The Glass Buddha Project: an update
The Glass Buddha Project: an update |
- The Glass Buddha Project: an update
- Money Matters: Is it Worth it to Buy a Warranty for a TV?
- Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 6/22/2013
- An antidote to fear
- How mindfulness training helps school kids relieve stress
| The Glass Buddha Project: an update Posted: 22 Jun 2013 10:00 AM PDT
I'd never have dreamed that we would exceed our fundraising goal in such a short period of time. Being over-funded is actually really great, because I'd forgotten to factor in Indiegogo's fees, and I also have to make a trip to NYC to pick up glass. All those expenses are now covered, and since Wildmind is only just scraping by financially at the moment I'm relieved that I don't have to put anything on our credit cards. In case you missed it, the purpose is to buy Google Glass for Wildmind. Glass is a computer that's worn like a pair of glasses. It has a built-in screen, a camera, a microphone, and a bone-conducting speaker that sends sound directly into your skull, and it can be controlled by voice or by touching the "arm" of the glasses. I wanted to purchase Glass for Wildmind for two reasons:
Now the advantage of this is that messages delivered to Glass are immediate. You don't need to hear a notification chime, pull out your cellphone, and stare at the screen. The notification is just there, hovering in space. To glance at it would take a half-second of your time, but could change your entire day, and thus shape the course of your entire life. I believe that this could be life-changing. The latest article I read on Glass estimated that 21 million people would buy glass when it launches commercially (at which point it'll likely be as affordable as a smartphone). Many of those people will be in technical or creative fields, and they'll be using Glass because of the hands-free nature of the display (imagine if your doctor could call up your medical records just by asking for them). So this is huge number of people to reach, and they're a demographic that's likely to be interested in meditation and mindfulness practice — and to have a need for it. While most people see technology as something that disturbs the mind, I see it as a tool that can help us develop mindfulness and compassion. So thank you to everyone who has to make this happen. (And further contributions are welcome!) Read More @ Source |
| Money Matters: Is it Worth it to Buy a Warranty for a TV? Posted: 22 Jun 2013 09:00 AM PDT  Unless you are a hermit that hates electronics, you've probably experienced the following scenario at least once in your life. You're at a retail store, such as Best Buy, and you buy a new device. It could be a TV, computer, gaming console, smartphone, radar detector, controller, keyboard, and the list goes on. Now, it doesn't even have to be that expensive of a device, but you will still get that same question: "Would you like to purchase an extended warranty for this product?"  Read More @ Source |
| Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 6/22/2013 Posted: 22 Jun 2013 08:00 AM PDT  "Guarding knowledge is not a good way to understand. Understanding means to throw away your knowledge." ~Thich Nhat Hanh      Read More @ Source |
| Posted: 21 Jun 2013 10:00 PM PDT
I remember precisely the first moment I noticed this in the context of cultivating lovingkindness, which is of course related to joyful appreciation, since both qualities are part of the "four immeasurables." At the time, I was having the New York Times delivered to my house every morning. It was one of my great pleasures to have a leisurely breakfast with a cup of tea, toast, and some intelligent analysis from the Op-Ed pages. But first I had to get the newspaper, which was tossed onto the front porch every morning by the delivery driver. It was always an awkward moment for me walking out onto the porch in my bathrobe and slippers, with my hairy legs and knobbly ankles exposed to the world. I somehow felt judged by the passing drivers, even though I'm sure they never noticed me. And so I'd get a bit grouchy as I retrieved my rolled-up copy of the Times. This was fear, really. It was the fear of what people thought of me, whether they judged me, whether they disliked me or laughed at me. You can tell yourself that all this is silly: that the drivers are too busy driving to notice you, that they'll probably never see you again, that they're probably not petty enough to care about how you look. You can tell yourself that it doesn't matter; even if people have unkind thoughts about you, that's their stuff, not yours. But still, there's fear. Sometimes I'm rather slow on the uptake, and it can take me a while to realize that I'm suffering. So it probably took a few weeks of grumpily retrieving the Times before I noticed what was going on. And my first response, once I did notice that I was suffering, was to wish the passers-by well. As drivers swished by, or as neighbors walked their dogs past the house, I'd slip into saying "May you be well; may you be happy; may you be free from suffering."  If you like my articles, and want to support my work, please click here to purchase my books, guided meditation CDs, and MP3s. And the fear vanished. Instantly. There was no more worrying what people thought about me. There was no grumpiness. There was just me, picking up my paper, feeling joy as I wished others well. The thing is that there's no room in the mind for both well-wishing and worrying. If you fill the mind with well-wishing, there's no mental bandwidth left for worrying what people think about you. And you can't appreciate people and also think the worst about them at the same time. You can see people in a positive light — they're beings who want to be happy, trying to be happy as best they can — or you can see them in a negative light, where you assume that they're obsessed about you and your bony ankles. But you can't do both at the same time. And mudita — joyful appreciation — works just the same way. We can't appreciate and rejoice in the good qualities of others and also think the worst of them. Mudita protects against fear. And a spirit of appreciation affects not just how we see others, but how we see ourselves. So rather than focusing on our imagined deficiencies (I may obsess about my hairy calves but I'm sure no one else does) we just don't notice those things, and instead focus on what's positive in ourselves. Mudita is joyful, and when you're happy you just don't obsess about your faults. Mudita connects us with everything positive in life. It opens us up to our full potential, and to others' full potential. Rather than relating to our own or others' faults, real or imagined, we see them as capable of boundless kindness, compassion, and wisdom. When we see the world with joyful appreciation, we see life as something to be lived, not feared. PS. You can see a full list of our 100 Days of Lovingkindness posts here. Read More @ Source |
| How mindfulness training helps school kids relieve stress Posted: 21 Jun 2013 07:00 PM PDT
UK researchers found that mindfulness training, a technique that develops sustained attention that can change the ways people think, act and feel, is an effective method to promote wellness in school kids. Mindfulness is a technique gaining popularity among adults for enhancing health and well-being. However, very few controlled trials have evaluated their effectiveness among young people. School is ending for many school kids, a time of high stress as children prepare to take final examinations and other qualifying tests.,, Read the original article » Read More @ Source |
Wow! Our Glass Buddha Project fundraiser is now 118% funded in just three days. Originally I'd allowed 21 days for the fundraising, and aimed to bring in $ 1633, but we currently have $ 1933 donated, and 18 days to go. Wow!
The ancient Spiritual Consciousness commentary, the Path of Liberation, says of joyful appreciation, or mudita, that "non-fear is its function." Joyful appreciation is an antidote to fear. It gives courage.
Rick Nauert, Ph.D., PsychCentral: A new study suggests a particular type of mental training can help to reduce stress and depression among school age children.| You are subscribed to email updates from BuddhaRocks ☸ To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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