Compassion

The lesson from my e-class suggested taking on a practice such as cheerfulness, calmness or compassion.  I chose compassion.  As I do with everything else, I decided to see what I could find online about compassion.

I went to Audio Dharma Talks  to hear what I could find on compassion and listened to a series which had 2 wonderful guided meditations.  I also found this article on compassion and Bodhicitta.  In it, I learned there are 6 perfections: giving,  ethics, patience, joyous effort/perseverance, concentration and wisdom. Through the practice of these 6 perfections, one develops compassion. 

Because I'm also a Christian, I wanted to find Bible verses that would match the perfections and I found many.

Here are two:

Matthew 10:8
Freely you received, freely give.

Colossians 3:12-17
  12  So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;  13  bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever  has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.  14  Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  15  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.  16  Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  17  Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

I really like Colossians because not only does is talk about compassion, patience, and wisdom, kindness, humility, gentleness, being thankful, and unity are also mentioned. Those are also qualities that are important to relationships. Christian behavior is clearly spelled out in Colossians. And it corresponds with the ethics of Buddhism; at least that's how I see it.  What do you think?

True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess.

Principles above personalities.

Radical Forgiveness

This week I started taking an ecourse on the works of the Dalai Lama.  You can find the course here. I got my first email Monday and chose two out of 10 saying by the Dalai Lama as my intention for the course.  They are:

"It is the enemy who can truly teach us to practice the virtues of compassion and tolerance."
— Oceans of Wisdom

"Help others and, if you cannot help them, at least do not harm them."
— The Path to Bliss

I find that changing the word "enemies" to "difficult people" helps. I don't think I have enemies.  But I do have a few difficult people in my life.  They are loved ones who trigger hurtful feelings, guilt, anger, frustration, and other negative reactions.  Therefore, my intention is to see them as my teachers and learn from them.  I've heard of doing this before when I first learned about Radical Forgiveness. 

Radical forgiveness is a concept that everything that happens to us is for some lesson which will help us grow spiritually, even if we don't  understand what the lesson is.  Each problem that we have or in which we continue to find ourselves has to do with a particular spiritual lesson we've set ourselves up to learn. Once we learn it, that problem doesn't return.  Or if it does, we no longer see it as a problem, but just as part of life.  You can get free work sheets on his site and use those. I've used them several times for various situations and found them quite effective. The other thing Tipping suggests, are these four steps:

1. Say to yourself: O my goodness, look what I created.
This is to realize that what happened was preordained before we where born.
It is also a recognition that we have had a hand in on a spiritual level although we don't know the reason.

2. Say: I  notice my judgments and my feelings  but I love myself anyway.
We are human and we will likely feel angry, guilty, frustrated, bewildered, etc. in some situations.  We then recognize our feelings and love ourselves for who we are.

3. Say: I am willing to see perfection in this situation.
The emphasis is on the word "willing" because it's not important to believe.

4. Say: I choose peace.
This will wrap it up and get on with doing that which needs to be done regarding the situation.

Once we've done these, then we can deal with the situation more calmly and level headed.

 Hope you can test this and see if it works for you like it did for me.


Forgiveness is the final form of love.

God speaks to us all a little differently, hoping we'll tell each other.

Workout week 2, 5 Precepts and 10 Virtues

Now that I decided to stop doing the Plyometrics workout, I can concentrate on the other four: Kenpo, Shoulders and Arms, X Stretch, and Core Synergistics.  Those are still my morning workouts, alternating them 4 days a week. Saturdays are my sleep in days, so I do about a half hour of stretching.  Of course, I'm still doing Liangong about 4-5 days a week in the evening while watching Oprah. 

I have noticed how weak my thighs are and am working strengthening them.  They are getting slightly stronger in the time I've been doing Liangong.  My knees usually hurt when I go up stairs. However, last Friday as I went up and down the stairs several times at the school in which I teach, I observed how painless it was.  Now I am motivated to work even harder on strengthening them more. I have a long ways to go before the muscles begin to grow.

