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The Awe Factor
Bestselling writer Allen Klein always seems to be revved up and ready to go. He has written 31 books and wowed many with his TED talks. Here the author quotes the bag lady in the Broadway play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe who, after seeing the night sky, vows that each day she will do "awe-robics."
Our lives are energized by "awe factors," according to scientists and researchers who have written about this emotion. Klein explores some of them:
Awe expands our sense of time.
Awe increases life satisfaction.
Awe encourages compassion.
Awe increases generosity.
Awe contributes to well-being.
Awe connects us to others.
Awe increases humility.
Awe sparks creativity.
In the last section of the book, Klein provides "tools, tips, and techniques to help us achieve that experience of awe." A few of awe-robics he suggests to help you strengthen your awe muscles are slowing down, setting your antenna, being mindful of miracles, looking closer, be curious, using awe-catchers, and discovering how familiar objects can be awe-inspiring (see excerpt).
An exploration of the effects of awe experiences with some tips and tools to help you have them.
Radical Generosity
The gifted Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein states in the introduction to this handy paperback:
"Generosity stories, kindness stories, are the ones we all must tell most to keep our hearts and spirits alive in this most complicated and difficult and amazing life."
She is right. M. J. Ryan, the author of eight books including The Happiness Makeover, Attitudes of Gratitude in Love, and The Power of Patience, has created a spiffy collection of essays about this virtue which is affirmed and praised in all the world's religions. Those with generous minds and giving hearts reap the abundance of this world. According to Ryan, this habit provides us with the ability to let go of "grudges, hurts, and concepts of ourselves and the world that stand in the way of our connection to others."
Radical generosity is good for our health and well-being (consider the helper's high). This expression of our boundless energy enables us to experience our relatedness, to look deeply at ourselves, to see there is no difference between giving and receiving, to offer our unique talents and abilities to others, and to hold true to the ardent and uplifting belief that we can make a difference in the world.
Ryan has always had a special respect for thought-provoking quotations and she evidences this pleasing capacity once again. Here are a few gems to stretch your body, mind, and soul:
"No joy can equal the joy of serving others."
-- Sai Baba
"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no (hu)man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"It is expressly at those times when we feel needy that we will benefit most from giving."
-- Ruth Ross
"Each day as we embrace the sun with love and joy, we can come to the realization that giving and receiving are the same. Therefore, we will give equally without reservation."
-- Aeesha Arabio-Clottey and Kokomon Clotty
"Follow through on all your generous impulses."
-- Epictetus
With her great enthusiasm, M. J. Ryan paints a lively portrait of the royal road of radical generosity as a genuine expression of everyday spirituality.
A lively portrait of an everyday practice recognized as a virtue in all the world's religions.
Why Grow Up?
"Do we grow more courageous as we grow up? Cicero says that old age is more confident and courageous than youth because the old have come to disregard death. Sometimes, perhaps, but it's often rather because we recognize that everyone else is as terrified of being found wanting, and faking it, as we are. Those who looked braver than you felt were feeling what you did, they just whistled louder in the dark. The confidence that arises when you grasp that is itself a source of pleasure. You may begin to understand what Kant meant by saying you have duties to yourself, and the basis of these is dignity, preserving the idea of humanity in your own person (Lectures on Pedagogy, pp. 475-6). Life will still surprise you — if it doesn't you are lost — but you learn to trust your own responses to it. You've begun to construct a story about how the pieces of your life fit together. The story will be revised more than once, and become increasingly coherent, if not always increasingly true, giving shape to your life as it goes on. Places and objects will make it resonate. (The street corner on which you couldn't help crying heartbroken over a love affair you can now recount as an interesting anecdote. The basket you bought from a market woman who taught you something about her continent. The painted bird made by a friend who ended the friendship twenty years ago for reasons neither of you would remember if you met on the street today.)
"The ability to see your life as the whole it has become allows you to see the strengths with which you've lived it, and develop a sense of your own character. For integrity is never static; it's too easy to lose for that. It's rather a matter of determination: You've begun to figure out what sort of person you want to be, and you resolve to work harder to become it. In doing this you care far less about what people think of you, though you may be more useful to them. Every psychologist who talks about life cycles talks about what Erikson called generativity: the satisfaction that comes from giving back to the world the better things it gave to you, and especially of nurturing the young. You may discover the pleasure of generosity. You can give a gift or an honest compliment without fearing it will be viewed as flattery, you no longer view constant criticism as a sign of intelligence."
A roundup of the gifts that come with maturity.
Living Well While Doing Good
"Here are the nine principles that have guided me as I have tried to learn how to live well while doing good.
1. "Resist moralism
Imagine writing a woman whose husband has been murdered by a policeman and saying, 'You should have hope.' Or telling a woman who has to work and raise four children on her own, 'Let me offer some inspirational scriptures to make you feel bad about your despair.' I don't think so.
2. "Don't keep your bulletproof vest on too long
One way we manage despair is to defend ourselves against it. It takes courage to believe things can be better. Amelia Earhart said, 'Courage is the price life exacts for peace.' There will be no peace until there is justice.
