A Different Walk

In May, I wrote about a walk I took in my neighborhood.  These are some of the pictures I snapped that morning.

Today I took another walk.  This time I strolled along some of the bigger city streets.  My pictures from today are very different from those I took in May.
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 So sad.  It is a never ending service opportunity though.
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Silencing the Mind

When I am miserable it is usually because my mind is full of negative, discounting messages. That might happen because I’ve done or said something I think was wrong or stupid, because I am worrying about some future event, or because I’m upset about something someone else has done. I have to admit that when I am stressed and/or miserable, I am likely to go to the store and buy a big cookie, a doughnut, chocolate or ice cream!

While sugar is all too often part of my “fix”, I generally don’t stop there. I have learned many things over the years about quieting the mind. As I remember the teachings, or use the techniques I have been taught, my inner critic tends to calm down. Continue reading “Silencing the Mind” →

What Self-Love Means

I found this incredible post about self-love today.  I am sending it to all of my psychotherapy clients, and thought many of you would find it valuable as well.
I am republishing it with permission from tinybuddha.com. You can find the original post here.”
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What Self-Love Means: 20+ Ways to Be Good to Yourself
by Banu Sekendur

Heart-with-Hands“Self-love requires you to be honest about your current choices and thought patterns and undertake new practices that reflect self-worth.” ~Caroline Kirk

If one more person told me to go love myself I was going to levitate into the air and pull one of those impossible martial arts moves from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I was sick of it!

What the heck does loving myself mean? Were they talking about bubble baths, pedicures, and cucumber masks? It turns out there is so much more to self-love than just pampering ourselves. I found this out the hard way. Continue reading “What Self-Love Means” →

संस्कृतभारतीशिबिरम्

Last week I went to Sanskrita Bharati camp for three days.
गतसप्ताहे दिनत्रयम् अहं संस्कृत- भारती-शिबिरम् अगच्छम्

I did not tell my Sanskrit teacher.
मम संस्कृत-अध्यापिकां न अवदम् |

I desired to make her surprised.
अहं तां विस्मयं कर्तुं इष्टवती |

The people in the camp were wonderful.
जनाः शिबिरे अद्भुताः आसन् |

All the classes were only in Sanskrit, no English
सर्वे वर्गा: संस्कृते एव, न आङ्ग्ले |

My teachers were Padmakumar from NYC and Nitish from Portland.
द्वौ अद्यापकौ पद्मकुमर: New York-नगरतः नितीषः Portland-नगरतः च आस्ताम् |

I understood more Sanskrit than last year.
अहं गतवर्षस्य अपेक्षया इतोपि संस्कृतं आवगच्छम् |

In the camp, I learned a lot more Sanskrit.
शिबिरे अहं बहु संस्कृतं अपठम् |

I am very happy
मम बहु सन्तोषः अस्ति

 

Quote of the Week: Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas_K._Gandhi,_portrait
Photo Credit: Wikimedia

 

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.

— Mahatma Gandhi

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi, Volume X: The Last Phase, Part II (Ahmedabad: Navajivan, 1958), page 552

 

Dungeon Prompts: What is Your Concept of God?

Sreejit started his third season of Dungeon Prompts with quite a challenge! He wrote:

There are so many different concepts of what God is that we are forced to philosophically dissect and explain our own notion of the word before we can even talk about it.  Often the westerner is not conceptualizing the easterner’s view and vice versa and though one may be devout and faithful in their own religion they would be considered crazy by another’s standards.  So what is your concept of God and what is His/Her/Its impact on or necessity in your life.

My beliefs about God have changed numerous times in my life. During childhood and into my college years, I was involved in the Christian church in various forms. My mother’s church was very liberal, but during the 10th grade I went to a Billy Graham crusade in Hawaii and became “born again.” During those years when I considered God, I probably thought of his love and also of the need for me to be free from sin. Continue reading “Dungeon Prompts: What is Your Concept of God?” →

Feeding a Fledging

I saw this video at Amma’s Toronto programs last month.  It touched my heart so much then.  When I received a copy of it a few minutes ago, I knew I wanted to share it with all of you.

The video came with this introduction:

Recently, a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest was brought to Amma during darshan. After feeding the bird, Amma said that its pathetic condition and heartfelt cries reminded her of all the suffering being experienced throughout the world and how the only way to rid the world of such suffering is through the awakening of compassion: “Children, the tears of those suffering from extreme poverty and other misfortunes, as well as of those who have more than enough materially but are still crying out deep within, can only be dried by pure love and compassion. May that compassion awaken in everyone, everywhere.

Amma feeding a fledgling