiceSpace Projects: DailyGood // Conversations // iJourney // HelpOthers MovedByLove // CF Sites // Karma Kitchen // More Thank you for helping us spread the good. This newsletter now reaches 42,206 subscribers.

Recovering the Heart of Medicine

Recovering the sacred is remembering something we’ve forgotten, something we may have hidden from ourselves. It is about uncovering and discovering the innate wholeness in ourselves and in the world. — Dr. Naomi Rachel Remen

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Inspiration of the Day:
“Our modern view of disease is that disease is centered in the body. The older view of disease is that it is soul loss, a loss of connection, of meaning, of purpose, of essence. If this is so, the real task of the medical system is to heal soul loss, to aid in the retrieval of the soul. What is needed is not to develop more of a spiritual practice or to go to church more. Our task is to recognize that we are always on sacred ground, that there is no split between the sacred and secular. That there is no task that is not sacred in nature and no relationship that is not sacred in nature. Life is a spiritual practice. Health care, which serves life, is a spiritual practice.” Renowned medical leader Dr. Naomi Rachel Remen shares more about recovering the heart of medicine.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A9C5D:C3009629A010612C7B2DEF18022139BFB4B847859706E37D&

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Be The Change:
An inspiring story of UCSF’s Dr. BJ Miller, someone whose own journey of healing led him to serving others in healing.
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Dharma Quote from Snow Lion Publications

Dharma Quote of the Week Our mind needs to stretch to encompass emptiness. Our minds are so stuck in the idea, “Things exist the way they appear to me. What I see is reality. It is 100 percent true. There’s nothing to doubt. Things exist exactly as they appear to my senses, exactly as they appear to my mental consciousness.” We hardly ever doubt that. Not only do we have the appearance of inherent existence to our sense consciousnesses and mental consciousness, but also our mental consciousness grasps on to that appearance and says, “Yes! Everything really exists in this findable, independent way. Everything is real as it appears to me.” When we believe there’s a real “me,” then we have to protect that self and bring it happiness. Thus, we are attached to things that are pleasurable and become angry at anything unpleasant. Pride, jealousy, laziness, and the whole gamut of negative emotions follow. Motivated by these, we act physically, verbally, and mentally. These actions, or karma, leave seeds on our mindstream, and when these ripen, they influence what we experience. We again relate to these experiences ignorantly, so more emotions arise, motivating us to create more karma. As a result, cyclic existence with all its difficulties continues on and on, created by our mind, dependent on the ignorance that misconceives the nature of ourselves and all other phenomena. …However, when we investigate more deeply and look beyond appearances, we realize that it’s impossible for things to exist in the way they appear. Seeing this gives us a kind of spaciousness and freedom because, if samsara were inherently existent and everything really did exist the way it appears to us, then transformation and change could not occur…and the best we could ever have is what we have right now. Thinking about the emptiness of inherent existence shows us the possibility for change. Beauty can come forth because nothing is inherently concrete, fixed, or findable.(p.105) –from Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of Chenrezig by Thubten Chodron, foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications Cultivating a Compassionate Heart • Now at 5O% off! (Good until March 30th).

Kindness Daily: Using My Hobby To Help The Homeless

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Using My Hobby To Help The Homeless March 22, 2012 – Posted by whitby98 I am a huge fan of thrift shops and I have several that I check out every weekend. It’s how I unwind and have some time to myself. I actually look forward to it every week. One of my favorite shops had started discounting certain clothing by 90%. Every week they had an entire wall filled with all kinds of items, most of which were in great condition. I was disappointed at first that I couldn’t personally benefit because nothing was in mine or my husband’s size. Then it dawned on me. I could stock up on sweaters and jackets for the impending cold weather and donate them to the homeless shelter! In the last couple of weeks I’ve gotten six huge bags of sweaters, jackets, sweatpants, and long-sleeved shirts for under $20! I also got a small bag of soap, toothbrushes and shampoo for $1. One of the jackets I got today was brand new and still had the tag on it. Most of the other items are brand-name and in really nice shape. I try to get unisex colors and styles in case there are some women who need clothing too. I went to the shelter today to drop off my haul. It was pouring rain and there were several people huddled inside waiting for lunch. One poor man was lying on the wet floor. I asked him if he wanted something dry to lie on and gave him a sleeping bag. He was thrilled and said he really needed one. Before dropping off the clothing I tucked a smile card into one of the jacket pockets! Add/View Comment >> About Newsletter Kindness Daily is an email that delivers today’s featured story from HelpOthers.org. If you’d rather not receive this email, you can also unsubscribe. Similar Stories An Angel and a Pepsi, by marebear Living on the Street, by strider Christmas With My Son, by Anon Good Foods, Good Smile Tags, by Anon My Most Prized Possession, by Anon Helpful Links Smile Cards: do an act of kindness and leave a card behind to keep the chain going. Smile Decks: 52 cards with a kindness idea on each! Smile Groups: share your own stories, make friends, spread the good. Smile Ideas: loads of ideas that can support your drive of kindness. Unsubscribe If you’d rather not receive these stories by email, you can remove yourself with two easy clicks. Community

