Workshop: The Practice of Self-Compassion with Christopher Germer, PhD

10am to 4pm, Saturday, May 22, 2010

In the McFarlin Chapel at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, 2 Westford Street, Chelmsford

Self-compassion is the ground of emotional healing. It involves generating kindness and respect toward ourselves as imperfect humans, and learning to be present with the inevitable struggles of life with greater ease. This workshop will provide simple tools for responding in a kind, compassionate way whenever we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate. We all want to avoid pain, but letting it in—and responding compassionately to our own imperfections without judgment or self-blame—are essential steps toward living happier, more fulfilling lives.

Christopher Germer, PhD, is Clinical Instructor at Harvard Medical School, and a faculty member of the Institute for Meditation & Psychotherapy. He co-directs the annual Harvard Medical School conference on meditation and psychotherapy, and speaks internationally on clinical applications of mindfulness and self-compassion. Dr. Germer is the author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion and co-editor of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy.

This event is appropriate for beginners and experienced meditators alike. Participants should bring their own lunch and meditation cushions or benches as desired; chairs will be available. The workshop will take place in the Chapel from 10am to 4pm, followed by tea in the Vestry.

The workshop is freely offered, however donations to support the teacher and church are welcome.

To RSVP or for more information please contact Brenda Rogers: brogers1926@hotmail.com

The Politics of Compassion

The conventional wisdom is that American politics is becoming increasingly polarized, with partisans on the right and left ever more entrenched in their views and with little discourse occurring outside the proverbial “echo chambers”. There is also a popular understanding – again, both right and left – that our elected representatives are out of touch with the real, day-to-day issues confronting their constituents. From the perspective of a well-functioning democracy – and by extension, a well-functioning society – these trends are concerning.

Buddhism 101: Adult RE class to be offered at First Parish

Brenda will be offering a four-week exploration of Buddhism starting Wednesday, October 19, as part of the First Parish adult religious education program:

On Sunday October 4th, there will be a half-hour meeting after church for a sharing of resources about Buddhism (books, videos, websites, meeting times/places of local Buddhist meditation groups). Following that, for four weeks starting October 19th (dates subject to change as we figure out calendar commitments), there will be four evening meetings for a short practice period and discussion on the following topics (subject to change, depending on interest):

Week 1 (October 19th): Buddhism in America Today
Week 2 (October 26th): The Buddha
Week 3 (November 4): The Main Teachings of the Buddha
Week 4 (November 11): Summary and Closing Discussion

This should be interesting and informative for anyone in our group who would like to understand more about the origins and broader context of our meditation practice.

If you are interested or have questions, please contact Brenda.

Photos from Ajahn David

Ajahn David offered a couple of photographs for sharing. The first couple are from Ajahn Mangkone’s recent trip to Laos, where he put his civil engineering background to good use by designing and constructing a new kuti (monks’ quarters) at the Wat Ban Thaio monastery.

These photos were taken in April at Songkran, the Thai New Year.

The last photo is of Ajahn David, Ajahn Mangkone, the 14th Dalai Lama, and Tibetan monk Tenzin Josh, taken a few years ago at His Holiness’s residence in Dharamsala, India.

The Buddha: In his own words Extended!

The extraordinary life of the Buddha assembled from the original texts and performed as a one-man play
Conceived & Performed by Evan Brenner

http://www.thebuddhaplay.com/

EXTENDED!
April 22-25 at the Boston Center For the Arts
Tickets go on sale Tuesday, April 14th at Noon
Playing:
Wednesday, April 22nd 7:30pm
Thursday, April 23rd 7:30pm
Friday, April 24th 8pm
Saturday, April 25th 3pm & 8pm

Good stuff. Lots to learn and reflect on…I’ve seen it twice now….)

Practising Anger

I heard an interesting segment about anger on NPR’s “Morning Edition” today. The story is about a woman who, inspired by her own experience, opened a business called The Smash Shack which caters to people seeking a cathartic outlet for their anger and aggression. Modern psychological research, however, seems to suggest that “the more you get angry, the angrier you get.”

While it’s nice to see Western psychology finally catching up (for the most part), this insight is rather old news from a Buddhist perspective. In brief, when we practice something, we become good at it. This goes for both pleasant and unpleastant mental states. When we “practice” anger, we simply become more skilled at being angry. And the more we train ourselves, the more automatic it becomes.

Certainly there may be a kind of short-term satisfaction in venting our feelings, and it can be just as harmful — if not more so — to suppress them. However the short-term satisfaction is just that, and never truly addresses the underlying causes and conditions for our anger. The trick, then, to working skillfully with strong emotions is finding a balance point: acknowledging our feelings without letting them take control of our actions. And this requires being able to stop and pay attention to what’s going on in our own minds.

While smashing plates or hitting a pillow may seem like perfectly harmless activity, training in the unmitigated expression of anger is like building a bomb: it has the potential to go off when we least expect it, and in ways that can be truly harmful – such as road rage, mass shootings, and so on.

So the next time you’re so mad you feel like smashing something, do everyone a favor: just take a couple of minutes and watch your breath.

Diehard Dhamma

The Major League Baseball season gets under way — finally! — in less than a week, which undoubtedly prompted a very interesting article in the Boston Globe: “A Brief Inquiry into the Nature of Sports Fandom.” The author takes a lighthearted jab at diehard sports fans — himself included, apparently — concluding that “If you actually care deeply about your team, you are probably wrong.” The issue, it seems, hinges on “an ancient philosophical problem, that of identity over time.”

Funny, You Don’t Look a Day Over 10,950

I read a great article in the March 2009 issue of Ode Magazine introducing me to futurist, physicist and author on spirituality, meditation and the human mind, Peter Russell.

The article is a fascinating read, as is Peter’s website. Highlights of particular interest to fellow Buddhist practitioners:

Peter recommends measuring human age in days, not years. Here in the Northeast, we are able to experience the changing seasons that comprise a year, making the year of some relevance to our perception of age and passage of time. (Sidebar: An excellent book that uses the theme of seasons to help build a sense of gratitude is here). However, the passage of a single day may well be even more relevant, and certainly much more so for those living in regions with less or virtually no discernable change in seasons.

It was something I started doing 20 years ago. It just struck me that the day is the more natural cycle of our life. We’ve got 70, 80, maybe 100 years, but 20,000, 30,000 or 40,000 days to live on the planet. It’s a whole different perspective and makes us value each day. When you look at your life in days, time seems to expand. It helps make me more present.

The Pursuit of Happiness

 

TV host Bill Moyers recently sat down with writer/teacher/activist Parker Palmer for a conversation about “maintaining spiritual wholeness even as the economy and political order seem to come apart.” One quote of Parker’s particularly struck me:

I think the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of reality because illusion never leaves us ultimately happy.

Quotes from the Buddha

I found these quotes from the Buddha at this url: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/buddha.html

I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the quotes, but I found them interesting food for thought. Number 21 puzzles me. Number 39 brought a moment of clarity.  And many of them just confirmed what I think I understand about the teachings.  So for your consideration and enjoyment: