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Thupten Jinpa: Why Being Kind to Yourself is Good for the World

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Thupten Jinpa: Why Being Kind to Yourself is Good for the World

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Author and scholar Thupten Jinpa is English-language translator for the Dalai Lama, shown here. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Adrian Wyld)

Most people want to be more compassionate, thoughtful and kind to others. But what if in order to treat others better, we need to start by being kinder to ourselves?

In his book, " A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives," Thupten Jinpa, the Dalai Lama's English-language translator and a visiting scholar at Stanford University, lays the foundation for a more compassionate world by teaching readers how to first cultivate kindness towards themselves.

"Compassion is a sense of concern that arises when we are confronted with another's suffering, and feel motivated to see that suffering relieved," Jinpa writes in his book. But if we're not operating within a mindset of fundamental compassion for our own struggles, he says, "then we don't develop adequate resources within ourselves to be able to give more to others."

Self-compassion is not self-pity, self-absorption or self-indulgence. "The more compassionate thing we can do for ourselves may be to not eat the whole bag of Fritos" he writes. (Darn.) Instead, Jinpa explains, self-compassion is the "instinctive ability to be kind and considerate to yourself" he shares in an interview, -the whole, 'put your oxygen mask first before helping others' approach to self care- which makes a big difference when you are dealing with the demands of raising children, dealing with a difficult boss or facing a relationship crisis.

[Related: The Patriots' Tom Brady could have avoided 'Deflategate,' if only he had practiced mindfulness]

Artfully drawing from his training in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery as well as his time at Oxford and work developing compassion curriculum at Stanford, Jinpa's book blends science, spirituality and social science in a practical way designed to help readers imagine a kinder world and begin creating it. But first, Jinpa explains, you've gotta be good to you.

Want to start working your self-compassion muscles? "The first place to start is to question yourself," Jinpa says in an interview. Here's a roadmap to greater self-compassion:

Listen to your inner voice. (But don't always do what it says.) Is that voice constantly negative, stressed or judgmental?

Jinpa's work suggests that first becoming more aware of the thoughts that run through our minds all day will allow us to understand and redirect them.

"Try to be aware of any negative, self-critical thoughts and self-talk," writes Jinpa. Recognizing this can create a sense of distance as you "see that these are just thoughts, constructs and interpretations." You can then "explore ways in which you can re-frame negative judgments with more compassionate ones."

Make time to incorporate a quiet intention-setting practice in the morning, which need only take one or two minutes. Quietly affirm to yourself, he encourages, "This day, I will make my day meaningful. I will as much as possible try to bring conscious intention into my interaction with others. I will as much as possible when the opportunity arises, be kind to others and at least refrain from harming others. I'll be more mindful. I'll be caring and concerned for other people in my life. In this way, I'll make my day meaningful." By regularly setting daily intentions, Jinpa says, you'll be able to act more intentionally and feel more in control and less viscerally responsive to negative events.

[Related: You're missing out on your experiences. A meditation expert explains how to live in the moment]

Practice some self-compassion exercises, shared in great detail in his book. One involves taking several deep breaths, and pausing in silence, he writes, to 'bring to mind an image of compassion that represents for you love, caring, wisdom and strength," he writes. Starting with the self, you'll move in "ever expanding circles of attention," wishing others "joy, happiness and peace."

Imagine yourself as a small child, "free yet vulnerable, running around and often knocking things over along the way" the book invites you to imagine. Jinpa then asks readers to invoke a sense of wonder and affection for that child within. "Wouldn't you feel instinctively protective toward this child? Instead of negative judgment, criticism and reprimand, would you feel tender and caring?" he writes. Thinking of this image of yourself as a child, "lets these feelings of tenderness and caring toward your child-self permeate your heart." He then suggests wishing that hapless child -you-well, by then silently repeating the phrases:

May you be free from pain and suffering. . . .

May you be free from fear and anxiety. . .

May you experience peace and joy. . .

May you be free from pain and suffering. . . .

May you be free from fear and anxiety. . .

May you experience peace and joy. .

Be aware of the narratives we tell ourselves, and how they shape our thoughts, and behaviors. Jinpa takes issue with a Darwinian worldview that says that humans are motivated solely by self-interest, saying that in turn, society, he writes, "suffers from a self-fulfilling prophecy of selfishness." While he accepts general scientific knowledge on evolution, Jinpa adds that biological and social science also points to a kindness instinct: "We know that caring and compassionate instincts are powerful and motivate us to do things," he explains in an interview. By seeing our fellow man as fundamentally compassionate, Jinpa argues, we can start to see ourselves as kind, too.

