From Volume 6, Issue 1:“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
~ Buddha Siddhartha Guatama Shakyamuni
Where do these teachers come from? The proverb seems to place responsibility for “appearing” on the teacher. It’s as if teachers were limited resources, sitting on the sidelines of life just waiting for students. My take is that “teachers” are an unlimited resource, with dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of teachers for each one of us.
From Volume 5, Issue 12:Regular readers of this newsletter are pretty familiar with our concept of the Knower/Judger. It’s the part of you that lives by your embedded rules of life. It knows right from wrong…frequently to the exclusion of outside information. Usually I berate the K/J as the source of a lot of frustration and conflict, but this holiday season I’m letting my K/J off the hook and thanking it for all the good things it brings.
From Volume 5, Issue 12:According to my dictionary, the term “expectation” was first used about 1540 in the Common Era. In about 1555, the term “frustration” appeared…and they’ve been linked ever since. It seems frustration has been following expectation for almost 500 years. If you got rid of one, could you get rid of the other?
From Volume 5, Issue 11:We all have an “inner child,” don’t we? Sometimes it’s curious and investigating. And sometimes it’s mischievous and rebellious. Sometimes it just loves unconditionally (puppies and kittens come to mind), and sometimes it functions like a paranoid schizophrenic (temper tantrums).
Who are you when your child takes over? Jekyll or Hyde
From Volume 5, Issue 11:A. Fear B. Anger C. Joy Choose one! While some of you might have some sort of emotional attachment to fear or anger, I’ll bet you picked C. Why? Because the other choices are emotions that cause us pain, stress, suffering, and struggle. And we usually don’t want those things. What are our emotions, anyway, and how can you change them to get more of the emotions you do want?
From Volume 5, Issue 10:Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. It’s a Buddhist proverb, and I’d like to thank Jeff V. for putting it out there a week or so ago. Essentially, this proverb explores the concept that pain is what the outside world does to you, and suffering is what you do to yourself. It’s a very important lesson for all of us.
From Volume 5, Issue 10:Back in the 1970s, a researcher named Albert Mehrabian explored how we communicate. He discovered that when a dialogue between two people involves more than simple data (“What time’s the meeting?” “8:15.” “OK.”), and contains information about feelings, moods, or attitudes, words are trusted only 7% of the time, vocal tonality 38% of the time, and facial expression and body language 55% of the time. Now where does that leave the text-based communicator?
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