Lisa Napoli's Blog, page 49

Radio Shangri-La in China

Here's what it'll look like when it's published by Xiron there in July:

Spiritual classrooms in Bhutan, but no religion

A at the subject by Kuensel. Teachers are divided. But the fact that one says she allows religious objects from all faiths in order to encourage tolerance…is an interesting development for Bhutan. The subject's come up because of the practice of teaching meditation in class, as part of the government's "education for Gross National Happiness" policies. Meditation was introduced to classrooms about a year ago; it's seen as a way of setting children off on the right foot. The person who runs that program says in this story that introducing Buddhist altars into the class wasn't intended to be part of the program.

Orphanage in Bhutan

In Radio Shangri-La I talk about the fact that there are no orphanages in Bhutan. Add this to the list of things that have changed. From the Bhutan Observer:

Beacon of hope for uncared for children

Raynaling provides temporary shelter to children living in difficult situations

In a quiet part of Thimphu lies a hope for orphans and uncared for children.

Nestled in wooded upper reaches of Motithang, Raynaling, a fancifully named transit shelter for unfortunate children, provides help for the children in difficult circumstances like orphans, runaways, and the abused and neglected.

Financially supported by the international child rights organization Save the Children, Raynaling aims to create an environment where children in difficult situations can receive adequate support and protection so that they grow up into productive citizens. The project mainly deals with children below 18 years of age.

Raynaling provides food, shelter, professional counselling and medical care for 30 days. The project manager, Sonam Wangmo, said the project will look for foster parents and facilitate adoption of children at both national and international levels. But she added that it will be the last resort.

Lhaden Wangmo, the counselor at Raynaling, said children are also given group therapy and family counselling. After they are emotionally reformed, the project supports children to re-enter school and find work.

Raynaling also meets and counsels families and relatives of uncared for children and tries to repair the lost bond.

Since it started last October, Raynaling has provided shelter to eight children of age ranging from 3 months old to 17 years. Most of them are runaways and neglected. They are now reunited with their families.

Out on the streets, uncared for children turn to crime for survival. They are susceptible to assault and abuse. Neglected girls can easily become victims of sexual assaults or be lured into prostitution besides the risk of being trafficked across the border.

Therefore, since its inception, the National Commission for Women and Children (NCWC) focused its attention on addressing the problem of children living in difficult circumstances.

The government has granted approval to NCWC to establish organizations for the protection of children living in difficult circumstances accordingly to the childcare and protection act.

By Ugyen Wangchuk

Bhutanese Refugee Students: A resource

For any one working with refugee children from Bhutan: Erin Collins, a teacher at Brooklyn International School, created this resource. She's even been to the refugee camps on the Nepali border, so she has first-hand experience on two fronts. This is an excellent, comprehensive website, and it's wonderful that she took the time to share her knowledge and experience about this complex issue.

Great places: Turning from stuff to happiness

Nice piece in Grist by David Roberts why stuff and money aren't all they're cracked up to be. Ties to the theme of great places, and why where we live, how we live, are so important.  (Thanks, Joe!)

And here's the Indian cover for Radio Shangri-La….

….to be published by Random House in India on June 1st. Looks a lot like the US cover, only soft-back.

15384 Radio Shangri La.pdf

Radio Shangri-La in Brazil

To be published next week. Now, if only someone would invite me there to promote it!

Close encounter with John Sayles

We're missing each other by a day at Prairie Lights in Iowa.  Wish I could stick around to see him!  (Maybe he'll come in and learn about Radio Shangri-la….)

http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2011/m...

Creative writing in Bhutan

Too bad we can't buy this book here!

Excerpt:

"Reading 'November Light' reveals a vast pool of untamed creative potential among young Bhutanese. As much as the country, as the youngest democracy in the world, is coming to terms with the demands of new polity, the writers in the book seem to be coming to terms with the continuous shaping up of individual identity. They write like young Maggie Tulliver running away from the suffocation of family confines in search of her own sanctuary.

The young budding writers of RTC achieve what their mentor tells them: "The real celebration of writing is the way it might reach out and change ordinary people's lives, perhaps even survive over time to convey a sense of the shared emotions and the lasting absurdities of the human condition."

The latest from Guru Singh

When you are young and bright and aiming your entire life toward hopes and dreams

with all the possible power, there are few thoughts that this will ever change.

There are also very few thoughts that the illusion of time passing

will have diminishing affects upon your life.

Then — without the consciousness acknowledging it — years pass, decades pass,

the illusion of the time of your life passes.

In doing so, it poses the question.

Are you closer to the aims of your youth, or are you a copy of a copy,

a tangent of a tangent, a limit of a limitation?

Are you an imitation of your intended path?

If the answer is not . . . "I AM — WHO I AM — THAT IS THAT!"

. . . then the answer resides in your sea of pain.

Conscious of it or not, numb to it or not . . . it is still painful in the long run.

The key to remaining powerful and on point

- the key to living in the answer of; "I AM — WHO I AM"

is a combination of avid flexibility and daily consistency.

Flexibility allows you to take no offense to the constant offense of time.

Consistency allows you to successfully navigate through the constant defensive nature

of space . . . for every one of your actions it gives you an equal reaction.

You must consistently and flexibly check your course against a "master-map" in order

for your life to remain connected with the direction of your core intention.

Otherwise, it is increasingly easy to become that tangent of a tangent and then

a copy of a copy and then the limits of the limitations of your imitations.

The evidence is in; you are either moving forward or backward,

but life is never stagnant . . . change is the only real constant.

There is no standing still in this material creation.

Therefore, one must apply a strong daily directional intent

to remain on point throughout time

. . . otherwise; your direction will be chosen for you – not by you.

When you appear to stand still in doubt, confusion, or fear; you are actually moving

— just not in any direction of your choosing.

You are being shifted onto the tangents that streak throughout timespace

. . . at someone else's pace . . . toward someone else's place.

You are living someone else's dream.

This is the danger-zone infiltrating your "safety" zone of indecision,

doubt, fear, confusion and inaction.

All the 'shoulds' and the 'coulds' are great indicators

— but time-space requires your active participation.

Accomplishment only takes place when you actively participate with your intentions. Therefore, fully commit to participate in the dreams of your choice
and do so against all the risks confronting you.

Further: learn the living art of the martial arts — become responsive to the defensive offensiveness of this material world without taking offense,

without being offensive or defensive.

Leave no track-backs in the fabric of space and time will not knock you down

in its defection from, or its reaction to your projection.

Make this your daily occurrence

— 'flexible consistency . . . persistently affirming your goals'.

Experience the living affirmations of being YOU every day.

Do not wish upon time from the sidelines of life,

but commit full participation in the actual — active — construction of your goals.

Retrieve all the dreams that you knew in your youth,

or if you are still young, never leave them

. . . become their guarantee [daily] and you will live them.

This is spiritual growth in the new evolution of human consciousness.