To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
~ Bessie Stanley
tags: poetry 
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People hear the word meditation and they think they need to go to a class, sit in lotus position, and say ‘om’. Sometimes they think they don’t have enough time or that their mind whirls around like a 100 drunken monkeys playing musical chairs with 99 donkeys.
Truth is, meditation comes in many forms. Whatever gets your mind off your day – a brisk walk around the block, going window shopping, flipping through a magazine, or relaxing in a bath with essential oils – is capable of reducing stress in the similar ways as traditional forms of meditation.
For those interested in meditation as a means to help quiet the ‘monkey mind’, you can do so by simply bringing more awareness into daily activities like washing the dishes. Let washing the dishes be the focus of your attention. If you find your mind wandering, gently say ‘wandering’ and return to washing dishes.
When you encourage your mind to relax, your body gets the signal that it is okay to repair itself. It’s the opposite of the flight-or-fight response. Heart rate and blood pressure drop, your immune system becomes more active, digestion smoothes, and all of this helps stress levels decrease.
When we’re overstress, we’re walking through life in a semiconscious state. We’re surviving by going through the motions. By reminding yourself of the present moment, you’re building your resilience to stress, calming the nervous system, which will make you better able to manage it.
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Miso is made from fermented soy beans. It is a good source of iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, some B vitamins, and protein. Miso also facilitated the body’s absorption of calcium and mangesium. Touted for centuries as a folk remedy for weak digestion, miso’s reputation as one of nature’s most healing foods is now being confirmed by modern medical science. The consumption of soy foods and isoflavones have been positively linked to improved mental function, protection against osteroarthritis and stabilized blood sugar levels in diabetics.
3 ounces dried soba noodles
2-4 tablespoons miso paste (to taste)
2-3 ounces firm tofu, chopped into 1/3-inch cubes
2 green onions, tops removed thinly sliced
a handful of spinach, stems trimmed
a small handful of cilantro
a pinch of red pepper flakes
Cook soba noodles in salted water, drain, run cold water over the noodles to stop them from cooking, shake off any excess water and set aside.
In a medium sauce pan bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and remove from heat. Pour a bit of the hot water into a small bowl and whisk in the miso paste – so it thins out a bit (this step is to avoid clumping). Stir this back into the pot. Taste, and then add more (the same way) a bit at a time until it is to your liking.
Also, some miso pastes are less-salty than others so you may need to add a bit of salt here. Add the tofu, remove from heat, and let sit for just a minute or so.
Split the noodles between two (or three) bowls, pour the miso broth and tofu over them. Add some spinach, green onions, cilantro, and red pepper flakes to each bowl. Enjoy!
Serves 2-3
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Whether you are trying to eat better, exercise more or connect with loved ones, be sure to prioritize enjoyment, says Joan Borysenko, author of Inner Peace for Busy Women. “When I’m forming a new health habit, it doesn’t work for me unless it brings me pleasure,” she says. “If it feels like duty, I just let it go after a while. So I try to find a way to have fun getting healthy. To get exercise, I go outside and romp around with my dogs.”
Remember, being creative is part of the fun.
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Shifting away from negative emotional patterns can directly benefit your health, says practicing cardiologist Mimi Guarneri, M.D., medical director at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine. Anger, for instance, floods the system with stress hormones that suppress the immune system, raise blood pressure, create arrhythmia, and even increase the risk of cancer.
Changing your ways isn’t simple. “The hardest journey to make is the 18 inches from your head to your heart,” notes Gaurneri. But it’s easier when you let gratitude be your guide. “Every night before bed, list 10 things that you have to be thankful for,” she says. “You’ll quickly realize that though your life is not perfect, you have a lot. And you’ll gain a real sense of wellness.”
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Buddhist psychology begins by deliberately cultivating respect, starting with ourselves. When we bring respect and honor to those around us, we open a channel to their own goodness. Often in these cynical times, we might think of original goodness as merely an uplifting phrase. But through its lens we discover a different way of seeing and being – one whose aim is to transform our world.
PRACTICE: SEEING THE INNER NOBILITY AND BEAUTY OF ALL BEINGS
Pick a day when you awaken in a fine mood, when your heart is open to the world. Set the clear intention that you will look for the inner nobility of three people. Carry that intention in your heart as you interact with them. As you become more naturally able to see the secret goodness, expand your practice from daily to weekly to monthy.
This excerpt from The Wise Heart was graciously reprinted with permission by the author Jack Kornfield.
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Cold season is here and one of the best ways to ward off the bug is to eat loads of heart-healthy garlic, affectionately called “the stinking rose”. Whole books have been written about garlic in light of it’s numerous therapeutic benefits. Garlic is an excellent source of manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and a good source of selenium. One reason for garlic’s beneficial effects may be its ability to lesson the amount of free radicals present in the bloodstream.
1 pound cranberry beans*
8 cups water
15 medium cloves of garlic, peeled and trimmed
2 large shallots
2-3 dried smoked chiles (like serrano or chipolte)
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
a drizzle of olive oil
a small handful fo cilantro, chopped
a couple of handfuls of a grated, hard salty cheese
Soak the beans overnight. Before soaking, give them a good rinse. Look carefully for any pepples or dirt clumps. Cover with a few extra inches of water. When you are ready to use the beans, drain them and rinse again. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the rack near the bottom of the oven.
Put the beans, water, garlic, shallots, and chiles in an oven-proof pot or casserole dish -preferably one with an oven-proof lid. Place the pot on a rimmed baking sheet and place in the oven for two hours, or until beans are nice and tender.
After the first hour check every twenty minutes are so. When the beans are done, pull the pot out of the oven and season generously with salt. Stir and taste. The beans need some time to take in the saltier broth, so once you have the broth seasoned just right let the soup sit there on the top of the stove, covered, for another ten minutes or so.
Taste and adjust for seasoning one more time and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. To serve, first ladle a generous scoop of beans into each bowl. Follow with the broth to cover. Sprinkle with cilantro and cheese.
Serves 4 to 6
*I like Rancho Gordo’s Barlotti beans because they are fresh crop dried beans. They can be ordered on-line. At the same time, any beans from the cranberry family will do nicely.
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Each time you climb to a higher vantage point the range of your vision is enlarged and your understanding of your entire situation is altered. You see things from a more encompassing perspective which allows you to be less concerned and anxious and enables you to relate to your environment in terms of how it really is rather than how you imagined it to be from a more limited point of view.
- Swami Rama and Swami Ajaya, Creative Use of Emotions
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“What is Real?” asked the Velveteen Rabbit. “Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It is a thing that happens to you when a child loves you for a long, long time. Not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become Real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit. “Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he is always truthful. “When you are real, you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up?” he asked. “Or bit by bit.”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen to toys who break easily or have sharp edges or have to be carefully kept. By the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and are very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all because once you are real, you can’t be ugly except to people who don’t understand.”
- From The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
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Pain is full of information about what is wrong and what is needed. Staying with pain can be a powerful tool. By alleviating it too quickly, the chance to study the underlying core beliefs is lost and old patterns go unchanged.
All of us avoid contact with discomfort by creating noise in the form of distractions and diversions. By focusing elsewhere, we’re able to temporarily turn the volume down on painful feelings. There is no shame in this. It’s a self-protective function.
It takes courage and heart to face pain. During difficult times, these qualities can be a challenge to find. In such cases, it is not unusual to borrow another’s compassion until we are able to resource it within ourselves. Therapy is good example of this type of “borrowing”, as is reaching out to a friend for comfort.
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