Community:

Deeper, more meaningful social contacts.

 

 

Research shows that illness and even death can result from isolation.

 

It doesn’t have to be this way.

 

Learn how to build community as a Way to Health and Well-Being.

 

 

Fred Jones, will present Lessons Learned from Africa on the importance of community or social connection.

 

Venue: the Juan de Fuca Seniors Centre, building #3 behind the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre.

 

Date: Saturday, March 9

 

Time: Doors open at 10am, with the one hour presentation starting at 10:30am.

 

No cost and coffee and tea are only a buck.

 

 

What does “meaningful social contact” mean?

 

 

Fred Jones is a Canadian who spent a couple of decades of his young adult life in South Africa working and raising a family. In recent years, he has made Victoria his home.

 

He has contributed to building community within Toastmasters, the international organization committed to empowering people to speak in public. Toastmasters believe that everyone has a story to tell and that someone needs to hear that story.

 

Fred contributes to this mission even helping to start the Sooke Toastmasters Club.

 

 

 

The “Indiana Jones of meaningful social contact.”

 

 

He is the modern day “Indiana Jones of meaningful social contact.” In 2012, Fred and his daughter traveled the length of Africa from Capetown in South Africa to Cairo gathering experiences, participating with locals in their communities.

 

From that trip, Fred brings us a wealth of knowledge, tools and techniques that we can use to improve our lives through more meaningful social contact.

 

You will leave inspired to deepen your connections to others. You will have the tools and techniques to build community and improve your own health as a result.

 

 

Venue: the Juan de Fuca Seniors Centre, building #3 behind the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre.

 

Date: Saturday, March 9

 

Time: Doors open at 10am, with the one hour presentation starting at 10:30am.

 

No cost and coffee and tea are only a buck.

 

 

 

 

Is there a missing element to your health plan?

 

We know exercise and diet are important. But did you know that you can actually get sick if you don’t have enough meaningful contact with others? It’s true:

.

 

Higher Rates of Disease from Lack of Meaningful Social Contact

 

In 1974, researcher John Cassel noted that the lack of “meaningful social contacts” resulted in higher rates of tuberculosis, schizophrenia, alcoholism, accidents, and suicide.

 

In 2000, researchers Berkman and Kawachi compiled overwhelming evidence from around the world showing that individuals with weak social ties have higher rates of virtually every disease that has been studied, independently of other disease risk factors.

 

This is not new age woo-woo stuff.  The first study on this goes back to 1897.

 

 

Suicide Rates Higher With Poor Social Interaction

 

That’s when the French sociologist Emile Durkheim discovered the importance that community social forces play in the health of the individual. He concluded that the major factor affecting suicide rates was the degree of social integration of groups.

 

 

Not having deep, meaningful connections with others and the isolation that comes from that can actually cause serious diseases.

 

 

 

What is Different in Africa?

 

Specifically, he noticed how African communities spend time in

 

• Celebration. Their Toastmasters clubs, for example, deepened their relationships through frequent and regular sharing of meals.
• Joy. Shining faces told Fred of the bubbling effervescence below the surface of members of communities.
• Support: Members of African communities found ways to support each other more deeply and the supporters themselves created more joy for themselves.

 

Now, Fred brings Lessons Learned from Africa and how we can apply those lessons to build community here and lead healthier, more meaningful lives.

 

 

 

Venue: the Juan de Fuca Seniors Centre, building #3 behind the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre.

 

Date: Saturday, March 9

 

Time: Doors open at 10am, with the one hour presentation starting at 10:30am.

 

No cost and coffee and tea are only a buck.

 

 

 

How to Apply the African Experience to Build Our Community and Health

 

Fred will show us how we can use the lessons learned to benefit our own health and bring more vitality, joy, energy and health to ourselves and our loved ones.

 

Fred is so charged up with this message that he is not even charging for the event. He wants to spread this message so we can all benefit.

 

 

 

It’s Free

 

 

You will leave this presentation armed with the tools and techniques that the “Indiana Jones” of social connection brings to us from Lessons Learned in Africa.

 

 

Looking forward to seeing you there. Be early to meet some new friends. Email me and let me know how many you are bringing please so we have some idea of numbers: 88matti@gmail.com

 

 

 

Matti Anttila

 

P.S. Fred “The Indiana Jones of Social Connection” Jones, will present Lessons Learned From Africa on the importance of community or social connection.

 

You will leave inspired to deepen your connections to others. You will have the tools and techniques to build community and improve your own health as a result.

 

Venue: the Juan de Fuca Seniors Centre, building #3 behind the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre.

 

Date: Saturday, March 9

 

Time: Doors open at 10am, with the one hour presentation starting at 10:30am.

 

No cost and coffee and tea are only a buck.

 

 

* Email me and let me know how many you are bringing please so we have some idea of numbers. 88matti@gmail.com

30 uses for Coconut Oil comes from http://www.deliciousobsessions.com
Eat a spoonful when you need an energy boost.

 

Use it as the base for a homemade body scrub.

 

Use to condition your wooden cutting boards.

 

Use as a super conditioner on your hair (apply to dry hair, leave in as long as possible and then shampoo as normal).

 

Use as a styling agent if you have really dry hair.Just rub a tiny bit on your palms and apply to your hair and style as normal.

 

Keep a little container in your purse for lip moisturizer.

 

 

Read More at: http://www.deliciousobsessions.com/2012/08/122-uses-for-coconut-oil-printable-images-now-available/

 

1) Use to oil your pans and baking dishes instead of pan spray.
2) Condition your wooden cutting boards and season your cast iron pans.
3) Use instead of unhealthy vegetable oils in your cooking and baking.
4) Conditioner – Apply to dry hair, leave in as long as possible and then shampoo as normal.
5) Styling agent. Just rub a tiny bit on your palms and apply to your hair and style as normal.
6) Lip Moisturizer.
7) Natural Deodorant – use a tiny dab on your underarms.
8) Shaving cream.
9) Add to your bath along with a couple drops of peppermint essential oil for a moisturizing soak.**
10) Makeup remover.
11) Help sooth chicken pox, shingles, diaper rash, and other rashes or skin irritations.
12) Use on athlete’s foot, ringworm, or other fungal or yeast infections.
13) Spread a thin layer on cuts or burns to help speed up healing.
14) Use as a natural sunscreen.
15) Use in place of massage oil or as the base for a homemade body scrub.
16) Use to help reduce visibility of stretch marks or to prevent stretch marks.
17) For nursing mothers, use coconut oil on your nipples to prevent cracking and irritation.
18) Use on cracked or rough heals to help smooth them out.
19) Massage into your nails and cuticles to help strengthen them.
20) Apply to bee stings or bug bites to soothe and heal the wound.
21) Insect Repellent – Mixed with peppermint, lemon balm, rosemary, or tea tree oil.
22) Helps soothe hemorrhoids.
23) Mix with baking soda for a non-toxic “Goo Gone”.
24) Mix with a tiny bit of fresh lemon juice and use as a furniture polish. (Test a small area first!)
25) Use as a metal polish. (Test a small area first!)
26) Use as a leather moisturizer. (Test a small area first!)
27) Add a spoonful to your dog or cat’s food. It’s great for our furry friends!
28) Take a spoonful every day to help overall immune function.
29) Take a spoonful to help with digestion, heartburn, acid reflux, or indigestion.
30) Add a spoonful to your smoothies for extra nutrition and flavor.

 

 

 

Any and all information provided here is not a substitute for the advice of a licensed medical practitioner. Individuals are advised not to self-medicate in the presence of significant illness. Always consult with your licensed medical practitioner first before undertaking anything…be it supplements, exercise programs or other protocols. The information on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Do not construe the information provided here as authoritative health advice…or authoritative advice of any sort. All information provided or referred-to on this website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be health, medical, financial, accounting or tax advice, nor should it be relied upon as such. Matti Anttila is not a licensed financial planner, doctor or health practitioner. If you’re not inclined to Do-It-Yourself then please, before you Do-It-To-Yourself, obtain professional advice.

“I would like to simplify my life.” 62% of those surveyed in a 1992 study by the Merck Family Fund agreed with that statement. Yet, most people don’t make any effort at all to simplify their lives.

 

 

And that is even when “not having enough time” is the number one problem in their lives. They continue their disorganized ways and refuse to change, which means the condition of not having enough time will not change either.

