Lisa Napoli's Blog, page 39

Gross National Happiness report

For the record: for all those interested in the latest from the Gross National Happiness Commission in Bhutan, go to this link and click to download the PDF. Interesting statistics on the pervasiveness of poverty in the kingdom despite efforts to eradicate it.

Defying age: Jane Scott

A lady rock critic who didn't get started until age 45. Just passed away at age 92. Read it here (and someone should option her story as a movie, no?)

Pema Chodron on Tricycle: "Outer Pleasures Can't Bring Lasting Joy"

"Since impermanence defies our attempts to hold onto anything, outer pleasures can never bring lasting joy. Even when we manage to get short-term gratification, it doesn't heal our longing for happiness. As my teacher Dzigar Kongtrul once said, 'Trying to find lasting happiness from relationships or possessions is like drinking salt water to quench your thirst.'"

-Pema Chödrön, "Cutting Ties: The Fruits of Solitude"

Motorcyle Monk's Random Thoughts on Riding

My friend Kusala, a Buddhist monk in Koreatown here in Los Angeles who I discovered through his Urban Dharma podcasts, wrote about a road trip he took a while back on his motorcycle, and the lessons he learned. We're working on turning his story into a book; it's a pleasure to "have to" immerse myself in his approach toward life and the choices he's made, which I think we can learn from whether or not you're taking a long trip or whether or not you're a Buddhist.

And that's why I'm sharing this with you here, so you don't have to wait for the opus:

http://www.urbandharma.org/kusala/revkus/rtn.html

Excerpt:

"I was expanding my comfort zone to include all things new. I had unlocked my jail cell in a way… Escaped from the prison of… "How It Should Be"… And found the place of… "How It Is"… I found myself thinking… Can I deal with all the stuff this journey is about to throw at me???… Do I have the personal resources to meet each new challenge and win or lose, learn something about myself??? Will I have the courage to travel until I'm tired… Letting the day tell me when to stop, and when to go… And not my watch?

The discomfort I felt on the road… Was my first real sign of freedom.

Once I was on the road, it took a couple of hundred miles for the feelings of loss and fear to subside… To come to that place of… 'The Traveler'… Where home… Is the place you hang your helmet… And any bed, becomes your bed… It's back to basics… Food, clothing, shelter, and medicine.

Each day was so different… But the start and Finish of each day turned out to be pretty much the same."

Do we become what we hope we'll become?

Or, more thoughts on the power of positive thinking: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/05/04/do-we-become-what-we-hope-well-become/

Letting go of grudges boosts health

So forgive that person you're mad at and move on, at least according to this positive psychology-based study written up in Big Think.

Tumaini means hope

This winter, I had the pleasure of learning about Tumaini through my friends Michael Quinn and Helen Hayes in Denver. This is an amazing, inspirational story of how a woman at the bottom of her luck managed to start an orphanage in her native country of Kenya–thanks to a lot of faith and assistance from friends. An interview on Colorado Public Radio ran today.

Art Wolfe's Travels to the Edge

You know how public TV schedules are, but tonight in LA at least on KCLS you can (if, unlike me, you own a TV) see Art Wolfe's Travel to the Edge episode about Bhutan. Here's a brief trailer.

Bhutanese royal-watching in Colombia

In the online version of Jet Set. I can't read Spanish but there are of course it appears there are comparisons to Will and Kate in the text, best I can tell. (Thanks, Diego!)

The #Buddha in a Tree at Wat Mahathat by @JesseKalisher

The great and enterprising photographer Jesse Kalisher lives in North Carolina (I'm envious) and posts his work, with a story, from time to time. Years back he did a wonderful book of photos of Buddha"

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He writes, in part:

"In 2006, I returned to Thailand for my third time. Since my previous visit, I'd learned about this Buddha embedded into a sacred bodhi tree. Had the tree grown around the Buddha head? Had the Buddha been inserted into the tree when the tree was young or when the tree was mature? I had no idea, but it didn't matter much. I had to see the Buddha and its tree for myself.

To get to see this Buddha took little more than a small dose of determination and the better part of a day. Step one, make my way the central Bangkok train station. Step two, avoid the hustlers, buy my own ticket to Ayutthaya and then settle in for the journey that's little more than an hour. Once there, it's a lazy mile walk through town to the old capital where stands a collection of intriguing ruins. From 1351 to 1767 this was the center of a Siamese empire….."