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As Japan prospered, the Japanese began consuming more and more meat. (Historically the wealthy are unhealthy.) This has had a negative impact upon longevity among Okinawans who were once one of the revered centenarian cultures in which people regularly lived past 100.
In the last 20 years, their longevity rates have dramatically decreased as their diet shifted from largely plant based to greater consumption of flesh foods. Sadly, the Okinawan people are no longer known for their longevity.
In the last 20 years, their longevity rates have dramatically decreased as their diet shifted from largely plant based to greater consumption of flesh foods. Sadly, the Okinawan people are no longer known for their longevity.
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War is not a necessary condition of life. - Thich Nhat Hanh
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Several years ago, P. H. Wright, a professor at the University of North Dakota, authored a professional paper in which he outlined the qualities for real friendship. If you have a friendship which feels 'off', look over this list of 8 qualities. It's likely that several of them are absent in the friendship which has weakened it significantly.
- Voluntary - You’re not dragged into it.
- Informal – Unlike being selected for a team or hired for a job, friends don’t make rules but let the friendship simply evolve.
- Dynamic – Friendships ebb and flow with various changes such as getting married or moving away.
- Satisfying – there are more good times than bad. If that’s reversed, it’s not a healthy friendship.
- Communication – there is honest talk which goes deeper than discussing weather or work.
- Mutually accepting – friends remain loyal and intuitively factor in understanding and roll with ones oddities.
- Enjoyable – friends enjoy each others’ company and convey this in various ways.
- Reciprocal – friendship works both ways. If one dominates by constantly needing the friend to provide support and a listening ear for various dramas, the friendship is distorted and will likely end.
(feel free to re-post or link to your social media)
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If you want to be better at what you do – no matter what that may be – you want to start by being a better human being. - Edward Simon
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You can change the world! And, you’re not alone. There are people like you – kind, compassionate, concerned – all over this beautiful planet. Here are a dozen ways you can do your part to make the world a better place.
(feel free to repost and/or link to your social media)
- Practice right speech. Speak quietly, gently and don’t gossip, ever. Avoid complaining.
- Be polite. Never be rude to other beings. There’s no need for that, period.
- Smile . . . a lot. Smile at your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and especially strangers.
- Play by the rules. Don’t seek exemptions or privileges for yourself.
- Act properly. Live by your values, morals, ethics. Be an example to yourself, to others.
- Consume consciously. Ask yourself, “do I really need all that stuff?”
- Cultivate kindness. Be kind to all especially those who are unkind to you.
- Live with purpose. Don’t drift; don’t live aimlessly.
- Promote nonviolence. Avoid injuring or hurting any being. This includes animals, birds, insects.
- Keep the planet clean. Don’t litter; don’t smoke, don’t pollute.
- Change your diet. Switch to vegetarian. This helps animals as well as environment.
- Give. If you have a lot, give a lot. If you have a little, give a little. Generosity is a virtue.
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Impermanence – the fact that everything changes – is foundational in Buddhism.
Buddha taught that everything which starts and rises is subject to ceasing and ending. We all age and die. No matter how badly we desire youth, there is no escaping aging and eventually death. The key for managing changes is to remain balanced and not be throw off by changing conditions. When a Taiwanese Zen Master was in his 70s, he was diagnosed with serious kidney failure and had to be treated by dialysis. Many of his followers, some very wealthy, offered to help him get a kidney transplant. “You are a great master and it will benefit us for you to remain alive as long as possible,” was the logic they present to him.
He declined without hesitation insisting whatever kidneys were available for transplant should go to a younger person, not someone who was already old and nearing the end of his life. There are two lessons from this Zen master: First, he knows how to age gracefully, not devoting his dwindling energies to fight with reality. Secondly, understanding impermanence empowered him to face death naturally, peacefully and with balance. Everything is subject to change. So, why be surprised, shocked or stunned when an unexpected, unwelcome circumstance emerges in your life?
Buddha taught that everything which starts and rises is subject to ceasing and ending. We all age and die. No matter how badly we desire youth, there is no escaping aging and eventually death. The key for managing changes is to remain balanced and not be throw off by changing conditions. When a Taiwanese Zen Master was in his 70s, he was diagnosed with serious kidney failure and had to be treated by dialysis. Many of his followers, some very wealthy, offered to help him get a kidney transplant. “You are a great master and it will benefit us for you to remain alive as long as possible,” was the logic they present to him.
He declined without hesitation insisting whatever kidneys were available for transplant should go to a younger person, not someone who was already old and nearing the end of his life. There are two lessons from this Zen master: First, he knows how to age gracefully, not devoting his dwindling energies to fight with reality. Secondly, understanding impermanence empowered him to face death naturally, peacefully and with balance. Everything is subject to change. So, why be surprised, shocked or stunned when an unexpected, unwelcome circumstance emerges in your life?
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If the telephone rings while you are cooking dinner, find a convenient point to stop instead of immediately running to answer it. After all, a phone call constitutes a request to talk to us, not an imperial command. - Eknath Easwaran
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All violence is injustice. We should not inflict that injustice on ourselves or on other people. - Thich Nhat Hanh
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Today is Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh's 92nd birthday. His community in France, Plum Village, issued a statement updating his followers on Thay's health (Thay is the informal way Nhat Hanh is addressed) Here are some excerpts from their statement:
- After spending time recuperating in San Francisco in 2015, and then from January to December 2016 at home in Plum Village in France, Thay requested to travel to Thailand, to join his monastic students at our large monastery near Khao Yai National Park. Since that time, Thay has been nourished by the joy and youthfulness of over two hundred monastics at Thai Plum Village.
- In Thailand Thay has the opportunity to receive world-class healthcare from both Eastern and Western specialists. We are deeply grateful to Thay’s “doctors sangha” who have been caring for Thay with immense generosity, love and respect; and also to all the many specialists in acupuncture and oriental medicine who have offered their skills and expertise.
- As is to be expected for someone so advanced in age recovering from a major stroke, there are times when Thay’s health is stronger, and other times when it is weaker.
- On good days, Thay is able to eat several small meals a day and join the sangha for walking meditation in his wheelchair, or perhaps participate in a formal meal in the meditation hall, eating with great concentration, dignity and presence.
- On good days, Thay has been able to offer his solemn presence and witness at ordination ceremonies, or his joyful presence at festivals, watching his students performs songs, skits and dances. Even with his health challenges, Thay never wants to miss big sangha events. He insisted on being present for the premiere of the "Walk With Me" documentary in Bangkok (where he directed the sangha buy large quantities of popcorn).
- Although Thay has still not been able to speak since his stroke, he delights in joining in when the sangha sings Plum Village songs and, when he has the strength, continues to diligently train himself to form words. Whenever his health permits, Thay trains eagerly with his physiotherapy exercises, and smiles a smile of victory whenever he is able to stand on his own two feet without any help. The nerves in his right leg are now active all the way to his foot. Although there are still some days when Thay is unable to eat or drink, and he rests deeply in his bed, as soon as his energy is restored he eats a lot, as though making up for the days he couldn't eat. Overall, we are happy to say that, since the last two years of following a special diet, Thay's digestive system has been strengthened and restored.
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Due to humanity’s greed and negligence of environmental preservation, the law of nature has been violated, causing the earth to be covered with serious wounds and damages. - Hsing Yun