Remember that self-compassion is just the starting point for wider application, Jinpa explains. Compassion towards those in need, "makes us feel good. It's kind of a paradox that the highest level of joy that we can experience as human beings are the joys where we actually forget ourselves. If we look back in our memory, we will know that those moments when we were happiest there was the least degree of self-consciousness. I think that says something very profound about who we are as species, and of the power of that caring instinct that's within us."

If you like this in Inspired Life, you might also like:

A famous poet explains how great verse can help change the world -and reads you a poem

A giant blackboard on a city street is encouraging strangers to share their secrets

Meet the outsider who accidentally solved chronic homelessness

Why the U.S. rating on the World Happiness Report is lower than it should be- and how we can change it

Sign up for the Inspired Life Saturday newsletter here ​

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The Dalai Lama's translator explains why being kind to yourself is good for the world

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Most people want to be more compassionate, thoughtful and kind to others. But what if in order to treat others better, we need to start by being kinder to ourselves?

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Patricia Jennings: Self Care is Critical to Helping Others

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Patricia Jennings: Self Care is Critical to Helping Others

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We are excited to welcome Dr. Patricia Jennings, M.Ed., Ph.D. to our upcoming Heart-Mind 2018 conference. D r. Jennings is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of social and emotional learning and mindfulness in education, with a specific emphasis on teacher stress and how it impacts the social and emotional context of the classroom.

An Associate Professor of Education at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, Dr. Jennings led the team that developed CARE for Teachers, a mindfulness-based professional development program shown to significantly improve teacher well-being.

We have asked Patricia to share a few insights on her work on mindfulness and how cultivating self-care is critical in helping others.
DLC: What inspired you to focus your work on mindfulness in education?
I began practicing Zen meditation long before I became a teacher. When I decided to go into the field of education, I was looking for an approach where I could apply my mindfulness practice to my teaching, so I studied Montessori education. For me, each lesson in my classroom was a mindfulness practice. I also taught my students simple calming and focusing practices. However, it wasn't until I began working as a teacher educator that I realized just how much my mindfulness practice was helping me stay calm in the face of the daily challenges of the classroom.

I spent 15 years supervising student teachers and teaching classroom management. I observed my students attempt to practice time tested ways to respond to student inappropriate behavior, but noticed that their emotional reactivity was interfering with their effectiveness. I became very curious about why teaching is so stressful and why my mindfulness practice was so helpful to me, so I decided to return to graduate school and earned my doctorate in human development, with a focus on stress and coping in adulthood. For the past 14 years I've worked to apply this understanding to helping teachers and students manage classroom stress to promote supportive classroom environments that are conducive to student learning.
DLC: How do compassion and mindfulness help people enhance their daily well-being?
Human beings have a deep need for connection. We need to feel like we have a place in our community and that we can make a valuable contribution that is recognized by others. However, today these needs often go unmet in a fast-paced world where there is high mobility and social fragmentation. Educators are recognizing that this sense of connection, or relational trust and safety is key to creating a learning environment where students flourish.

However, demands of the classroom such as high stakes testing, greater numbers of students coming to school unprepared and with symptoms of trauma exposure create stress that can interfere with our ability to cultivate a caring and supportive classroom environment.

Mindfulness and compassion can help us build the inner strength and resilience to cultivate and maintain emotional supportiveness for our students in the face of these challenges. Mindfulness involves cultivating a state of present-centered awareness with an attitude of openness and curiosity (rather than judgment). When we apply mindfulness to sensing how our body is feeling, we notice the subtle signals of the stress response before it becomes difficult to manage. We can check in and notice how we are feeling and take a few breaths to calm ourselves when we need to. By example, we teach our students how to do this, helping everyone feel more safe, connected and ready to learn.

Compassion is a motivational stance that recognizes our common human suffering and feeds an open-hearted caring for all. When we cultivate compassion, we are more able to recognize that often student behaviors are signs of suffering. With this recognition, we are more prepared to open our hearts to them and act to relieve their suffering if we can. By teaching our students to cultivate compassion for others, we build a classroom community based on the shared value of care for others. Teaching in a classroom like this is a thrilling experience!
DLC: Why is it particularly important for parents and educators to cultivate their well-being: how does that benefit children?
As we learn when we fly on an airplane, you need to put your own oxygen mask on first, before you try to help another. If we are depleted of energy, we cannot be fully available to provide support to our students and children. Our lives are becoming more stressful and the rate of social change is rapidly increasing feelings of social disconnection. As adults, we are responsible for teaching our children and young people the importance of nurturing ourselves, which includes building a supportive community. When we care for ourselves, by example, we can teach our children to be calm, peaceful, thoughtful, and open-hearted.
DLC: The theme of Heart-Mind 2018 is Take Care of Yourself: what does that mean to you and what are some things you do to take care of yourself?
While I have known that self-care is critical to helping others, I can't say that I've mastered self-care for myself. Over the years, I continue to learn how difficult it is to be aware of what I need and to give myself care. For me, the first step is tuning into my body, noticing how I am feeling physically and emotionally. I also consider my self-care needs across the domains of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. I am to achieve a balance of activities that nurture each of these domains.

