UN Earth Summit (12 year old Severn Suzuki)

A video of the five-minute talk by 12-year old Severn Suzuki that put the adults to shame, from the UN Earth Summit 1992 in Rio de Janeiro.

Video Transcript

Hello, I’m Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. – The Environmental Children’s Organisation.

We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference: Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We've raised all the money to come here ourselves, to come five thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.

Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.

I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.

I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go.

I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don’t know what chemicals are in it.

I used to go fishing in Vancouver, my home, with my dad, until just a few years ago, we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear of animals and plants going extinct every day – vanishing forever.

In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterfilies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.

Did you have to worry of things when you were my age?

All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I’m only a child and I don’t have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!

You don’t know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.

You don’t know how to bring the salmon back up a dead stream.

You don’t know how to bring back an animal now extinct.

And you can’t bring back the forests that once grew where there is now a desert.

If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!

Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organisers, reporters or politicians – but really you are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles – and all of you are somebody’s child.

I’m only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong – borders and governments will never change that.

I’m only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.

In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid of telling the world how I feel.

In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, buy and throw away and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to share. We are afraid to let go of some of our wealth.

In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter – we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets. The list could go on.

Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets. This is what one child told us: “I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicines, shelter and love and affection.”

If a child on the streets who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everything still so greedy?

I can’t stop thinking that these are children my own age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; or a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.

I am only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on finding environmental answers, ending poverty, and finding treaties, what a wonderful place this earth would be!

At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us how to behave in the world. You teach us:
– not to fight with others,
– to work things out,
– to respect others,
– to clean up our mess,
– not to hurt other creatures,
– to share, not be greedy.

Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?

Do not forget why you’re attending these conferences, who you’re doing this for – we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we are growing up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying “everyting’s going to be alright” , “it’s not the end of the world” and “we’re doing the best we can”.

But I don’t think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says “You are what you do, not what you say.”

Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us. But I challenge you, please, make your actions reflect your words. Thank you.

This was shared originally on Buddhist Travellers in 2010.

Forgetfulness

Sometimes

Sometimes I think
the Navajo had it right…
there has only ever been
one wind in the world.

One wind blowing for all time,
one wind touching all of us,
one wind moving in all of us,
one wind we call many names.

I don’t know any other way
to explain how seeing you,
outside, the wind in your hair,
could seem like the whole world.

—Peregrine
http://youreyesblazeout.tumblr.com


Rain

I love all films that start with rain:

rain, braiding a windowpane

or darkening a hung-out dress

or streaming down her upturned face;

one big thundering downpour
right through the empty script and score

before the act, before the blame,

before the lens pulls through the frame



to where the woman sits alone

beside a silent telephone

or the dress lies ruined on the grass

or the girl walks off the overpass,
 


and all things flow out from that source

along their fatal watercourse.

However bad or overlong

such a film can do no wrong,
 


so when his native twang shows through

or when the boom dips into view
or when her speech starts to betray

its adaptation from the play,



I think to when we opened cold

on a starlit gutter, running gold 

with the neon of a drugstore sign

and I’d read into its blazing line:

forget the ink, the milk, the blood —

all was washed clean with the flood

we rose up from the falling waters

the fallen rain’s own sons and daughters

and none of this, none of this matters.

—Don Paterson


Emptying Out

this poem didn't come from me, poems never do,
it didn't come by thinking what was pleasing, what was true,
it came by unannounced because that's what poems do,
and it left me just as quickly paddling in the blue.

—okei


In that Great River

I don’t write poetry when I wish,
I write when I can’t,
when my larynx is flooded
and my throat is shut.

—Anna Kamieńska, (June 2010)
“In That Great River: A Notebook”


Forgetfulness

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Long ago you kissed the names of the nine muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,
something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue
or even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

—Billy Collins


Loving You

I take it all back. Life is boring,
except for flowers, sunshine, your perfect legs.
A glass of cold water when you are really thirsty.
The way bodies fit together. Fresh and young and sweet.
Coffee in the morning. These are just moments.
I struggle with the in-betweens.
I just want to never stop loving 
like there is nothing else to do,
because what else is there to do?

—Neruda

From the Longest & Shortest Shadows

Midnight Lines

When the tendency to love is greater than the tendency to fear, 
When the will to heart is greater than the will to power, 
When the inner journey becomes the outer adventure, 
When words carry stillness overflowing with meaning, 
When feelings bring peace overflowing with wisdom, 
When time stops, then we will know 
What dreams we had, what times unknowing, 
What worlds once sad, joy overflowing.

—okei (10th May)

Midday Lines

You are

You are

You are

Amazing

Anything

you want

to be

You are

Each -v-

around

your star

Ablazing

Form free

in fragile

flight

Aphrasing

You are

You are

You are

You are!

—okei (24th May)

Image: 'Magic Gateway' by Jeremiah Morelli

Desiderata of Max Ehrmann & The Art of Marie Stillman

Art of the female Pre-Raphaelite painter Marie Euphrosyne Spartali Stillman (1844-1927). The year she died is also the year Max Ehrmann wrote his most famous poem 'Desiderata', read here in the background. The music is the gypsy beat of 'Mahalageasca' by Mahala Rai Banda.

