4 joy, anxiety, Determination - aditthana, fear, gratitude, joy - mudita, Kindness - metta, motivation, Patience - khanti, Uncategorized

A few resources for resilience

Jill Shepherd

Feeling stretched? As the bad news continues and intensifies in various parts of the world, I’ve started collecting news articles, books and courses to turn to when I need some inspiration. Below are just a few suggestions – let me know if you have any favourites of your own!

Chipmunk between fenceposts, Barre, Massachusetts

Finding good news in the midst of the pandemic

The intent behind KarunaVirus.org is to amplify the voice of our collective compassion — by featuring news of everyday people choosing love over fear. We feel that the acts of courageous kindness we’re seeing all over the world will far outlive the virus, and if enough of us keep it front and center of our consciousness, it could well bring new possibilities for our future.
https://www.karunavirus.org/

You Belong: A Call for Connection

A new book by meditation teacher Sebene Selassie
To belong is to experience joy in any moment: to feel pleasure, dance in public, accept death, forgive what seems unforgivable, and extend kindness to yourself and others. To belong is also to acknowledge injustice, reckon with history, and face our own shadows. Full of practical advice and profound revelations, You Belong makes a winning case for resisting the forces that demand separation and reclaiming the connection—and belonging—that have been ours all along.
https://tricycle.org/magazine/sebene-selassie-belong/

Awakening Joy online course

An internationally recognized 5-month course taught by James Baraz on opening to life with appreciation, resilience and an open heart. Learn fun and rewarding practices that lead to deep insight and authentic joy.

Registration for 2021 will open in November 2020. The first materials for the 2021 Awakening Joy course will be posted online the first week of February. The first live Zoom call on the theme of Intention will take place at the end of January.

More info here

A two day experiential workshop with Dr Rick Hanson

21 & 22 November | Online | 9.00 am – 1.00 (AEST) pm each day

Join New York Times bestselling author Rick Hanson, PhD, to learn how to strengthen the neural circuitry of deep contentment and profound inner peace. Based on teachings from his new book Neurodharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness, this experiential workshop will provide you with methods for cultivating and embodying unshakable presence of mind, a courageous heart, and serenity in a changing world. 

More info here

Exploring Sacred Paths: Pilgrimage in Buddhist Traditions

An online pilgrimage with Justin Kelly

Just prior to entering into parinirvana, it is said that the Buddha encouraged his disciples to go on pilgrimage after his death to the sacred sites associated with his life. For over 2500 years practitioners from every corner of the Buddhist world have gone on pilgrimage. As a result, pilgrimage has both a rich literary history and a diverse array of practices associated with it. 

This course is an inquiry into what pilgrimage means, both in its ideal form as described in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist writings, as well as how the principles of pilgrimage can infuse our lives with greater meaning and purpose. While investigating this topic, we will: 

  • “visit” sacred pilgrimage sites of Buddhist traditions—such as Bodhgāya and Sarnatha in India, and Samye Chimpu and Tsogyal Lhatso in Tibet—through multimedia presentations.
  • explore traditional Buddhist materials. 
  • engage in contemplative and relational practices. 
  • elucidate the meaning of pilgrimage through our collective wisdom. 
  • begin to reimagine our everyday activities in and through the lens of pilgrimage.

Our investigation will include materials related to the historical Buddha, as well as other historical Buddhist figures, such as the Tibetan female master Yeshe Tosgyal and the Chinese pilgrim-explorer Xuanzang.

Grounded in Justin’s six principles of pilgrimage—awareness, movement, education, kindness, inclusivity, and nature—this course is both experiential and interactive. Participants will be invited to engage in weekly exercises that will inform the unfolding of our sessions together and, while gathered, we will engage in dialogue in service of more fully understanding the experience of pilgrimage. 

This course is appropriate for people of all walks of life and stages of practice. The only requirement is an open heart.

More info here

Cultivating resilience in challenging times: Learning from the “heavenly messengers”

An online eight-week dharma study and practice course with Jill this October-November, offering an opportunity to develop and strengthen our inner resources of kindness, compassion, calm and clarity, through an exploration of what are traditionally known as “the four heavenly messengers.” 