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An Ordinary Magical Life

Things that I will do my best to carry on in your honor: I will order salad with french fries on the side, with a straight face. I will drink my tea with too much milk. I will carry cookies in my coat pocket for all the dogs. I will love unconditionally. — Eulogy for Shelagh Gordon, Feb 2012

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Inspiration of the Day:
“I met Shelagh Gordon at her funeral. My sharpest impression of her that day, as mourners in black pressed around me, was of her breathtaking kindness. Shelagh was freshly-in-love thoughtful. If she noticed your boots had holes, she’d press her new ones into your arms. When you casually admired her coffeemaker, you’d wake up to one of your own. A bag of chocolates hanging from your doorknob would greet you each Valentine’s Day, along with some clippings from the newspaper she thought you’d find interesting. Shelagh made people around her feel not just loved but coveted. That was the golden thread that stitched together the ordinary seams of her life.” The Star newspaper dedicated unprecedented coverage to this relatively unknown 55-year-old woman’s funeral … this remarkable story explains why.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A9B38:C3009629A010612C546FE0FFDAB51D96B4B847859706E37D&

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Be The Change:
Honor an ordinary, magical life in your own world.

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Quote of the Week | Effort with a Light Touch

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10 Points on the Science of Spreading Good

Spread love everywhere you go: First of all in your own house … kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness. — Mother Teresa

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Good News of the Day:
“Good deeds are contagious. We naturally imitate the people around us, we adopt their ideas about appropriate behavior, and we feel what they feel. Acts of charity are no exception. In our 2010 generosity experiment, we showed that every extra dollar of giving in a game designed to measure altruism caused people who saw that giving to donate an extra twenty cents. Furthermore, the network acts like a matching grant: that same experiment showed that contagious generosity spreads up to three steps through the network (from person to person to person to person), and when we added up all the extra donations that resulted at every step, we found that an extra dollar in giving yielded three extra dollars by everyone else in the network.” Internationally recognized political scientist James Fowler shares the science of spreading good.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A9998:C3009629A010612CC7FA1AE77B5A5F6DB4B847859706E37D&

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Be The Change:
Spread good today. Find something inspiring, make it more visible, and let the good ripple through your network.

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Kindness Daily: Breakfast For A Tired Mom

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Breakfast For A Tired Mom March 20, 2012 – Posted by whitby98 I went through a drive-through this morning to get breakfast. I saw a woman behind me in line. She looked really tired and had a couple of kids with her. I pulled up to the window and told the clerk I wanted to buy her breakfast and asked him to give her my Smile card. He seemed moved and said he would. As I was waiting to pull into traffic, I paused long enough to see the clerk hand the woman in the car behind me the card and point in my direction while she stared in disbelief. T hen I pulled out and continued on my way, my car windows open, my hair blowing in the long-awaited cool breeze, my favorite music playing. The morning seemed even sweeter than before. Add/View Comment >> About Newsletter Kindness Daily is an email that delivers today’s featured story from HelpOthers.org. If you’d rather not receive this email, you can also unsubscribe. Similar Stories A Simple Card For a Beautician, by kylierose16 Kindness on my Doorstep, by mrgreen Give One, Get Two Skates Free, by J. Madden A Goal of Kindness, Smiles, and a Slurpee., by snowflake66 My First Experience With Smile Cards, by Hope4lisa Helpful Links Smile Cards: do an act of kindness and leave a card behind to keep the chain going. Smile Decks: 52 cards with a kindness idea on each! Smile Groups: share your own stories, make friends, spread the good. Smile Ideas: loads of ideas that can support your drive of kindness. Unsubscribe If you’d rather not receive these stories by email, you can remove yourself with two easy clicks. Community

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Meditation: A Compass and a Path

This mind-and-body is the vessel of my life. I want to know it with the same organic immersion that sets a snow goose flying ten thousand miles every winter and spring. — Paul R. Fleischman

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Inspiration of the Day:
“When I started meditation in the 1970s, people like my parents would say that ‘Meditation is staring at your navel. It’s self absorbed.’ I’d been through medical school and I’d say that when you’re in medical school, you go in a room, you close the door and you don’t come out for four years. But no one says that’s selfish. Everyone knows that it is preparation to do something valuable for society. So I if I meditate — that’s like preparation for the rest of my day — it’s a self education and one that you want to renew everyday…I sit to anchor and organize my life around my heart and mind, and to radiate out to others what I find.” A fascinating DailyGood interview with psychiatrist and meditation teacher Paul R. Fleischman.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A990D:C3009629A010612CCE9C607C0A572672B4B847859706E37D&

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Be The Change:
Spend some time observing and learning from your own mind and body today.