 

 
Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Spiritual Creativity (Oriah Mountain Dreamer)

SEEING WHAT YOU ACHE FOR

In "What We Ache For" I write about the process of finding and doing your creative work. For me,
writing is the creative expression that allows me to touch and co-create the meaning and beauty
I ache for. I know this because when I am writing I never feel I should be doing anything else,
be anywhere else or be other than I am. And this is joy. Although I am usually alone when I am
writing, I never feel lonely; writing connects me to both my essential inner self and the world
around me. Loneliness is a loss of connection with the self that knows its belonging. It can be
felt when we are with others. It can be banished when we deeply engage in creative work that
feeds us.

How would you complete the phrase: I never feel I should be doing anything else when I am…?
Can you think of more than one way to finish this sentence? If so, is there a common element
to what you describe? Is it the nature of the activities, what motivates you to do them, how you
feel when you are engaged in them, where they take place, or some other aspect? What does
this tell you about your own path to happiness?

Set aside a set period of time (minimum ten to fifteen minutes) and repeatedly complete the following phrases, substituting for the word “write” the things that came to mind when you considered the question above.

When I write, I feel….

When I write, I see….

When I write, I discover. . . .

I am never lonely when I am….

I ache for….

Write in response to the question: Why do I write? (or paint or
compose or dance . . . . or do any form of creative work.)


Mirror Image

Many years ago I apprenticed with a spiritual teacher who used to hand out what he called
Warrior Task Assignments. This was a very grand sounding term for tasks given to students
to help them shift out of their habitual ways of doing and seeing in order to become more
fully present and available to life’s experiences. One of these assignments was to do your
normal daily activities one hundred and eighty degrees from the way you were used to doing
them for one whole month. The only rule was to do no harm to yourself or someone else. So,
if you normally slept in until the last possible moment, you were required to get up an hour
early. If you were habitually early for things, you were to arrive late. If you usually planned
your meals carefully, you were to eat whatever happened to be available when mealtime
rolled around. If you normally went to work well coifed and stylishly dressed, you went in
without make-up in an old sweat suit. You get the idea.

Write a story about spending one day doing every-
thing opposite to your usual habits. It may help to
write in the third person. Imagine how others around
you would react. Fill in the sensory details and let
your imagination conjure the experience. How would
it feel to do things differently? Liberating? Oppres-
sive? Depressing? Sinful? Disorienting? Where would
it not matter and where would it be very difficult? In
what things would it seem almost impossible? Let your
writing allow you to step away from your habitual
ways of doing things and imagine things differently.


Imaginative Games

Just after my ninth birthday my family moved to a
town in northern Ontario. Many of our belongings
weren’t delivered until a week after we arrived and then
remained in boxes until my mother could find places to
put everything in the four-room house we had rented. I
remember playing with debris scattered around the yard
of the new house—old boxes, bits of wood, and metal
parts of things I could not identify. Separated from my
toy cupboards and dishes and plastic replications of
various fruits and vegetables, I spent days constructing
an imaginary bake shop—stoves, counters, cash registers,
and baked goods—with all the junk that was lying
around. I had a great time, and what I remember most was consciously realizing that when
it comes to playing, less is more. I had more fun with that junk than I ever had playing with
the prefabricated toys I’d received for Christmas. I remember feeling a little confused about
this. After all, I had asked for those toys and I continued to lust after the Easy Bake Oven that
would cook real cakes by the heat of a hundred-watt bulb. It wouldn’t be right not to play with the toys once they were unpacked, and indeed, when the boxes were emptied I abandoned the
junk I had collected. But I never forgot what I’d realized but not quite understood that day. I
am reminded of it every time I hear a parent complain that their kids seem to have more fun
playing with the empty cardboard cartons they get when new appliances are purchased than
they ever do with expensive toys they have been given.
   Imagination needs room. Creativity flourishes when the possibilities are infinite and open-
ended. The cardboard carton the refrigerator came in can be a house, a fort, a truck, a nest, a
puppet theater . . . the possibilities are endless.
   Use this writing exercise to dip back into childhood memories of imaginative play, to touch
the magic of how the mind can construct whole new worlds from what is at hand. Write a
story about a game you played as a child, alone or with others, preferably one that involved
creating roles and worlds from the items around you. I remember making houses by raking
up leaves into the walls of intricate floor plans. I remember being a mother, a nurse, a doctor,
a soldier, an actor, a teacher, a shopkeeper, and a restaurant owner (serving soup made of
LifeSavers floating in ginger ale). Let yourself relive the memory as you write, describing the
specific details.


