The symbolic turning of the new year and decade has completely energized me. I've had lots of coffee dates over the past few weeks and am hearing an unanimous cry for something new and inspired. We saw a first glimpse of this with the Obama campaign. His rally for change and hope tapped what I believe people have been seeking for quite some time. There was excitement in the air.
But with the realities of what it takes to make change (time!), it feels like this inspiration has fizzled over the past year. So here we are again, waiting for an inspirational moment in the world. Hoping to have more meaning in our work. Wishing corporate America had more heart. Looking for more simplicity. And an interesting gravitation toward health and wellness.
My challenge to myself and those around me is to keep up the desire to have an amazing year (and decade). If we build it, it will happen. So this requires everyone to have a positive attitude. To keep an optimistic eye on what we dream of. To ask the universe for what we want. To share with one another and collaborate around healthy things. To laugh. To brainstorm. To dream. To abandon fear and make room for the belief that everything is going to be amazing.
I know this borders cheesy, but I truly believe if we all stay inspired and relentless about having a great year, we will.
So let's do it! Here's to 2010 and deeming the next decade the inspired age.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Sunday, December 27, 2009
New Canvas!
With the coming of the new year/decade, I have the exciting opportunity to pursue different passions. At first I was incredibly nervous. What if I don't find a new job? What do I do with all my time?
It's been an interesting few weeks trying to figure out who I am without my daily job. But it's opening my eyes to what really lights my fire. Children. Education. Business development. Local business. Portland. Connecting with people. Creating new communities of people. Yoga. Health and wellness. Nutrition. Family. Giving. Laughter.
Where will this all lead me? I'm so excited to find out! I have a feeling 2010 is going to be the start of an amazing next chapter of my life and I can't wait to see how it unfolds!
It's been an interesting few weeks trying to figure out who I am without my daily job. But it's opening my eyes to what really lights my fire. Children. Education. Business development. Local business. Portland. Connecting with people. Creating new communities of people. Yoga. Health and wellness. Nutrition. Family. Giving. Laughter.
Where will this all lead me? I'm so excited to find out! I have a feeling 2010 is going to be the start of an amazing next chapter of my life and I can't wait to see how it unfolds!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Unsettled
Last night Marlon and I were getting on I-5 by the Rose Quarter to head home for the evening. Within seconds, we heard a loud crash behind us. We’d just missed being in a major accident by inches. I couldn’t understand why the sudden pile up and looked over to see a police car that had stopped traffic suddenly which led to this series of rear endings.
The officer was standing over the body of homeless man who was on the edge of the freeway. He was just sitting with his body slumped over.... not moving. I’m not sure if he was alive. The image was extremely startling. It shook me more than the accident behind us.
How does life get so bad you are slumped over on the side of the freeway?
I’m feeling both broken hearted and unsettled. Not sure what to do, but I will be doing something, that is for certain.
The officer was standing over the body of homeless man who was on the edge of the freeway. He was just sitting with his body slumped over.... not moving. I’m not sure if he was alive. The image was extremely startling. It shook me more than the accident behind us.
How does life get so bad you are slumped over on the side of the freeway?
I’m feeling both broken hearted and unsettled. Not sure what to do, but I will be doing something, that is for certain.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Getting Unstuck
Pema Chodron, an amazing Buddhist nun, deeply, deeply inspires me. She has an acute sensitivity and understanding for the human experience. And she's real, not just rhetoric. She has an incredible sense of humor and is very much attached to reality. You can tell she has lived through the types of experiences she describes, either directly or indirectly.
I've been listening to her speak on a CD called Getting Unstuck, which she also wrote a book with this title. In the portion I listened to tonight, she addressed people's habitual tendency to close down. There is a Buddhist term she used for what pulls the trigger- Shenpa, described as follows:
"Shenpa is the urge, the hook, that triggers our habitual tendency to close down. We get hooked in that moment of tightening when we reach for relief."
She notes we reach for relief in many ways- whether alcohol, self medicating, eating, being critical of others, being critical of ourselves, shopping, or many of the other creative ways we use to escape the uncomfortable moment. We all have our methods :)
Over time, this becomes our habit and common reaction. We program ourselves to react this way in our effort to find relief (or temporary relief). I know for me my reactions are often an undesired state, but I don't know how to change them so they just keep repeating.
Her solution- be in the moment.
"To get unhooked we begin by recognizing that moment of unease and learn to relax in that moment."
So essentially, identify it is happening and then be with it. It seems like a self intervention of sorts. Realize its happening and then relax with what is happening.
This will not change it overnight. We have to do it over and over and over again. But then we reprogram and we start to empower what she calls our "wisdom guide," which is our own mind. I love that!
