"The issue of Tibet is a moral issue"

I saw part of a speech that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama gave about the moral imperative of helping save Tibet from China. It was part of a really cool documentary where a guy got 1 hour and 10 questions to ask the Dalai Lama.

"If you come to help us, for the moment you will not gain any profit. We have no oil. But the Tibet issue is a moral issue, and your American ancestors, like Lincoln and Jefferson, I think, stood firmly on moral principle. American nuclear weapons and economic power alone, it will not create more popularity. I don't admire your weapons, I really admire your principles - democracy, freedom and liberty. Now your policy, I think, must be guided by these things."

I find the Dalai Lama so inspiring, in so many ways - he is an incredible man, while still a simple monk - as he says. He is amazing - he writes about neuroscience and about happiness. He has become the "rock star" of peace (quoted from the documentary). I mourn for the Tibetan people because their culture is being systematically destroyed, and the world should not allow a beautiful culture like this to be destroyed.

I had the privilege to go and see the Dalai Lama at the Mind and Life Institute 2005 conference. Scientists were presenting their research findings on the effects of mindfulness on psychiatric and medical conditions - the Dalai Lama is fascinated by this subject.

I walked away from that conference feeling like I was floating on air. I was about 30 feet away from where the Dalai Lama was sitting on the stage. As a practicing Buddhist that was an incredible thing for me - to be so close to someone so sacred in my belief system. I still treasure the prayer beads I was wearing while I was in his presence as a sacred relic of an experience in my life.

I pray for His Holiness to have a long life, and I pray for a Free Tibet.

Inspring news stories

I am always on the lookout for inspiring news stories because I grow so tired of hearing bad news. For awhile I had stopped listening to the news or reading it on the internet. I have since realized that I have to pay attention to the news, however, thanks to the internet I can go online and pick what I want to hear about. I listen to and read the good and the bad, but at least this way I can manage it on my own terms and I don't get burdened.

Here is an inspiring news story that I found. It wasn't so long ago that people with Downs Syndrome were just institutionalized - not to mention forcibly sterilized and lobotomized. Maybe now our culture is realizing that it is okay to be "special", or even that it should be cherished.

Watch this video about the inspiring homecoming queen: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/10/16/homecoming.queen.cnn

Realizing how important home is

After watching the first presidential debate on Thursday I wanted to go sit in a smoky diner at 1AM with coffee in one hand and a pen in the other - writing out and exploring my thoughts and reactions to what I saw and heard.

Alas, I am not into the all-night diner scene anymore like I was in my late 20's. I'm much more domesticated now that I'm old, married and 37 :) So, instead I sit here at home digesting what I saw, what I didn't see and thinking about what it all meant beneath the rhetoric. My cats have offered their feedback ;) and the coffee here is free, so I guess that there really is no place like home.

I don't want to go into the meat of my thoughts on the debate on this blog - but I know this taught me something. Home really is the best place for me to be sitting and evaluating this information, because it is my family that will be most effected by the outcome of the election.

Have a peaceful journey Paul...

Paul Newman died yesterday. The strange thing is that I never really watched his movies, so I don't think of him as a movie star so much as I think of him as a star who used his fame to help others. I love those kinds of stars.

So much of what Paul did in his later years (like Newman's Own dressings, etc.) was all about donating money, and not about HIM. I mean, how many female pop stars have to come out with their own perfume for god's sake? And how many of them donate any of the proceeds to charity - let alone all of the net profits? That's what Paul Newman did, and I really admire him for that. In reading articles about him I am finding out about even more worthwhile activities he was involved in that I never knew about.

Another thing I love about Paul is that we were sort of related. He is also in the chain that gives me only four degrees of separation from one of my heroes - JFK. Paul's wife Joanne Woodward is a distant cousin of mine(probably 4th?) - she had to write to my mom as a pen-pal when they were kids, and I say "had to" because her parents made her write to my mom while she was growing up in welfare homes in the 1940's with no family around. If you look at the photo of Paul and Joanne, I could easily be related to either one, but Joanne definitely has the chin that I also inherited ;) So the degrees of separation look something like this:

My distant cousin is Joanne Woodward who was married to Paul Newman who did a movie with Marilyn Monroe who had an affair with John F. Kennedy. Pretty weird huh?