The Place Where You Are

Daniel Ladinsky writes wonderful translations of poetry by eastern and western mystics. His
book Love Poems from God is my constant companion and a great source of inspiration. This
year, Daniel sent me a calendar featuring the poems of Hafiz, a fourteenth-century Persian
mystic. On the front of this calendar, which hangs next to my refrigerator, are two lines that
always make me stop in my tracks.
        This place where you are right now
        God circled on a map for you.
    Some days, when things are going well, I can effortlessly give an internal nod to the idea
behind this quote. On other days, days when I am suffering from a migraine headache or am worried about a friend or family member, I am less pleased with the idea that This Place is where an all-seeing divine intelligence has put me or wants me to be. And when I think of the idea applying to anyone and everyone, I feel even more uncomfortable. Is the orphaned child suffering from AIDS in an African village devastated by the disease in the place God circled on a map for her? Were the Jews in the death camps in a place God had designated for each of them? Surely these and many other situations of suffering are due to human failings and are not to be dismissed as “the way things were ordained to be.” I cringe at the possibility that we could use the idea of all things being in alignment with a divine will to justify not acting to prevent or alleviate suffering.
    The mind cannot make sense of paradoxes it cannot see beyond. If all things participate in one divine presence, a sacred life force that runs through and is inseparable from everything, then on the level of the truly Big Picture they participate in what author A. H. Almaas calls Holy Perfection. This means that all situations offer opportunities for the optimum unfolding of the soul—are the place God has circled on the map for each of us. At the same time, from the perspective of our smaller human lives, there is real suffering—in ourselves and in the world—often caused by human choices, and we are called to alleviate it to the best of our ability. One truth does not negate the other simply because the mind has trouble holding them both at the same time.
    So, for am moment, focus on Hafiz’s idea that there is an underlying intelligence, a
goodness guiding us to this moment, wherever we are. Take a couple of deep breaths and let yourself truly be where you are. Then, with a genuine curiosity, ask and write in response to the question,
    Where is the place I am right now? How is it with me in this moment?
    Write about this place where you are, how it is with you physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually right now. Be specific. Add sensory details. No need for back story. What is this place where you are right now? How is it with you right now?
    Then, reread the Hafiz quote:
        This place where you are right now
        God circled on a map for you.
Write in response to the questions,

What if where you are right now—no matter how difficult or
easy, pleasant or unpleasant, eventful or empty—is the place
God (the Great Mystery, the Sacred Mother, the divine life
force, or whatever you want to call that which is both within
you and yet larger than you) has “circled on a map for
you”? Is there something here, right now, that might assist
your soul’s unfolding, enabling you to touch and live from
the deep center of who and what you are?


A Spy in Your House

A friend of mine recently went through a mission statement review at her place of employment.
She recounts how the entire staff sighed and sunk down a little deeper into their chairs when the
consultant told them they were going to start by articulating the core values that shaped their work
and the company. The staff had been through this process many times before, and they weren’t
too enthused about doing it again. They thought they knew their core values:
communication, cre-
ativity, fairness, service, teamwork, honesty . . . the usual
good stuff. But the consultant just shook her head and asked
them to forget about what they thought their values at work
should be and to focus instead on values reflected in the way
they actually worked together. Then the consultant, who
had been observing their workplace procedures for several
weeks, started naming some of what she had seen: people
looking the other way or whispering secretly about those in
positions of power demanding personal favors and padding
their expense accounts; people agreeing with collective de-
cisions at meetings and then going ahead and doing things
their own way; disapproving eyebrows raised over people
taking paid sick leave to tend children who were ill despite
the fact that company policy confirmed this as legitimate.
Now she had their attention. According to the consultant,
these and many other practices reflected the real values peo-
ple operated under when at work. Although never spoken or
printed on any piece of flip-chart paper, power, individual
autonomy, and a willingness to sacrifice family needs for the job were clearly some of the actual
values dictating behavior at work and shaping the company’s structure.

Sometimes you have to be a little sneaky to see past what you think you value to find out what values and concerns really shape your behavior. Sometimes you have to set up a situation, if only
in your imagination, so you can spy on yourself.

So try this: imagine you are walking up to two or more people who know you. Don’t put faces on
the individuals in the group; it could be friends, family, or co-workers. They don’t see you coming,
and they’re talking about you. What’s the worst thing you could imagine overhearing someone say
about you? Complete the phrase:

The worst thing someone could say about me is

I’ve done this exercise periodically over the years, and I’ve finished the phrase differently each
time. And each time I’ve learned something about myself, what I value, and my soft spots the
places where I am unconscious, not as enlightened or as wise as I want to be. Recently when I did
this I wrote, The worst thing someone could say about me is that I am self-indulgent. Makes me
cringe to write it even now.


Them and Us

Many years ago I was part of a social justice group that worked to challenge and change economic and political systems that cause inequality and suffering. It was good work. But it was difficult for me to do this work without seeing my fellow human beings as either us or them. Those who disagreed with the position or work of the group I was with, those who sometimes actively opposed the changes we thought were desirable or created and perpetuated situations we saw as the causes of injustice, became, in my mind, them, people separate from us.

Separating ourselves from others we see as wrong in some way seems to be a common human tendency. They don’t think women are equal. They allow their desire for profit to fuel wars and violence in the world. They don’t clean up after themselves. They don’t care about others but simply want their families to be safe and comfortable. They are fanatics that hate our way of life and want to destroy it.

Whether we are talking about individual disagreements, differing political parties, or those who have taken actions we find abhorrent, the temptation to see some others as fundamentally different from ourselves cannot help but make finding solutions to common problems in a shared world more difficult (even as it makes us feel morally superior).

