Sangha of Auspicious Companions

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August 27, 2012

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The Literary Physician & How Stories Heal

When physician-writer William Carlos Williams was asked how he managed his dual careers, he replied, “It’s no strain. In fact, the one nourishes the other, even if at times I’ve groaned to the contrary.” It’s a philosophy shared by Rita Charon, director of a new program in narrative medicine at Columbia University, where students and clinicians learn to shape the fragments of medical work — a symptom, a conflict, a difficult conversation — into coherent narratives that reflect not only their points of view but also the patient’s. Here, Charon explains how a habit of narrative writing can change the way a medical professional sees her patients and herself. { read more }

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Bring narrative writing to your next project or activity, tying a variety of perspectives into a cohesive thread.

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ENDURING SUCCESS

It is often seen that human beings can endure problems quite well, but cannot endure success. When we are successful and have everything we desire, it can easily go to our heads. There is a great danger of losing our common sense and becoming careless and arrogant. As it is said, “Nothing corrupts a person more than power.” Very powerful people sometimes become so proud that they no longer care about their actions or about the effect they have on others. Losing any sense of right and wrong, they create severe problems for themselves and everyone else.

Even if we have all the success we could dream of—fame, wealth, and so on—we must understand that these things have no real substance. Attachment does not come from having things, but from the way our mind reacts to them. It is fine to participate in good circumstances, provided we can see that they have no real essence. They may come and they may go. When seeing this, we will not become so attached. Even if we lose our wealth we will not be badly affected, and while it is there we will enjoy it without being senseless and arrogant.

August 26, 2012

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The Billion Euro House

In January 2012, at the height of the economic crisis in Ireland and the rest of Europe, artist Frank Buckley was faced with the possibility of his home being repossessed. In a remarkable twist of fate, Frank set out to build himself a new home using shredded Euro banknotes and aptly named it “The Billion Euro House.” Through The Billion Euro House, Frank seems to ask us “What is the true value of money?” { read more }

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Did you know that self-sustaining environmentally friendly homes built out of recycled materials are no longer science fiction ? { more }

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August 25, 2012

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Managing Emotions in the Workplace

You know the type: coworkers who never have anything positive to say, whether at the weekly staff meeting or in the cafeteria line. They can suck the energy from a brainstorming session with a few choice comments. Their bad mood frequently puts others in one, too. Their negativity can contaminate even good news. “We engage in emotional contagion,” says Sigal Barsade, a Wharton management professor who studies the influence of emotions on the workplace. “Emotions travel from person to person like a virus.” { read more }

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Do something big or small to foster a culture of caring and positivity at your workplace.

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75-Year Old Bodybuilding Grandma

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August 24, 2012

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Can We Design Cities for Happiness?

Happiness itself is a commons to which everyone should have equal access. That’s the view of Enrique Penalosa , who is not a starry-eyed idealist given to abstract theorizing. He’s actually a politician, who served as mayor of Bogota, Colombia, for three years, and now travels the world spreading a message about how to improve quality-of-life for everyone living in today’s cities. Penalosa’s ideas stand as a beacon of hope for cities of the developing world, which even with their poverty and immense problems will absorb much of the world’s population growth over the next half-century. Based on his experiences in Bogota, Penalosa believes it’s a mistake to give up on these cities as good places to live. { read more }

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Take a small step towards increasing happiness in your own locality today.

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THE HEART SUTRA

The process of overcoming our defilements goes in conjunction with gaining higher levels of realisation. In fact, when we speak of gaining higher levels of realisation in Buddhism we are speaking primarily of the processes through which our wisdom and insight deepen. It is actually the wisdom aspect that enables the practitioner to move from one level to the next on the path.

The attainment of the levels of the path is explained in condensed form in the Heart Sutra, where we find the mantra tadyatha om gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha. Tadyatha means It is thus; gate gate means go, go; paragate means go beyond and transcend; parasamgate means go utterly beyond, go thoroughly beyond; and bodhi svaha means firmly rooted in enlightenment.