More info here

Afflictive emotions, anxiety, Awakening, Brahma Vihara practice, climate change, Climate crisis, compassion - karuna, daily life, death, death and dying, dukkha, equanimity - upekkha, fear, friendliness - metta, grief, Heavenly Messengers, insight, Insight meditation - vipassana, mindfulness, Social justice

NEW eight-week online Dharma Study class series October-November 2020

Jill Shepherd

Cultivating resilience in challenging times:  

Learning from the “heavenly messengers” 

This eight-week online course offers an opportunity to develop and strengthen our inner resources of kindness, compassion, calm and clarity, through an exploration of what are traditionally known as “the four heavenly messengers.” 

In Buddhist teaching, these are four archetypes that symbolise the existential challenges we face, and the way to overcome those challenges. The four are a sick person, an aged person, a dying person, and a contemplative. In addition to these four, we can also include the current challenges of the climate crisis and racial and social injustice.

At first glance, these messengers might not sound so heavenly, but by learning how to relate to their messages skilfully, they can help us to live our lives with more ease, happiness, and peace. 

Each two-hour class will include a short dharma talk, some silent meditation practice, dyad (pairs) practice, and small group discussion. The course will use the Canvas online platform to provide talk recordings, guided meditations, and additional reading. 

This course is best suited to people who have sat at least one seven-day silent meditation retreat, but prior Buddhist study is not necessary. Some of the material may be challenging for people who have recently experienced a bereavement or other life stressors, so please feel free to contact Jill if you have any questions about this.

NOTE: Because this is a group learning process, participants are asked to make a commitment to attend all eight sessions of the course, and to allow at least two hours a week for personal study and reflections to be shared with the group. 
Each week there will be an assignment in the form of a short written reflection, and a response will be required to access the next week’s resources.

Teacher: Jill Shepherd http://jill0shepherd-insightmeditation.com

Cost for all eight sessions: $80 + dana*  

Times and dates of Zoom group meetings: 

Please double-check your time-zone conversion here

Option 1

SydneyAEST 6:00-8:00 a.m.Sunday mornings4 October –
22 November 
AucklandNZT 8:00-10:00 a.m.Sunday mornings4 October –
22 November   
San FranciscoPDT 12:00-2:00 p.m.
(note time will change to 11:00-1:00 pm from 1 November due to Daylight Saving Time ending) 		Saturday afternoons 3 October – 
21 November
New York EDT 3:00-5:00 p.m.
(note time will change to 2:00-4:00 pm from 1 November due to Daylight Saving Time ending) 		Saturday afternoons 3 October – 21 November
London BST 8:00-10:00 p.m.
(note time will change to 7:00-9:00 pm from 25 October due to Daylight Saving Time ending) 		Saturday evenings 3 October – 21 November 

Option 2

Singapore SGT 8:00-10:00 a.m.Sunday mornings4 October –
22 November
Sydney AEST 11:00-1:00 p.m. Sunday mornings4 October –
22 November 
Auckland NZT 1:00-3:00 p.m. Sunday afternoons4 October –
22 November
San Francisco PDT 5:00-7:00 p.m.
(note time will change to 4:00-6:00 pm from 1 November due to Daylight Saving Time ending) 		Saturday afternoons 3 October – 
21 November 
New York EDT 8:00-10:00 p.m.
(note time will change to 7:00-9:00 pm from 1 November due to Daylight Saving Time ending)		Saturday evenings 3 October – 21 November 

Register here:

https://events.humanitix.com/eight-week-online-dharma-study-class-series-october-2020

Dana/donations

*The registration fee covers only a contribution to course administration, and booking fees.  In keeping with Buddhist tradition, the teachings are offered on a dana basis which means the teacher is not paid to offer this workshop.  Instead, they rely on the generosity of the participants to help them continue to share their teachings with others, and there will be an opportunity at the end of each class to offer donations to support their ongoing teaching.