So, here’s the challenge: think of someone who irritates you or some group of individuals with whom you disagree. Start small. Think of the neighbor who puts pesticide on his or her lawn every spring, causing your cat to have seizures. Think of the co-worker who gets attention by talking about people behind their backs and stirring up drama in the workplace. Now, write a couple of sentences about them. For example:

They just want to find the easiest way to have a perfect lawn and don’t care about animals or the
environment or others.

They get attention and stir up drama by talking behind people’s backs.

Move on to bigger issues. For example:

They don’t believe in democracy and freedom. They just want to feel secure and have things stay the
same.

Write as many statements as you can in ten minutes about those you disagree with. Don’t hedge. Let the pen fly.

Now, rewrite the statements and substitute the word they with the phrase some of us. You may want to make the sentences less specific, aiming for the essence of what you have seen as offensive. For example:

Some of us just want to find the easiest way to have a perfect lawn and don’t care about animals or the environment or others may become:

Some of us just want to find the easiest way to do things according to the standards we feel are right and don’t care how it affects others.

Notice how you feel as you change the statements and create less distance between yourself and the other. Now go a step further. Replace the phrase some of us with and preface the statement with somepart of me of the time.

Some of the time, part of me just wants to find the easiest way to do things according to the standards I feel are right, and I don’t care how it affects others.

Some of the time, part of me gets attention and creates drama by talking about other people.

Some of the time, part of me doesn’t believe in democracy and freedom and just wants to feel secure and keep things the same.

Some of the time, part of me does not want to clean up after myself.

Is there any truth in these statements? Chances are that part of us
behaves and/or feels the same way they do, although it may be in
different circumstances than the ones we originally found offensive.
When and where do you feel political ideals are not worth the
trouble, are not as important as feeling secure and keeping things
unchanging? How does it feel to acknowledge this aspect of
yourself? Write about what you know is happening when part of
you feels or acts in a way you find offensive in others.


Three Breaths

Sometimes we just need to take a breath to bring ourselves fully into the present moment. Lately,
when I have completed my daily practice of meditation and contemplative prayer, I take three breaths,
each with a different focus. After each breath I take up my pen and write. Sometimes what comes out
on the page surprises me in ways that delight or disturb. Always, the breath and the writing bring me
more fully into my life in this moment.

Sit in a comfortable position with writing materials at hand. Take several deep breaths and let yourself
just be where you are. Then, when you are ready, take a full slow breath, and for the full length of the
inhale and the exhale focus on the world outside of yourself- the sounds, sights, smells, and feeling
of the world around you. See what you can notice in one breath and then write it down in sensory
detail. This is not a test to see if you can notice and write down everything there is to sense about
the world at this moment. If you noticed one thing, write about this one thing. If you noticed several,
write about them all. Allow what comes during the one breath to be enough.

Then, sit back and take another conscious breath. For the full length of one complete inhale and one
complete exhale, notice all that you can, within yourself. Let your attention leave the world outside
you for a moment and focus within. There may be sensations, feelings, thoughts. Then write what
you noticed about your inner world during the course of this one breath. Again, you are not trying to
catalogue everything that is going on inside of yourself. You are simply describing/discovering what
you noticed during that one full breath.

Finally, sit back and take a final conscious breath, focusing as
completely as possible on the breath itself. Feel the air come into
your body and leave your body. Now write what you noticed
about this one breath. What was the quality of the breath? Was
there a pause at any point? Did you notice the temperature
or smell of the air, the sound from within? There are truly an
infinite number of things to be noticed about a single breath.
Just write what came to your attention today as you focused on
this one breath.

The more I do this writing practice the more I find I am able
during the course of my day- when things get busy or when
I am waiting for the traffic light to change- to simply bring
myself fully into the present moment by consciously taking
three breaths in a row, focusing first on the world around me,
then on the what is happening within me, and finally simply on
the breath itself.

What We Love

Last spring, at the end of a talk I had given in Kelowna, BC, I asked for questions from the
audience. Someone asked, What do you love most?

I answered without thinking, God.

Sometimes jet lag and tiredness let the truth just slip out past the usual defenses and second-
guessing. Later I wondered if I should have used the over-burdened G-word. I wished I had
explained that for me God isn’t a male or female being but the sacred presence that flows
through every moment. I wondered if I should have described my experience of this divine
presence as a loving heart that holds me, that holds the whole ball of wax together excluding
nothing and making sense of it all even when I cannot see that sense. Later I worried that I
should have pointed out that I do, of course, love my sons
and my husband and my friends and the world. But when I
sat down to answer the question in writing, as I described all
the particular places, people, activities, moments, sensations
etc. that I love, I realized that my answer had been accurate.
I love God in the way I love particular people, places and
moments but, for me, love of the sacred, the Beloved, is at
the center of who I am.

    So, pick up your pen and write in answer to the question,
“What do you love most?” Whatever comes, let your passion
fuel your words. Let it be one thing or many. Describe with
the eyes of the Lover what you love, why you love and how
you love.


