Sangha of Auspicious Companions

July 31, 2016

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How Smartphones Are Killing Conversation

Today’s cell phones threaten to hinder humanity rather than help unless we take control of our behavior and put people first. In her new book, “Reclaiming Conversation,” MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle, author of the bestseller “Alone Together,” explores the social effects of cell phones and the importance of honoring and protecting the quality of conversation in our everyday lives. In this interview, Turkle talks about cell phone habits that can harm our interactions with others and affect our capacity for empathy and intimacy. Taking out phones during conversations, using them to combat boredom, texting to avoid emotional confrontations, over-using social media, and prioritizing e-mails over face-to-face interactions at work all can have negative effects. There is hope, however; we can choose to prioritize real conversation and live in harmony with technology. Through research, Turkle tells us how. { read more }

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For tips on how to stop checking your phone so frequently, click here: { more }

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In Other News

• KarmaTube Video: Disarming a Robbery… With a Glass of Wine
• DailyGood: James George: If Not Now, When?
• Awakin Reading: Blessings for Earth-Healers

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July 30, 2016

Small Acts of Kindness

Featured Kindness Stories

	Overcoming her initial fear of him led to an unexpected connection.
	The young blind street vendor taught him a lesson in trust.
	Another story of how our initial judgements can often lead us astray.

Idea of the Week

July 30, 2016

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A Tale of Two Americas and the Mini-Mart Where They Collided

Ten days after 9/11, a shocking attack at a Texas mini-mart shattered the lives of two men: the victim and the attacker. In this stunning talk, Anand Giridharadas, author of “The True American,” tells the story of what happened next. It’s a parable about the two paths an American life can take, and a powerful call for reconciliation. { read more }

Be The Change

Take this opportunity to practice finding forgiveness in your heart for someone or something in your life that has been difficult to view with compassion. For more inspiration here is an inspiring interview on ‘The Forgiveness of Unforgivable Acts.’ { more }

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July 29, 2016

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Street Poets: The Community Cure for a Violent Culture

For twenty years, Chris Henrikson has been using the power of poetry to reach and transform at-risk youths and students in classrooms and on the streets. What started as a writing workshop in a juvenile detention camp with six kids has grown to a program serving over 600 young people a year. At its core, Street Poets offers kids a safe space to open up, tell their stories, and discover and share their gifts. It has also been a way for some to purge difficult emotions and demons so they don’t have to resort to violence anymore. The end effect has been felt both in individuals and the community. Henrikson shares stories of transformation and triumph over tragedy in this interview. { read more }

Be The Change

Get inspired — read or listen to a sampling of the Street Poets’ works. { more }

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Disarming a Robbery… With a Glass of Wine

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July 28, 2016

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Giving To People Who Give

YouTube prankster Big Daws has over 1.7 million subscribers to his channel, BigDawsTV, but in this video, he addresses the issue of homelessness. Watch this social experiment in which Big Daws pretends to be a homeless person in need, and then gives to those that lend him a hand. “I just want to make the world a happier place and bring out the best in people.” { read more }

Be The Change

Acknowledge the next person you see that does something kind for someone else.

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July 27, 2016

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When Resting is Resistance

Activists are impatient for the world we want to see. But though we seek to build a world beyond capitalism, we still fall into its traps, like the need for ceaseless productivity. We transpose capitalist definitions of ‘success’ onto social movements. We’re either winning or losing. Within capitalism, if you’re not growing and improving, you’re failing. Some of us fight because our lives depend on it, and safe survival is hinged on change. Amid all of this, our very own hearts can drift away from us, anxiety-filled and future-focused. We’re so used to resisting that we resist warning signs from our own minds and bodies, constantly talking about self-care, but rarely practicing it. { read more }

Be The Change

We live in two worlds, inner and outer. Ask your body/mind from time to time what it really wants. What does it mean to care for the Self? Could each Self be connected with other Selves? Are we humans all brothers and sisters within a larger context?

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July 26, 2016

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Paying Attention, Discovering Joy

When asked whether the poems she wrote helped connect her to the joy they expressed, poet Barbara Crooker had this to say, “I write from personal experience. If you look at the facts of my life, you might not think that there would be much reason for rejoicing. My first child was stillborn and my first marriage fell apart partly because of this, my third daughter had a traumatic brain injury when she was 18, my son has autism. So I write in spite of, or in face of, the darkness, the suffering, that is part of the human condition, and if joy is the tone that comes through the most, I’m happy to hear this.” In a powerful interview Crooker shares more about grief, the art of paying attention, and her writing process. { read more }

Be The Change

Join an Awakin Call with Barbara Crooker this Saturday, July 30th as she shares more on “Chronicling Life’s Loves, Losses, and Disabilities Through Poetry”. Details and RSVP information here. { more }

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July 25, 2016

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Why is the World So Beautiful?

Nobel physicist Frank Wilczek considers whether the deepest realities of the world embody beautiful ideas. He notes, “[[t]here’s a very rich history of art objects and music and what people have found beautiful, and literature, and we can compare that to what scientists find in their deep investigation of what the world is, and see not whether those things coincide — they clearly don’t coincide. There are forms of beauty that are not found in science and, there are facts about the world that are not beautiful. But there’s a remarkable intersection, I think, and a remarkable overlap between the concepts of beauty that you find in art and literature and music, and things that you find as the deepest themes of our understanding of the physical world.” { read more }

Be The Change

Today, notice the natural beauty around you, the intricacies and ‘complementarity’ of it all as a work of art. Consider, too, your own duality as both a thinking, feeling, and dreaming being and a masterful system comprised of particles and light.

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