Sangha of Auspicious Companions

Five Tips For Making Travel Meaningful

The person susceptible to “wanderlust” is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation. — Pico Iyer

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Good News of the Day:
Few know more about the art of travel than acclaimed writers Paul Theroux and Pico Iyer, who have a combined six decades of experience chronicling their adventures around the world. These two world wanderers shared a list of the things they do to make travel meaningful and how they go about being a traveler rather than a tourist. Their first piece of advice? “Pick a destination that raises more questions than answers.” Along with their list, this NPR piece also includes beautiful excerpts from the two authors’ writing.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A812C:C3009629A010612CF08B5CC38B48F29BB4B847859706E37D&

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Be The Change:
As you move about today and this week, consider how your travels offer up opportunities to transform.

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Smile Newsletter: The Girl Who Gave Me Apples

Mar 4, 2012 âIf you want the truth, Iâll tell you the truth: Listen to the secret sound, the real sound, which is inside you.â â Kabir “I recently ran into an inspiring story of a man who goes by Suelo. One day, he left all his money in a phone booth and walked away to live like a monk. On his website, he wrote, “I’ve been living without a cent to my name since the autumn of 2000. I don’t use or accept money or conscious barter, and I don’t take food stamps or other government dole. Why? I simply got tired of acknowledging as real this most common world-wide belief called money! I simply got tired of being unreal.” — Rev. Heng Sure [ share your story >> ] You can also contribute comments on each story! A Heart Touched By A Musical Soul >> The Hands We Are Dealt >> The Girl Who Gave Me Apples >> More Stories >> “Being kind not only helps others, but it also helps me feel better about myself. All it takes is simply asking “How are you today?” or smiling and saying Hello. If I can do anything to help make a persons day a little brighter I want to do that. We never know the impact we make on others by one simple act of kindness. I want to have that impact on as many as I can. I have been impacted by others showing me kindness and I definitely want to pay that forward.”

The Power of Metaphors

An expert is a person who has few new ideas; a beginner is a person with many. — Albert Einstein

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Inspiration of the Day:
“When Pablo Picasso, the Spanish artist, was a schoolboy, he was terrible at math because whenever the teacher had him write a number on the chalkboard, he saw something different. The number four looked like a nose to him and he kept doodling until he filled in the rest of the face. The number 1 looked like a tree, 9 looked like a person walking against the wind, and 8 resembled an angel. Everyone else in the classroom saw numbers on the chalkboard; Picasso perceived a variety of different images. The connection between perspective and creative thinking has to do with habituation and over-familiarization. Where creative thinking is concerned, that is the irony of the skill: the more adept you are at something, the less likely you are to look at it in a different way.” In this article, author Michael Michalko explores the power of metaphors.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A80CF:C3009629A010612C11B395A87817AAB9B4B847859706E37D&

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Be The Change:
On the topic of ‘Beginner’s Mind,’ this passage starts by proposing an interesting TV experiment: “I want you to watch TV with acute awareness, mindfulness, and precision …”
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A80D0:C3009629A010612C11B395A87817AAB9B4B847859706E37D&

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Kindness Daily: A Heart Touched By A Musical Soul