Gratefulness and Thankfulness

Since the previous writing exercise (February) delved into expectations and disappointment, I have been exploring the antidote to disappointment: gratitude. Seems simple enough: if I don’t want to let my disappointments rob me of happiness I need to look around and appreciate the good that is in my life right now. This is a practice I highly endorse. One of the things I regularly do is write notes to my husband, Jeff, with statements that begin “I appreciate. . .” letting him know that my complaints about dirty socks on the floor and a scummy bathtub don't blind me to the wonderful gifts he brings into my life by being who he is.

As I started to explore gratitude I came across the website, http://www.gratefulness.org. It contains, amongst many other things, some writing by Brother David Steindl-Rast. In one of his articles Brother David explores the difference between gratefulness and thankfulness. To read the full article go www.gratefulness.org/readings/dsr_areyou.htm but in the meantime, let me tell you what I got from reading it.

Steindl-Rast begins by talking about the kind of experience we have gazing at the night stars or watching the sunrise. He quotes Eugene O’Neil describing such an experience when he wrote:

“For a moment I lost myself – actually lost my life. I was set free! I dissolved in the...high dim-
starred sky! I belonged, without past or future, within peace and unity and a wild joy, within
something greater than my own life...to Life itself! To God, if you want to put it that way.”

This, Brother David explains, is gratefulness, “…the full appreciation of something altogether unearned….” Gratefulness is the mystical experience of belonging to a oneness that excludes nothing. Thankfulness, on the other hand, he describes as the thoughtful appreciation that breaks that oneness down into giver and receiver.

Clearly thankfulness and gratefulness are both things that enrich our lives. When I express my appreciation for Jeff I am expressing my thankfulness. But, if I let this thankfulness, be fueled by an on-going awareness of gratefulness- an experience of my belonging to something larger than myself- I will be able to appreciate it all: the neglected tub and the thoughtful gesture; the dirty socks and the quiet moment together in front of the fire; the disappointed expectations and the delightful surprises. Gratefulness, because it opens us to the mystical experience of the unity of being, helps us hold it all with appreciation.

Write a story about a moment of gratefulness in your life, a moment when beauty took your breath away and reminded you of a mystery beyond our small knowing. This is a tough one because in these moments we generally have no words. Know that your words can only point to what that experience is like, but write them anyway. How did it feel in your body? How was it different from the moments that came before and after? What was in front of you, around your, within you?

When you have finished, reread the story and sit with it. Does
it convey the feeling at of the center of that experience? If
not, find the words that do. Go deeper. Remember. Taste the
experience again and write it on the page.

Reread it again and then think of the people in your life who
touch and effect you. Now write about your thankfulness.
Thinking of things you are thankful for with each person
repeatedly complete the phrases, I am thankful for. . . . or I
appreciate. . . . .

Oriah Mountain Dreamer © 2005

Based on her book "What we Ache For".

Selected extracts above from
http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/

You can also read some of her beautiful poetry, which I shared in an earlier blog:
http://itsokei.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/oriah-mountain-dreamer.html

Self-Discipline & Sophrology

Ingredients:

These are notes I took several years ago. I learnt some things, but over time they mostly faded away. Re-visiting them, I decided to type up, share, and so remind myself of some of the good ideas, ideally even put them into practice! The notes are based on “Self-Discipline” by Theodore Bryant & “La Sophrologie” by Jean-Yves Pecollo, together with personal experience.

Coincidentally, I just came across the following blog post from only three days ago which re-caps some of the things here: http://zenhabits.net/do/

Directions:

1.    Introduction

Lack of self-discipline is caused by inner conflict, the creative, fun-loving, anti-authoritarian or child self within running amok instead of supporting overall progress of the self. Understanding how this happens, we can overcome it.

Negative Influences:
1)    Cynicism
2)    Negativism
3)    Defeatism
4)    Escapism
5)    Delayism

Antidotes:
1)    Have faith in your ability to improve.
2)    Positive Attitude and good spirit are key to success. Positive body language and posture also; karma: “what goes around comes around”, you make it every instant.
3)    Perceiving shortcomings in yourself, have the confidence that you can override them, that nothing will stop you on your quest.
4)    To accomplish something rewarding often requires passing through difficult or uncomfortable moments. Do not give up too easy!
5)    Address the question of whether delay is constructive. Self-discipline means enjoying doing things on time.

Antidotes are applied by means of action-oriented self-talk, consciously talking to yourself. Self-talk messages must be (i) Positive, (ii) Specific, (iii) Present Tense. Your behavior is influenced by thoughts and feelings, but these messages are often subconscious and later give rise to a surprised reaction, “Why did I do that?” or “What just happened to the last hour?”. Self-talk is an incredibly powerful channel into the subconscious, programming you to support you in your goals.

Example: “I am now working on my essay”. All thoughts turn then to this. Other thoughts may arise, and negative influences also, but you are aware of it now and you repeat your affirmation over and over until it wins the argument and is enacted. Repetition is key. You are positive and in control, not “I have to” or “I should”, but “I choose to”. Finally, it is yet more powerful if spoken and thus heard aloud. More advanced still is self-hypnosis by creating and using times when the mind is particularly receptive, such as after meditation. Use images as well as words, vivid mental visualizations of yourself in action.