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InnerNet Weekly: Living Lessons of Biomimicry

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Living Lessons of Biomimicry by Janine Benyus [Listen to Audio!] Biomimics are men and women who are exploring nature’s masterpieces — photosynthesis, self-assembly, natural selection, and more–and then copying these designs and manufacturing processes to solve our own problems. I call their quest biomimicry — the conscious emulation of life’s genius. In a society accustomed to dominating or “improving” nature, this respectful imitation is a radically new approach, a revolution really. Unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Biomimicry Revolution introduces an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what we can learn from her. […] When we stare this deeply into nature’s eyes, it takes our breath away, and in a good way, it bursts our bubble. We realize that all our inventions have already appeared in nature in a more elegant form and at a lot less cost to the Planet. Our most clever architectural struts and beams are already featured in lily pads and bamboo stems. Even the wheel, which we always took to be a uniquely human creation, has been found in the tiny rotary motor that propels the flagellum of the world’s most ancient bacteria. […] I can’t help but wonder how we will use these new designs and processes. What will make the Biomimicry Revolution any different from the Industrial Revolution? Who’s to say we won’t simply steal nature’s thunder and use it in the ongoing campaign against life? This is not an idle worry. The last really famous biomimetic invention was the airplane. We flew like a bird for the first time in 1903, and by 1914, we were dropping bombs from the sky. Perhaps in the end, it will not be a change in technology that will bring us to the biomimetic future, but a change of heart. Our tools are always deployed in the service of some philosophy or ideology. If we are to use our tools in the service of fitting in on Earth, our basic relationship to nature–even the story we tell ourselves about who we are in the universe–has to change. […] At the same time that ecological science is showing us the extent of our folly, it is also revealing the pattern of nature’s wisdom reflected in all life. This time we come not to learn about nature so that we might circumvent or control her, but to learn from nature, so that we might fit in, at last and for good, on the Earth from which we sprang. We have a million questions. How should we grow our food? How should we make our materials? How should we power ourselves, heal ourselves, store what we learn? How should we conduct business in a way that honors the Earth? As we discover what nature already knows, we will remember how it feels be a part of, not apart from, the genius that surrounds us. Let the living lessons begin. –Janine Benyus Share the Wisdom: Latest Community Insights Living Lessons of Biomimicry Derick wrote: Janine I can’t agree with you more that change will have to come from a change in heart, as the heart is the source of all life; the biblical perspective on the same view was modeled by Dav… Conrad P Pritscher wrote: Thanks for the opportunity to respond. My first impression of the implications of shifting from "apart" to "a part" of the genius that surrounds us, is a reduction or elim… Thierry wrote: Feeling a part of the genius that surrounds us is really a turning point in a person’s evolution. Feeling apart from nature one is bound to mistreat and misuse it, as has been… David Doane wrote: An airplane first flew in 1903, and by 1914 we were dropping bombs on people. That’s amazing and sad. It’s exciting that human beings may learn from nature, cooperate with na… Ricky wrote: A main reason we are not a part of the genius that surrounds us is culturally we have been encouraged to have ‘dominion’ over the earth and all its inhabitants, rather than live with the e… Share/Read Reflections >> Wednesday Meditation: Many years ago, a couple friends got together to sit in silence for an hour, and share personal aha-moments. That birthed this newsletter, and later became “Wednesdays”, which now ripple out to living rooms around the world. To join, RSVP online. Audio Reflections From last week’s Bay-Area circle on Nothing Left to Fight Against … Some Good News How to Be Alone 3 Little Monks and a Moment of Truth A Lost 5-yr-old Finds Family 25 Years Later Video of the Week Barefoot College Kindness Stories Proof That What Goes Around Comes Around The Veteran Who Just Wanted To Be Seen About Back in 1997, one person started sending this simple “meditation reminder” to a few friends. Soon after, “Wednesdays” started, CharityFocus blossomed, and the humble experiments of service took a life of its own. If you’d like to start a Wednesday style meditation gathering in your area, we’d be happy to help you get started. InnerNet Weekly is an email service that delivers a little bit of wisdom to 70,675 subscribers each week. We never spam nor do we host any advertising. Archives, from the last 10+ years, are freely available online. You can unsubscribe anytime, within seconds. A Gift Economy offering of CharityFocus.org (2008)