Sangha of Auspicious Companions

Year of Dancing with Life – Week 19

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Week 19: Wholesome and Unwholesome Desire To receive Phillip’s weekly teaching, click here: http://www.lifebalanceinstitute.com/ dharmawisdom/dancing-with-life/ teaching/wholesome-unwholesome-desire May your study of this material deepen your meditation practice and inspire your dance with life. If you are interested in studying Dancing with Life in more depth, sign up to receive your on-line study guide and other supplemental materials.

A Love Warrior’s Incredible Generosity

When you are inspired by some great purpose … dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be. — Patanjali

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Good News of the Day:
Raghu Makwana lost his legs to polio as a child. But his heart was intact and growing bigger by the day. When a few students found him arranging people’s footwear outside a local temple, they were struck by his sparkling intelligence and genuine warmth. They arranged to have him join a non-profit at the Gandhi Ashram in India. The move would bring Ragu’s latent capacity for servant-leadership to life, and he would soon immerse himself in a series of poignant projects. Projects that include making peace in distressed households, inspiring slum children to reach new heights, and hand-delivering meals twice a day to people who might otherwise go without. Raghu’s unflagging commitment and luminous spirit have touched people from all walks of life — including the former President of India. This article shares more about his phenomenal journey in generosity.
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Be The Change:
Write Raghu a note of support and/or appreciation.
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Smile Newsletter: A Paralyzed Body But A Powerful Heart

Feb 12, 2012 “Each difficult moment has the potential to open my eyes and open my heart.”– Myla Kabat-Zinn “I had my last Smile card burning a hole in my pocket this morning. I wandered around Goodwill and stopped to look at the costume jewelry. This young girl was looking as well and she immediately started talking to me. After a couple of minutes, she blurted out that her friends were wondering why she was so depressed lately. The girl ended up picking out a couple of necklaces and wandered away. I started thinking about how lonely she seemed, given how easily she started confiding in a stranger. I paid for my things and went back to find her. I told her I wanted to buy her the jewelry and handed her $5. She was taken aback and thanked me. I also handed her the Smile card and told her to make sure she read it. Maybe this small act of kindness made her feel less alone.”–whitby98 [ share your story >> ] You can also contribute comments on each story! The Gold Wrapped Gift >> A Paralyzed Body But A Powerful Heart >> Kindness Returned After 35 Years >> More Stories >> “One smile from one person multiplied changes the course of untold numbers of people. I have received the warmest smiles from homeless people here. Some I will remember for the rest of my life. One Hawaiian lady turned her head slightly and smiled so warmly I can’t even explain to you how it made me feel. It was the most self assured, knowing, positive, feel-good smile from someone I’ve ever experienced. Another time a homeless man smiled at me and wanted to let me know where I could get something to eat if I was hungry. These people seem to be filled with a spirit that truly knows joy. I want to spread this to others the same way they did to me…it just takes a smile.” –Kathyl What is a “smile card”? It’s a game of kindness — do something nice for someone and leave a card behind asking them to pay it forward. To date, 1,006,908 cards have been shipped without any charge. The ‘Smiles’ newsletter is emailed to 87,960 subscribers with the intent of spreading more smiles in the world. You can unsubscribe anytime. get smile cards | donate | write to us

4 iPhones and a Subway Serendipity

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:
In October 2010, little-known New York City band, Atomic Tom, had their instruments stolen. But a little bit of bad luck wasn’t going to stop these musicians from doing what they love. Riding over the Manhattan Bridge on the B train, the band gave an impromptu performance of “Take Me Out” … using four iPhones to simulate the drums, guitars, and piano they had recently lost. And they caught it on video.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A618A:C3009629A010612CC601F70F9C11157CB4B847859706E37D&

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Be The Change:
The next time you stumble into an obstacle in doing what you love, leverage serendipity.

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Waking Up to the Life We Have

Have the life you want by being fully present to the life you have. — Mark Nepo

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Inspiration of the Day:
“You know we really don’t have any other choice but to be present to the life we have. We think we do, you know, we dream of everything from constructing pyramids, to conquering Mount Everest, to making millions — to all kinds of things — but the truth is that other than being fully present and caring and giving our best, we don’t have a lot of control. So I found myself back in life, where I had been in my mid thirties, and I was trying to contribute and help change the world and all of a sudden the world was changing me, the world was opening me. And through that opening I have been able, paradoxically, to make a greater contribution for having been opened. And I think the things, among many, that came out of my cancer journey was that through no wisdom of mine, I woke up.” Gifted writer Mark Nepo, featured on Oprah’s Ultimate Favorite Things show, shares his poetic journey.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A60F2:C3009629A010612C6ECA7B752031CB4AB4B847859706E37D&