Remembering 9/11

Today is the 7th Anniversary of 9/11. I hope we can all take some time out today to remember that day, not just for the tragedy that occurred, but how Americans became united for our country in the aftermath. Unfortunately, it took a tragedy like 9/11 for that to occur, and that unity was fleeting. We should all take the time to think about what our country could accomplish if we could stay united like that.

Below is a present I made for Karin when I purchased a 9/11 coin for her. We were shell-shocked by the Pentagon impact because we only lived 7 miles from the Pentagon then. It was such a scary time for all residents of that area that K and I decided to leave and move to MA within a couple of months after 9/11.

Peace to all of you,
Love,
Liz

Finding your passion

I have been doing a lot of thinking about finding and living your life's passion because I have had a drastic change in my life recently due to leaving graduate school. The details are not important, but what is important is that I had not wanted to be in graduate school for the last couple of years and had great difficulty getting through. I realized 1.5 years ago that I didn't want this degree, and I wish I had stopped studying for it back then. But, I am trying to live a life with no regrets because regret is a waste of time and energy that you could be focusing on something else.

I have been following my passion for art and writing. I am now actually selling some of my art (a small stream of income at the moment) and I have a part-time job writing and doing research for a blog. I am so happy about it, and I feel so relieved to finally be doing what I really want to do. I didn't know for sure that this was what I wanted until there was no possibility of me returning to graduate school this next year - I guess I was in denial.

I think when people hear you want to be an artist or a writer their usual response is "those are hard fields to break into," or they tell you that those are not very practical occupations. Some people give up without even trying like I did. But what I did was abandon something I had a passion for because I believed it could never happen, and others told me it could never happen. It is hard to put into words how wonderful it feels to finally spread my wings and with a smile on my face start my next project - this work is actually fun! It is so fun... should I call it work? Yes!

Consider this: one of Joseph Campbell's most famous quotes was "Follow your bliss." Writer Ami McKay says that she holds this quote dear to her heart everyday because it reminds her "that living life to its fullest potential is nothing to put off for the sake of society's approval, or for 'someday.' Someday is not a day of the week."

Word of the Day Aug. 31, 2008

I am on an always learning - "expansion of the mind" kick. I get the word of the day from Yahoo and this one got my attention last week. I love Merriam Webster! Their online dictionary is awesome! http://www.merriam-webster.com/

impecunious • \im-pih-KYOO-nee-uss\ • adjective: having very little or no money usually habitually : penniless

I know what that is like, considering all the money I have to my name right now is in my wallet and it totals $4.23. Oh well, it is only money after all! Living on love is great - but I can't pay my rent with that! (Although it would be cool if I could just give a few hundred hugs toward my rent and get a discount! :)

Regret... what is it good for?

Absolutely nothing. Neither is guilt. There are people in life who want to just shove past events under you nose and try to force you to regret them and feel guilty. You may feel it, because we have no control over our feelings, they just happen. But you choose how to deal with the regret and guilt. You can choose to dwell on it and stunt your own growth and not fully live your own life, or you can choose to work your way through it - as a buddhist would say: Look at the feeling, examine it, feel it and then throw it away.

In terms of those people who shove things under your nose - shove them out of your life. You will feel so much better for having done so. If you don't want to shove them completely out, then compartmentalize how you feel about that person and how you deal with them. Don't let them shove that stuff under your nose - if they try to and won't stop when you ask them to, walk away and let them know that when they feel like talking to you without doing those things that you would be more than happy to see them or talk to them. There is so much negativity in this world, blocking what you can will be the best thing for you in the long run. This is your life - go on and live it the way that you want to! Be at peace!

Buddha says "Listen to your heart"

The cool thing is that it is really true. I have really been listening to my heart lately and I am a much happier person because of it.