For example, to nurture my physical body, I take regular walks with my husband and our dogs and I practice Pilates and Nia. To nurture my emotional life, I take time to be with loved ones, to read a novel or watch a movie that stimulates my positive emotions. When I feel a positive emotion, I take time to savor the physical sensations of the emotion. To nurture my mental life, I like to explore interests beyond those related to my work, such as reading about history, or learning something new. Lately I've been using an app for a few minutes a day to recover the Spanish I used to know. Finally, to nurture my spiritual life, I engage in prayer and mindfulness practices daily. I also read inspirational quotes and other writings and I participate in an organized religious congregation.

Most of all, I try to give myself space. By this I mean I try not to be too hard on myself. Self-care can become another demand on my time, or a drudgery. When this happens, I give myself a break and stop doing one activity for a while or switch to something else, until I feel the impulse to return to it. Remembering that self-care involves self-compassion and love is important. Otherwise self-care can become just another job we have to do.

Join us for Heart-Mind 2018 for Patricia Jennings' talk on Caregivers: Cultivating Well-being with Mindfulness and Compassion. Register today and learn from leading experts the latest in the science and practice of well-being. Patricia Jennings will be available to sign her book, Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom.

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Patricia Jennings: Self-care is critical to helping others

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We are excited to welcome Dr. Patricia Jennings, M.Ed., Ph.D. to our upcoming Heart-Mind 2018 conference. D r. Jennings is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of social and emotional learning and mindfulness in education, with a specific emphasis on teacher stress and how it impacts the social and emotional context of the classroom.

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The Center for Healthy Minds: Well Being Toolkit for Children/Adults 

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The Center for Healthy Minds: Well Being Toolkit for Children/Adults 

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Well-Being Toolkit for Children, Educators and Parents

While research regarding mindfulness practices for children is still at an early stage, initial results point to potential benefits in children's ability for self-regulation. Developing an ability to focus attention is an essential skill that can aid in kids' relationships, school, sports, music and other areas of life.

This well-being toolkit is intended for educators, parents and caregivers of children. We have included tips, audio and video practices, our Kindness Curriculum and more resources for you.

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Center for Healthy Minds Well-Being Toolkit for Children, Educators and Parents - Center for Healthy Minds

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Well-Being Toolkit for Children, Educators and Parents While research regarding mindfulness practices for children is still at an early stage, initial results point to potential benefits in children's ability for self-regulation. Developing an ability to focus attention is an essential skill that can aid in kids' relationships, school, sports, music and other areas of life.

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Dr. Wayne Dyer: 10 Stress Management Strategies

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Dr. Wayne Dyer: 10 Stress Management Strategies