3. "Use tricks
I know many of us say, 'I'll never find someone to love or who will love me,' but for just today act as if you're wrong. Be charming and available — at least until after dinner.
4. "Consider the alternatives
In the last episode of the television series 'Mash,' Corporal Klinger realizes that he has two choices: to stop loving and stay safe, or to keep loving and be in constant danger. If he shuts his heart down it may feel good for a while, but then he has to live into a long life without love. Consider what doors bang close if you don't eat your despair.
5. "Stay at the table
Don't leave in disgust. Hang on to your seat. Let the others leave the church, the nation, and the job. Be people who last. Be obnoxious and persist.
6. "Be real
Build communities of people who are willing to look at their own despair. Speak often and openly about your shadow.
7. "Don't do everything
Do something. Write one letter to your congressman if you can't organize a whole demonstration. Make it a good letter.
8. "Be generous
Care about somebody you don't have to care about. Even if it is just one person.
9. "Rename yourself
When I have had it with everybody and everything and I want to scream at the whole world, 'What do you want me to do with this?' I take a suggestion from Emily Dickinson and rename myself 'feathers.' 'Hope is a thing with feathers.' Hope is the broken body of a good man at table with his friends, in the night when he was betrayed. Samuel Langhorne Clemens renamed himself Mark Twain from his riverboat experience. The phrase 'mark twain' means two fathoms deep, which for a riverboat captain is just deep enough water to navigate. Go deep enough to navigate, then stay at table and eat what is there. Salut.”
Donna Schaper's nine principles on how to live well while doing good.
5001 Simple Things to do For Others (and Yourself!)
Jay Staten serves as editor of this helpful resource compiled by 21 workers at Ligouri Publications, a Catholic publisher. The world is starved for acts of kindness, caring, and compassion. Jesus, Francis of Assisi, Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa and many others have modeled for us a way of steering our lives in service of others. In addition, they have taught us that so much love can be conveyed by simple acts of selfless giving. Here are 5001 Simple Things to do For Others (And Yourself!). Some of the topics include:
• Love Thy Neighbor (hood)
• Crafty for a Cause
• The Care and Feeding of Friends
• The Giving Game
• Spiritual Space
• Travel with Care
• Simple Graces
• We Work — We Play
• Stop Global Warming
5001 things to keep kindness, compassion, and generosity alive in our world.
Spot of Grace
We eagerly opened this book by Dawna Markova. the author of No Enemies Within and a cocreator of Random Acts of Kindness. She always has marvelous stories to tell and a keen grasp on everyday spirituality. One of our favorite spiritual teachers, Sylvia Boorstin, says in the foreword:
"We are empathic animals. We are moved by suffering to the desire to console, and we are also moved by beauty and marvel at the desire to celebrate. We sing along with the singing waiters who have brought a birthday cake to the table next to ours in a restaurant, knowing that whatever the birthday person's situation is, he or she has made it another year and is wishing for something good, just as we would if it were our cake. . . The capacities to encourage, console, and appreciate come as standard issue of human beings, ready to be activated by real-world relationships."
Then there is this quotation by Mark Nepo, another one of our most cherished spiritual guides:
"Each person is born with an unencumbered spot, free of expectation and regret, free of ambition and embarrassment, free of fear and worry; an umbilical spot of grace where we were each first touched by God. It is this spot of grace that issues peace." (Unlearning Back to God: Essays on Inwardness, 1985-2005)
Markova, Boorstein, and Nepo all affirm that daily life is a theatre of grace with continuous performances. The sacred is here and there and everywhere. "Grace happens," Buddhist Joanna Macy observes, "when we act with others on behalf of our world." An attitude of caring is a natural outgrowth of grace, and this is manifest in our countless acts of kindness, encouragement, empathy, love, compassion, forgiveness, and hope.
For this book, Markov sent out an email to 2,500 people saying:
"Settle in for a few minutes and think about a person, a group of people, an animal, or a place that helped you realize that you are unique and have something to contribute to the rest of us. Or think about someone whose spot of grace you recognized and encouraged. Then scribble it down and send it to me."
We discovered several key points in this collection of inspirational stories:
• We stand on the shoulders of others who have inspired and encouraged us with their words and deeds.
• Spiritual teachers come in many different forms, shapes, and species.
• We all are nourished by the affirmations and positive words of others.
• When we are sick or depressed or feeling alone, gold is found in the kindness of others.
• The grace of God moves in so many ways, it is inexhaustible.
• Our life has meaning when we see and accept the gracelets which happen to us.
• We can be angels in the lives of others.
A collection of inspirational stories about individuals who have been agents of grace for others or recipients of encouragement and kindness themselves.
For the Beauty of the Earth
The 2006 Madeleva Lecture in Spirituality was given at Boston College by Dr. Susan A. Ross, professor of theology and faculty scholar at Loyola University in Chicago. It is reprinted in full in this paperback.
