This post is different than recent offerings. For one thing, it is (slightly) shorter. Another difference is that it pertains not to traditional "Western" ways of living, but the culture of Asia. A third difference concerns its topic area, which pertains to spirituality.
Note that on this blogsite, being spiritual does not necessarily equate with being religious. When we are spiritual, we contemplate ideas that are beyond this world, such as "Why do I exist?" or "What happens when people die?" Often, we contemplate these ideas within the context of formal religions. A religion can be described as a formal, organized way for thinking about spiritual matters. But many spiritual people don't adopt or govern their lives according to the "rules" of organized religions. In other words, according to this view, it is possible to be spiritual without being religious.
Karma, a word from Sanscrit associated with Buddhism, can be translated into English as "doing." In Buddhism, and Hinduism, there is a belief that the sum total of one's "doings" in the physical life (or previous lives) determines their destiny, or what happens to them in future lives.
Without getting into a discussion about religion, the notion of how our acts today determine our fate or destiny tomorrow (or in the future) seems common to many formal religions in cultures around the world. The late Joseph Campbell observed this in his writings on myth contained in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces."
But when you think about it, there is another point of view that deserves mention here. That is, we can create the lives we want (and thereby influence our futures) by acting in certain ways now that may not have anything to do with spiritual or religious teachings. Some people "seize the day" and create their opportunities. They believe they can influence what happens to them by organizing and directing their actions in purposeful ways. To me, there seems to be a certain logic to this. Perhaps this is what the sports apparel maker Nike suggests when it uses the advertising slogan "Just do it!"
So, the fact that the word Karma translates into "doing" invites many interesting thoughts from this blogger. I'd be interested in reading yours also!
Showing posts with label doing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doing. Show all posts
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Thinking and Doing in Ways that Protect Health
This blogsite is about doing, so the key points in this post will not come as a surprise to readers. In a previous blog I promised to address the issue of resilience, or the body's ability to ward off the harmful effects of stress.
Many websites have lists of characteristics that are counterproductive to successful coping. Negative thinking, over-eating, obsessing, self blame, overworkiig and other detrimental behaviors and attitudes are widely known and may seem obvious as detriments to effective oping or health.
However, most web articles on this topic, including one from the highly acclaimed Mayo Clinic, overlook an important factor that is key to successful resilience. That factor is having engaging, meaningful, purposeful activities. If important preventive factors include a positive self concept and having opportunities for interacting with friends, it seems clear that doing things we enjoy with people we enjoy doing them with is likely to be a useful approach to promoting two critical dimensions of resilience: meaningful social relationships and a positive self concept. There is abundant literature to show that enjoyment in doing, which often comes from mastering challenge and doing something well, leads to better self esteem, improved positive feelings, and the release of hormones that are good for our immune system.
The theories of coping include strategies that have been called "active coping". Typically, these involve direct problem solving actions to address barriers that are frustrating, or dilemmas that are particularly stressful. What this post suggests is something different. What is suggested here is finding satisfying, engaging and meaningful activities that help us spend time enjoyably, have fun with others, and perhaps develop skills or a sense of completion that makes us feel good about ourselves.
I also recommend the strategies contained in this useful article by Tamar Chansky published in the Huffington Post. Dr. Chansky's recommendations offer more detailed variations on DLW's themes; namely, how we as individuals can create our own resilience through what we do (or avoid doing!).
Doing is not a universal elixir. But doing the right things helps us by keeping our immune systems stronger so that we can avoid the biological consequences of stress. Most importantly, if we build these practices into our daily lifestyles, and not just when we feel stressed, we will be making a habit of doing life well.
Many websites have lists of characteristics that are counterproductive to successful coping. Negative thinking, over-eating, obsessing, self blame, overworkiig and other detrimental behaviors and attitudes are widely known and may seem obvious as detriments to effective oping or health.
However, most web articles on this topic, including one from the highly acclaimed Mayo Clinic, overlook an important factor that is key to successful resilience. That factor is having engaging, meaningful, purposeful activities. If important preventive factors include a positive self concept and having opportunities for interacting with friends, it seems clear that doing things we enjoy with people we enjoy doing them with is likely to be a useful approach to promoting two critical dimensions of resilience: meaningful social relationships and a positive self concept. There is abundant literature to show that enjoyment in doing, which often comes from mastering challenge and doing something well, leads to better self esteem, improved positive feelings, and the release of hormones that are good for our immune system.