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Be The Change:
A short passage by Mark Nepo, that starts with: “I tried so hard to please that I never realized no one is watching.”
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Dalai Lama Quote from Snow Lion Publications

Dalai Lama Quote of the Week Q: How can Dzogchen help us in our daily jobs and careers? HHDL: In the first place, it is quite difficult to have an experience of Dzogchen. But once you do have that experience, it can be extremely beneficial in dealing with your day to day life, your job, and your career. This is because that kind of experience will give you the ability to prevent yourself from being overwhelmed by circumstances, good or bad. You will not fall into extreme states of mind: you will not get over-excited or depressed. Your attitude toward circumstances and events will be as if you were someone observing the mind, without being drawn away by circumstances. For example, when you see a reflection of a form in a mirror, the reflection appears within the mirror but it is not projected from within. In the same way, when you confront the situations of life, or deal with others, your attitude too will be mirror-like. Also, when a reflection appears in the mirror, the mirror does not have to go after the object that is reflected: it simply reflects, spontaneously, on the surface. The same with you: since there is no attachment or agitation at having these ‘reflections’ in your mind, you will feel tremendous ease and relief. You are not preoccupied by what arises in the mind, nor does it cause you any distress. You are free from conceptuality or any form of objectifying. And so it really does help you, in allowing you to be free from being caught up in the play of emotions like hatred, attachment, and the like.(p.162) –from Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great Perfection by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Publications Dzogchen • Now at 5O% off! (Good until February 17th).

Redefining What it Means to Grow

There is nothing still. Life is never still. No plant, no animal no river. Can we think of Nature as a metaphor and keep ourselves constantly evolving? — Anil Gupta

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Inspiration of the Day:
“As we all grow in our lives and careers, it’s normal to expect a raise every year. Why? Because it’s a signal of growth. Growing is good — not growing is downright un-American. You didn’t get a raise? You’re not growing? Well then you must be no good. But why only 1 way to measure growth? If I get a 10 percent raise next year but eat less healthy food, spend less time with close and extended community, or do more self-serving work, did I really grow? Just because the number is easy to measure, is that all that matters? What about growing in generosity, compassion, physical health, mental health, family/community, balance/wisdom, and in fun! What if, at the end of every year, we took stock of ALL of these measures, along with financial? Would that change behavior?”
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Be The Change:
Examine and expand the measures you use for determining growth in your life.

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Dharma Quote from Snow Lion Publications

Dharma Quote of the Week Usually the reason that we can’t experience transcendent bliss is because our consciousness is actually chained by the illusion called “I.” It is chained because this concept literally ties our consciousness to the prison of duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. What most people experience is that their consciousness is chained by that illusion. But now and then there are people who find the so-called spiritual path. This is another quite strange and sneaky way that ego can actually keep binding our consciousness once again to another form of prison, the prison of duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. Transcendent bliss comes from breaking every chain. Breaking all chains, losing every concept, every idea, sounds very frightening to the ego’s mind. But actually when we let go of every concept, we land on this infinite ground of eternal bliss, and that bliss is not some kind of religious or mystical experience, some altered state of consciousness. That bliss is not the result of doing something to our consciousness, rather it is the pure state of our consciousness.(p.74) –from The Magic of Awareness, by Anam Thubten, edited by Sharon Roe, published by Snow Lion Publications The Magic of Awareness • New at 3O% off!

Getting Past Fear

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The Joy of Quiet

Gradually, you will return to yourself, having learned a new respect for your heart, and the joy that dwells far within slow time. — John O’Donohue

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Inspiration of the Day:
The future of travel, I’m reliably told, lies in “black-hole resorts”, which charge high prices precisely because you can’t get online in their rooms. Has it really come to this? We have more and more ways to communicate, as Thoreau noted, but less and less to say. Partly because we’re so busy communicating. And — as he might also have said — we’re rushing to meet so many deadlines that we hardly register that what we need most are lifelines. So what to do? The central paradox of the machines that have made our lives so much brighter, quicker, longer and healthier is that they cannot teach us how to make the best use of them; the information revolution came without an instruction manual. Celebrated author Pico Iyer explores the Joy of Quiet.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?ctl=16A5AC8:C3009629A010612CF6C54E9DC3904F5BB4B847859706E37D&

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Be The Change:
In the midst of activity, or otherwise, consciously practice some moments of silence.

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