The goodness at the heart of us all
The goodness at the heart of us all |
- The goodness at the heart of us all
- Drop the “shoulds”
- Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/12/2012
- What secular Buddhism should do but ain't doing
- Toothpick the Culprit of Woman's Mysterious Liver Problems
- Cooper Lighting Recalls Shower Light Trim and Glass Lens
- New Gene Treatment Offers Hope for 'Bubble Boy Disease'
- Most Sore Throats Don't Need Antibiotics, Experts Say
| The goodness at the heart of us all Posted: 12 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT
I can actually remember when and where I had this insight myself. It was a real eye-opener for me to realize that everyone just wants to be happy, and that everything they do is an attempt to find happiness. Even the cruel and selfish things that people do (that we do) are attempts to deal with dissatisfaction and to find happiness. So the problems we have are with the strategies we employ to find happiness. Below those strategies are needs and desires that are entirely good. The reason that this insight so struck me was that it allowed me to find a way past people's behavior, or rather past my judgements of their behavior, so that I could find some compassion for them. If people are just trying to find happiness, but in a confused way that doesn't actually work and ends up causing further suffering for themselves and others, then I no longer had to see them as "bad." The badness was a superficial layer of ineffective strategies (their behaviors) overlying a deep yearning for wholeness and freedom from pain.  Check out Bodhipaksa's meditation CDs and MP3s I can't say that this insight changed my life overnight. It wasn't magic, and didn't erase my impatience, my tendency to judge, my habit of being critical. But it did open a crack through which the light of compassion could shine. And the crack's been getting wider. At the end of a period of Dharma study, I like to spend a little time thinking about what was most relevant to my life, and what, specifically, I will work on in the coming week. And I write it down, otherwise I'll get caught up in daily activities and forget about it. So for me, this week, I'm going to be working on remembering that all the people I deal with are simply trying to be happy. They're often just not very good at it (although some are very skilled!). And I'm going to apply this to myself as well. When I find myself doing something I don't think is me at my best (getting impatient with my kids, resisting meditating, eating something unhealthy) I'm going to remind myself that this is just me seeking happiness through strategies that simply don't work very well. Already I have a sense that this is liberating. It frees me from self-judgement and allows me to have more compassion for myself. And there's an implicit reminder that there are other ways to act. Read More @ Source
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| Posted: 12 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT
It's natural to move toward what feels good and away from what doesn't, natural as well to have values, principles, and morals. But when these healthy inclinations become internal rules – "shoulds," "musts," and "gottas" – then there is a big problem. We feel driven, righteous, or like a failure. And we create issues for others – even a whole birthday party. At bottom, "shoulds" are not about events. They're about what you want to experience (especially emotions and sensations) if your demands on reality are met, or what you fear you'll experience if they're not. Whether your "shoulds" are shaped by neural programs laid down when dinosaurs ruled the earth, or when you were in grade school, they often operate unconsciously or barely semi-consciously – all the more powerfully for lurking in the shadows. Plus, in a deep sense, your "shoulds" control you. (I'm not talking here about healthy principles and desires, which you're more able to reflect about and influence.) Imagine what it would be like to drop your "shoulds" in an upsetting situation or relationship. What's this feel like? Probably relaxing, easing, and freeing. You can and will continue to pursue wholesome aims in wholesome ways. But this time no longer chained to "shoulds." How? As you explore the suggestions below, keep in mind that you can still behave ethically and assert yourself appropriately. Not one word in this JOT is about harming yourself or others, or being a doormat. Bring to mind some situation or relationship that's bothering you. Find a central "should" in your reactions to it, like "that can't happen," or "this must happen," or "they can't treat me this way," or "I couldn't stand ____ ," or "you must ____ ." Notice that the "should" is a statement about reality, the way it is.  