Insight meditation - vipassana, mindfulness, Uncategorized

Insight Dialogue workshop Auckland

Jill Shepherd

Postponed to November – see details below

Two-day relational meditation workshop – Auckland, New Zealand

Introduction to Insight Dialogue

Insight Dialogue is an interpersonal meditation practice that brings the mindfulness and tranquility of traditional silent meditation into our experience with others. Resting on the foundation of traditional Buddhist teachings, this practice offers a way to integrate wisdom and compassion into our relational lives through mindful speaking and mindful listening.

In this two-day non-residential workshop, we will use the power of relational meditation practice to understand the habits of heart and mind that lead to stress and distress, and how to free ourselves from those habits so that we can live together with greater ease and happiness.

Working together in pairs and small groups, we will explore the six guidelines of Insight Dialogue in conjunction with the classical Buddhist teachings on Wise Speech: speech that is “… spoken at the right time … spoken in truth … spoken affectionately … spoken beneficially … spoken with a mind of good-will.”

For more information about the practice of Insight Dialogue, please see https://metta.org/insight-dialogue-3/

This workshop is best suited to people with an established meditation practice, but previous insight dialogue experience is not required.

NOTE: Because the Insight Dialogue guidelines will be taught in sequence and much of the meditation is done in pairs, please plan to arrive on time and stay for the entire day, both days

Time and dates:

9:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 November 2020

Cost: $75 + dana*

Register here

*The registration fee covers only a contribution to room hire, event costs and administration. 

In keeping with Buddhist tradition, the teachings are offered on a dana basis which means the teacher is not paid to offer this workshop.  Instead, they rely on the generosity of the participants to help them continue to share their teachings with others, and there will be an opportunity at the end of the workshop to offer donations to support their ongoing teaching.

Right Action, Social justice, Uncategorized

A Few More Anti-Racism Resources

Jill Shepherd

United States

White and Awakening Together

An online course run by Spirit Rock starting August 2

Description:
This is a time in America when white people’s awareness of the terrible impact of racial injustice has increased dramatically in the context of the pandemic and following the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. How can we respond? What can we do? What is whiteness, and how does it fit in with our dharma practice? How can we use the energy of this time to explore and address the suffering of racial injustice and promote, nurture and maintain greater inclusiveness and racial equity in our communities?

Defecting from Supremacy: Joining the Struggle for Collective Liberation

An online course run by White Awake starting August 16

This course is designed to help white men forge healthy racial and gender identities, cultivate emotional resilience, and gain political clarity as we join in solidarity with women, people of all genders, and people of color in the struggle for collective liberation.

https://mailchi.mp/whiteawake/defecting-from-supremacy-2020

White Awake

Next online course run by White Awake starting October 4

Roots Deeper Than Whiteness will be offered again this fall (beginning Oct 4th). To be informed when dates are announced and registration opens,  please sign up for our mailing list.

United Kingdom

Racial Justice and Decolonising Our Hearts and Minds

A conversation with Lama Rod Owens, buddhist teacher, activist and author
of Love and Rage, and Zainab Asunramu, activist, writer, former parliamentary
researcher, and human rights advocate.

Saturday 25th July 6pm- 8pm BST

AnOther magazine:

Practical Things You Can Do to Fight Racism in the UK

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests taking place across the United States and the world, and the subsequent outpouring of activist sentiment on social media, it is more imperative than ever to continue momentum to make this a true moment of change. This of course leads to difficult questions for the white community, not least in the UK, where we must face up to our own failings as a country – racism, both overt and institutionalised, is not just an American problem. 

About Race

podcast with UK author Reni Eddo-Lodge

From the author behind the bestselling Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, comes a podcast that takes the conversation a step further. Featuring key voices from the last few decades of anti-racist activism, About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge looks at the recent history that lead to the politics of today.

Many more resources on my Wise Action: Undoing Racism webpage.

Please email if you have others you can recommend.

racism, Right Action, Social justice, Uncategorized

Can you hear these voices?

Jill Shepherd

Can you listen as if it was your sister speaking? Your grandson? Your niece? Your father? Your aunt?