Now that my Mindfulness class has come to an end, I am looking forward to taking a class about studying with the Dalai Lama. I don't remember the name of the class exactly, but it has 40 lessons coming 3 times a week. That will be almost a 14 week course.

Sylvia taught the top 5 precepts and the 10 virtues in our last week.  I first learned about the precepts from Judith Ragir.  Both women explain them in easy to understand language which I like.  Judith suggests  taking on one precept at a time for a certain amount of time such as a month or a year before taking on another one. Sylvia suggested to write them on an index card, placed strategically on the bathroom mirror for easy daily reading.   I like that idea and therefore, they are on the tiled wall just above the toilet paper roll to remind myself daily about their intentions. The post-it didn't stick to the mirror.

The five precepts are:

1. I undertake the precept to abstain from harming living beings.

2. I undertake the precept to abstain from taking anything not freely given.

3. I undertake the precept to speak wisely, not exploiting or abusing.

4. I undertake the precept to express my sexuality wisely, not exploiting or abusing.

5. I undertake the precept to keep my mind clear of confusion.

The 10 virtues are:

1. Generosity
2. Morality
3. Renunciation
4. Wisdom
5. Energy
6. Patience
7. Truthfulness
8. Determination
9. Lovingkindness
10. Equanimity

I listen for direction now.

If you keep doin' what your doin' you'll keep gettin' what your gettin'

My favorite olives and Tapenade

The other day I was really hungry. Knowing there wasn't much in the house to eat, I looked in the cupboards and fridge, noticed two kinds of olives, capers, walnuts, and sun dried tomatoes.  OK. I would make a tapenade.  It was fabulous!

I'm a black olive fan. I eat them daily. My father used to cure olives when I was a child.  We used to go olive hunting in the outskirts of Fresno.  Back in the 1960's, olive groves were easily found.  We would gather a bucket of spotted imperfect green which were bitter if you tried to eat them. 

He would then clean them, put them in a large container, and soak them in a lye mixture until the lye soaked all the way to the pit. I remember standing by him, watching him carefully tip the heavy container of olives as the water flowed into the gutter. He would then refill the container with fresh water  to continue the soaking process to leach out the lye. 

After a week or so, (I don't remember how long because I was a child and time meant little to me then) he would start cutting an olive to check for traces of lye. I remember my mouth watering, anxiously waiting for the day when he would check the olive with his pocket knife, look up at me, grin and tell me they were ready to eat.  The succulent flavors and texture were delightful.  They are still my favorite olives. My father hasn't cured olives in years since the groves have been plowed down and replaced with houses, offices, and shopping centers.

Over the years, I have gone through a phases where I ate all kinds of olives: Greek, green, Napa Valley Bristol (my favorite is the smoked kind), and those specialty olives found in grocery stores nowadays.  I loved green olives on pizza when I ate cooked food and enjoyed them in my salad.  However, lately the flavors are too strong, to overwhelming for me. So I stick to black olives which have a mild flavor. 

Yet, I still enjoy tapenade once in a while.  Although I didn't measure everything, these amounts are close to what I used.

Tapenade with walnuts and sun dried tomatoes
by La Buscadora

1 15 oz can of black olives
2 - 4 Tbs. of sliced green olives (to taste)
4 Tbs. walnuts
2 Tbs. capers
1 tsp. or to taste sage
black pepper

2 Tbs. sun dried tomatoes (I use Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes with Italian Herbs, Julienne cut. They're in oil, so drain the oil a bit before adding.)

Put all ingredients except tomatoes into the food processor and process to desired consistency.  Add the sun dried tomatoes and pulse a couple of times.  I like them to be a bit chunky.

Enjoy as a spread, dip, part of your salad or stuffed in tomatoes. Of course, whichever you choose is just a Tapenade delivery devise.

Happiness is part of the journey, not some distant destination.

If I have the courage to begin, I have the courage to succeed.

Images are from international.stockfood.com

Continuing week 1 work outs

10/14/10

Found out my Ab Ripper DVD isn't an m3p therefore didn't work.  So my husband is going to look into it and see what it is, if we can download a needed program, or if it's just bad.  So, today I worked on Plyometrics. 