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There's nothing natural about living a life filled with stress and anxiety, having feelings of despair and depression, and needing pills to tranquilize yourself. Agitated thoughts that produce high blood pressure, a nervous stomach, persistent feelings of discomfort, an inability to relax or sleep, and frequent displays of displeasure and outrage are violating your natural state. Believe it or not, you have the power to create the naturally stress-free and tranquil life you desire. You can utilize this power to attract frustration or joy, anxiety or peace. When you're in harmony with the seven faces of intention, you can access and pull from the Source of all in order to fulfill your intention of being stress free and tranquil.
Step 1: Remember that your natural state is joy.
You are a product of joy and love; it's natural for you to experience these feelings. You've come to believe that feeling bad, anxious, or even depressed is natural, particularly when people and events around you are in low-energy modes. Remind yourself as frequently as necessary: I come from peace and joy. I must stay in harmony with that from which I came in order to fulfill my dreams and desires. I choose to stay in my natural state. Anytime I'm anxious, stressed out, depressed, or fearful, I've abandoned my natural state.
Step 2: Your thoughts, not the world, cause your stress.
Your thoughts activate stressful reactions in your body. Stressful thoughts create resistance to the joy, happiness, and abundance that you desire to create in your life. These thoughts include: I can't, I'm too overworked, I worry, I'm afraid, I'm unworthy, It will never happen, I'm not smart enough, I'm too old (young), and so on. These thoughts are like a program to resist being tranquil and stress free, and they keep you from manifesting your desires.
Step 3: You can change your thoughts of stress in any given moment, and eliminate the anxiety for the next few moments, or even hours and days.
By making a conscious decision to distract yourself from worry, you've inaugurated the process of stress reduction, while simultaneously reconnecting to the field of allcreating intention. It's from this place of peace and tranquility that you become a co-creator with God. You can't be connected to your Source and be stressed at the same time-this is mutually exclusive. Your Source doesn't create from a position of anxiety, nor does it need to swallow antidepressants. You've left behind your capacity to manifest your desires when you don't choose in the moment to eliminate a stressful thought.
Step 4: Monitor your stressful thoughts by checking on your emotional state right in the moment.
Ask yourself the key question: Do I feel good right now? If the answer is no, then repeat those five magic words: I want to feel good, then shift to: I intend to feel good. Monitor your emotions, and detect how much stress- and anxiety producing thinking you're engaging in. This monitoring process keeps you apprised of whether you're on the path of least resistance or going in the other direction.
Step 5: Make a conscious choice to select a thought that will activate good feelings.
I urge you to choose your thought based exclusively on how it makes you feel, rather than on how popular it is or how well advertised. Ask yourself: Does this new thought make me feel good? No? Well, how about this thought? Not really? Here's another. Ultimately you'll come up with one that you agree makes you feel good, if only temporarily. Your choice might be the thought of a beautiful sunset, the expression on the face of someone you love, or a thrilling experience. It's only important that it resonate within you emotionally and physically as a good feeling. In the moment of experiencing an anxious or stressful thought, change to the thought you chose, which makes you feel good. Plug it in. Think it and feel it in your body if you can. This new thought that makes you feel good will be of appreciation rather than depreciation. It will be of love, beauty, receptivity to happiness, or in other words, it will align perfectly with those seven faces of intention I've been harping about since the opening pages of this book.
Step 6: Spend some time observing babies, and vow to emulate their joy.
You didn't come forth into this world to suffer, to be anxious, fearful, stressful, or depressed. You came from the God-consciousness of joy. Just watch little babies. They've done nothing to be so happy about. They don't work; they poop in their pants; and they have no goals other than to expand, grow, and explore this amazing world. They love everyone, they're completely entertained by a plastic bottle or goofy faces, and they're in a constant state of love-yet they have no teeth, no hair, and they're pudgy and flatulent. How could they possibly be so joyful and easily pleased? Because they're still in harmony with the Source that intended them here; they have no resistance to being joyful. Be like that baby you once were in terms of being joyful. You don't need a reason to be happy . . . your desire to be so is sufficient.
Step 7: Keep "Rule Number 6" in mind.
This means to suspend the demands of your ego, which keep you separated from intention. When you have a choice to be right or to be kind, pick kind, and push the ego's demand out of the way. Kindness is what you emanated from, and by practicing it, rather than being right, you eliminate the possibility of stress in your moment of kindness. When you find yourself being impatient with anyone, simply say to yourself: "Rule Number 6," and you'll immediately laugh at the piddly little ego that wants you to be first, faster, number one, and to be treated better than the other guy.
Step 8: Accept the guidance of your Source of intention.
You will only come to know the Father by being as He is. You'll only be able to access the guidance of this field of intention by being as it is. Stress, anxiety, and depression will be lifted from you with the assistance of that same force that created you. If it can create worlds out of nothing, and you out of nothing, surely the removal of some stress isn't such a big task. I believe that God's desire for you is that you not only know joy, but that you become it.
Step 9: Practice being in silence and meditation.
Nothing relieves stress, depression, anxiety, and all forms of low-energy emotions like silence and meditation. Here, you make conscious contact with your Source and cleanse your connecting link to intention. Take time every day for moments of quiet contemplation, and make meditation a part of your stress-reducing ritual.
Step 10: Stay in a state of gratitude and awe.
Go on a rampage of appreciation for all that you have, all that you are, and all that you observe. Gratitude is the tenth step in every ten-step program for manifesting your intentions, because it's the surest way to stop the incessant inner dialogue that leads you away from the joy and perfection of the Source. You can't feel stressed and appreciative at the same time.

Excerpted from The Power of Intention.

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10 stress management strategies from wayne dyer

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10 Stress Management Strategies From Wayne Dyer

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There's nothing natural about living a life filled with stress and anxiety, having feelings of despair and depression, and needing pills to tranquilize yourself. Agitated thoughts that produce high blood pressure, a nervous stomach, persistent feelings of discomfort, an inability to relax or sleep, and frequent displays of displeasure and outrage are violating your natural state.