Kimberley Jones, US Black Lives Matter Activist 

In the Buddha’s teaching, all beings have been our mothers and fathers at some point in the past …

Trevor Noah, South African comedian 

Whether or not we “believe” in rebirth, we might approach that teaching as an invitation to connect to our shared humanity, and try to listen to these voices as if they were our own family and friends speaking directly to us …

Meyne Wyatts, Australian actor 

How will we respond?

Aamer Rahman, Australian comedian of Bangladeshi descent

Recent podcasts

2020-06-04 Resmaa Menakem ‘Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence’

On Being with Krista Tippett

2020-06-03 An Uncomfortable (But Meaningful) Conversation About Race

Dan Harris in conversation with Lama Rod Owens

2020-06-01 “You Can’t Meditate This Away” (Race, Rage, and the Responsibilities of Meditators)

Dan Harris in conversation with Sebene Selassie

More resources on undoing racism on this page from my website.

Please feel free to let me know about other voices that speak to you.

Insight meditation - vipassana, mindfulness, retreat, Uncategorized

An online course AND a real, live retreat!

Jill Shepherd

stone jizo 2

Due to a few last-minute cancellations, there is now space in the six-week online course “Cultivating Resilience: learning from the Heavenly Messengers” which starts this weekend, 13 June.

See here for more information

labyrinth view

And, at the end of August, Julie Downard and I will be teaching a real, live, nine-day retreat in the beautiful natural environment of Te Moata Retreat Centre in the Coromandel.

Registrations for that retreat are now open and filling fast, so please register here if you’re interested.

community, ethics, Right Action, Social justice, Uncategorized

The Police Killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis

Jill Shepherd

Wherever you are in the world, you may have seen the recent video from 26 May of police officers standing over an unarmed black man lying on the ground. One of those police officers kneels on the neck of the black man, George Floyd, for at least nine minutes, preventing him from breathing. He dies on the way to hospital.

How to respond? At the least, we can get more informed about these increasing incidents of racial injustice and police brutality. It’s painful, but the escalation of this violence relies on us continuing to turn away, feeling powerless, not wanting to get involved.

Can you find one action to take, no matter how small, to try to mitigate this suffering? Even if it’s just to donate to groups such as the ACLU that are working for social justice. See links below:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/26/george-floyd-killing-minneapolis-protest-police

Reverend Al Sharpton

Get your knee off our necks

Delivering the eulogy at a memorial service for George Floyd in Minneapolis, the Reverend Al Sharpton said: ‘George Floyd’s story has been the story of black folks.’ In an emotive speech punctuated by several standing ovations, Sharpton said the sight of diverse crowds of protesters across the world gave him hope that real change would come to the criminal justice system.

Rev William Barber

America must listen to its wounds. They will tell us where to look for hope

Only if the screams and tears and protests shake the very conscience of this nation can we hope for a better society on the other side of this

Trevor Noah

Insight Meditation Society guiding teachers’ response

The murder of George Floyd strikes the hearts and minds of so many with feelings of outrage, sadness, and grief, all the more that it was undeniably so overt, as if such actions were somehow acceptable. It is only because of the courage of the young woman who recorded it all, that the truth of the matter is unavoidably and forever there in front of our eyes, removing any illusion that the killing was somehow defensible or due to any action on the part of Mr. Floyd. …

All actions have their genesis in our hearts and minds. The light of awareness is in this moment shining brightly upon the tragic manifestations of hatred, ignorance and delusion that led to the death of George Floyd. Delusion blames others, creates enemies, and fosters disconnection, sustaining the illusion of separateness upon which war, racism, and injustice rest. True lasting change will only come when we awaken that sense of personal and shared responsibility and compassion for all.

For white people in our sanghas, there is a responsibility to educate ourselves about the historic and current expressions of racism and oppression so that we can be a positive force for the good.  We are called upon to see and come close to the magnitude of the suffering before us, and not turn away once again as if these devastating events are singular occurrences. It is not enough to practice loving-kindness and compassion in the solitude of our meditation; we can all strive to have them manifest in our actions, actively seeking ways to address the immediacy of the suffering as well as its many underlying causes.