Christianity has not really known what to do with beauty down through the centuries, especially when it is incarnated in women. Equally difficult has been connecting beauty with goodness. Ross explores these themes in her assessment of women, beauty, and the church. She notes:
"There is, I suggest, an intrinsic generosity that is characteristic of beauty. Real beauty does not exclude; rather, it invites. Real beauty does not 'count up,' but rather flings its gifts to anyone who asks. Real beauty invites exploration and depth; it does not shut the door prematurely to the questioner. Beauty is always ready to give more. When we encounter a beautiful work of art, we find ourselves unable to exhaust fully the beauty that it offers."
Ross makes the point that many women have bought into the fashion industry's propaganda about what is beautiful and see themselves as lacking in beauty. More women need to develop a way of looking at themselves that incorporates appreciation of their appearance as part of self-love.
Ross does a really good job spelling out the various ways women have accentuated and nurtured beauty in the church through taking care of altars, vestments, linens, flower arrangements, and other enhancements of the worship life of the community. She even salutes the beautiful hats women have worn to present themselves to God.
She also talks about the women she met on a trip to Africa who demonstrated to her how house painting, crafts, and other activities can be links between beauty and the common good. In a final section, the author spells out how this spiritual quality is a sign of a humility that gives all the glory to God.
An inspiring lecture on the connections between beauty, women, goodness, generosity, humility, and Christian service.
The Wheel of Engaged Buddhism
Engaged Buddhism brings the practices of compassion, lovingkindness, peace, and generosity to bear upon the social, political, economic, and environmental issues of the day. As Zen teacher Philip Kapleau has observed: "Social action is itself a kind of meditation and can be a great ripener of compassion and equanimity." In this substantive and eye-opening book, Kenneth Kraft, chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Lehigh University, has designed a new map of the Buddhist path in the form of a mandala with ten pictures. "Spiritual practice," he notes, "needs to be flexible, diverse, and inventive."
The ten arenas of engaged Buddhism are moving into the world, cultivating awareness in daily life, embracing family, working with others, participating in politics, caring for the earth, extending compassionate action, exploring new terrain, being at ease amid activity, and spreading joy in ten directions. This rounded and robust vision of Buddhism is based on Kraft's belief in "the continuous process of reshaping practice." Here meditation and concrete social action in all departments of life are perfectly wed.
Meditation and concrete social action in all departments of life are perfectly wed.
Radical Gratitude
"Several years ago, I was part of a committee that was planning a series on 'prayer' at Regis College, the place where I teach theology. I suggested that we could invite Joy Kogawa, a Japanese Canadian poet and writer, to speak about 'Prayer and Poetry.' Joy accepted the invitation to speak and we agreed to have supper before her lecture.
"In the middle of the meal, she told me: 'I really have nothing to say.' I know many speakers who sometimes think that, including myself. I reassured her but wondered what she really would say.
"Joy was true to her word. She began her lecture by saying, ' I really have nothing to say about prayer and poetry.' I began to worry about all the money people had paid to come and hear her speak.
" 'But let me tell you about what really interests me these days,' she continued. I breathed a sigh of relief.
" 'I really want to support an aboriginal earth festival because I think we Japanese Canadians are now in a position to help other groups. However, I'm not very good at fundraising so I decided to go to the bank and take out three hundred dollars. I'm going to give each of you ten dollars and I want you to go and give ten dollars to another person and ask them to buy a ticket and give ten dollars to another person.'
"Then Joy walked down the main aisle of the lecture theater and began to hand out ten dollar bills to the people sitting in the audience. Then she left. People sat in silence as they looked at the money she had given them. Slowly, they too left the hall.
"The next day I went into the college and someone spoke excitedly about what had happened the night before. 'Did you hear about the woman who handed out one hundred dollar bills?' By the end of the day, the word was going around about the woman who had handed out thousands of dollars. By the end of the week, the story had grown to epic proportions — about the lady who had handed out a million dollars.
"Needless to say, the Earth Festival was well attended and well funded — even without the help of a professional fund-raiser! I was left with a precious insight into how the story of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes might have originated and grown in the telling."
Mary Jo Leddy on the repercussions of simple generosity and gratitude.
Noble Heart
Pema Chodron, an American-born Buddhist nun, hits high stride as a teacher of spiritual practice on this retreat tape recorded at Gampo Abbey, the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery for monks and nuns in North America. Listening to these nine hours along with the 36-page study guide, which she suggests you use over a nine-day period, you will learn many ways and means to open your mind and stretch your heart.
Chodron sees sitting meditation practice as the basis for unconditional friendliness toward oneself and all beings. In order to get in touch with "the limitless quality" of our true nature, we can unspool "the four limitless ones" — the practice of lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. She calls these "the catalysts of awakening." In order to truly connect with others, Chodron recommends that we befriend our own fear, anger, selfishness, and envy. The key here is empathy and nonjudgment. Through the practice of "tonglen" we can touch the soft spot of our hearts and dissolve the barriers the separate us from others.
Throughout these teachings, Chodron reveals the dire effects of dualistic thinking, rigidity, clinging, and attachment. She also provides invaluable insights into the transforming power of generosity, the value of discipline, and the rewards of patience. Pema Chodron's Noble Heart is a wisdom-filled retreat that will open your eyes to the importance of daily spiritual practice.
Nine hour audio workshop by an American-born Buddhist nun on ways to open your mind and stretch your heart.