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A Heart Touched By A Musical Soul March 3, 2012 – Posted by flowerpower I was feeling a little blue because my mother had been laid off from her job and she had lots of bills to pay. It left me wondering what was going to happen to us now. But it reassured me some when my mother told me she was relieved to be leaving since her boss wasn’t the nicest person to be around. I got off the college shuttle bus and started walking. That’s when I heard piano music and singing rising above the noise of the people and the traffic. I walked a little slower so I could find out to where it was coming from. Through the crowd I saw a young lady sitting at a piano with a carriage next to her. She was singing songs about love, keeping on trying, and not underestimating the power within yourself. The way she was singing comforted me a bit. I stood there watching her play for about fifteen minutes, thinking that it must take courage to perform on your own in the middle of a crowded New York ferry terminal. So I stood there listening. She must have felt my presence because she would occasionally look in my direction. By now I was telling myself that if she could perform in front of hundreds of people she didn’t know the I could at least tell her how good she sounded. I walked over and put some money in her carriage and she said, "Thank you." Instead of continuing my way home, I said to her, "I have been going through a rough time lately, but you’ve made me hopeful again." "I’m happy that I could help," she replied. "Why are you so sad?" "Well, my mum told me she had got fired from her job, and that made me sad. I’m not so sure what to do …" "You see, here’s the problem," she explained. "The way you were walking, your head was down. Don’t look defeated, because opportunity come in different ways and if your head is down you might never see it. You should smile more … lift your head up." I smiled faintly, amazed by how she was encouraging me. So, I asked her, "Why are you playing the piano in the middle of a crowded place? I’ve seen you do this more then once." She explained to me that she sees a lot of negative people in the world and she tries to alleviate the pain and bring more positivity by sharing motivational music. She told me that when she wasn’t making music she studied psychology. So, that was how she knew some of the things she was telling me. I smiled a little wider because I knew that she was doing a good thing. So, after that we parted, my heart touched and lightened by a musical soul! 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 Oprah’s 24 Acts of Kindness, by Jesse “Mahalo Nui Loa”, by hiloecho Life is Like Hot Chocolate, by Popat I Wish You Enough, by brighteyes The Mani Man, by Santosh 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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Competing with Love

When you start loving what you are learning, it will no longer look like work. Everything will fall in place after that. Just fall in love. — A. K. Raha

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Inspiration of the Day:
“I had a hard time with most of my subjects, especially math. One day, after looking at my grades, my father had a heart-to-heart chat with me. He said, ‘The way to crack your subjects is to fall in love with them. When you start loving what you are learning, it will no longer look like work. Everything will fall in place after that. Just fall in love.’ I was in sixth grade around then, and decided to take him seriously and literally said, ‘I love you’ to my math textbook. Then, something strange happened. I actually fell in love. I started enjoying the mystery behind each geometric question, soaking in it, and experiencing joy when I was able to solve it. Over the years, it got to a point where I would finish all the exercises in the textbook in a day.” On the art of competing with love:
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A8009:C3009629A010612CEB2EBD59844F066DB4B847859706E37D&

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Be The Change:
Learn. Love. Work. Learn to love work; love to learn work; work to learn love.

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Dalai Lama Quote from Snow Lion Publications

Dalai Lama Quote of the Week What is progress? How do we recognize it? The teachings are like a mirror before which we should hold our activities of body, speech, and mind. Think back to a year ago and compare the stream of activities of your body, speech, and mind at that time with their present condition. If we practice well, then the traces of some improvement should be reflected in the mirror of Dharma. The problem with having expectations is that we usually do not expect the right things. Not knowing what spiritual progress is, we search for signs of it in the wrong areas of our being. What can we hope for but frustration? It would be far better to examine any practice with full reasoning before adopting it, and then to practice it steadily and consistently while observing the inner changes one undergoes, rather than expecting this or that fantasy to become real. The mind is an evolving organism, not a machine that goes on and off with the flip of a switch. The forces that bind and limit the mind, hurling it into unsatisfactory states of being, are impermanent and transient agents. When we persistently apply the practices to them, they have no option but to fade away and disappear. Ignorance and the “I”-grasping syndrome have been with us since beginningless time, and the instincts of attachments, aversion, anger, jealousy and so forth are very deeply rooted in our mindstreams. Eliminating them is not as simple as turning on a light to chase away the darkness of a room. When we practice steadily, the forces of darkness are undermined, and the spiritual qualities that counteract them and illuminate the mind are strengthened and made firm. Therefore, we should strive by means of both contemplative and settled meditation to gain stability in the various Lam Rim topics.(p.176) –from The Path to Enlightenment by H.H. the Dalai Lama, edited and translated by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications The Path to Enlightenment • Now at 5O% off! (Good until March 9th).

