Grateful
This is from my Fitness Web Log: www.louizafitness.blogspot.com.
Did you ever notice how beautiful birds are when they sit on a winter tree branch and munch on a little berry? Did you notice how new rain and snow often are even if you have seen them before hundreds of times? Did you notice how your eyes, nose, toes and other body parts are unique and your own? You would notice them anytime and anywhere!
Do you know how even the pain after some workouts feels good? Does it feel great for you to know you did what you said that you would do in terms of working out? Doesn’t it feel good to breathe, be alive and be healthy? Isn’t the spring breeze or winter wind on your face an expression of love in the universe?
It is all good. Be grateful.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Yoga Journal Article
I am floored by some articles in past Yoga Journals. They express what my intuition has known and are a wonderful integration of ideas.
Frank Jude Boccio, a teacher of Zen Buddhism and yoga, and the author of Mindufulness Yoga, wrote an article in the May 2010 issue 228 about unconditional love reached by cultivating four principles. Personally, I can be at a place to love everyone unconditionally, but it does not mean all can be in my life. I may want to declutter or deweed to have those closest that get who I am the most, are in line with my dreams and goals, and are those I can have good conversations with for now. It's an inquiry. Some things work at different times.
For our inquiry and trip to unconditional love, here are the four principles: brahmviharas or states of mind: 1. metta or lovingkindness, karuna or compassion, mudita or joy, and upekkha or equanimity.
I feel metta when I am in a good mood with those around me, as in the subway. I dot' feel it when I am in a snobby New York mood, I've been traveling all day, and I hear loud talk in different languages, or music I don’t like. LOL Compassion is easy for me usually. But ask yourself, if you smell a homeless person, are you compassionate? You can also be compassionate with yourself with your responses and intent to be loving, and trust yourself. Joy can be easy if you generate it. Maybe that will be another post. Equanimity may be the hardest if circumstances and others do not line up with what you want.
If you cultivate these qualities, you will react less to others, or, even in reacting, will stay centered.
Other great points: Metta is not gooey, but rather good-natured and kind-hearted. Karuna, with the same root as karma, is liked to relieving suffering or lightening sorrow. Upekkha allows us to deepen and extend the other three, "avoiding pitfalls such as compassion fatigue, emotional burnout, and stifling codependence."
If you appreciate yourself, it is easier to feel metta for others. Start with one thing you appreciate about yourself. "Fake it until you make it" is encouraged: Send out feelings of love for someone until you feel it. Okay, I'll try it...
Useful to recite:
May I be happy.
May I be peaceful.
May I be safe form harm.
May I enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.
May I experience ease and well-being in body, in mind, and spirit.
"Root" is interesting here, and perhaps refers to source or generate.
Frank Jude Boccio, a teacher of Zen Buddhism and yoga, and the author of Mindufulness Yoga, wrote an article in the May 2010 issue 228 about unconditional love reached by cultivating four principles. Personally, I can be at a place to love everyone unconditionally, but it does not mean all can be in my life. I may want to declutter or deweed to have those closest that get who I am the most, are in line with my dreams and goals, and are those I can have good conversations with for now. It's an inquiry. Some things work at different times.
For our inquiry and trip to unconditional love, here are the four principles: brahmviharas or states of mind: 1. metta or lovingkindness, karuna or compassion, mudita or joy, and upekkha or equanimity.
I feel metta when I am in a good mood with those around me, as in the subway. I dot' feel it when I am in a snobby New York mood, I've been traveling all day, and I hear loud talk in different languages, or music I don’t like. LOL Compassion is easy for me usually. But ask yourself, if you smell a homeless person, are you compassionate? You can also be compassionate with yourself with your responses and intent to be loving, and trust yourself. Joy can be easy if you generate it. Maybe that will be another post. Equanimity may be the hardest if circumstances and others do not line up with what you want.
If you cultivate these qualities, you will react less to others, or, even in reacting, will stay centered.
Other great points: Metta is not gooey, but rather good-natured and kind-hearted. Karuna, with the same root as karma, is liked to relieving suffering or lightening sorrow. Upekkha allows us to deepen and extend the other three, "avoiding pitfalls such as compassion fatigue, emotional burnout, and stifling codependence."
If you appreciate yourself, it is easier to feel metta for others. Start with one thing you appreciate about yourself. "Fake it until you make it" is encouraged: Send out feelings of love for someone until you feel it. Okay, I'll try it...
Useful to recite:
May I be happy.
May I be peaceful.
May I be safe form harm.
May I enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.
May I experience ease and well-being in body, in mind, and spirit.
"Root" is interesting here, and perhaps refers to source or generate.