Plyometrics is not easy for someone with knee problems and weak legs.  I did modified versions of all the exercises this morning.  I couldn't believe how uncoordinated I now am.  I used to be a ballet dancer with extremely strong legs and coordinated. No problem.  It will take as long as it takes to strengthen my legs again providing that I continue the P09X workouts for several months.

Meditation: This morning's meditation was really relaxing.  Sylvia sent an audio mediation which matched yesterday's lesson on the Seven Factors of Enlightenment.  I loved it! She didn't use the bell afterward so I was able to continue for several more minutes when she was finished. 

The Seven Factors are:
1. Concentration
2. Rapture
3. Calm
4. Investigation
5. Equanimity
6. Energy
7. Mindfulness.

10/15/10

No matter what my husband did, the Ab Ripper DVD didn't work. That's OK. The Core Synergistics workout is quite the workout for my abs. I'm just now no longer sore.

I started up again on the Shoulder's and Arms DVD today.  I really like that one.  I think I'll skip the Plyometrics DVD. It's really hard on my knees.  Maybe I'll try it again after my thighs build up.

Meditation: For the last two days I listened to the audio Sylvia made for Wednesday. It's a guided meditation which I love.  She made it in a way so when it's over, you can continue meditations.  What I did, was bring in my timer and still meditated my 20 minutes.

Emotion: What I've also noticed is that I've been emotionally charged the last couple of days. After much deliberation, I think it's my ego trying to return to the state of depression and sadness, which I was my usual state only a few years ago.  Since I choose happiness, my ego has been fighting me. The change has been slow.

Well, that's it for now. Hope you decide to follow me. Please feel free to make comments. I would love to hear about your journey, too.

W H Y = Whine, Holler, Yell.

Courage is the ability to change the familiar.

I don't get to the computer that's online for as long as I like, so I decided to do a little diary on my computer and then transfer it over when I have a chance. Below is what I wrote a couple of days ago.

10/11/10
Workout:  Today I did the first workout on Core Synergistics.  What a tiring workout.  Over the last couple of years, off and on, I've been doing some yoga and some walking. Currently my regular practice is Laingong plus isometrics.  Those last two helped with the X Stretch and the Arms and Shoulders workout, but not Core Synergistics.  The P09X workouts are serious.  I can see why my skin is now a bit saggy and my muscles tighten easily.  I did only a part of each exercise the best I could but tired easily. I know I will build up to it.  How? Because when I used to run, I quickly built up to running more and walking less; that was only at the beginning of this year. 

Tomorrow: Kenpo

Spiritual: I'm up to 20 minutes of meditation right now.  I first sit and consciously relax my whole body.  Then I concentrate on my breath.  I notice that my breath is now shallower than when I started and there's a short rest time between. 

The class on wise effort taught me there are four things to notice:
the presence in the mind of wholesome states, cultivate them,
the absence in the mind of wholesome states, cultivate them,
the presence in the mind of unwholesome states, eliminate them,
the absence in the mind of unwholesome states, determine to keep them out.

In order to do this, one must always be aware of what one is thinking, to make moment to moment choices in what we are contemplating.

Wholesome states:
peacefulness,
benevolence,
patience,
tolerance,
compassion,
empathic joy

Unwholesome states:
anger,
lust,
jealousy,
envy,
resentment,
bitterness.

Emotional healing: So how does this help me emotionally? How do keep my unwholesome states at bay?  Well, the following is what has worked for me:

1. look to see what my part is in the situation.  If I have to, I ask God to help me see the situation clearly and how I could have contributed to the problem or how I could have allowed the problem to grow.  Also, to ask for God's help.  If you don't believe in God, then whatever higher power you have will work.

2. I talk to someone who I trust to get a clearer view. Sometimes just talking about it helps me see the situation clearer without all the emotions attached. In this way I can look at what needs of mine were not being met and what needs the other person was trying to meet.