The theories of coping include strategies that have been called "active coping". Typically, these involve direct problem solving actions to address barriers that are frustrating, or dilemmas that are particularly stressful. What this post suggests is something different. What is suggested here is finding satisfying, engaging and meaningful activities that help us spend time enjoyably, have fun with others, and perhaps develop skills or a sense of completion that makes us feel good about ourselves.
I also recommend the strategies contained in this useful article by Tamar Chansky published in the Huffington Post. Dr. Chansky's recommendations offer more detailed variations on DLW's themes; namely, how we as individuals can create our own resilience through what we do (or avoid doing!).
Doing is not a universal elixir. But doing the right things helps us by keeping our immune systems stronger so that we can avoid the biological consequences of stress. Most importantly, if we build these practices into our daily lifestyles, and not just when we feel stressed, we will be making a habit of doing life well.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
More on Happiness...
My recent blog on happiness prompted a reader to send a link to the WebMD website and an interesting article on happiness. You can link to that article by clicking on the title to this post. The article identifies six barriers to happiness, citing work by the author of a recent book on Happiness by Darrin M. McMahon, PhD.
The six barriers explained in the WebMD blog include the following:
While some are obvious, others are more challenging, and not surprisingly, most involve changes in attitude or behavior that are wholly under our control. Thus, it seems, the keys to being happy are entirely within us; we can use changes in attitude or behavior to unlock the power within us to create the lives we want.
All of this, of course, is apparent to psychologists, students of positive psychology, and life coaches, and to them it probably seems obvious. But, sadly, it seems that so many people are held captive by their external locus of control, which is a fancy way of explaining that to many people, what happens to them is the result of forces outside them: they have rotten luck, they are victims of chance or downtrodden by the ruthless behaviors of others. People who feel this way assign the reasons for things that happen to the universe, to some external entity, or, in some cases, to "God's will.
Albert Einstein, a pretty smart cookie by any standard, once observed that "God does not play dice with the universe." Reading about Einstein is surprising to many. He was a brilliant physicist. And being a scientist, given to the precision of numbers and formulas and all, one might think he was less inclined to contemplate beauty and the spiritual mysteries of a complex universe. But the truth is, Einstein was very contemplative and spiritual—perhaps because his appreciation for the complexity of things convinced him that the world or the universe could not be readily explained by chance.
This blogsite is about doing. And one of the things we can "do" to improve our lives is to take control of them. January is a perfect month to resolve to do things differently. Attending to overcoming the barriers to personal happiness seems like a worthy pursuit and a great place to start. So, if you have a mind to —be happy— begin doing it now.
The six barriers explained in the WebMD blog include the following:
- Complexity
- Breakneck pace
- Negativity
- Despair
- Suppressing Sadness
- Navel gazing
While some are obvious, others are more challenging, and not surprisingly, most involve changes in attitude or behavior that are wholly under our control. Thus, it seems, the keys to being happy are entirely within us; we can use changes in attitude or behavior to unlock the power within us to create the lives we want.
All of this, of course, is apparent to psychologists, students of positive psychology, and life coaches, and to them it probably seems obvious. But, sadly, it seems that so many people are held captive by their external locus of control, which is a fancy way of explaining that to many people, what happens to them is the result of forces outside them: they have rotten luck, they are victims of chance or downtrodden by the ruthless behaviors of others. People who feel this way assign the reasons for things that happen to the universe, to some external entity, or, in some cases, to "God's will.
Albert Einstein, a pretty smart cookie by any standard, once observed that "God does not play dice with the universe." Reading about Einstein is surprising to many. He was a brilliant physicist. And being a scientist, given to the precision of numbers and formulas and all, one might think he was less inclined to contemplate beauty and the spiritual mysteries of a complex universe. But the truth is, Einstein was very contemplative and spiritual—perhaps because his appreciation for the complexity of things convinced him that the world or the universe could not be readily explained by chance.
This blogsite is about doing. And one of the things we can "do" to improve our lives is to take control of them. January is a perfect month to resolve to do things differently. Attending to overcoming the barriers to personal happiness seems like a worthy pursuit and a great place to start. So, if you have a mind to —be happy— begin doing it now.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Happiness is...