PhiIlippians 4:4-9
Brethren, rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer ad supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Ad the peace of God, which passes al understanding, will keep your hearts ad you minds in Christ Jesus. Finally brethren, whatever is true , whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is ay excellence, if there is anything worth y of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard ad see in me, do: ad the God of peace will be with you.
This is especially difficult if you are difficult period, such as looking for work. It reminds me of another passage Matthew 6:28, about the lilies of the field not stressing where sunlight or food will come form. There are often two sides to everything. They may be stressing if someone steps on them, but we get the message. Being in a state of gratefulness, no matter what you are going through, is key. Be grateful for your health, or, if you dot' have it, nature, a beautiful memory, a friend.
This also reminds me of the appreciation of beauty in Greece, the fashion industry, etc. Some eastern philosophies believe that beauty shows an inner soul health or peace. On one hand, a person who is not beautiful by consensus, can be very beautiful inside. On the other, you glow if you are happy and peaceful inside.
Forgive yourself if you are angry or stressed (and you will again and again), process it, and get back on being centered.
This is especially difficult if you are difficult period, such as looking for work. It reminds me of another passage Matthew 6:28, about the lilies of the field not stressing where sunlight or food will come form. There are often two sides to everything. They may be stressing if someone steps on them, but we get the message. Being in a state of gratefulness, no matter what you are going through, is key. Be grateful for your health, or, if you dot' have it, nature, a beautiful memory, a friend.
This also reminds me of the appreciation of beauty in Greece, the fashion industry, etc. Some eastern philosophies believe that beauty shows an inner soul health or peace. On one hand, a person who is not beautiful by consensus, can be very beautiful inside. On the other, you glow if you are happy and peaceful inside.
Forgive yourself if you are angry or stressed (and you will again and again), process it, and get back on being centered.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Expectations
The other day I went to a workshop with Om Rupani, who is on my Facebook friends list, about intimacy in relationships, from mothers to lovers. We explored the concept of expectations briefly. We can talk about this for years. I do not like how people say not to have expectations. Some, like Joel Osteen, say to have great expectations, that your strength through God will have you overcome obstacles to have what you want and even beyond — miracles. Tens of thousands of people are members of his church.
I knew by intuition and workshops what he said, yet we re-hear and re-learn. Funny: People spend their time looking at an oak tree and complaining it’s not a pine tree, being right. I am middle of the road on complaining. Do not do it long, wasting time. But do do it with a great committed listener, while both of you are committed to hear what is there, to get what you do not want to tolerate, and to get what you want for the future, your heart’s desire.
As is covered by Landmark Education courses, one primary thing people want is to be right. It happens in individual relationships, and in world affairs. We explored how we have a choice…People are being conniving with themselves. In a way, we are all God, or godlike, in that we can create. But we often say we do not want something but choose those who won’t give it to us, so we can be right. Perhaps this is what happened with Sandra Bullock’s choice in a man. We play games to keep things as they are so we ca just be right about it. This may be happening with some members of Congress. I’d say some believe in what they say on health care, others are getting paid, and others just want to be right. This is juicy but not as juicy as having what we want. Another meeting can be about constituting yourselves to receive and to be with love and abundance. I say that everyone wants to be right at least sometimes, but sometimes people want to really be heard or gotten, not felt sorry for or fixed, and may keep repeating ourselves until we get them.
He said that no one owes us anything. Part of me differs. If we have been good or worked hard, others and the world "owe" us, or it's logical for things to turn out, but often that is not the case. I am set up for shoulds. We are often disappointed. A sense of humor really helps. We can have what we want, if we are continuously aware of what we want, how we sabotage ourselves, and are present. Sometimes we have to surrender to what is there, as the Lord’s Prayer says: “Thy Will be done”. That’s a tough one. I stay still don’t lose vision of what you want.
I am for yin-yang balance. This is one perspective of the Truth. But no one knows the whole Truth. Crap happens is a wise statement to me. All we can do is to keep looking into ourselves and grow. As Socrates said, “Know yourself”. We can be strong and centered whatever the circumstances brig. Movement like exercise and dance are great for this. And forgive ourselves when we do have anger…and express it in constructive ways.
If you expect everyone and everything to go in accord to your expectations, you may be setting yourself up for disapproval. But if you aware of yourself and the present, state to yourself and others what you want, listen and create, you may have a chance. One word with deep possibilities, sometimes easier said than done, but really the only choice. Aargh!
I knew by intuition and workshops what he said, yet we re-hear and re-learn. Funny: People spend their time looking at an oak tree and complaining it’s not a pine tree, being right. I am middle of the road on complaining. Do not do it long, wasting time. But do do it with a great committed listener, while both of you are committed to hear what is there, to get what you do not want to tolerate, and to get what you want for the future, your heart’s desire.