What is Self-Discipline? Decisiveness, Time Management, Motivation, Rules & Goals? These are the consequences of self-discipline.

Self-Discipline is a skill to be learnt, not a force of will-power, but one of awareness & co-ordination like a conductor of an orchestra of your desires, emotions, needs, fears, thoughts, memories, and dreams. The secret of success lies in your ability to recognize and deal with the part of you that offers resistance. This part takes over when external forces of authority are removed in whose presence self-discipline grows weak through lack of exercise. Practice and develop, and self-discipline grows stronger. The main obstacle is fear, often subconscious that must be recognized and accepted so as to minimize its immobilizing effect. We must explore the often deep-seated roots of our fear.

2.    Exploring our Fears

1)    Fear of Failure: 

To not face a task we wish to accomplish or to not devote ourselves fully to it because we fear to fail is inexcusable, yet it is the single most likely cause of eventual failure. We shall try and try again and try with all our heart till we are rewarded with success. How would any great person succeed without the commitment and perseverance necessary to achieve anything significant? It is a problem of the ego that links failure with self-esteem. Fear is a stepping stone to success; we must learn not fear it, remember what went wrong, reflect of what we can change, and also, after the passage of time, look back and review the lessons we have drawn.

Difficulty: Faced with difficult questions in an exam or in research, we might skip from one to the other and never satisfactorily get to the bottom of any. The key is to relax, play around, delve for insight, and write up our discoveries. Over-ambitious, we do not get anywhere, so tackle things one at a time. Under-ambitious, and we are subconsciously satisfied once the fear of failure has passed, and we do not fulfill our true potential. Thus, when the rains come down, the wise taxi-drivers do not stop when they have reached their daily target, but work over-time to ferry those in need.

Love: Disappointments and disappointing others, both can put one off from taking risk. There is nothing more risky than love. Your heart is on the line. Surprise, embarrassment, sweaty hands are all to be expected. Love thyself, know thyself, and nothing can harm you.

Finances: Money shields us from the fear of security being taken away, of losing independence, from all our time, energy and effort being wasted. There is great need for wisdom in the way we manage our money. Choose wisely to lessen risk and make success more sure.

Death: A deer in the headlights should be motivated to cross all the faster. But on the contrary it suffers a moment of indecision and paralysis. You must go beyond the fear of death.

2)    Fear of Success: 

Unfulfilled expectations of family and friends, or transgressions, real or imagined, may make us feel unworthy of guilty of the happiness and satisfaction that come from personal accomplishments. Whether the cause is past or current behaviours, thoughts or actions, we must remember that we are fundamentally good, whatever others may say or think. We must do good, be true to ourselves, our mind at peace. We are worthy of success, and grateful.

Artists especially are sometimes anxious of the attention, pressure and expectation that comes with success, and so are people in general. It is the fear of not living up to our image.

Then there is fear that success will make others jealous or resentful of us, or that we will upset those close to us. But those who really love us will rejoice in our success, and why should we care what others think?

For all the above, remember, “Go your own way, and let the people talk!” Life will be just as free and fun and spontaneous with each success if we have a good attitude, don’t get carried away and maintain the self-discipline that brought success. Stay true to yourself, and if others can’t handle it, then that’s their problem. Learn to enjoy the adulation, attention and the people that you meet as a result. As Federer warns, know yourself, so that criticism doesn’t mess with your mind. Finally, in life there is no need to choose between things we desire. It is possible to attain multiple goals if we dare to have it all, and imagine how we want things to be. Maintain concentration. Like Henry, finger over the lips, “Shhh…”. “He who dares wins”.

3)    Fear of Rejection:
Think for yourself, take control, be self-assertive and put your own interests first. Thus, do what is good and what is right, not necessarily what will satisfy others or give us a reputation of being a “nice person”. It is the ego that makes us feel that a rejection of our words or actions or work is a rejection of our “self”. As Willow says, “rejection I can handle, I’ve had plenty of experience”.

4)    Fear of Mediocrity:
This is the flip-side of the desire for perfectionism. Let us instead follow our creative impulses, reaping joy from the mission itself and not judging its outcome from comparisons with others or being overly self-critical. Set yourself high expectations, but we are only human, so do not fear to not live up to them. We can but do our best, and we strive to do so.
 

5)    Fear of Risk:
Replace “Better safe than sorry” with “Look before you leap”. Change often. Self-confidence and self-discipline go hand-in-hand. “I can do it!” attitude. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”. 
 

“Fired up and ready to go!”
You are now in a better position to recognize fears before they sabotage your present plans, so it is important to think them through consciously.

Preparation & Opportunity —> Luck
“The harder I work, the luckier I get!”

3.    Tools for the Subconscious
 

1)    Self-Talk & Vivid Visualization

2)    Affirmations, written in the first, second and third person. Think deeply about the words as you write them, and note separately any resistances, doubts or other emotions that might arise. These will help identify roadblocks which can be countered using what we have learnt. Also note down any motivational quote or something that inspires you. Change as often as necessary, and review your affirmations each day.