I'm still trying to get my arms around all this, but the concept of Shenpa, getting unstuck and having our own inner "wisdom guide" is very interesting to me. As I learn more I'll share.
In the meantime, if you want to read more, see...
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1610&Itemid=247
And there is also the book and CD- both titled Getting Unstuck.
Excerpt from above piece by Chodron:
The Tibetan word for this is shenpa. It is usually translated "attachment," but a more descriptive translation might be "hooked." When shenpa hooks us, we're likely to get stuck. We could call shenpa "that sticky feeling." It's an everyday experience. Even a spot on your new sweater can take you there. At the subtlest level, we feel a tightening, a tensing, a sense of closing down.
Then we feel a sense of withdrawing, not wanting to be where we are. That's the hooked quality. That tight feeling has the power to hook us into self-denigration, blame, anger, jealousy and other emotions which lead to words and actions that end up poisoning us.
Remember the fairy tale in which toads hop out of the princess's mouth whenever she starts to say mean words? That's how being hooked can feel. Yet we don't stop—we can't stop—because we're in the habit of associating whatever we're doing with relief from our own discomfort. This is the shenpa syndrome. The word "attachment" doesn't quite translate what's happening. It's a quality of experience that's not easy to describe but which everyone knows well. Shenpa is usually involuntary and it gets right to the root of why we suffer.
Someone looks at us in a certain way, or we hear a certain song, we smell a certain smell, we walk into a certain room and boom. The feeling has nothing to do with the present, and nevertheless, there it is.
Shenpa thrives on the underlying insecurity of living in a world that is always changing. We experience this insecurity as a background of slight unease or restlessness. We all want some kind of relief from that unease, so we turn to what we enjoy—food, alcohol, drugs, sex, work or shopping. In moderation what we enjoy might be very delightful. We can appreciate its taste and its presence in our life. But when we empower it with the idea that it will bring us comfort, that it will remove our unease, we get hooked.
I've been listening to her speak on a CD called Getting Unstuck, which she also wrote a book with this title. In the portion I listened to tonight, she addressed people's habitual tendency to close down. There is a Buddhist term she used for what pulls the trigger- Shenpa, described as follows:
"Shenpa is the urge, the hook, that triggers our habitual tendency to close down. We get hooked in that moment of tightening when we reach for relief."
She notes we reach for relief in many ways- whether alcohol, self medicating, eating, being critical of others, being critical of ourselves, shopping, or many of the other creative ways we use to escape the uncomfortable moment. We all have our methods :)
Over time, this becomes our habit and common reaction. We program ourselves to react this way in our effort to find relief (or temporary relief). I know for me my reactions are often an undesired state, but I don't know how to change them so they just keep repeating.
Her solution- be in the moment.
"To get unhooked we begin by recognizing that moment of unease and learn to relax in that moment."
So essentially, identify it is happening and then be with it. It seems like a self intervention of sorts. Realize its happening and then relax with what is happening.
This will not change it overnight. We have to do it over and over and over again. But then we reprogram and we start to empower what she calls our "wisdom guide," which is our own mind. I love that!
I'm still trying to get my arms around all this, but the concept of Shenpa, getting unstuck and having our own inner "wisdom guide" is very interesting to me. As I learn more I'll share.
In the meantime, if you want to read more, see...
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1610&Itemid=247
And there is also the book and CD- both titled Getting Unstuck.
Excerpt from above piece by Chodron:
The Tibetan word for this is shenpa. It is usually translated "attachment," but a more descriptive translation might be "hooked." When shenpa hooks us, we're likely to get stuck. We could call shenpa "that sticky feeling." It's an everyday experience. Even a spot on your new sweater can take you there. At the subtlest level, we feel a tightening, a tensing, a sense of closing down.
Then we feel a sense of withdrawing, not wanting to be where we are. That's the hooked quality. That tight feeling has the power to hook us into self-denigration, blame, anger, jealousy and other emotions which lead to words and actions that end up poisoning us.
Remember the fairy tale in which toads hop out of the princess's mouth whenever she starts to say mean words? That's how being hooked can feel. Yet we don't stop—we can't stop—because we're in the habit of associating whatever we're doing with relief from our own discomfort. This is the shenpa syndrome. The word "attachment" doesn't quite translate what's happening. It's a quality of experience that's not easy to describe but which everyone knows well. Shenpa is usually involuntary and it gets right to the root of why we suffer.
Someone looks at us in a certain way, or we hear a certain song, we smell a certain smell, we walk into a certain room and boom. The feeling has nothing to do with the present, and nevertheless, there it is.