The same qualities that the Buddha taught as the basis for Awakening can be applied to our service in the world. It is time to bring consistently and persistently mindful awareness, keen discernment, energetic response, intense interest, a foundation of calm and steadiness, and a spaciousness that can hold it all.  In telling the truth and helping others in whatever way we can, we are cultivating all these qualities in ourselves; and by cultivating them in ourselves, we develop the inner resources and resilience to effectively be of help to others.

https://www.dharma.org/the-murder-of-george-floyd-imss-guiding-teachers-respond/

IMS’s diversity resources page here

Lee Pelton, president of Emerson College’s response

Today, I write to you as a Black man and as President of Emerson College. There is no other way to write to you, given recent events. …
Black Americans are invisible to most of white America. We live in the shadows – even those of us, who like me, sit at the table of bounty. Ironically, at our colleges and universities we are hyper-visible in classrooms, work places, social settings, and as we go about our daily lives. …
George Floyd was invisible. And it was his invisibility, a brutal white power structure and Chauvin’s dehumanization of him that killed him. …
Black folks are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
So, I have no words of comfort today because they would be inauthentic. They would absolve so many from coming to terms with their own silent complicity in the world in which we live.
As I wrote to someone today, “This is not a black problem, but a structural issue built on white supremacy and centuries of racism. It’s your problem. And until you understand that, we are doomed to relive this week’s tragic events over and over again. What changes will you make in your own life? Begin with answering that question and maybe, just maybe we will get somewhere.”
The most important question is: What are you going to do?

https://today.emerson.edu/2020/06/01/letter-to-the-emerson-community-may-31-2020/

Thousands in New Zealand protest against George Floyd killing

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders have come out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, after the death of George Floyd in the US.

At least four solidarity gatherings were held in the country on Monday afternoon, with massive crowds taking to their knees in the Auckland demonstration.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/01/thousands-in-new-zealand-protest-against-george-floyd-killing?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Info from a friend in Minneapolis:

First, here are some facts not reported in some of the national narrative right now (but captured by local MN media sources):

(1) Thousands have marched in MN and police clad in riot gear used rubber bullets and chemical irritants to disperse crowds

(2) The initial police report listed “medical incident while in custody” … this is now changing as “new information” is received.

(3) According to a local MN police training expert “a neck restraint” is currently listed as “a non-deadly force option’ in the Minneapolis Police Department Policy and Procedural Manual.

(4) George Floyd worked as a bouncer at a restaurant 10 minutes from my home and his employers, landlord, and co-workers talk about a man completely different from the official narrative of “resisting arrest”

Second, if you haven’t been following the process of police militarization and the euphemisms of “police reforms” and “police re-training” then please take five minutes to look at the below sources:

– Beyond Repair by Ricardo Levins Morales

– Chart of concrete steps to “power down policing” from criticalresistance.org 

Providing additional info and emerging action at the local level:

– Here in MN, we are almost at the 4 year anniversary of the killing of Philando Castile.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/racial-justice/two-years-after-police-killing-philando-castile-justice-continues-be-denied

– While Mayor Frey quickly responded publicly to this event, he has consistently advocated for increasing police budgets while opposing past city council measures which would split executive control of the police force between the council and the mayor.

– Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman will make the election to bring charges against Derek Chauvin and the other officers. Local MN news sources have reported on Chauvin’s past history of use of force and that he has complaints filed against him during his time on the force.

– Minneapolis city council will be reviewing the police union contract this year, and local communities are demanding radical changes in mechanisms for accountability.

-Mobilizing efforts underway contacting Frey, Hennepin County Attorney and city council and more.

– Learn and donate. Below are two local organizations working now to power down policing and empower our neighbors and community members:

MPD150

MN ACLU

This is not just a USA issue

432 Indigenous Australians have died in custody since 1991
Aboriginal people whose family members have died in custody express solidarity with people on the streets of US cities protesting against the death of George Floyd

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/01/deaths-in-our-backyard-432-indigenous-australians-have-died-in-custody-since-2008

Uncategorized

A couple of new online practice options

Jill Shepherd

 

This one-day online workshop offers an opportunity to develop and strengthen our natural resilience and capacity to meet life’s inevitable challenges with more steadiness, ease, and even appreciation.