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Fear is becoming rampant on the planet. We can see it every day in the news. Fear is a lack of trust in ourselves, and because of this, we don't trust Life. We don't trust that we're being taken care of on a higher level, so we feel we must control everything from the physical level. Obviously, we're going to feel fear because we can't control everything in our lives.

Trust is what we learn when we want to overcome our fears. It's called "taking a leap of faith" and trusting in the Power within that's connected to Universal Intelligence. Remember, the Power that supplies our breath is the same Power that created the Universe.

You're one with all of Life. The more you know how to love yourself and trust Life, the more that Life will love you, support you, and guide you. You can trust in that which is invisible, instead of trusting only in the physical, material world. I'm not saying that we do nothing, yet if we have trust, we can go through life much easier. We need to trust that we're being taken care of, even though we're not physically in control of everything that's happening around us.

Fear limits our minds. People have so much fear about getting sick or becoming homeless or so many other things. Anger is fear that has become a defense mechanism. It protects us, yet it would be so much more powerful if we stop reevaluating fearful situations in our minds and love ourselves through the fear. We're at the center of everything that happens in our lives. Every experience, every relationship, is the mirror of a mental pattern that we have inside us.

One of my favorite writers, Susan Jeffers, has a marvelous CD called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. In it, she states: "If everybody feels fear when approaching something totally new in life-yet so many are out there doing it despite the fear-then we must conclude that fear is not the problem." She goes on to say that the real issue is not the fear, but how we hold the fear.

At any moment you have the opportunity of choosing love or fear. In moments of fear, I remember the sun. It's always shining even though clouds may obscure it for a while. Like the sun, the One Infinite Power is eternally shining its light upon me, even though clouds of negative thinking may temporarily obscure it. I choose to remember the Light. And you can, too. Feel secure in the Light. When the fears come, choose to see them as passing clouds in the sky, and let them go on their way.

Affirm: I am not my fears. It is safe for me to live without guarding and defending myself all the time. When I feel afraid, I open my heart and let the love dissolve the fear.

Love is the opposite of fear. The more we're willing to love and trust who we are, the more we attract those qualities to ourselves. When we're on a streak of really being frightened or upset or worried or not liking ourselves, isn't it amazing how everything goes wrong in our lives? It's the same when we really love ourselves. Everything starts to go on a winning streak, and we get the green lights and the parking spaces. We get up in the morning and the day flows beautifully.

We need to love ourselves so that we can take care of ourselves. We have to do everything we can to strengthen our hearts, our bodies, and our minds. We must turn to the Power within, find a good spiritual connection, and really work on maintaining it.
Here are some of my favorite affirmations for releasing fears. Give them a try:

I am willing to release my fears.

I live and move in a safe and secure world.

I free myself from all destructive fears and doubts.

I accept myself and create peace in my mind and heart.

I rise above thoughts that attempt to make me angry or afraid.

I release the past with ease and trust the process of life.

I am willing to release the need for this protection.

I am now willing to see only my magnificence.

I have the power to make changes.

I am always divinely protected.

And so it is!

To learn more about loving yourself and letting go of your fears, see my book, The Essential Louise Hay Collection, which features my best selling books, You Can Heal Your Life, Heal Your Body, and The Power is Within You.

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louise hay on how to overcome your fears

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Louise Hay On How To Overcome Your Fears

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Fear is becoming rampant on the planet. We can see it every day in the news. Fear is a lack of trust in ourselves, and because of this, we don't trust Life. We don't trust that we're being taken care of on a higher level, so we feel we must control everything from the physical level.

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Greg Barden: 5 Facts to Help Us Shift Out of Crisis Mode

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Greg Barden: 5 Facts to Help Us Shift Out of Crisis Mode

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We're living in a time when we can expect big things to happen-big shifts in the world and big changes in our lives. And just to be clear, the extremes I'm talking about don't necessarily have to be only bad things. And they don't even need to be good things for that matter. It's just that they're big things. And big things are happening all around us in our lives as well as our world.

The Big Picture
Fact 1: Now is different
From the breakdown of national economies and the global shift of energy dominance, to the realities of climate change and the failure of war to solve our differences, a convergence of extreme conditions unlike anything known in the history of the world is upon us. It's because now is different that the thinking of the past no longer works to solve our problems.
Fact 2: Life gets better, and resilience is the key
It's important to remember that the only things breaking down in our lives right now are ways of living and thinking that are no longer sustainable. Personal resilience makes room for big shifts in our lives, and is our greatest ally in our time of extremes.
Fact 3: A turning point of thriving transformation can replace the tipping point of frightening extremes
Nature provides a time when every crisis can be turned into transformation, when simply surviving the extremes in the world can be turned into a thriving way of life. That time is a turning point. A turning point emerges when a new force-a fact, a discovery, an experience- changes the way we address our course of events. What matters is that turning points of life may be spontaneous, or they may be created.
Fact 4: We already have new solutions
We already have the solutions necessary to create turning points of transformation in our lives. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. Rather, we need to build the "road" of thinking that gives the "wheel" of solutions something to travel upon.
Fact 5: The biggest crisis is the most difficult to accept
The single factor that lies between crisis and transformation is one that has eluded scientists, politicians, and religious leaders alike. It's a crisis in thinking. We must embrace the thinking that allows us to accept the existing solutions into our lives.