3. Make amends where I was at fault. I did this recently with someone who I saw as insensitive.  The truth is, I was feeling sad about my situation. Plus, I know how she likes to joke and I also know she has a big heart.  So, I apologized for my reaction to her 'joke.'  She in turn apologized for her 'joke' and informed me of her intention which was really kind.  She just did it a way that didn't come across well.

Revvell suggests to write everything; all your feelings, all your thoughts, whatever comes to your mind.  This is also a good way to vent out feelings. By the end of the writing which could be 3 or 4 pages, emotions move out of the way for discernment and solutions.

I'm sure there are many other ways to help rid unwholesome thoughts. What do you do?  I would love to hear and learn from you, too. 


***
10/12/10
Kenpo:  What a workout!  This was my first time to do it. I had to watch the DVD well before  attempting some of the movements. I still got confused and had to concentrate really hard on what I was doing to get it right.  Since I don't run anymore, I tired easily.  That's OK.  I figure in a couple of weeks I'll tire less and less which will enable me to complete all the reps.  One item they all wore was a heart rate monitor.  I don't own one. I'm debating whether or not to get one.  I may look into it.

Tomorrow: Day off from working out.

Thursday: Ab Ripper.  And I'm still sore from the Core Synergistics workout.  Hope I'll be able to move tomorrow.

Meditation: I really would like to get a more gentle timer. I jump every time it goes off.  Twenty minutes today.  I drifted here and there, but always gently bringing myself back to my breath. Like yesterday, I gazed at the gentle bright lights I saw behind my eyelids.

Emotional health: Still thinking about the 5 hinderances: lust, aversion,  torpor, restlessness, doubt.  I looked the words up in the Thesaurus on  my computer to get a better understanding of their meaning so I could be better aware of when they popped up. What I understand, is when one of them arises, just stay with it gently like I would the breath and relax; then let it go.  I had the opportunity to practice that last night.  What I did was first walk around the house ranting in my head, going through all the tools I've collected over the last five years, finally ending on just noticing the emotion with detachment. When I released it I felt calmer, nevertheless I had a headache the rest of the night.

F A I T H = Finding Answers In The Heart.

The Seven T's -- Take Time To Think The Thing Through.

Photo called Redon.bouddha off wikapedia

Work outs and a recipe

Work outs. I'm still doing Liangong 18 exercises in the evening. I notice that my thigh muscles are getting stronger.  I have knee problems and have been avoiding knee bends and the like. So I'm being really careful with those particular exercises.

I've also been thinking about doing weight baring exercises because I have thin bones and want to build them up. Then I remembered that my daughter gave me a bunch of work out DVDs.  They are Tony Horton's extreme body workout. I did the Shoulders and Arms DVD today. So far, I'm not hurting. But I probably will tonight.  I have 6 of his DVDs and at this point plan to rotate them.  I figure I'll decide at some point which DVD I want to focus more on. 

My program for physical heath at this time:
Liangong
Extreme body workout
Raw food with lots of greens

I'm still eating 1-2 green smoothies a day and a salad at night.  For snack I tend to go for the nuts or nut dips. I made a great one which I modified from The Complete Book of Raw page 148. They are Mary Hydman's Savory Neat Balls.  Here's my version.

1-2 stalks chopped celery
1/2 cup leeks
1/2 -1 cup carrots
1 cup almonds, soaked and well drained
3/4 cup walnuts, soaked and well drained
1 teaspoon Celtic salt (optional)
2-3 teaspoons shoyu or to taste (I leave out the salt and use more shoyu)
pinch sage
pinch thyme

Put all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.  Taste and adjust spices.
Form into patties or balls and dehydrate until desired texture. 

I dehydrated them the first time and they were great.  This time, I didn't and am using it as a spread.   I also like to put a dab on sliced cucumbers with a couple of olives and a touch of homemade hot sauce.  Another thing I did was make a leek sauce/dressing and use that to dip the dehydrated patties in.

Hope you enjoy them! Until next time!

It’s hard to be hateful when you’re being grateful.

The joy is in the journey, so enjoy the ride.