 

 

“Disorganized people are inefficient, because they have to expend extra time and effort—calling the bank to get a duplicate copy of a statement already received and now lost, running to the crowded mall at the last minute to buy a forgotten holiday present, standing in line on April 14th waiting to mail income tax returns. All of these activities waste time because of poor organizations and planning skills.” –Bob Bly in Make Every Second Count.

http://www.amazon.com/Make-Every-Second-Count-Management/dp/1601631332

 

The best resource I have found (and Bly’s book is good, too) is David Allen’s Getting 
Things Done. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

 

 

Matti Anttila
Author of The Zen of Joy & 108 Tips for More Joy, Energy and Health 
http://joyenergyandhealth.com/
 

 

Any and all information provided here is not a substitute for the advice of a licensed medical practitioner. Individuals are advised not to self-medicate in the presence of significant illness. Always consult with your licensed medical practitioner first before undertaking anything…be it supplements, exercise programs or other protocols. The information on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Do not construe the information provided here as authoritative health advice…or authoritative advice of any sort. All information provided or referred-to on this website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be health, medical, financial, accounting or tax advice, nor should it be relied upon as such. Matti Anttila is not a licensed financial planner, doctor or health practitioner. If you’re not inclined to Do-It-Yourself then please, before you Do-It-To-Yourself, obtain professional advice.

 

 
The Fourth Nutriment: Consciousness 

 
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk writing in Calming the Fearful Mind, speaks of four nutriments that we consume:

 

 

1) Edible food,

2) Sensory food,

3) Our deepest desire and

4) Consciousness.

 

The Fourth Nutriment: Consciousness

 

Two Levels to Consciousness

Hanh invites us to think of consciousness as having two levels: the living room and the basement. The living room is where everything is visible. This is where we are thinking, calculating or dreaming.

 

 

The “Basement Level” has seeds
The basement is where we stuff everything we don’t like. You might call it the subconscious. The basement “stuff” is like seeds. If we water them, they sprout. There are all kinds of seeds down there: Wholesome seeds of love, happiness, joy, forgiveness and generosity are examples. Unwholesome seeds include hatred, fear, anger and craving. Hanh says we all have all of the different kinds of seeds, both wholesome and unwholesome.

 

 

Which seeds are we watering?

We can be playing, having fun and being happy and then someone comes along and waters the seed of anger in us, the anger arises as a mental formation and takes away all our happiness. If we allow anger into our mind and stay for an hour, then we are eating anger for an hour. The more we eat anger, the more it grows.

On the other hand, if we water the loving kindness seed and allow it to flower, then we are eating or consuming loving kindness for an hour.

 

 

If you do not nourish your love, it will die

The Buddha said nothing can survive without food. Hanh says: “If you do not nourish your love, it will die. If you cut the source of nutriment for your violence, it will die. If you want your love to last, you have to give it food every day. Love cannot live without food. If you neglect your love, after a while it will die and hatred may take its place…If we don’t give hatred food, it too will die.”

 

 

 

An agreement

“We can say to those close to us, ‘Dear one, let’s be careful not to water the unwholesome seeds in each other.’…When we water seeds of forgiveness, acceptance, and happiness in the person we love, we are giving them very healthy food for their consciousness, as if we were cooking them a delicious healthy meal.”

 

 

 

Your Mission

Your mission and mine, if we choose to accept, is to commit to watering the wholesome seeds in ourselves and in each other.

 

 

 

The “I Love You” exercise

Louise Hay has an exercise I love. First thing in the morning and last thing at night, look into the mirror, gazing deeply into your own eyes. Say “I love you, I really love you.” Say it like you mean it. Say it for at least 20 seconds. Notice your reaction. If you are like me, it may be difficult at first.

 

 

 

Nourish Your own love first
Why is this important? Think of the safety announcement at the beginning of an airplane flight. You are instructed that if the oxygen masks drop down, first put one on yourself and then help others to put theirs on. If you pass out from lack of oxygen while trying to help others, you are doing no good for them or you.

 

 
In the same way, if we don’t first nourish ourselves with love, our love “tank” may not have enough to spread to others.

 

 

 

The Way Out of Suffering

Hanh: “The way out of our suffering is mindfulness of consumption, not only for ourselves but for the whole world. If we know how to water the seeds of wisdom and compassion in us, these seeds become powerful sources of energy helping us to forgive those who have hurt us. This will bring relief to our nation and our world.”