It's these five facts that cut to the very heart of what we're up against and hold the keys to the next step of transformation, both for ourselves and for the world. Our ability to thrive in the midst of such massive change-our personal resilience-is the first step to ensure the success of our journey.

We're living the emergence of a new "normal," and the success of our transition hinges upon two things.
(1) our willingness to acknowledge the shift (2) our ability to embrace it in a healthy way
Our globalized culture of jobs, money, markets, and resources means that it's now impossible to separate the extremes in the world from what they mean in our everyday lives.
Example: the crisis of climate change
The record-setting droughts caused by shifts in global weather patterns translate directly into scarcity of seasonal crops and the higher prices we pay for food at our local markets. The extreme debt and failing economies on the other side of the planet translate directly into higher costs at the gas pump and higher ticket prices for the buses, trains, and taxis that take us to work each day. Because of these and other extremes, bank loans have become less available, and the interest we're being paid on our savings, checking, and retirement accounts hovers near an all-time record low zero percent. The global slowdown of industry translates directly into the loss of jobs and job security in our local communities.

These are the kinds of extremes in the world that are creating big changes in our lives. Among the many uncertainties they bring, though, there's one thing that we can be sure of: our lives are changing in ways that we're not used to, not prepared for, at a speed that we've never known

Change is reflected everywhere, both in the ways in which things in our lives work, as well as in the ways things of the past no longer work.

The old era of an oil-based economy, for example, is giving way to a new economy based upon cleaner forms of energy that are more sustainable.

The old ideas of centralized production of our food from corporate farms half a world away is giving way to the new, healthy, and sustainable production of food from small farms that invigorate local economies.

The old practice of creating wealth from industries that destroy our planet is giving way to new, socially responsible models of investing.

And the even greater crisis, arguably the greatest crisis that we face in our time of extremes is a crisis in thinking. We're being challenged to radically shift the way we think of ourselves and our relationship to one another and the world, and to do so faster than any generation in history has ever done before.

Our willingness to think differently will be the key to the success of our journey. And while it's definitely a big journey that we're on, it's also a very short trip, because the world we're traveling to is already here. It's with us right now.
We Have the Solutions
Fortunately for us, the technology to solve the biggest challenges we face has already been discovered. The biggest problems we could ever imagine are already solved. The advanced principles are already understood. They all exist in this moment, right here, right now, and are at our fingertips. All that stands between us and the new world-where energy is abundant and comes from clean sources accessible to every member of our global family; where clean, healthy food is plentiful and accessible to every mouth on the planet; where every human is able to obtain the basic necessities to live a comfortable, meaningful life-is the thinking that makes room in our lives for what already exists in our world.

The question that we must ask of ourselves, is this: are we willing to embrace the thinking that makes such possibilities a priority? Will we allow the deepest truths of our relationship to ourselves, to one another, and the earth, to become the passport for our journey?

For more on this topic please see my revised and updated edition of the Turning Point released this week, it is called Resilience of the Heart.

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5 facts to help us shift out of crisis mode

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5 Facts To Help Us Shift Out Of Crisis Mode

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We're living in a time when we can expect big things to happen-big shifts in the world and big changes in our lives. And just to be clear, the extremes I'm talking about don't necessarily have to be only bad things. And they don't even need to be good things for that matter.

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Allison Porter: Standing Strong in Difficult Times

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Allison Porter: Standing Strong in Difficult Times

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Why do some people seem to take life's challenges in their stride when others are on their knees? The secret is resilience and it's a skill you can learn.

Life can blindside us with so many difficulties-often all at the same time-and it can feel like you'll never get out of the storm. But by learning how to work with your pain and keep your mind from running wild with disaster scenarios, you can learn to surf the waves rather than feel drowned by them.

It all comes down to trusting in yourself and your capacity to not only survive, but to thrive. Here are some of the building blocks that will help you to calm your fears and develop faith in your ability to overcome any challenge life throws at you.

