Best Life Tips

Look with Wonder

This Valentines Day I was thinking about the love of my life and how all too often I can be relating to a projection of my wife based on past experiences and miss out seeing her in that very moment.

The article below offers an explanation about how we can see from what Zen calls "beginners mind"

Read "A Sunset Mode of Mind"

 

Cholesterol Facts

By Shane Ellison, M.Sc.
for more information

“Lower your cholesterol and prevent heart disease (atherosclerosis)!”
Medical Doctors, drug manufacturers and nutritional supplement companies make billions of dollars browbeating us to believe this statement. Despite the exuberance with which it is made, this statement is a health myth. The redundancy of this myth has handicapped health logic among some of the most respected health experts in the world.

In Rigorous Test, Talk Therapy Works for Panic Disorder - New York Times

An interesting study on psychodynamic therapy for panic disorder:

>empirical study Link: In Rigorous Test, Talk Therapy Works for Panic Disorder - New York Times.

What about natural beauty?

Friendship Key to Better Health and Longer Life - iVillage

Research shows that not staying connected poses the same risk to your health as high blood pressure, obesity and even smoking. As staggering as that is, a trend toward smaller social networks and fewer close confidants is growing.

Link: Friendship Key to Better Health and Longer Life - iVillage.

The Spacious Heart

Though your heart may feel small, it is spacious beyond the mind's imagination.

The spaciousness of the heart can hold the suffering of the world.

--Ezra Bayda with Josh Bartok in Saying Yes to Life (Even to the Hard Parts)
from More Daily Wisdom, edited by Josh Bartok,

10 Best-Ever Anxiety- Management Techniques

In her essay, 10 Best-Ever Anxiety-Management Techniques, Margaret Wehrenberg says she has her patients practice diaphragmatic breathing one minute 10-15 times a day “every time they find themselves waiting for something—the water to boil, the phone to ring, their doctor’s appointment, the line to move at the bank”.  Why not do this with the CALMER?  The extra energy you will have during the day will more than pay for the time you spend doing this.

Read the whole article here. Link: Margaret Wehrenberg- There are effective� alternatives to medication.

10 Tips for Mindful Living

Practicing Mindfulness Woman reading newspaper Practice mindfulness in all of your day's activities. The benefits of meditation -- awareness and a feeling of calm -- can be achieved by engaging in what's called "mindfulness." Mindfulness can help us develop patience, trust in ourselves and others, and openness. Here are 10 ways to practice mindful living throughout your day:

Link: 10 Tips for Mindful Living.

Living With Change

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Jack Kornfield on mindfulness

Jack Kornfield on mindfulness
Buddhist teacher and author Jack Kornfield on mindfulness, happiness and his own spiritual journey

SF Gate interviews Bay Area meditation teacher Jack Kornfield:

What is mindfulness and why is it important?

Mindfulness is an innate human capacity to deliberately pay full attention to where we are, to our actual experience, and to learn from it.