3)    Private Praise & Rewards, especially for the easy but most important initial stages.

4)    Relaxation. Inner conflict —> Stress —> Loss of motivation, avoidance and relief of escapism. To interrupt this process, use meditation techniques to relax and pinpoint obstacles, asking “why?” to get to the root of the conflict, then maintaining this relaxed state when you go into action. In the case of addictive behavior, use something to replace the void left by the addiction.

5)    Mission, Motivation & Steps to lead you there. Think through clearly the risks and rewards, so that you know for sure that this is something you wish to pursue and achieve, and overcome subconscious fears.

Clarity —> Structure —> Intensity
Decision —> Preparation —> ACTION!
     —> Completion & Maintenance

6)    Arrangements for Today

 
7)    Maintain Concentration right through to the finish!

4. Sophrology 
  Savoir... Aimer... Être  —  Know... Love... Be

1. Good Company, Good Spirit & Good Discipline:

The three keys to education in Arthurian legend, and necessities for any journey on which we wish to embark. Sophrology, deriving from the Greek "sos" = harmony, "phren" = spirit, consciousness, "logos" = study, seeks to describe a path towards harmony, serenity & happiness, and the awakening of states of higher consciousness, and to understand this scientifically. It was coined in Spain in 1960 by the Columbian Alfonso Caycedo. The initial motivation is to eliminate suffering. Our target then is to attack the cause of suffering. Broadly speaking, there are three common reactions to suffering: (i) Agir: to act on people or things around us to conform them to our desires, (ii) Fuir: to escape, isolating oneself from potential troubles, and (iii) Change: pleasure is neither lasting nor stable, so we change circumstances often to renew and refresh. But the most important thing is to recognize that the cause of our suffering and the source of our joy are at least to some degree within ourselves. If the face is dirty, then cleaning the mirror will make no difference. Only once this first step is taken, this fundamental realization properly understood, can we take stock with the state of things with gentle honesty, and without either indulgence or severity. It is time to assess where "enough is enough", to pause and to draw the line.

2. Good Goals:

Accept the difference which exists between where we would like to be and where we are at, and make of this difference an area of conquest, a basis for work & giving us direction. A good goal is one which is realistic so that we do not lose heart in its pursuit, yet also grand and worthwhile enough to motivate us. It should stretch us: "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a heaven for?" (Robert Browning) "A successful individual typically sets his next goal somewhat but not too much above his last achievement. In this way, he steadily raises his level of aspiration." (Kurt Lewin) To set one's goal too high is a form of pride, of which the Tibetans classify seven forms (condescension, arrogance, infatuation, pretention, conceit etc.) Most likely it is pretention, and it shows a lack of humility. Even those who are proven, established, highly regarded and confident in their own abilities must be wary of over-reaching, and in any case a more indirect approach via lesser goals might be more profitable and more likely to succeed.

3. Good Signs:

Encouraging signs & landmarks are witnesses of our progress. They increase our motivation... motivation to make further progress. "One should have a noble and grand objective, but there is no end to arrive at." We will never have the illusion of having "made it", and so we keep advancing, like on a bicycle — the most important thing is to keep pedalling — balancing is easy, maintaining awareness that the path is right for us, that we are going in the right direction, thanks to the signs

4. Good Path:

Whichever way, whichever path we choose, we must follow with awareness, courage, enthusiasm and discipline. Awareness that the path is good, good signs that we are heading in the direction of our goals, and courage, enthusiasm & discipline to keep going on that path.

Sophrology consists of dynamic relaxation, a state of relaxed alertness, the sophroliminal state.

Four Levels of Practice:

1) Body Awareness [sensations, facts]

2) Mind Awareness [emotions, impressions]

3) Universality [prayer, meditation, unity of consciousness]

4) Individuality [re-awakening to the everyday in a higher state]

"Je ne sais pas ce qui ce passait dans mon esprit et je ne pourrais le dire. C'était un de ces moments ineffables où l'on sent en soi quelque chose qui s'endort et quelque chose qui s'éveille."

Translation: "I do not know what came to pass in my soul and I would not be able to explain it. It was one of those ineffable moments when one feels in oneself something which sleeps and something which comes awake."

 

—Victor Hugo

The Letting Go: 

Like a tennis player in the zone, a letting go to the subconscious, following a usual routine and following auto-pilot with amazing results. Two things are necessary:

1) Knowledge of what to do,
through practice & concentration

2) Confidence in oneself,
through overcoming fear (especially of failure & judgment).

Love and Death (tribute to Bob Marley)

Love and Death

Though I am young and cannot tell
Either what Death or Love is well,
Yet I have heard they both bear darts,
And both do aim at human hearts;
And then again I have been told
Love wounds with heat as Death with cold;
So that I fear they do but bring
Extremes to touch and mean one thing.
                    by Ben Jonson (1637)

Answer:

Love would mould the world together,

For its grasp abides forever,
But, alas! Touched not are some hearts
By wily Cupid’s poisoned darts.
Death is the fate of all living things:
Plants, birds, fish and creatures with wings.
I believe it not to be so cold,
But new life: a cure for the old.

                    by okei (1994)

In honour of Bob Marley, who died 30 years ago at the age of only 36... long may he live on!