When a relationship breaks up, we lose a loved one, our finances falter, or our health suddenly declines, our first instinct is to worry. Our minds start to leap out into the future and fixate on the worst-case scenario. It makes us feel like we're doing something-like we have some control over the situation-but it only makes it worse.

What makes you resilient is staying calm and reconnecting to your safety in the present moment. Right now, you're OK. There's a roof over your head, food in the fridge, and friends you can call. Resting in the safety of the present moment, you're able to calm yourself and self-soothe. You can put a stop to terrorising yourself with your deepest fears. Staying in the here and now means you'll have emotional energy available to deal with issues as they arise, rather than panicking and exhausting yourself by worrying about outcomes that may never happen.

This may seem contrary to the idea of staying safe in the present moment, but expressing emotions and allowing your fears to run rampant aren't the same thing. When you calm your fears by focusing on your present safety, you're creating the headspace that allows you to attune to your true emotions. And when you do, you can let them be fully expressed.

At first it may seem terrifying to touch that level of pain, because pain is something we're always trying to avoid. But when you allow yourself be present to your suffering, to cry if you need to, to wail, to beat a pillow-whatever helps you to get the pain out-then on the other side of that lies a calm you may never have experienced before.

When we suppress our feelings, they build up like a pressure-cooker and can feel utterly overwhelming. When we allow ourselves to express them, they dissipate, and we're left with a huge sense of relief. By feeling our feelings, we bend so we don't break.

Know That the Only Way Out Is Through

When difficult times arrive on your doorstep, it can feel like all you want to do is just pull the blankets over your head and hide. And sometimes that helps, but it's just a temporary solution to a more permanent problem. When you come to understand that whatever you're going through is a process and there are no shortcuts-no way to avoid the pain-it will dawn on you that the only way out is through. And that's a powerful awareness. You can stop expending your emotional energy wishing things were different, and start finding solutions. Acceptance is key to resilience. But accepting things as they are doesn't mean you can't change them. It means that you're at peace within yourself and can then use all your resources to help heal or make practical changes to improve your situation.

No-one wants to do illness, suffering, or grief 24/7, so taking a break from whatever's bothering you is no bad thing. Even in the toughest times, there can be moments of joy. Got a hospital appointment you're dreading? Ask a friend to come with you, then plan a lunch or an evening out afterwards to lift your spirits. If you're finding it hard to smile again after a relationship breakup or a bereavement, do something that gets you out of the house and shifts your energy. Go and watch a comedy movie for a couple of hours of distraction. It's not a betrayal of your problems or lost love to set aside your troubles for a little while and enjoy yourself. In a strange way, our suffering can deepen our appreciation for those moments of joy, and for the pain that we're going through. It's as though all our senses become heightened by a new depth of emotion, and we can appreciate the gifts of life and love for better and for worse. Life is never just one emotional tone-happiness and sadness live side by side in all of us.

It's never helpful to ask yourself questions that have no answer. All that will do is send your head into a spin and make you worry even more. "Why me?" is probably the worst question you could ask. It's not helpful in any way, and keeps you disempowered as you fret about why something has happened to you. A better question is "What do I need right now?" or "Where can I find support?".

Looking for meaning when something has just happened is also a dead-end street. We can turn ourselves inside out searching for the purpose of an event or affliction, when we'd be better off putting that mental and emotional energy to work on discovering what will be helpful to us. The meaning and purpose of big life shocks tend to make themselves known to us over time. Rushing to pigeon-hole our experiences just adds more stress. A gentle enquiry into how you feel and what would help is an empowering approach. It also avoids self-attack and self-blame at a time when you need to be focusing all your energy on healing.

If you're really struggling emotionally, take a look at what you're making this circumstance mean about yourself. Taking responsibility isn't the same as self-blame. When you take responsibility, you accept where you are, acknowledge what you can't change, and move forward with what you can change. But if you're blaming yourself, you're expending precious emotional energy on making yourself suffer, instead of moving forward toward healing. You can accept that your actions could have been different without needing to continually berate yourself for your failings. Resilience comes from the ability to acknowledge the truth about a situation, without having to make it mean something about yourself that's rigid and one-dimensional-like accusing yourself of being a bad person or someone who always messes up. We make mistakes, accidents happen, we could have done better-all these things are true, but to be genuinely resilient we must accept where we've fallen short of our own expectations and still find ourselves worthy of our own love and care.