Using the Zoom platform, we will meet together online to explore a variety of practices from the Four Establishments of Mindfulness, alongside the four brahmavihara heart practices of kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, to directly experience the possibility of a balanced heart – no matter what our current circumstances might be.

The day will include a mix of silent and guided meditation, plus some dyad (pairs) practice and small group discussion.

Because this is a group learning process, participants are asked to make a commitment to attend the whole workshop. We ask that you register for the day by emailing. Registration is free. Login information will be sent the day before the retreat.

Day: Saturday May 23
Time: 9.30 am – 4.30 pm PST
To register: bimsretreats@gmail.com

stone jizo 2

June 13-14 – July 18-19: Six-week class series – ONLINE

Cultivating resilience in challenging times:

Learning from the “heavenly messengers” 

This six-week online course offers an opportunity to develop and strengthen our inner resources of kindness, compassion, calm and clarity, through an exploration of what are traditionally known as “the four heavenly messengers.”
In Buddhist teaching, these are four archetypes that symbolise the existential challenges we face, and the way to overcome those challenges. The four are a sick person, an aged person, a dying person, and a contemplative.

At first glance, these messengers might not sound so heavenly, but by learning how to relate to their messages skilfully, they help us to live our lives with more ease, happiness, and peace.
The course is best suited to people who have sat at least one seven-day silent meditation retreat, but prior Buddhist study is not necessary.

Each two-hour class will include a short dharma talk, some silent meditation practice, dyad (pairs) practice, and small group discussion.

During the six weeks of the course, you will be invited to maintain a regular sitting practice and keep a practice journal, to help inform the discussion during each meeting.

Because this is a group learning process, participants are asked to make a commitment to attend all six sessions of the course, and to allow at least two hours a week for personal study and reflections to be shared with the group.
Feel free to contact Jill if you have any questions about this.

Teacher: Jill Shepherd http://jill0shepherd-insightmeditation.com

Cost for all six sessions: $50 + dana*

Times and dates:

Option 1 (30 people max) FULL – please apply to be on waiting list

Singapore SGT 7:00-9:00 a.m. Sunday mornings 14 June – Sunday 19 July 2020
Sydney AEST 9:00-11:00 a.m. Sunday mornings 14 June – Sunday 19 July 2020
Auckland NZT 11:00-1:00 p.m. Sunday mornings 14 June – Sunday 19 July 2020
San Francisco PDT 4:00-6:00 p.m. Saturday afternoons 13 June – Saturday 18 July 2020
New York EDT 7:00-9:00 p.m. Saturday evenings 13 June – Saturday 18 July 2020

Option 2 (30 people max) Just a few places left

Singapore SGT 3:30-5:30 p.m. Sunday afternoons 14 June – Sunday 19 July 2020
Sydney AEST 5:30-7:30 p.m. Sunday evenings 14 June – Sunday 19 July 2020
Auckland NZT 7:30-9:30 p.m. Sunday evenings 14 June – Sunday 19 July 2020
London GMT 8:30-10:30 a.m. Sunday mornings 14 June – Sunday 19 July 2020

To register: https://events.humanitix.com/six-week-dharma-study-class-series-online

anxiety, community, compassion - karuna, dukkha, fear, Uncategorized

Karuna-virus

Jill Shepherd

Kuan Yin sunbeam

In the Buddha’s teachings, karuna is a Pali word that means compassion. There’s a lot going on around the world right now, and due to coronavirus, many people are navigating intense suffering on multiple levels simultaneously: The suffering of health challenges, food insecurity, financial distress, longer-term economic uncertainty, separation from friends and family – or having to be with friends and family in ways that are stressful!

Given that social contagion works not only in relation to anxiety, but to positive mind-states too, I hope that in whatever ways we can, this coronavirus situation can be used to spread karuna-compassion to all who need it, including ourselves.

Personally, I have just landed in the UK a couple of days ago and am in social isolation and lockdown in Birmingham. I’m still getting myself set up here, but I wanted to at least offer a few resources for helping reduce the stress and anxiety that so many people are dealing with right now. I’ll keep adding more resources as I find them, and please send me links to any that you might have found helpful.

If anyone would like an individual meeting online to talk about your meditation practice in these challenging times, you can make a booking on my booking calendar now. As usual, these meetings are on a dana basis, but if money is an issue at the moment it’s fine to still meet with me.

I will also be converting some of my planned retreats into online offerings, so please check my revised teaching schedule on this page.

A few selected resources to support karuna-compassion

Aisha S. Ahmad 27 March 2020

Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure

Among my academic colleagues and friends, I have observed a common response to the continuing Covid-19 crisis. They are fighting valiantly for a sense of normalcy — hustling to move courses online, maintaining strict writing schedules, creating Montessori schools at their kitchen tables. They hope to buckle down for a short stint until things get back to normal. I wish anyone who pursues that path the very best of luck and health.
Yet as someone who has experience with crises around the world, what I see behind this scramble for productivity is a perilous assumption. The answer to the question everyone is asking — “When will this be over?” — is simple and obvious, yet terribly hard to accept. The answer is never.
Global catastrophes change the world, and this pandemic is very much akin to a major war. Even if we contain the Covid-19 crisis within a few months, the legacy of this pandemic will live with us for years, perhaps decades to come. It will change the way we move, build, learn, and connect. There is simply no way that our lives will resume as if this had never happened. And so, while it may feel good in the moment, it is foolish to dive into a frenzy of activity or obsess about your scholarly productivity right now. That is denial and delusion. The emotionally and spiritually sane response is to prepare to be forever changed.

Judson Brewer – US Neuroscientist and Addiction Psychiatrist

A Brain Hack to Break the Coronavirus Anxiety Cycle
Uncertainty about coronavirus spreads anxiety through social contagion. This New York Times article offers some ways to minimize that.

IMS teachers including Sharon Salzberg, offering daily metta/kindness meditation

https://www.youtube.com/user/InsightMeditation

Zohar Lavie – UK meditation teacher

2020-03-14 Coronavirus and the support of the Dharma – Part 1 31:38
We are living through an unusual period. As coronavirus spreads, much of what we take for granted is being shaken. There is uncertainty and fear around us, and also within us. How can Dharma teachings and practices support us? How can we deepen understanding and compassion in the midst of it all? This talk offers reflections on possibilities that are available to us, including practices that we can engage with, lean into, and cultivate.

Tara Brach – US meditation teacher

2020-03-18 Facing Pandemic Fears with an Awake Heart 59:14
While it’s natural to feel fear during times of great collective crisis, our challenge is that fear easily takes over our lives. This talk explores how the mindfulness and compassion of the RAIN meditation can help us find an inner refuge in the face of fear, and deepen our loving connection with each other.

Jill Shepherd

2020-03-26 Guided meditation: orienting to compassion 26:18
A guided meditation orienting to compassion, in response to coronavirus

2020-03-26 Short talk: some responses to the coronavirus/karuna-virus situation 15:37
A few reflections on the coronavirus situation, and the possibility of cultivating karuna/compassion as a resource for ourselves and others

More talks on cultivating resilience in challenging times here

A beautiful video – Letter from the Virus

Stop, just stop
Halt … stop … don’t move
It’s not a request any more, it’s an obligation
I’m here to help you
This supersonic rollercoaster has run off its rails and can’t go on any further
Stop the planes, trains, schools, shopping malls, gatherings
We broke the frenetic vortex of illusions and obligations that stopped you from looking at the sky
Look at the stars, listen to the sea
Let yourself be rocked by the chirping of birds
Roll in the grass
Pick an apple from a tree
Smile to an animal in the woods
Breathe the mountains
Listen to your common sense
We had to break it
You can’t play God
Our obligations are mutual, like they’ve always been
Even though you’ve forgotten
We’ll now stop this broadcast
This endless cacophonous sounds of separations and distractions, to tell you this:
We’re not OK
None of us is
We’re all suffering
Last year, the firestorms that set the lungs of the earth on fire didn’t stop you
Nor did the melting of the poles
Or your sinking cities
Or the simple acknowledgement of being the sole responsibility for the sixth mass extinction
You didn’t listen to me
It’s difficult to listen while being so busy
Struggling to climb higher and higher
On the scaffolding of comforts you are creating for yourself
Now the foundations are crumbling
They’re collapsing under the weight of your fictitious desires
I’ll help you
I’ll light the firestorms inside your body
I’ll drown your lungs
I’ll isolate you like a polar bear on a melting iceberg
Will you listen to me then?
We’re not OK
I’m not  your enemy
I’m just a messenger
I’m an ally
I’m the force that will rebalance everything
Now you have to listen to me
I’m screaming for you to stop
Stop, hush, listen
Now look up to the sky
How is it?
There are no more airplanes
How healthy do you need to be to enjoy the oxygen you breathe?
Look at the ocean
How is it?
Look at the rivers
How are they?
Look at the earth
How is she?
Now look at yourselves
How do you feel?
You can’t be healthy in a sick ecosystem
Stop!!!
Many people are afraid now
Don’t demonise your fear
Don’t let it control you
Let it speak to you
Listen to the wise words it has to say
Learn to smile with your eyes
I’ll help you … if you’re willing to listen

Text: Darinka Montico
Voice: Giulia Chianes

A list of  ‘good news’ websites compiled by Wendy Nash, Australia
Charles Eisenstein

The Coronation

The War on Death

… The mantra “safety first” comes from a value system that makes survival top priority, and that depreciates other values like fun, adventure, play, and the challenging of limits. … The surrounding culture, however, lobbies us relentlessly to live in fear, and has constructed systems that embody fear. In them, staying safe is over-ridingly important. Thus we have a medical system in which most decisions are based on calculations of risk, and in which the worst possible outcome, marking the physician’s ultimate failure, is death. Yet all the while, we know that death awaits us regardless. A life saved actually means a death postponed.

The ultimate fulfillment of civilization’s program of control would be to triumph over death itself. Failing that, modern society settles for a facsimile of that triumph: denial rather than conquest. Ours is a society of death denial, from its hiding away of corpses, to its fetish for youthfulness, to its warehousing of old people in nursing homes. Even its obsession with money and property – extensions of the self, as the word “mine” indicates – expresses the delusion that the impermanent self can be made permanent through its attachments. All this is inevitable given the story-of-self that modernity offers: the separate individual in a world of Other. Surrounded by genetic, social, and economic competitors, that self must protect and dominate in order to thrive. It must do everything it can to forestall death, which (in the story of separation) is total annihilation.

Matthias Horx – an influential futurist in the German-speaking world

The Post Corona World
… A massive loss of control suddenly turns into a veritable intoxication of the positive. After a period of bewilderment and fear, an inner strength arises. The world „ends“, but with the experience that we are still there, a kind of new being arises from inside us.
In the middle of civilisation’s shutdown, we run through forests or parks, or across almost empty spaces. This is not an apocalypse, but a new beginning.
This is how it turns out: Change begins as a changed pattern of expectations, perceptions and world connections. Sometimes it is precisely the break with routines, the familiar, that releases our sense of the future again. The idea and certainty that everything could be completely different — and even better.

May it be so!

More soon …

Brahma Vihara practice, climate change, Climate crisis, compassion - karuna, death, Uncategorized

Continuing compassion

Jill Shepherd

rescued koala

[Forest and wildlife officer Lachlan Clarke checks a koala for injuries – photo courtesy of the Guardian]

In my last newsletter and last post here, I’ve been exploring compassion as a resource to navigate all the various global challenges happening right now.

Just today there was a moving photo essay about all the efforts that are being made to help koalas injured in the recent Australian bushfires. I find it helpful to keep orienting to positive news as an antidote to overwhelm, so here’s the link:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/gallery/2020/feb/11/drones-thermal-imaging-australia-koalas-bushfire-crisis