Check out Meditations to Change Your Brain, and other titles by Rick Hanson. You could find that in fact the "should" is not true. Good things we "must" have – even a pink rose made of sugar and butter – often fail to arrive. And bad things that "must" not happen often do. I don't mean that we ought to let others off the moral hook or give up on making the world better. I mean that when we face reality in all its messy streaming complexity, we see that it exists independent of our rules, always wiggling free of the abstractions we try to impose upon it. This recognition of truth pulls you out of conceptualizing into direct experiencing, into being with "the thing-in-itself." Which feels clear, peaceful, and free. Consider again the situation or relationship that bothers you, and this time try to find an even deeper "should" that's related to an experience you "must" have or avoid, such as "I'll be so embarrassed if I have to give a talk," or "I can't stand to be alone," or "I must feel successful." Then, facing this "should," ask yourself a question: "Is it really true?" You'll probably find that you could indeed bear the worst possible experience that would come if your "should" were violated. I'm not trying to minimize or dismiss how awful it might feel. But the adamancy, the insistence, built into a "should" is usually not true: you would live through the experience and get to the other side – and eventually other, better experiences would come to you. Most of us are so much more resilient, so much more capable, so much more surrounded by good things to draw upon, so much more contributing and loving than we think we are! Also, consider the situation or relationship through the eyes of the others involved. Ask yourself if the things you think are imperatives, mandates, rules, necessities, etc. are like that for others. Probably not. And flip it around: what "shoulds" are alive in the minds of others . . . that you are violating. Yikes! When I think about this applied to situations I get cranky about, it's very humbling. A final thought: dropping the "shoulds" exposes you to a sense of vulnerability to life and the difficult feelings that come with it – and that can be hard. We use "shoulds" to try to hold at bay the pain and loss we all do or will inevitably face in full measure (some of course more than others). Yet the pain and loss that do come will come regardless of our "musts" and "can'ts" – which only delude us into thinking that this tissue of rules will somehow hold back life's tide. Paradoxically, by opening to this tide as it runs in your life – a deeper truer reality than can ever be contained by the nets of thought – you both reduce the uncomfortable friction imposed by "shoulds" upon those currents and increase your sense of opening out into and being lifted and carried by life's beautiful stream. Read More @ Source
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| Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/12/2012 Posted: 12 Sep 2012 06:00 AM PDT  "Worthy persons deserve to be called so because they are not carried away by the eight winds: prosperity,decline,disgrace,honor,praise,censure,suffering, and pleasure.They are neither elated by prosperity nor grieved by decline. The heavenly gods will surely protect one who is unbending before the eight winds." ~The Buddha       Read More @ Source 
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| What secular Buddhism should do but ain't doing Posted: 12 Sep 2012 05:00 AM PDT Speaking in general, to secularize Buddhism means that Buddhism needs to focus more on the problems human beings face on a day to day level. However, this is not necessarily a call for reforming Buddhism calling into question its main tenets. To secularize Buddhism may only mean having a hospice or running a shelter for abandoned or hurt animals. Environmental concerns are not outside of secular Buddhism, either, as are many other things. This includes even economics. To secularize Buddhism need not abandon Buddhism's traditional tenets and practices such as karma, rebirth, and striving for nirvana. It should be obvious, that secularists have no warrant to secularize Buddhism's core religious teachings; to modify them in such a way that Buddhism is in name only which acts to hide materialism or some other narrow modern -ism that is antithetical to Buddhism. What seems to be happening with secular Buddhism is that secularizing it has for its target the main tenets of Buddhism. Anyone who has seriously read Stephen Batchelor's book, Buddhism Without Beliefs, who has a knowledge of the Buddhist canon, could make a serious argument that Batchelor's little book has little or nothing to do with Buddhism. For secular Buddhists, trying to make Buddhism more accessible to the general public by creating various kinds of charitable institutions which are for the general benefit of the public, seems not to be as exciting as reforming and changing the very core of Buddhism. 