 

 
Love and laughter,

 

Matti

Any and all information provided here is not a substitute for the advice of a licensed medical practitioner. Individuals are advised not to self-medicate in the presence of significant illness. Always consult with your licensed medical practitioner first before undertaking anything…be it supplements, exercise programs or other protocols. The information on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Do not construe the information provided here as authoritative health advice…or authoritative advice of any sort. All information provided or referred-to on this website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be health, medical, financial, accounting or tax advice, nor should it be relied upon as such. Matti Anttila is not a licensed financial planner, doctor or health practitioner. If you’re not inclined to Do-It-Yourself then please, before you Do-It-To-Yourself, obtain professional advice.
 

 

The Third Nutriment: Our Deepest Desire: Cultivating Compassion

 

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk writing in Calming the Fearful Mind, speaks of four nutriments that we consume:

1) Edible food,

2) Sensory food,

3) Our deepest desire and

4) Consciousness.

The Third Nutriment: Our Deepest Desire: Cultivating Compassion

 

There is a Native American story that frames this discussion well:

“An old Grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, ‘Let me tell you a story. I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do.

 

But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times.’ He continued, ‘It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.

 

But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger,for his anger will change nothing.

 

Sometimes, it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.’

 

The boy looked intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, ‘Which one wins, Grandfather?’

 

The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, ‘The one I feed.‘”

 

In the same vein, Thich Nhat Hanh talks of healthy desires and unhealthy desires.

 

 

The Healthy Desires

The healthy desires are the ones that nourish us and gives us energy. They are “…to protect life, to protect the environment, or live a simple life with time to take care of yourself and your beloved ones…(these desires)…will bring you to happiness.”

 

 

The Unhealthy Desires

The unhealthy desires are wanting power, wealth, sex and fame. If we feed these desires, says Hanh: “…you are consuming a very dangerous kind of food and it will bring you a lot of suffering.”

 

Hanh has had both rich and famous people attend his seminars. They have shared with him that neither wealth nor fame has made them happy. Instead their happiness came from coming back to their own hearts and minds and really practicing.

 

 

Becoming Rich and/or Famous NOT the Answer

The comedic actor Jim Carrey is quoted as saying: “I wish everyone could become rich and famous so they would know it’s not the answer.”

 

 

Lottery Wins do NOT Increase Long Term Happiness

Many still harbour the fantasy that winning the lottery will make them happy. Few believe me when I tell them of author Marci Shimoff’s research that showed little change in long term happiness for lottery winners. Instead, I get the feeling that those folks almost feel insulted when I dare to tarnish their shining fantasy of what life will be like when they win the lottery.

 

 

Cultivating Compassion

Hanh tells us that this desire for wealth brings us suffering. So why do we persist in chasing after rainbows?  I don’t have a definitive answer. I can tell you that I work/play every day to nourish my desire to help others, to love myself deeply and to nourish the desire to love others deeply as well. It is my strongest desire that cultivating this compassion and love for myself and others will contribute to peace in my heart and mind and in the world.

 

Hanh: “Whether we are eating a bowl of rice, enjoying a field of flowers, or nourishing our deepest desire, we practice doing it as mindfully as possible, conscious of each breath.”

 

 

Your Mission Should You Choose to Accept
Your mission (and mine), should you and I choose to accept it, is to begin or continue to deepen our awareness of our every action and thought. We can do this by watching our breath more and more as we go through the day. Just taking a deep breath from time to time and noticing the effect on the body and mind goes a long way to deepening our awareness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any and all information provided here is not a substitute for the advice of a licensed medical practitioner. Individuals are advised not to self-medicate in the presence of significant illness. Always consult with your licensed medical practitioner first before undertaking anything…be it supplements, exercise programs or other protocols. The information on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Do not construe the information provided here as authoritative health advice…or authoritative advice of any sort. All information provided or referred-to on this website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be health, medical, financial, accounting or tax advice, nor should it be relied upon as such. Matti Anttila is not a licensed financial planner, doctor or health practitioner. If you’re not inclined to Do-It-Yourself then please, before you Do-It-To-Yourself, obtain professional advice.

 

Part Two of Four: We bring peace by becoming more aware of what we consume.