Fly, darts! As you are darkly set
To hearts that Love and Death beset,
For here is fighting with us one
Whose free songs many a battle won,
Against despair, hatred, the torn world—
He sings till time becomes one word.
Aye, he burns like no mortal flesh
To immortality, one loving flash!
                    by J. (2011)

Journey into the Mind

Journey into the Mind

(Oct. 1995)

My mind is black. Let there be light. It is now whiter than snow, not touched since time began, blazing in the eerie darkness of nothing in particular. But for my mind, time has only just begun. The mind should know when time began because the world is perceived through the mind. The eyes are opened and upon the carpet of blankness is stained a drop of blood, one image. The memory begins to buzz as more dots filter on. It is too bright and the mind is becoming dark and stained. Ideas converge upon the little morsel of tissue, fibres. The eyes close. The buzzing stops. The machinery is at rest. For it is time for lubrication.

Sodium and Phosphorus have now stopped work. The ideas are absorbed, tidied and compressed. The mind works upon existence. And each one blooms into a flowery plant. The black stains transform to colours red, green, blue. The mind is tired of thinking about itself. Thinking about itself is the same as thinking about what one is thinking. The mind becomes confused as an endless sequence of sentences spring to mind. It cannot evade it. It is bound by the strings of memory, and memory reacts, bursts out and splits as if squeezed into two pieces by the metal strings of the cage. In and out. Enlarging. Splitting. The reactions slow down. The surfaces are moulded, remoulded. They are now as smooth as … the mind ponders over this, hesitates. Apples. The thought slows. The memory is bursting, forgets; it splits the golden apples and looks inside.

Remembers! It then remoulds. The substance dries upon the windy airs of warm thoughts. The Mediterranean swings to mind. Then recedes back into the haven where it came. The mind is now swimming in the cool sea shallows. The waters lowers. It lies upon the beach to dry. The roller balls of thought resort to hide themselves upon the two-dimensional sheet of paper. The carpet is rolled out and all is stamped. The flowers blazing wilt, fade and now upon the hazes of far forgotten memories stored, perhaps never to be recovered by the flowing mind as it darts and journeys.

The mind tries to remember. The image is still there. The sides, however, are blurred and their apparition is surrounded by a transparent film, fixed, motionless. Bubbles enter like blind spots in a vision, but in large numbers. They swivel in and out in curves elliptical in shape, yet undefined in space or time. For the mind inhabits yet some other dimension in the realms of fantasy and the universe above is a house with many floors: the one of life, the one of death and then the mind, time and the 23rd dimension. The carpet shifts a millimetre or two to the left or the right. For certainty is not present when the object is not there and certainty is not certain where one is, seeing something which one might be dreaming in a semi-conscious state without the recognition. The eyes now open to see the world around. The head swerves to look out of the open window and the view is what the eyes behold and perception is our opinion of our several six senses and the one we lack is true indubitable knowledge.

I am walking now upon the hills in Spain. A cold breeze blows against my face. I smell the scent of hay for it is almost summer now and flies would swarm if heat persisted longer. I look into the distance and see greenery, yet nothing is green for the grass is yellow with the scorching sun and lack of rain, yet in my mind I know this place as greenery, so I shall call it green, for in the early months of the season Spring, the flowers burst upon the valleys far and stain the world with colour and with light. And like my mind, the summer comes and plants shall shrivel to their death, but in my mind, death is but a passing wave of transition to a further region of my thoughts and less consulted one. For my brain is like a filing cabinet, quicker to flick through, yet inefficient due to memories which drift into the further regions, faded so the eye is blind to what they say or show and microscopes are not permitted for lack of room.

I climb now up a rocky hill and through the tall palm trees and avenues of pines, bent by summer winds from far off lands or seas, and behold before me, I can see a large black rock. I walk now closer and examine. My mind is boiling over with excitement. I look upon the surface. Quartz grains mark it clearly. I look closer now and see that all these markings make the figure ‘S’. I look around. I pinch my arm. I am wide awake and yet has nature played a trick on me or is it some man’s grave or place of refuge? I look around. Upon the ground two yards away a snake lies waiting for its pray. Its jaws are open. It slashes through the grass, razor sharp in speed and movement. Astonished by this brusque attack, I leap upon the rock and down it shudders, slides away. Time passes and I hear a bird begin to sing.

Jumping down, I grab the rock and heave. My mind buzzes wilder as I fail to dislodge this mystery of volcanic rock, for many a mountain lake and valley in this region have I explored and in not one was there a crack in the Earth’s crust. For paradise is unbroken in its beauty. I heave again with force unwarranted and the stone moves off the place below. I stagger and upon my back I fall. The snake comes to my mind. I get up rapidly and look, but no, the birds are singing still their songs of joy. I turn round now and see a large wide gaping hole, a blackness, a painted blackness with images streaked and coloured.
 
I crawl inside, the rock slides shut, and I am in my mind again, caged up within its thoughts and processes, protected from the world of heaven, but also from the world of hell, sheltered in a cave called Earth on which my mind shall ever dwell.