A professor named Ed Diener at the University of Illinois is among the leading scientists studying happiness. In fact, a whole new area of psychology, known as positive psychology, has emerged in the past few years devoted specifically to understanding what creates favorable feelings or mindsets, such as life satisfaction or upbeat attitudes. A few years ago, Martin Seligman, another psychologist, published the book "Authentic Happiness" in which he described this new movement and some of its characteristics. A website devoted to authentic happiness (with over 700K registered users) is cited in the list of links on this blogsite.
Among the mildly surprising findings from emerging research on happiness is that, on average, people tend to be reasonably happy. It is also worth noting that in cross national studies, some surprising findings have emerged. The top five happiest countries, it seems, are NOT among the world's richest: 1. Nigeria 2. Mexico 3. Venezuela 4. El Salvador 5. Puerto Rico. (Source: University of Michigan World Values Survey (WVS). Only Denmark and Ireland break into the top five when an alternate measure is used. In case you are curious, the U.S. ranked 15th out of 79 countries studied.
So what accounts for this? Clearly, neither per capita income nor standard of living as measured by material goods are determinants of happiness. (But we knew this, despite the pervasive greed attack that put us into the world economic mess we now face.) It seems that buying more simply creates the illusion that buying even more objects will eventually get us to the poorly defined destination of happiness we crave. But enough on that topic. You can read more about this if you want at the WVS website, or scientific articles at Ed Diener's website.
At the end of the day, happiness is a subjective state. It's what we perceive. Some people are ecstatic because they love what they do rather than what they earn. Some people have the best of both worlds. And many people believe that it's all about contentment and supportive, loving relationships. Important relationships exist for us all in many domains. For example, we have important relationships with ourselves, with others, with the environment, and with the world beyond, however we may want to define "the world beyond".
I'm curious about what YOU believe leads to personal happiness. Please share your thoughts below.
And...here's a toast to YOUR happiness in the year ahead!
Among the mildly surprising findings from emerging research on happiness is that, on average, people tend to be reasonably happy. It is also worth noting that in cross national studies, some surprising findings have emerged. The top five happiest countries, it seems, are NOT among the world's richest: 1. Nigeria 2. Mexico 3. Venezuela 4. El Salvador 5. Puerto Rico. (Source: University of Michigan World Values Survey (WVS). Only Denmark and Ireland break into the top five when an alternate measure is used. In case you are curious, the U.S. ranked 15th out of 79 countries studied.
So what accounts for this? Clearly, neither per capita income nor standard of living as measured by material goods are determinants of happiness. (But we knew this, despite the pervasive greed attack that put us into the world economic mess we now face.) It seems that buying more simply creates the illusion that buying even more objects will eventually get us to the poorly defined destination of happiness we crave. But enough on that topic. You can read more about this if you want at the WVS website, or scientific articles at Ed Diener's website.
At the end of the day, happiness is a subjective state. It's what we perceive. Some people are ecstatic because they love what they do rather than what they earn. Some people have the best of both worlds. And many people believe that it's all about contentment and supportive, loving relationships. Important relationships exist for us all in many domains. For example, we have important relationships with ourselves, with others, with the environment, and with the world beyond, however we may want to define "the world beyond".
I'm curious about what YOU believe leads to personal happiness. Please share your thoughts below.
And...here's a toast to YOUR happiness in the year ahead!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Holidays as Markers in Life Stories
Before there were calendars and clocks, people depended on nature (night and day, the seasons) and their internal biological rhythms to keep track of passing time. In those eras, the experience of living was based largely on the routines of daily life marked by significant events and activities that were extraordinary. It is safe to say that in simpler times, extraordinary events were less frequent. Now, of course, it seems that extraordinary events occur frequently around us, but the extent to which they have personal meaning, or shape our lives, depends on our circumstances.
Although we now have clocks and calendars, it is true that people typically understand their lives in terms of an unfolding story. Social scientists call these stories "narratives", observing that people need a "storyline" that that makes sense to them and through which they can assign meaning to the events that happen to them. Dan McAdams, a psychologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, has dedicated his professional work toward studying life stories. His research reveals there are common "story plots" and that successful or unsuccessful experiences and key events that alter customary routines serve as ways to differentiate chapters. Indeed, the very meaning assigned to events may be influenced by the storyline one has chosen to use to make sense of his or her life.
Aside from significant events that provide chapter markers in lives, holidays in different cultures also create "place markers' to enable people to create meaning. It is not accidental that these occasions invite special memories because of their association with spiritual observances. Because people celebrate holidays with others, the meanings are especially rich with emotion. Emotional experiences are more likely to be memorable.