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| Toothpick the Culprit of Woman's Mysterious Liver Problems Posted: 11 Sep 2012 05:00 PM PDT
When a woman who had been feeling progressively weaker for months visited an emergency room with nausea, vomiting and low blood pressure, doctors diagnosed her as having an abdominal infection and treated her with antibiotics, according to a report of her case. But the results of the woman's blood tests showed her liver enzymes were at higher-than-normal levels, and an ultrasound revealed a puss-filled cavity, about an inch and a half long, within her liver. By this time, the 45-year-old was in the intensive care unit with multiple organ failure. Several weeks of treatment with a cocktail of antibiotics were needed before she was well enough to go home. Exploratory surgery was scheduled, and it turned out the woman had swallowed a toothpick that had somehow made its way from her digestive tract into her liver. In fact, there have been 17 reported cases where people swallowed toothpicks and wound up with liver abscesses, according to the researchers who reported the woman's case. "Foreign body ingestion is not an uncommon problem," the researchers wrote in their report, adding that the cases are usually seen by pediatricians and psychiatrists. But in less than 1 percent of cases, the object makes its way outside of the gastrointestinal tract to another site within the body — and rarer still are cases where the object ends up in the liver. In most cases where swallowed objects get out of the gastrointestinal tract, the objects have sharp ends, such as sewing needles or fishing bones. The stomach and the first section of the small intestine, called the duodenum, are the most common places along the tract where objects tend to escape, the researchers said. The woman's case illustrates that patients who've swallowed a foreign object are difficult to diagnose, the researchers said. Patients rarely remember ingesting an object, and often have no symptoms for some time. When they do seek medical attention, their symptoms are nonspecific, and foreign bodies don't always show up on imaging tests. But in such cases, early diagnosis and removal of the object is important, the researchers said. Ultrasound and CT scans may be best for detecting foreign bodies, they said. "Toothpick injury of the gastrointestinal tract is often associated with considerable morbidity," they wrote. The report is published today (Sept. 10) in the journal BMJ Case Reports. Pass it on: A woman's liver problems were attributed to the ingestion of a toothpick months earlier. FollowMyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+.  Read More @ Source 
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| Cooper Lighting Recalls Shower Light Trim and Glass Lens Posted: 11 Sep 2012 04:00 PM PDT
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Cooper Lighting LLC, of Peachtree City, Ga., announced a voluntary recall of about 50,400 Shower light trim. Hazard: The shower light's trim and glass lens can fall from the ceiling fixture, posing an impact and laceration hazard to consumers. Incidents/Injuries: Cooper Lighting has received 407 reports of trim pieces falling and breaking, including laceration injuries to a consumer's head and foot when struck by the light's trim and lens as they fell from the ceiling fixture. Description: This recall involves All-Pro shower light trim models ERT701, RE-ERT 701, ERT702 and ERT703 with a glass lens and date codes 347 11 through 119 12. The model number and date code are marked on underside of the portion of the trim facing the ceiling. The trim is used with light fixtures listed below.
 Sold at: Home Depot and other home improvement stores nationwide and by professional installers from January 2012 through July 2012 for about $ 13 for the trim and glass lens.  Manufactured in: China Remedy: Consumers should contact Cooper Lighting immediately to receive free replacement trim for the shower light. Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Cooper Lighting at (800) 954-7228 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's recall page at www.cooperlighting.com. Read More @ Source 
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| New Gene Treatment Offers Hope for 'Bubble Boy Disease' Posted: 11 Sep 2012 03:00 PM PDT
When her son, Colton, developed asthma-like symptoms and coughing at just a few months old, Jessica Ainslie, from Peoria, Ariz., took him to the doctor. Breathing treatments seemed to do the trick, but Colton was soon sick again — he developed thrush (an oral fungal infection), had trouble keeping food down, and was struck by various other ailments. Ainslie said she knew Colton's condition was beyond normal newborn illnesses. "I just thought, there's something wrong here," Ainslie said. After many rounds of tests, doctors discovered that Colton had a rare genetic condition called severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), sometimes referred to as the "bubble boy disease." Children with SCID are unable to fight any infection, and in the days before treatments were available, typically did not survive past age 2. But today Colton is a happy 5-year-old who proudly attends kindergarten. He likes ketchup and loves chocolate milk, and is a raging fan of the Avengers, Ainslie said. That's because when Colton was 1 and a half, he received a new gene therapy treatment. Doctors removed about a cup of his bone marrow, isolated the marrow's stem cells, and over five days in a laboratory, treated those cells with a virus that was engineered to "infect" the cells with the gene that Colton was missing. They then re-injected the cells into his body. Once those stem cells set up shop inside Colton's bones, they began to produce the white blood cells he'd been unable to make before. "He got kind of chunky," Ainslie said. "He started to catch up." In fact, Colton is one of 18 children with SCID who have received this gene therapy treatment, and all have seen similar results — they have developed functioning immune systems, and have a quality of life that is nearly normal, said Dr. Donald Kohn, a professor of pediatrics and of microbiology, and a stem cell transplant specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles. The results of the clinical trial that Colton was a part of, which included the first 10 children treated between 2001 and 2009, are published today (Sept. 11) in the journal Blood. All the children in the study had one particular form of SCID — they