mindfulness

        All the world's a stage. And the man and women are merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, And one in his time plays many parts. His acts being seven ages.. . The quote is from Shakespeare's comedy As you like it. But it could also, although not so cynical spoken,  have been from the course Buddhism and modern psychology, an online course from Princeton University: In an interview with Bob Kurzban (see Reading and Resources, week four in the course) we can learn that we can see the brain as built by "modules". Some models react to certain stimuli as it was learned to do by the natures selection. We think that we choose the actions, but we don´t. It is probably more true to say that it is our genes or natural selection that rules our behavior. Our environment has changed, but our brain and the genes have not. They still sometimes let us react as we live on the stone age. But our conscious mind cannot tolerate that a...

Have we humans started a new geologic era ? Probably, and in that case it started some 2000 years ago. But in recent times it has accelerated. We have affected the Earth so much, that it is  really adequate  to talk about a new geological age. Many species has been extinct because of us, for instance the North American Passenger Pigeon, that had one of the largest flock of any animal in the world. It was hunted  to extinction in the 19th-century; cheap food for the slaves and the poor. And now we are beginning to create nature catastrophes or make them more severe, because of the global warming... Therefore some of us want to give the new geological era a name; Anthropocene. The era of man. There are really no separation between nature and culture any more. Man has been everywhere. In that case, the only way out would be to slowly begin a new and longer era; " Sustainocene...   this planet should be treated not just as a distinct living entity ...

Bob Dylan is complaining in his song "Not Dark Yet". According to Buddhism he is right. We are doomed to be unsatisfied because of the ever changing world. Clinging to things and persons and the endless craving makes this. Mindfulness cannot stop the clinging and craving, but it can make us aware of it. Religious people often looks for salvation. In traditional  Buddhism Nirvana stands for this salvation. Thich Nhat Hanhs interpretation of  Buddha's words is that Nirvana is in the here and now. We don´t have to look for it in the future. That makes no salvation but is probably more true to reality. But it makes the suffering more easy to bear. You cannot avoid to be hurt, but you don't have to make it worse by thoughts and feelings of bitterness. You can make some space around the feelings and thoughts, you can let them come and go and understand that they are just a part of you. New feelings, new thoughts will come. I think Dylan's lamenta...

Bronnie Ware helped dying people for many years. Here's what they regretted the most: 1.  I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.  This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.  It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it. 2.  I wish I didn't work so hard.   This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female ...

Humans. Just a small part of the earth. But perhaps quite useful. We are connecting different part of the earth with each other... If the earth is a living being, and I´m sure it's so - we are his/hers brain cells. The earth is beginning to think and explore the space and other planets But it has a cost - the earth are beginning to get sick - it has fever. So it will find solutions to cure it self. Bill Bryson explains this in his much readable book "A short history of nearly everything" - he is witty, humorous and intelligent enough to explain the history of science in an understandable way. Here he speaks about, for instance global warming. In the book he writes about the climate impact of the increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide; "it has happened before and the Earth has recovered, last time it took only 60 000 years." But I'm sure, if the Earth has a will, He/She doesn't want that to happen. The Earth doesn't want it...

The caption is a quote from Joseph Brodsky, the poet. We have only our human senses and our human way to understand things. We just have to go to the quantum dimension and it's a totally different  world- we cannot understand how it works, but it does. This computer is an example of it. If you take a photo with your camera, with the" wrong" settings you will get a clue of that you can see the world in a different way. Our way to see the environment is a way to handle the world so we can survive, and of course we also see world through the raster of our personality and our culture. And in a way we also create the world in that way.  A new survey shows that it's not stress itself, but to be scary of stress that is the most harmful ! The people who were scared of what stress could cause were the ones to get problem with their health. But there are for sure other ways to see the world. And if you meditate it's easier to leave the common feelings and thoughts b...

In the free online course Big History Project we can follow the history of the universe until now. Our earth is really a wonder. It's unique lifeforms will probably not occur on any other planet. Man's  progress is caused by the worldwide connections that started about 500 years ago. We have learned from each other. And now we are even more connected, cultures and and people from every nations are mixed together in the  big cities, for instance in Stockholm. And then we have big opportunistic to learn from each other. Mindfulness has come to the west to stay and will probably change it a bit. Delicious and tasty food from every corner of the world is now probably more popular than the traditional Swedish "smörgåsbord". You can now choose to eat vegetarian food in every school canteen. When I was young this was impossible. Other things have happened too; women rights, refugees, colored people even in small cities, and then reactions to that. Things are c...