When you associate with a person, you unconsciously pick up that person’s habits and views. This is why the most important principle in shaping the environment around your daily meditation is to associate with admirable people. - Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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It is a difficult time in human history to be an optimist, or even a realist. In the face of so many dire truths in our world today, the easiest stance is certainly that of the pessimist. And yet the Buddha’s teachings demand realism, and perhaps even, as a balancing force for the overwhelming pessimism of our day, a bit of optimism. - Justin Whitaker
The next time you’re feeling anxious or depressed, consider what you’re putting into your mind. Are you feeding it with doom and gloom, negativity, gossip, and other mental “junk food” ? If so, how about replacing it with information that is inspirational, uplifting, positive, and constructive? - David Gosse
 (public domain image from www.pixabay.com) Yet another study on yoga reveals it benefits for the body. This one specifically suggests that you can avoid back surgery through yoga. A study on "Yoga for Military Veterans With Chronic Low Back Pain" published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2017 shows yoga improved low back pain among veterans, who also reduced their use of opioids. It included 150 military veterans with chronic low back pain from a major Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California. They participated in yoga classes twice weekly for 12 weeks, along with a home practice. They practiced Hatha yoga, which consisted of modifiable and accessible physical postures, movement, brief meditations and breathing techniques. The study was conducted by Erik Groessl, professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California San Diego and director of the UCSD Health Services Research Center. "In general, the conclusion is that there is solid, high-quality evidence, and we conclude yoga is an effective treatment for low back pain," Groessl says. "Like any treatment, there's an individuality aspect to it, it could make some people worse, if they have a unique type of medical problem or health condition. But it will make more people better." Societies which persecute minorities only reveal their own sickness. - Bradford Smith
Don't make excessive demands of others: you will only cause them to fail. - Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
Buddhism is skeptical about the concept of hope believing that it merely deepens illusion and ignorance. Though Buddhist teachers universally promote optimism and positive thinking, they also cite these three significant issues with hope.
First, hope dismantles any sense of living in the present moment but cultivates attachment to a belief that the future will somehow miraculously become better. For that reason, Thich Nhat Hanh calls hope an obstacle: "When I think deeply about the nature of hope, I see something tragic. Sine we cling to our hope in the future, we do not focus our energies and capabilities on the present moment. We use hope to believe that something better will happen in the future, that we will arrive are peace or the Kingdom of God. Hope becomes a kind of obstacle. If you can refrain from hoping, you can bring yourself entirely into the present moment and discover the joy that is already here." Secondly, hope erodes Buddhist "calm abiding" replacing it with fear. Venerable Tashi Nyima, author of The Dharma Handbook, explains: "The moment we hope, there is fear. Hope is the desire for something to be different from what it is. The moment we have that desire, we have the fear that it may not come to pass. One of our sayings is, “No hope, no fear.” No hope means no fear. We do not have to hope." Thirdly, hope is unreliable because it promotes s wishful thinking that things will change "down the road" without taking the necessary steps. Martial artist and actor Chuck Norris skillfully explains: "Waiting and hoping are not enough: good outcomes require good actions." In developing skillful effort we pay attention to the quantity of our effort and the quality of our effort. - Peter Doobinin
Adapting is not that difficult provided you don’t have so much pride. If you have that pride, it’s extremely difficult. But if you let go of that, it’s not too hard. - Gelek Rinpoche
Look at your mind dispassionately; this is enough to calm it. Only when it is quiet can you go beyond it. Do not keep the mind busy all the time, stop it and just be. If you give it a rest, it will settle down and recover its purity and strength. - Nisargadatta Maharaj
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Victor M. Parachin ...is aVedic educator, yoga instructor, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of a dozen books. Buy his books at amazon or your local bookstore. Archives
August 2020
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