Look for Evidence That Shows You Can Trust Yourself

Let's face it, this probably isn't your first rodeo. Chances are you've dealt with big problems before and overcome them. Few among us escape life unscathed by suffering. So start looking for evidence of your own resilience. Cast your mind back and remember situations where you've triumphed over the odds, forgiven someone, or learned to let go. Think of some of the issues you've struggled with in the past and recall how you found your way through. When you look, you'll find plenty of times when you thought you'd never make it through, but here you are on the other side. What once seemed like it would last forever has passed. Believe in yourself and your power to endure. Trust the strength that lies within you to help you with your healing now.

Alison Porter is a journalist, coach, and spiritual counsellor, and the author of Stronger Than Before: Take Charge of Your Healing to Survive and Thrive with Breast Cancer. She writes and speaks about resilience, women's empowerment, and self-care.

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Why do some people seem to take life's challenges in their stride when others are on their knees? The secret is resilience and it's a skill you can learn. Life can blindside us with so many difficulties-often all at the same time-and it can feel like you'll never get out of the storm.

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Sam Green - Cultural Philosophy Universe

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The Way of Healing Preview 1. Sam Green Interview

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Mindfulness is the state of mental calmness, often achieved by focusing your awareness on the present moment and accepting any feelings, thoughts, and sensations.

Regular practice enhances your overall health and reduces stress levels significantly. These videos delve into the science and joy of mindfulness, with several examples of how to begin or continue your practice.

I hope this list of mindfulness TED talks encourages you to try mindfulness for yourself and experience its numerous benefits.

Before you start reading this article, I recommend you to download Week 1 of Mindfulness X. It is free and will help you understand mindfulness on a theoretical level. Mindfulness X also includes tools to apply mindfulness in your work with clients, students, staff, and yourself.

You can download the package with PDF's for free on this page: https://bit.ly/2OUGkwI

All It Takes Is 10 Mindful Minutes

Do you know how much time you have spent lost in your own thoughts? In his talk, Puddicombe asks how many people in the audience have ever looked after their mind.

Meditation, as Puddicombe says, can be the aspirin for the mind. He also tells about some of his wonderful experiences as a monk in the Himalayas.

The Art of Stillness

Pico Iyer offers an astonishing amount of information about meditation that he's learned from visiting many of the top social network institutions.

By observing his thoughts during his journey all over the word, Pico found out that, "There is nothing either good or bad, as Shakespeare told us in 'Hamlet', but thinking makes it so." Do you agree? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Practice of Mindfulness

Diana Winston takes us through some of the research into the benefits of mindfulness.

Winston also explains why suffering from physical symptoms of stress has been helpful, and why people are happier if they pay attention to the present moment.

The Mindful Way Through Depression

Depression is episodic and recurrent. In working with people with mood disorders, Zindel faced the challenge of helping them recover from depression and continue with a healthy mindset.

Zindel wanted to understand the triggers that could make people fall into depression again and again. He found that mindfulness plays an important role in preventing depression.

Mindfulness and Healing

When Shannon Paige's cancer was gone, her battle with depression began. She proposes that yoga built her own mind-body connection, and can help in combatting depression.

Shannon was diagnosed with cancer when she was 21. She has been through lots of battles throughout the entire process but eventually beat it.

Mindfulness in Schools

Richard Burnett tells us that the second mode of mind-apart from thinking-is sensing. He then shows how training in sensing can help children cope with the depression and anxiety of over-thinking.

Do you think mindfulness is too boring for youngsters? Burnett launched his project "dot B," aiming to provide fun and memorable uses of meditation.

How Mindfulness Meditation Redefines Pain, Happiness, and Satisfaction

Dr. Kasim Al-Mashat tells us of his hilarious and joyful experiences in a forest-and explains why mindfulness meditation is not a quick-fix.

Even when we have everything we want, why is it sometimes not enough? And how "should" we look at pain? Did you agree with Dr. Kasim Al-Mashat insight to these questions?

Which one of these videos do you find most inspirational? How can you incorporate mindfulness into your daily life?

Let us know in the comments section below. We'd love to hear from you.

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Top 7 Most Inspirational Mindfulness TedTalks

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Mindfulness is the state of mental calmness, often achieved by focusing your awareness on the present moment and accepting any feelings, thoughts, and sensations. Regular practice enhances your overall health and reduces stress levels significantly. These videos delve into the science and joy of mindfulness, with several examples of how to begin or continue your practice.

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H.H. The Dalai Lama: Compassionate Ethics in Difficult Times

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H.H. The Dalai Lama: Compassionate Ethics in Difficult Times

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Centrality of Compassion in Human Life and Society

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Compassionate Ethics in Difficult Times - The Dalai Lama

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His Holiness talks about ethics and compassion in his public talk in Albany New York on May 6th, 2009. (www.dalailama.com)

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Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

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Randy Pausch Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

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Randy Pausch Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

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Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams