Food for Thought

Whether you and I and a few others will renew the world some day remains to be seen. But within ourselves we must renew it each day.

- Herman Hesse

Free informal Webinar "Meditation, Spirituality & Leadership"

What do YOU think I need to say about “Meditation, Spirituality & Leadership”?

Thank you for all the suggestions you made about future events you’d like to see.

Are you ready to help me make my next program better?

“Part of the problem is that everyone is in such a hurry. People haven't found meaning in their lives, so they're running all the time looking for it. They think the next car, the next house, the next job. Then they find those things are empty, too, and they keep running. ..... So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. “ (From: Tuesdays with Morrie)

Perhaps our study of leadership has caused us to focus too much energy on the mechanisms instead of the essence – the sunset data rather than the joy, beauty, and experience of the sunset.

But, “the significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them." (Attributed to Albert Einstein)

So maybe we have to use a completely different approach. And what could it be? A program on Meditation, Spirituality & Leadership?

What? You haven’t heard of this program? I’m not surprised. Because it hasn’t been publicized yet! And believe it or not, that’s even better news. Why? Because you, my blog readers, will get to give your input before you and anyone else will be able to participate. You’ll get a chance to tell me what you think it should include; which topics should be covered; which questions addressed. And if you give me your input, you’ll receive a “Thank-You!” gift!

Here’s the plan. There will a brainstorming webinar on December 6th, 7th or 8th, 2009 (you decide the date and time). I’ll encourage you to give me your feedback and comments at this event. You’ll be able to tell me exactly what you want to be included, in which format, when, and at what time schedule. I’ll make changes based on the feedback that will add value to the program. And I’ll quote you in the future program invitation.

The first step? Watch this short trailer (1,30 Min.)

And if you can’t make it to the webinar leave your suggestions here at this blog.

Meditation Thought

When I was, Hari was not,
now Hari is and I am no more:
All darkness vanished,
when I saw the Lamp within my heart.
The effulgence of the supreme Being
is beyond the imagination:
Ineffable is His beauty,
to see it is the only 'proof'.
Him whom I went out to seek,
I found just where I was:
He now has become myself
whom before I called 'Another'!


Kabir

Food for Thought

"You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny. "

-The Upanishads

The Legal System – Revenge or Compassion?

Most interesting article at http://bit.ly/5oRmQP

Meditation Tip

"Be here now."

Ram Dass

How to Meditate

Check out "How to Meditate", a new Recommended Website (>>>)

Meditation

Meditation means to me, witnessing on three levels: action of the body, thoughts of the mind, feelings of the heart. Once a person becomes aware of these three things, the fourth step happens on its own accord. You can call it his soul, his being, and it is the greatest bliss in existence. There is nothing above it.


Osho

Heaven and Hell (OSHO Meditation Minutes)

Book Recommendation

Experience Beyond Thinking: A Practical Guide to Buddhist Meditation

A simple guide to Buddhist meditation with easy-to-follow instructions on both sitting and walking meditation, plus insightful reflections on how to live a Buddhist way of life. Initially, Buddhist meditation is a process of freeing the mind of its entanglements, of learning how to undo the knots and getting beyond thinking. When we live with our minds full of thoughts, we don't sense much more than those thoughts; objects are not seen very clearly because the focus of our attention is directed towards what is in the mind rather than what is in front of us. Meditation allows us to see ourselves plainly as we are, as if standing before a large clear mirror. Nothing is hidden. When we do this, it is like waking up from a dream into a new way of life completely free of all self-imposed restrictions and conflicting states of mind.

Book Recommendation

The Pocket Zen Reader

This miniature book presents a thousand years of Zen teaching for the modern reader in a way that preserves the dynamic flavor of these talks, sayings, and records of heart-to-heart encounters. From the earliest adepts to the last of the great masters, The Pocket Zen Reader is a pocket-sized compendium of Zen at its best. This collection is edited by Thomas Cleary, the translator of over fifty volumes of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Islamic texts.

Food for Thought

What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.

- Ellen Burstyn

Meditation Thought

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing, there is a field. I will meet you there."

Rumi

Buddhist Wisdom

Standing or walking, sitting or lying down, during all these waking hours, let him establish mindfulness of good will, which men call the highest state!

- Buddha

A Taste of Freedom: Ajahn Chah

Entire text online: http://bit.ly/1SOmlg Very inspiring; strive diligently!

Meditation Tip

That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest.

- Henry David Thoreau

Food for Thought

. . . a man can have no other vocation than to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him. . . -- Albert Camus

Meditation Thought

There are flowers everywhere, for those who bother to look.

- Henri Matisse

Leading from the Soul (by Lance Secretan)

Food for Thought

The truth indeed has never been preached by the Buddha, seeing that one has to realize it within oneself.

- Lamkara Sutra

Meditation Tip

Irrigators guide the water. Fletchers shape the arrow shaft. Carpenters shape the wood. The wise control themselves.

- Dhammapada

Food for Thought

If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. - William Blake

Food for Thought

"Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever blowing, through one's head. "

-Mark Twain

Food for Thought

The more you try to fix, the more you find to fix. Only wholeness heals.

-- Alan Cohen