lacked a specific gene called ADA, Kohn said. About 15 percent of children with SCID have this form of the disease, he said. Before the gene therapy, there were two treatments available for children with this type of SCID: if they had a sibling who matched them on certain genes, the sibling could donate bone marrow. This treatment has worked well and enabled these children to live largely normal lives, but only about 25 percent of children had such a sibling. Other children could receive twice-weekly injections of the ADA enzyme they were missing, and this treatment also worked reasonably well, but the injections cost about $ 500,000 yearly, and are needed for the child's entire life. "Gene therapy holds hope for a better treatment — it's safer and more cost-effective," Kohn said. No donor is needed, and the treatment is much more cost-effective than the injections, said Kohn, who co-lead the study with Dr. Fabio Candotti, of the National Institutes of Health. The therapy has the potential to trigger side effects. Between the time the marrow is removed and re-injected, children are treated with a chemotherapy drug aimed at killing some of their existing bone marrow cells to "make space" for the new cells, Kohn said. The chemo can cause nausea, vomiting, hair loss and other side effects. However, the dose of chemo used in the study was low, and none of the children in the study developed these side effects, though their blood cell counts dropped for about a month, he said. When the researchers first attempted the gene therapy, in 1999 and 2000, the chemo step was not included, Kohn said, and the results were not great. "We treated four patients with the original therapy, and very few of the cells grew into functioning bone marrow," he said. But a report from Italian researchers clued Kohn and his team into the idea of using chemo to boost the therapy's effectiveness. The re-started their trial in 2005. The children in the study all received the new treatment, including the chemo, at least two years ago now, Kohn said. "They're healthy, they're growing — they're not sick," he said. The treatment seems to work better when given as early as possible, Kohn said. Colton's sister Abbygail, who is 14 months old, was also born with SCID, and received the new gene therapy before she was 1. While Colton will likely need some treatments for the rest of his life — he receives periodic immune-boosting injections and lipids, along with antibiotics — Abbygail will likely not need lifelong treatment, Ainslie said. When Colton gets sick, it takes him a longer time than normal to recover, and he cannot receive immunizations. He also relies on a feeding tube — he is learning to chew and swallow, but still has a difficult time eating, Ainslie said. "He gets frustrated," she said, "but he keeps trying." Pass it on: Gene therapy combined with chemotherapy has shown success in fighting "bubble-boy disease" and given sufferers a mostly normal life. FollowMyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Read More @ Source 
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| Most Sore Throats Don't Need Antibiotics, Experts Say Posted: 11 Sep 2012 02:00 PM PDT
Many people who see a doctor for a sore throat receive prescriptions for antibiotics, but most do not need them, experts say. That's because most sore throats are caused by viruses, which do not respond to antibiotics, the Infectious Diseases Society of America says. According to new guidelines released today (Sept. 11) by the IDSA, people should take antibiotics for strep throat only if a test confirms they have the condition. Patients who test positive for strep— caused by streptococcus bacteria —should be treated with penicillin or amoxicillin if possible, the guidelines say. Use of the antibiotics azithromycin and cephalosporin should be avoided because strep bacteria are increasingly becoming resistant to these drugs, the IDSA says. About 15 million people in the United States see doctors for sore throats every year, and up to 70 percent receive antibiotics, but a much smaller percentage actually have strep throat: approximately 20 to 30 percent of children, and 5 to 15 percent of adults. Children and adults do not need to be tested for strep throat if they have a cough, runny nose, hoarseness or mouth sores — these are strong signs of a viral throat infection, the guidelines say. A sore throat is more likely to be caused by strep if the pain comes on suddenly, swallowing hurts and the sufferer has a fever without symptoms of the common cold, the guidelines say. If strep is suspected, the guidelines recommend physicians use the rapid antigen detection test, which provides results in a few minutes. If that test is negative, a follow-up throat culture is recommended for children and adolescents, but not for adults. Because strep throat is uncommon in children 3 years old or younger, they don't need to be tested, the guidelines recommend. The IDSA recommends against surgery to remove tonsils for children with repeated throat infections except in very specific cases — such as a child who has obstructed breathing — because the risks of surgery are generally not worth the benefit, the guidelines say. The guidelines are not intended to take the place of a doctor's judgment, but rather to support the decision-making process, which must be individualized according to each patient's circumstances, the IDSA says. Pass it on: Most sore throats are caused by viruses and should not be treated with antibiotics, new guidelines say. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Read More @ Source 
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At a discussion group last night, we talked a little about the deep yearning for happiness that we all have. The discussion was sparked off by this statement:
One time I watched a three-year-old at her birthday party. Her friends were there from preschool, and she received lots of presents. The cake came out, she admired the pink frosting rose at its center, and everyone sang. One of the moms cut pieces and without thinking sliced right through the rose – a disaster for this little girl. "I shoulda had the rose!" she yelled. "I shoulda shoulda SHOULDA had the rose!" Nothing could calm her down, not even pushing the two pieces of cake together to look like a whole rose. Nothing else mattered, not the friends, not the presents, not the day as a whole: she was insistent, something MUST happen. She had, just HAD to get the whole rose.
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