 

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk writing in Calming the Fearful Mind, speaks of four nutriments that we consume:

 

1) Edible food,

 

2) Sensory food,

 

3) Our deepest desire and

 

4) Consciousness.

 

The Second Nutriment: Sensory Food.

 

According to Hanh, the Buddha taught that we consume or "eat" sensory food and what we eat makes a difference in our lives.

 

This is eating with our sense organs: our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. Everything that comes in to us is food, be that a TV program, a conversation, music, art and of course all the advertising we consume: radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards and online. Nowadays, we can add texting and mobile phone input.

 

Much of our sensory food is toxic

Hanh's point is that some or much of that input can be toxic and deplete our energies. The good input from TV, magazines, music and art can nourish our souls. But there are much of the input in the modern world can contain "…craving, despair and violence." This kind of input can and does create desires to buy "stuff." Thus is built the "consumer society" buying useless trinkets that are soon discarded. This sucks our energy and not the least our financial energy. Buying stuff we don't need depletes our pocketbooks.

 

Children see 8,000 murders on screen in a lifetime

Hanh calls this kind of sensory input "poison." Poison that we allows our children to consume as well. Hanh: "According to the American Psychological Association, a typical American child will watch 100,000 acts of violence and 8,000 murders on television in his lifetime. That is too much…They become victims of violence and fear."

 

And it's become worse. A generation ago, when cowboy moves and TV programs were the rage, there was far less gunplay in them and the bad guys paid by going to prison. Not so much today. Often there is no consequence for acts of violence.

 

Video games feed the violence

Then we come to video games where kids shoot at targets, who then come back to life. How many targets does that average child shoot and kill in video games by the time they become adults? Hanh: "This kind of game is infinitely dangerous. When children are young they cannot distinguish between the game and reality. Because children consume this kind of sensory food every day through television and video games, they are constantly feeding the violence in their consciousness."

 

"Gun control" to the rescue?

What is society's answer to the tragedy of shootings in schools by young people? Gun control laws. As if creating a law against a weapon will root out years of violent sensory food that has been fed to young people. It is a symptom of a deep rooted illness in our society that we have great difficulty looking past the surface of issues.

 

Shootings continue despite gun controls

I have no issue against creating common sense laws but let us not fool ourselves that this will solve the problem. In the country I live in, Canada, we have had gun control laws in place for a long time. Yet one Monday morning a few weeks ago, the CBC Radio morning news reported a total of eight shootings over the weekend in my province of BC. This in a country that has gun control laws.

 

 

Not many days before I write this, a man indiscriminately stabbed nine people with a knife in a Vancouver condo complex. These were people he did not know and had never seen before. Thankfully, they all survived though many others were traumatized as well. Are we now to ban knives?

 

Decreasing our violent sensory input

Would it not serve us better to look deeper for the root causes of these tragedies? Perhaps we can pay closer attention to what Hanh says about consuming violent "food" through our senses. He suggests we "…make a commitment to mindful, intelligent consumption of both edible foods and cultural items."

 

Your mission (and mine)

Your mission (and mine), should you and I decide to accept, is to start or continue the process of becoming more and more aware of our sensory input and choose more carefully what kind of movies and TV programs we watch, what kind of books, magazines and newspapers we read. We can even start to pay attention to our one-on-one interactions. How much violence is there in our every day speech? Is taking a course in Non Violent Communication an option? See Marshall Rosenberg's work on Non Violent Communication. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication

 

In that regard, much of the what is put in the media as news for us to consume can feed our fears. I still want to have a feeling of what is going in our world, so I have not eliminated news from my diet (yet! It may still happen as I wean myself off other input). However, with the advent of the internet, I find it less intrusive now. In the past, I watched TV news and wasted many an hour being bombarded with fearful stories and images.

Reducing violent sensory input while staying in touch with the world

Now I choose to consume what news there is from the RSS feeds that are available from many sources. My personal choices are a local radio and newspaper online news pages plus RSS feeds from the CBC for regional and national news. An American network, the BBC and Guardian feeds for the UK plus Time and Christian Science Monitor. I get four feeds from my home country of Finland and a few financial feeds. I of course have a number of health related feeds as well.