Video of the Week: Designing For Generosity

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 02, 2012 Designing For Generosity What would the world look like if we designed for generosity? Instead of assuming that people want to simply maximize self-interest, what if our institutions and organizations catered to our deeper motivations? This compelling TEDx talk explores this question and introduces the concept of Giftivism: the practice of radically generous acts that change the world. The video is charged with stories of such acts, ranging from: the largest peaceful transfer of land in human history, to a pay-it-forward restaurant, to a 10-year-old’s unconventional birthday celebration, and the stunning interaction between a victim and his teenage mugger. With clarity and insight, it details the common threads that runs through all these gift manifestations, and invites us to participate through everyday acts of kindness — in an uplifting global movement. Share: Related KarmaTube Videos A Teacher in Tokyo The Koh Panyee Football Club Of Forests and Men Four Fingered Pianist 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 41,686 subscribers.

Designing for Generosity

Good design is a renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need, and beauty to produce something that the world didn’t know it was missing. — Paola Antonelli

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Inspiration of the Day:
What would the world look like if we designed for generosity? Instead of assuming that people want to simply maximize self-interest, what if our institutions and organizations were built around our deepest motivations? A recent TEDx talk explores this question and introduces the concept of Giftivism: the practice of radically generous acts that change the world. The video is charged with stories of such acts, ranging from: the largest peaceful transfer of land in human history, to a pay-it-forward restaurant, to a 10-year-old’s unconventional birthday celebration, and the stunning interaction between a victim and his teenage mugger. With clarity and insight, it details the common threads that runs through all these gift manifestations, and invites us to participate through everyday acts of kindness — in an uplifting global movement.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A7D5C:C3009629A010612C1098C42192E4F69BB4B847859706E37D&

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Be The Change:
Engage in an act of giftivism. Do something radically generous, with focus on your inner experience, and observe its ripple effect.

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Dharma Quote from Snow Lion Publications

Dharma Quote of the Week We are beings of the Desire Realm, and thus our minds are also included within Desire Realm minds. If we cultivate great compassion, our own minds are the basis for great compassion. By contemplating countless sentient beings and meditating to develop great compassion, one eventually achieves great compassion. At that point, the mental basis–one’s own mind–has become of the entity of great compassion. There is no distinguishing the two at that time. Meditating on great compassion does not mean taking compassion as an object and looking at it; it means taking sentient beings as one’s object and developing compassion for them such that the mind comes to be of the nature of great compassion. The texts frequently speak of different mental bases: the basis for calm abiding, the basis for meditative absorption, the basis for achieving a path. The way of understanding all of these is the same. You may wonder whether, when one cultivates a certain path, the mind becomes of the entity of that path. It is important to understand this question because that is, in fact, what occurs when one cultivates calm abiding. The mental basis becomes of the nature of calm abiding. –from Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual Transformation Through Meditation by Geshe Gedun Lodro, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications Calm Abiding and Special Insight • Now at 5O% off! (Good until March 9th).

Kindness Daily: To Whoever Finds This

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To Whoever Finds This March 1, 2012 – Posted by rettajv74 Lately it has seemed like every time we got a little ahead something would come along and we would have to start all over. Today I had to pick my son up early from school and decided to go to a local store. While I was looking around I noticed there was an envelope on the shelf. At first I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Even though it was addressed "To Whoever Finds This" I thought I might get in trouble if I took it. I looked at it for a while then decided to risk it. I waited until I got back to my car before opening it. I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I was surprised to find a note and a Smile card, along with two lottery tickets! We didn’t win the lottery but the pleasure I got from such a small act of kindness will stay with me. I had never heard of this before and I hope more people find out about it, because a bad day can be made into a smile day with something so simple. 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 Day At Bell Mobility, by Christina A Gift of Cloth, by anon Carnations with a Smile at a Supermarket, by Kat C. Painting Mindil with Smiles, by FREEhugsROCK One Size Fits All, by Camilion 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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