#552 The Greatest Risk of All

     "There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction."          John F. Kennedy

     I'll never forget the video clip I saw on TV of an old donkey that labored all its life drawing water from a well, by walking in a circle, pushing a long pole. When it was old and spent, they untied the donkey. What did it do? It kept walking in a circle.
     In large poultry operations, chickens are kept their entire lives in a tiny cage, laying eggs or rapidly fattening-up for slaughter. Quality of life - for chickens, farm workers, & consumers - is efficiently minimized to maximize rapid profit. Most of us, much like the chickens, don't know & don't care. Work, eat, sleep, die - comfortable inaction of "a life unexamined".

     There are healthy alternatives! We can intentionally become more aware, more conscious - buy free-range chicken, free-range eggs, we can become vegetarian, we can become vegan. We do NOT have to go along with every dysfunctional consumer trend like zombies!

     "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."          Henry David Thoreau
 
     While it's very easy to become "comfortably numb" from routine work, especially in a consumer society, our quality of life depends on our creativity & other aspects of our evolving consciousness. We don't have to physically go elsewhere, but do have to WAKE UP!
     We can & must live an "undivided life" - from our deepest core values. Nothing else is worth our life!

#551 Primary Goal Selects our Operating System

     If your primary (overriding) objective is to escape from a burning building, most likely you'll be in full fight-or-flight mode.
     If your primary (overriding) objective is to excell
          • in competitive sports
          • in academics
          • in your profession
          • financially
you will most likely be in the fight-or-flight mode to varying degrees much of the time. These are challenging, competitive (adversarial) pursuits. In order to achieve a coveted material goal, as quickly as possible, people devote pretty well all the time, energy, & other resources they have. There's urgent egocentric striving, whether the fire is "in the belly" to become CEO by age 25, or is in your house & you're desperate to escape. Many live such "a life unexamined", which at some point they realize, was not worth it.
          However, if your primary (overriding) objective is to live as an evolved human being, most of your attention will be on the people and environment right now, relating to them appropriately. There is no struggle against competitors to achieve this. It's a lifelong project & company is very welcome. If you also want to achieve one of the material objectives above eg academics, you will approach it as an evolved human being - in a friendly, collegial, collaborative manner - rather than as an obsessed, self-centered, aggressive cave-man. Your operating system does not need to devolve to succeed in the world. See: http://www.johnlovas.com/2014/05/establishing-new-way-of-being.html

     We still have cave-women & cave-men among us. Such folks believe that being an evolved human being is incompatible with "success" in the "real" world. They believe that cheating, lying, bribery, stealing, bullying etc are necessary, and only the simple-minded reject these. "Greed is good" & "Win at any cost."

     Which is my path: the low road of "wise guys" or the high road of the wisdom traditions?  
     What is my primary goal & overriding operating system?

Human-powered boat day, Venice, June 2014

#550 Mindfulness - State or Trait?

     "Passing states like joy, fear, excitement, or depression come and go like the weather. But enduring traits, like reliability or empathy or natural mindfulness, are more stable, and thus more dependable from moment to moment. Certain qualities can take the form of a state or a trait. Consider happiness, for example. Positive experiences might make you happy for an hour or a day, but as soon as the state passes, the feeling fades as well. By contrast, the trait of happiness, the enduring sense of subjective well-being, doesn’t come and go but abides as the backdrop and flavor of all your experiences. 
     Meditation that just induces a pleasant emotional or mental state for as long as you’re practicing, a state that then fades when you stand up and go about your day, has only limited value in the stress and strain of ordinary life. The purpose of mindfulness meditation is to cultivate & strengthen the TRAIT of mindfulness — enhanced present moment awareness — so you can extend it to every situation you encounter, no matter how challenging, and reap the ongoing benefits.
     ... The results of (this) study suggest that mindfulness intervenes in several ways in the usual stress cycle: by helping with the regulation of negative emotions that tend to intensify stress and by enhancing restful sleep, which in turn tends to moderate stress. ... Of course, for those of us who don’t score high on natural mindfulness, there’s always the practice of mindfulness meditation!"                     Stephan Bodian

http://www.mentalworkout.com/blog/2013/12/05/mindfulness-state-or-trait/

Garage, Rome, Italy

#549 What Operating System am I Running on Now?

     We have 2 very different "ways of being in the world" depending on which of the 2 very different parts of our brain (operating system) is directing our thoughts, words & behavior: 
          1) a primitive brain stem, we share with reptiles & other animals, that permits a very basic level of functioning
          2) a highly evolved prefrontal cortex that, permits a much more sophisticated, evolved level of behavior - that of homo sapiens sapiens.

     One of these always dominates. Some human beings live the highest quality of life possible, which includes helping the rest of humanity evolve to enjoy the same optimal quality of life. Other fellow humans experience "a living hell" continuously butchering each other, like crazed animals. 
     Most of us are somewhere in between - sometimes inspiring, generally just muddling along, & at times we're (justifiably) ashamed of ourselves. How can we be inspiring more often & filled with regret less often?
     We can all learn to PHYSICALLY FEEL which operating system (part of our brain) is operating AND we can TRAIN to engage our more highly evolved operating system more & more consistently, to optimize our own & others' short & precious lives. It's all part of mindfulness training.