Shenpa thrives on the underlying insecurity of living in a world that is always changing. We experience this insecurity as a background of slight unease or restlessness. We all want some kind of relief from that unease, so we turn to what we enjoy—food, alcohol, drugs, sex, work or shopping. In moderation what we enjoy might be very delightful. We can appreciate its taste and its presence in our life. But when we empower it with the idea that it will bring us comfort, that it will remove our unease, we get hooked.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Love, Anger and the Immune System
I'm reading a book about highly sensitive people. In case you haven't noticed, I am one :)
More on that later.
I just read an interesting bit on the effects of the exposure of love and anger on the immune system. A Harvard scientist named David Mclelland conducted a research study which showed watching anger-provoking movies suppressed the immune system (measured by chemicals in the saliva) for five to six hours in the subjects. On the flip side, watching the compassionate work of Mother Teresa caused elevation of the immune system levels.
Clear evidence that we must manage our exposure to stress for the sake of our health. Not surprising, but the physiological evidence always has a greater impact on my motivation to take things more seriously.
So I am off to find movies about Mother Teresa, butterflies and unicorns.
Have a lovely day!
More on that later.
I just read an interesting bit on the effects of the exposure of love and anger on the immune system. A Harvard scientist named David Mclelland conducted a research study which showed watching anger-provoking movies suppressed the immune system (measured by chemicals in the saliva) for five to six hours in the subjects. On the flip side, watching the compassionate work of Mother Teresa caused elevation of the immune system levels.
Clear evidence that we must manage our exposure to stress for the sake of our health. Not surprising, but the physiological evidence always has a greater impact on my motivation to take things more seriously.
So I am off to find movies about Mother Teresa, butterflies and unicorns.
Have a lovely day!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Gluten-Free
Wow! It has been a while. Gotta pick the pace back up.
I was inspired to write tonight by some delicious gluten-free cookies I discovered. The brand is "The Craving's Place" which I found at New Seasons (you mix & bake). Chocolate Chunk... yum!
So why gluten-free? A couple years ago my acupuncturist mentioned gluten can create a wet towel effect in the intestines. This past year I read a book called "The Mood Cure" which discusses how to regulate emotions and energy with food and amino acids. She outlines several bad mood foods, including gluten (gluten= flour, wheat, oats, barley and rye).
What's the issue? "Gluten (think glue) can irritate, inflame and rupture the lining of the digestive tract, to the point that the nutrients of food don't get absorbed well (or sometimes at all)." This in turn disrupts digestion and can cause malnutrition. She maps back to all kinds of problems- from digestive to headaches, depression and colon cancer. Eek!
I tested giving them up and very quickly felt like a new person. My stomach and intestines felt lighter. My digestion was better. My skin improved GREATLY. And I had more energy.
When I eat now (yes, I sneak) I get a terrible stomach ache and my skin sometimes is impacted.
It's been very interesting. I'm definitely glad to be gluten-free. But do sneak a piece of bread or slice of pizza... it's worth the pain from time to time. :)
The good news is I am discovering more and more options, so sneaking may not be necessary soon.
If you are interested in the book, see:
http://www.amazon.com/Mood-Cure-4-Step-Program-Emotions-Today/dp/0142003646/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251872585&sr=8-1
And if you want gluten-free recommendations, let me know. I also love recommendations so please pass along!
I was inspired to write tonight by some delicious gluten-free cookies I discovered. The brand is "The Craving's Place" which I found at New Seasons (you mix & bake). Chocolate Chunk... yum!
So why gluten-free? A couple years ago my acupuncturist mentioned gluten can create a wet towel effect in the intestines. This past year I read a book called "The Mood Cure" which discusses how to regulate emotions and energy with food and amino acids. She outlines several bad mood foods, including gluten (gluten= flour, wheat, oats, barley and rye).
What's the issue? "Gluten (think glue) can irritate, inflame and rupture the lining of the digestive tract, to the point that the nutrients of food don't get absorbed well (or sometimes at all)." This in turn disrupts digestion and can cause malnutrition. She maps back to all kinds of problems- from digestive to headaches, depression and colon cancer. Eek!
I tested giving them up and very quickly felt like a new person. My stomach and intestines felt lighter. My digestion was better. My skin improved GREATLY. And I had more energy.
When I eat now (yes, I sneak) I get a terrible stomach ache and my skin sometimes is impacted.
It's been very interesting. I'm definitely glad to be gluten-free. But do sneak a piece of bread or slice of pizza... it's worth the pain from time to time. :)
The good news is I am discovering more and more options, so sneaking may not be necessary soon.
If you are interested in the book, see:
http://www.amazon.com/Mood-Cure-4-Step-Program-Emotions-Today/dp/0142003646/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251872585&sr=8-1
And if you want gluten-free recommendations, let me know. I also love recommendations so please pass along!
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