As is covered by Landmark Education courses, one primary thing people want is to be right. It happens in individual relationships, and in world affairs. We explored how we have a choice…People are being conniving with themselves. In a way, we are all God, or godlike, in that we can create. But we often say we do not want something but choose those who won’t give it to us, so we can be right. Perhaps this is what happened with Sandra Bullock’s choice in a man. We play games to keep things as they are so we ca just be right about it. This may be happening with some members of Congress. I’d say some believe in what they say on health care, others are getting paid, and others just want to be right. This is juicy but not as juicy as having what we want. Another meeting can be about constituting yourselves to receive and to be with love and abundance. I say that everyone wants to be right at least sometimes, but sometimes people want to really be heard or gotten, not felt sorry for or fixed, and may keep repeating ourselves until we get them.
He said that no one owes us anything. Part of me differs. If we have been good or worked hard, others and the world "owe" us, or it's logical for things to turn out, but often that is not the case. I am set up for shoulds. We are often disappointed. A sense of humor really helps. We can have what we want, if we are continuously aware of what we want, how we sabotage ourselves, and are present. Sometimes we have to surrender to what is there, as the Lord’s Prayer says: “Thy Will be done”. That’s a tough one. I stay still don’t lose vision of what you want.
I am for yin-yang balance. This is one perspective of the Truth. But no one knows the whole Truth. Crap happens is a wise statement to me. All we can do is to keep looking into ourselves and grow. As Socrates said, “Know yourself”. We can be strong and centered whatever the circumstances brig. Movement like exercise and dance are great for this. And forgive ourselves when we do have anger…and express it in constructive ways.
If you expect everyone and everything to go in accord to your expectations, you may be setting yourself up for disapproval. But if you aware of yourself and the present, state to yourself and others what you want, listen and create, you may have a chance. One word with deep possibilities, sometimes easier said than done, but really the only choice. Aargh!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
What Do Jesus Christ and Rudoph Have in Common
Jesus Christ and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were both mavericks. They had the audacity not to conform, and to be leaders. In seeing the old holiday television show that I have watched many times, I was touched and saw newly the message of the importance of individuality. I had forgotten about the island of misfit toys, where a train, for instance, had square wheels, and a bird swam like a fish. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was at first shunned, like a shabby dog, handicapped person, or someone with a voice to say something DIFFERENT. Yet EVERYONE deserves love and EVERYONE can make a difference.
Jesus Christ loved everyone, even lepers, prostitutes and the poor, and did not like the tax collectors. I believe in balance, which may be different for each person, and that even ego or selfishness are good and needed at times, but not at a high rate. We saw what happened on Wall Street. Many people discard organized religion for spirituality, and others discard spirituality for organized religion. I believe that religion, spirituality, art, science, etc. can co-exist. Sometimes things are black and white and modernistic. Usually they coexist, as in Taoism, and they can in a context of God. In quantum mechanics, an electron and light are particles and waves. It’s not black and white. In fact, both church doctrine and legal laws have been changed over time. And so have even medical and scientific theories, and thank God for that! We live and learn!
The Church is important, yet everyone makes mistakes, I believe, besides Jesus Christ. Didn’t the Church, at least the Catholic one, believe that the Sun revolved around the Earth? To me no Saint, Gospel writer, Pope, priest, etc. is infallible. That’s why you have to balance what you believe by your intuition. Intuition can grow if you intend that and have common sense, and not have fear of mistakes and ridicule. Fear may lead you to use Church as a crutch, as food, drugs, hard work or anything can be used – again, balance. We see what happens in societies where people are fundamentalist. Priests, rabbis (as Jesus Christ pointed out in the Bible), doctors, parents, all of us, are human and will sometimes always go to the dark side of our personalities to seek power, praise, domination and celebrity. As with the middle road, balance, yin/yang principles, there is a time to conform and a time not to conform and be like Jesus Christ and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Prayer and Church reading/attendance is important. But why make a cross or fast if you don’t get the mature spirituality aspect of religion? If you have that, it is not that important to make the cross, fast, etc. For instance, if a writer knows the grammar rules well, they can be creative and change them around like some poets and produce a masterpiece. More important than prayer is finding something for which to take a stand and make a difference. I quickly thought of many outliers/mavericks who took a chance and revolutionized the world: Jesus Christ, Socrates, Freud, Jung, Einstein, Graham, Mandela, Gandhi, Washington, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. King, to name a few.
