Karen Shanley's Blog, page 28

Why is There Suffering?

Q: Why is there suffering? And why do nondualists say it’s all in our heads?

Let’s consider the second part of your question first. Putting it as simply as I can, the nondualist perspective is that what we call reality is no more than the watching of a film. You can watch the film on the screen, and point to this or that, you can pretend that something is going on, as most of us do, but the movie isn’t … Read more

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My Annual Christmas Present to Myself

If you’re a gardener and you don’t know about the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog, you should. The catalog always comes in early December, and I always find a few new plants and veggies to try. The diversity and uniqueness of their offerings is fantastic. I dare you to not find something you can’t wait to add to your garden.

I consider this my Christmas present to myself. And now I hope it becomes a Christmas present you give … Read more

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101 Poisonous & Hazardous Things that Can Harm or Kill Your Dog or Cat

Always around the holidays. animal emergency rooms and poison control call lines start getting swamped. To help keep you out of the ER, here’s a list of many of the items you need to keep at top-of-mind awareness to keep your dogs and cats safe. Many of them, you’ll already know. But some may come as a surprise. Click to download a PDF version that you can print. 

Leading Causes of Accidental Dog and Cat Injury and Death
In and

… Read more

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Confusing Magical Thinking with Spiritual Practice

Q: When I was in the dentist chair, to get away from the discomfort, I tried to put myself up to the ceiling and detach. I imagined myself looking down at my body so I would feel less distressed. This didn’t work all that well.

Had you practiced and been successful at doing that before?

Q: No, not really.

If you’ve never left your body before, it’s not likely you would be able to leave your body in a moment … Read more

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Does Severely Pruning Concord Grapes Kill Them?

Can you over-prune Concord grapes?

I love my Concord grapes. I love the way they look as a live privacy screen on my fence. I love getting to eat them off the vine in the fall.

So when I had to severely prune them back last fall in order to make repairs to my fence, I worried that I might have killed them. Over-pruning can really impact grape production.

You can see the hatchet job I did on this poor … Read more

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Everything is NOT Suffering

Q: In my reading lately, it seems that most Eastern philosophies and religions keep pushing the point that everything is suffering. Do you agree?

In the context they are speaking about, it is more about how the way we live and the views we hold make our lives harder than they have to be. It’s more than that, but let’s just start there for the sake of discussion.

Buddhism and Vedanta are basically pointing to the same thing. They just … Read more

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Why Didn’t You Tell Me?

Q: Why didn’t you tell me up front that this spiritual path is hard? 

Would it have changed your mind? 

Q:  No. 

True. So, why waste energy when your mind was already made up? 

Q:  I would have known more about what to expect—I would have been better prepared. 

Life and actions prepare—not anticipation, worry, or fear. Life is both easy and hard no matter what path you take. Determination and heart are what make the difference. So, wholeheartedly embrace … Read more

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“Access to this PC has been blocked for security reasons” — DO NOT CLICK ON IT OR CALL THE #

If this happens to you—your entire computer screen is taken over with these “windows” while blaring a message to call the number—DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT click anywhere on the screen or call the number.

Here’s the fix.

For PCs:

Open the “Task Manager” by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc.Find your web browser’s icon (in this case, Google Chrome) and click to highlight. Then click on the End Task button.Your browser window (along with this

… Read more

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In Case You Missed It

There was a lunar (full moon) eclipse this morning, fully visible in most of the United States. The sky was silly bright most of the night. The kind of night where you could easily walk outside without a flashlight. The eclipse was officially complete in the eastern US at 5:16 AM this morning.

In case you missed it…

If you’re noticing that it looks red instead of black, you’d be correct. This is what’s known as a blood moon. This … Read more

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A World Full of Tree People

“When you go out into the woods, and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t … Read more

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