 

What this means is that of all the potentially toxic "sensory food," that is available in unlimited quantities, I can scan headlines and be done with it all in a matter of less than a few minutes. That way, I still stay in touch with the world outside of my body/mind/spiritual "system," but I don't have to bombard myself with it all.

 

Another quick word about news. We have been trained by the media to believe that "news" is important somehow and we need to stay in touch with the developments in the arenas of politics and science, not to mention sporting events. (Sporting events are a topic left for another time)

 

During my time as a radio news reporter, announcer and talk show host, I became painfully aware of how inaccurate news really is. More and more the key factor is what stories will keep eyes glued to the TV screen. There are wars being waged continuously around the world that are not reported. These wars have just as many atrocities committed as the ones we see on our TV screens.

 

Nine Words That Summarize all the News

Understanding this comes down to what author Tom Robbins wrote in his 1970s novel Even Cowgirls Get The Blues: "The state of the world was desperate, as usual." That is the basic message of the news reporting. Knowing that, we can begin to unhook ourselves from our addiction to consuming news, bit by bit. I am still in the process.

Awareness is the key

Instead, we can start replacing that consumption with what Hanh suggests. We can "…practice looking deeply into the nature of what we consume every day…consuming mindfully is the only way to protect ourselves and our society from the violence that is overwhelming us."

 

 

 

Any and all information provided here is not a substitute for the advice of a licensed medical practitioner. Individuals are advised not to self-medicate in the presence of significant illness. Always consult with your licensed medical practitioner first before undertaking anything…be it supplements, exercise programs or other protocols. The information on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Do not construe the information provided here as authoritative health advice…or authoritative advice of any sort. All information provided or referred-to on this website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be health, medical, financial, accounting or tax advice, nor should it be relied upon as such. Matti Anttila is not a licensed financial planner, doctor or health practitioner. If you're not inclined to Do-It-Yourself then please, before you Do-It-To-Yourself, obtain professional advice.

 We Bring peace by becoming more aware of what we consume.

 

Thich Nhat Hanh, a buddhist monk writing in Calming the Fearful Mind, speaks of four nutriments that we consume:

 

1) Edible food,

 

2) Sensory food,

 

3) Our deepest desire and

 

4) Consciousness.

The First Nutrient, Food:

Hanh says this: most of us were born with a healthy body, but we can destroy that body by consuming food unmindfully and eating foods that create illness.

 

"If we use drugs, drink alcohol, or smoke cigarettes, we are consuming poisons that destroy our body and mind…our body does not belong to us alone; it belongs to our ancestors, our family, and our children as well. Your body is the continuation of your ancestors. You have to take good care of it so you can transmit your best to your children and your grandchildren, your partner, and your community."

 

Hanh recommends no meat eating. I respectfully disagree with him on this point based on my research of Dr. Weston A. Price's work Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, I take his point that:

 

"We eat in such a way that we destroy the planet Earth."

 

But Sun Bear talked of vegetarians who came to his workshops in eastern Washington State. They were taken aback somewhat that he ate meat. Then he noticed how they ripped vegetables out of the ground without gratefulness and in a violent way. Sun Bear's point was that we eat mindfully and give thanks to the food for giving up its life so we may nourish ourselves and live. And that applied not just to animals, but to vegetables and fruits and to everything we eat.

 

Hanh again:

"When we eat mindfully, we maintain our awareness of our interdependence with other beings and this awareness helps us maintain compassion in our heart. When we with compassion, happiness arises."

 

Your mission, should you decide to accept, is to pause before eating, focus on your food, give thanks with each mouthful, eat slower. You may choose to smile and say "I love you" to the food you are eating. In this way, we can become more aware and that awareness can help to release joy and happiness, which we can choose to share with others.

 

 

Any and all information provided here is not a substitute for the advice of a licensed medical practitioner. Individuals are advised not to self-medicate in the presence of significant illness. Always consult with your licensed medical practitioner first before undertaking anything…be it supplements, exercise programs or other protocols. The information on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Do not construe the information provided here as authoritative health advice…or authoritative advice of any sort. All information provided or referred-to on this website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be health, medical, financial, accounting or tax advice, nor should it be relied upon as such. Matti Anttila is not a licensed financial planner, doctor or health practitioner. If you're not inclined to Do-It-Yourself then please, before you Do-It-To-Yourself, obtain professional advice.