Jesus Christ loved everyone, even lepers, prostitutes and the poor, and did not like the tax collectors. I believe in balance, which may be different for each person, and that even ego or selfishness are good and needed at times, but not at a high rate. We saw what happened on Wall Street. Many people discard organized religion for spirituality, and others discard spirituality for organized religion. I believe that religion, spirituality, art, science, etc. can co-exist. Sometimes things are black and white and modernistic. Usually they coexist, as in Taoism, and they can in a context of God. In quantum mechanics, an electron and light are particles and waves. It’s not black and white. In fact, both church doctrine and legal laws have been changed over time. And so have even medical and scientific theories, and thank God for that! We live and learn!
The Church is important, yet everyone makes mistakes, I believe, besides Jesus Christ. Didn’t the Church, at least the Catholic one, believe that the Sun revolved around the Earth? To me no Saint, Gospel writer, Pope, priest, etc. is infallible. That’s why you have to balance what you believe by your intuition. Intuition can grow if you intend that and have common sense, and not have fear of mistakes and ridicule. Fear may lead you to use Church as a crutch, as food, drugs, hard work or anything can be used – again, balance. We see what happens in societies where people are fundamentalist. Priests, rabbis (as Jesus Christ pointed out in the Bible), doctors, parents, all of us, are human and will sometimes always go to the dark side of our personalities to seek power, praise, domination and celebrity. As with the middle road, balance, yin/yang principles, there is a time to conform and a time not to conform and be like Jesus Christ and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Prayer and Church reading/attendance is important. But why make a cross or fast if you don’t get the mature spirituality aspect of religion? If you have that, it is not that important to make the cross, fast, etc. For instance, if a writer knows the grammar rules well, they can be creative and change them around like some poets and produce a masterpiece. More important than prayer is finding something for which to take a stand and make a difference. I quickly thought of many outliers/mavericks who took a chance and revolutionized the world: Jesus Christ, Socrates, Freud, Jung, Einstein, Graham, Mandela, Gandhi, Washington, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. King, to name a few.
Great Quotes
Martha Graham, modern dance pioneer from early 1900s when barely any woman worked – led way to Alvin Ailey and more: There is a vitality, a life force, energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.
Miriam Williamson, Psychologist and Course in Miracles teacher: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light and not our darkness that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel
insecure around you.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Winston Churchill once said: "Success is the ability to move from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
From a engraving over a doorway in the main New York Public Library by Milton: “A good Booke is the precious Life blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treated up on purpose to a life beyond life.”
Miriam Williamson, Psychologist and Course in Miracles teacher: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light and not our darkness that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel
insecure around you.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Winston Churchill once said: "Success is the ability to move from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
From a engraving over a doorway in the main New York Public Library by Milton: “A good Booke is the precious Life blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treated up on purpose to a life beyond life.”
Introduction
I am Greek Orthodox. However, I do not agree with all traditional views of my church. I also love to learn about other traditions and see what we have in common so we can use this for love, peace and beauty in this world! I like the Taoist thought that sometimes two opposites can be possible (more in another post). This happens in quantum mechanics, as when light can be a ray and a particle, and an electron's place depends on the viewer. There is a time for modernist views and a time for postmodern views. Intution, there but which can be developed, is key to knowing when to use which view.
Here are my five axioms:
Theorems need to be proven, including in mathematics. Axioms are just true. I believe that life is a yin/yang balance, and that two sides of the coin can be true at once, as in Taoism. For instance, it is good and bad to have an ego. A woman can be feminine and masculine.
Some beliefs I hold to be true and self-evident. Here they are, and perhaps I will blog about them more a another time.
1. Socrates "Know Thyself" leading to Shakespeare's "To Thine Own Self Be True and IT Follows, as night the day, thou cannot be false to any man" (or woman or God)
2. Socrates's "Pan Metron Ariston": Everything with balance or measure for arista or excellence
3. The Truth comes out in the end.
4. What comes around goes around (as in the Christianity Golden Rule, Eastern philosophy karma, physics, and more).
5. What does not kill you will make you stronger.
My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.
Here are my five axioms:
Theorems need to be proven, including in mathematics. Axioms are just true. I believe that life is a yin/yang balance, and that two sides of the coin can be true at once, as in Taoism. For instance, it is good and bad to have an ego. A woman can be feminine and masculine.
Some beliefs I hold to be true and self-evident. Here they are, and perhaps I will blog about them more a another time.
1. Socrates "Know Thyself" leading to Shakespeare's "To Thine Own Self Be True and IT Follows, as night the day, thou cannot be false to any man" (or woman or God)
2. Socrates's "Pan Metron Ariston": Everything with balance or measure for arista or excellence
3. The Truth comes out in the end.
4. What comes around goes around (as in the Christianity Golden Rule, Eastern philosophy karma, physics, and more).
5. What does not kill you will make you stronger.
My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.
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