Mado   www.fredmiranda.com

#548 Is being Cynical the same as Realistic?

     How often do we hear an uplifting story or an interesting plan of action quickly drowned out by someone's pessimistic or sarcastic putdown? Cynics believe that their worldview is accurate, and assume that the rest of us can't see how harsh life really is.
     Fear, anger & aggression dominates such peoples' lives - the egocentric, adversarial approach. And yes, life is indeed brutish in this primitive, yet all too common mode. The 2013 movie "August: Osage County" nicely illustrates this mindset within a family. This quality of relating is also common in the world's troubled hotspots, where groups have been slaughtering each other for generations. They clamor for revenge, "make the enemy pay", "make them suffer"! They don't understand that "doing more of what doesn't work, and expecting different results" is not just unreasonable, but the definition of insanity. But suggesting to either side that the "eye for an eye" approach hasn't, doesn't & won't work evokes indignant rage! Leaders of such warring groups may inspire rabid followers, but their obvious lack of emotional / spiritual intelligence ensures severe continuous widespread suffering.
     All the wisdom traditions guide us to let go of egocentric, adversarial orientation and open ourselves to a loving, nurturing relationship with all of humanity, all creatures, all of the world. This requires a qualitative shift in our operating system - from reptilian, to homo sapiens sapiens.
     From the evolved homo sapiens sapiens perspective, our more common, reptilian (fear-based egocentric adversarial) way of being appears ridiculous - and vice versa! Therefore, many aspects of mindfulness may initially seem somewhat puzzling or even counterintuitive.

Beast & Prey, Rome, Italy

#547 Where Am I Now?

     As we gradually mature as human beings, we become increasingly aware of where we are - moment-by-moment - in two major dimensions, AND progressively, intentionally shift from the former to the more conscious, evolved latter:

          • am I pretending that I & everything else will last forever OR consciously aware that everything is in a constant state of change & flux?

          • am I being selfish OR appropriately nurturing our People, our Creatures, our Home?

       Mindfulness training promotes the above fundamental shift to a more evolved "operating system".

Perspective

#546 Armor - Rigid, Antiquated, Isolating Protection

     Chronic muscular tension in our face (clenching, bruxing, splinted speech), neck, shoulders, upper back, lower back, fists, etc is one form of amoring. This is the most primitive form of armor, physically protecting the assumed fragile self from an assumed hostile world.
     More consciously, we tailor our speech & behavior to present a persona (theatrical mask) - how we'd like others to perceive us, hiding the "real me", assumed to be less- or frankly unacceptable.
     Underlying all of this, is our sense of self and our worldview. How aware are we of these two core aspects of our being? How much time and effort do we devote to actively, intentionally investigate "who am I?" and "what is this?"? Can one possibly live a congruent, "undivided" life if one avoids these basics?
     To the extent that we consciously, intentionally, actively OPEN ourselves to these fundamentals, we DE-ARMOR to ourselves AND others. Though initially this feels vulnerable, it is in fact a move towards mental health, maturation, genuine strength, & wisdom.

Jasmine, San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy

#545 Knowing What Nourishes

     Rarely, life circumstances remain consistently pleasant for a brief period, maybe a day or two. But I don't think we really enjoy, nor thrive, under tepid conditions.
     A physiological level of challenge - one that stimulates our growth & evolution - seems ideal. Periodically, we do appreciate a rest from challenge, but not for long. Our need for a sense of agency and of "getting somewhere", has us seeking challenges.
     This also applies to meditation practice (although "getting somewhere" undergoes quite a shift). Initially, we may start practicing in order to better self-regulate. After we've made some progress managing stress, we delve into self-discovery - who am I? The next challenge - self-liberation.
     See: http://www.johnlovas.com/2014/03/evolution-of-human-consciousness.html 
     Also: http://www.johnlovas.com/2014/07/sitting-in-fire.html

     We are our own personal life coach / sports psychologist. As such, we need to gently, persistently ensure that we travel the path that optimally nourishes our evolution as human beings.
    

Taverna Squarcialupi, Castellina, Chianti, Italy - Fine dining experience

#544 We're Dumber AND Wiser than we Assume

     If we look back - clearly & honestly - at some (much?) of our past behavior, we're likely to be (I certainly am) grateful that anyone's stuck by us - friends or family! This is not humility, just the humbling clarity of 20:20 hindsight.
     Longstanding meditation practice is nicely described by the late Zen teacher, Shunryu Suzuki as: "one embarrassment after another!" We learn to let go of our inflated (armored) egos, we learn to open our mind-hearts towards others who are "perfectly human" like us, and thus we do actually become a bit wiser.

      “When I find myself full of fear or desire, I remember that I am dealing with a brain and nervous system that has been hard-wired for millions of years for these emotions. Then I apply one of my favorite mantras, ‘I’m perfectly human.’ When I sit in meditation as a human being rather than as an individual, I feel I am part of a collective effort on the part of our species to right itself, to find a new sanity. As Robert Thurman says of meditation, ‘It’s evolutionary sport.’ In the light of that big perspective, I thank you for being on my team.”      Wes Nisker

     See: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2014/02/492-mindfulness-practice-real-world.html

Maryanne Gobble, National Geographic   http://photography.nationalgeographic.com