Most people anticipate holidays because of the pleasant memories they have of past experiences. Others may have difficulty participating in holidays precisely because their life stories have changed and the memories of the way things were are now painful because they are seen as losses. The term "holiday blues" has been coined for such conditions. It is of interest that the professional advice given for such conditions involves "what to do and not do."
What do you do over the holidays? and what events are especially meaningful for you? I invite you to share your stories of events that "changed your life" or why the holiday season is significant to you because of traditions you've grown to love.
Although we now have clocks and calendars, it is true that people typically understand their lives in terms of an unfolding story. Social scientists call these stories "narratives", observing that people need a "storyline" that that makes sense to them and through which they can assign meaning to the events that happen to them. Dan McAdams, a psychologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, has dedicated his professional work toward studying life stories. His research reveals there are common "story plots" and that successful or unsuccessful experiences and key events that alter customary routines serve as ways to differentiate chapters. Indeed, the very meaning assigned to events may be influenced by the storyline one has chosen to use to make sense of his or her life.
Aside from significant events that provide chapter markers in lives, holidays in different cultures also create "place markers' to enable people to create meaning. It is not accidental that these occasions invite special memories because of their association with spiritual observances. Because people celebrate holidays with others, the meanings are especially rich with emotion. Emotional experiences are more likely to be memorable.
Most people anticipate holidays because of the pleasant memories they have of past experiences. Others may have difficulty participating in holidays precisely because their life stories have changed and the memories of the way things were are now painful because they are seen as losses. The term "holiday blues" has been coined for such conditions. It is of interest that the professional advice given for such conditions involves "what to do and not do."
What do you do over the holidays? and what events are especially meaningful for you? I invite you to share your stories of events that "changed your life" or why the holiday season is significant to you because of traditions you've grown to love.
Monday, December 8, 2008
On College Debt and Life Choices
Those who have inveterate needs to watch certain TV shows will understand the roots of this post. One of my weekday routines is to watch the PBS broadcast "The Jim Lehrer Newshour"; which is recorded and awaiting my review when I get home from work.
Tonite, there was a segment on college student debt. This happens to be one of my special interests because I have two sons who are of college age, and because I am convincd the future of our economy (and hence, country) depends on having a well educated, globally competitive workforce.
As a former academic, I am well aware of the costs of higher education in the US , and of the relentless increases in tuition and fees that have occurred since 1980. These increases have outstripped changes in the median family income by 3:1; creating a growing and disturbing resemblance between this country and those where only a rich and fortunate few can afford to attend university.
Yet, despite this, middle class students, who often do not qualify for subsidized loans, are willingly borrowing from public and private lenders to finance their education. One imminent graduate, Ian Wetherall from U Mass Boston, was interviewed for the segment and gave a simple, wise reason for his willingness to incur debt: The alternatives are unacceptable, the value of being able to do what you want to do is priceless. Ian, a philosophy major, may be wiser than many, but his remarks seemed to suggest that his viewpoint was pretty common.
The choice is difficult, but the benefis are clear. Perhaps today's young people, having seen the trade-offs (and unhappiness) resulting from their parents' drive to accumulate wealth while toiling in jobs they loathed have learned an important vicarious lesson. Life is something that happens to us while we are busy making plans for the future.
Tonite, there was a segment on college student debt. This happens to be one of my special interests because I have two sons who are of college age, and because I am convincd the future of our economy (and hence, country) depends on having a well educated, globally competitive workforce.
As a former academic, I am well aware of the costs of higher education in the US , and of the relentless increases in tuition and fees that have occurred since 1980. These increases have outstripped changes in the median family income by 3:1; creating a growing and disturbing resemblance between this country and those where only a rich and fortunate few can afford to attend university.
Yet, despite this, middle class students, who often do not qualify for subsidized loans, are willingly borrowing from public and private lenders to finance their education. One imminent graduate, Ian Wetherall from U Mass Boston, was interviewed for the segment and gave a simple, wise reason for his willingness to incur debt: The alternatives are unacceptable, the value of being able to do what you want to do is priceless. Ian, a philosophy major, may be wiser than many, but his remarks seemed to suggest that his viewpoint was pretty common.
The choice is difficult, but the benefis are clear. Perhaps today's young people, having seen the trade-offs (and unhappiness) resulting from their parents' drive to accumulate wealth while toiling in jobs they loathed have learned an important vicarious lesson. Life is something that happens to us while we are busy making plans for the future.
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