June 6, 2011
The Buddha urged us not to get hooked by greed, desire, aversion, and so forth. Don’t be taken in and away by the temptations of transient things (or confusing them to be anything but transient). The fisher’s hook provides an apt metaphor. The fish gets tricked into thinking the lure is something that it is not. Our fundamental misapprehension of the nature of reality makes us just like the fish — biting into something that is not what it appears to be.
Mindfulness practice offers a variation on this classic metaphor. When we practice, we will get hooked, no doubt. If you’ve attempted praciting this will come as no surprise. If you haven’t tried it yet, don’t expect to stay off that hook for long. Fantasies about the future, whether pleasant or unpleasant, commentary about what’s happening now — the littany of “I like” and “I don’t like”–, and review of the past will all be frequent visitors to practice. Follow any of these and you’re on the hook.
Mindfulness practice is the practice of catch and release. When you find yourself on the hook, gently remove the hook from your mouth and throw yourself back into the waters of now. These waters may be calm or turbulent. And it doesn’t matter. Each time you find yourself on the hook, remove it and go back into the water. Don’t be surprised if you have to spend some time flopping on the deck of the boat. As long as you get back in the water that’s what is important.
As you practice you can anticipate the hooks — see that they are lures that take you to places you don’t want to go. Perhaps you can avoid them once in a while. The more you practice, too, the easier it will be to extricate yourself from the hooks. “Oh, I’m on that hook again; no big deal, I’ll just take it out of my mouth; the water of now is waiting for me without judgment (perhaps I can aver self-judgment for being on this silly hook again.”
http://blog.beliefnet.com/mindfulnessmatters/2011/06/metaphor-monday-catch-and-release-a-variation-on-a-classic-metaphor.html?source=NEWSLETTER&nlsource=44&ppc=&utm_campaign=HealthHealing&utm_source=NL&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_term=yahoo.com
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Communication 101
A LEADER’S WAY
By: John C. Maxwell
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:42 pm | Saturday, June 4th, 2011
“Instructions for making a speech: Be sincere; be brief; be seated.”
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
In communication, speaking overtime is a crime, so… SAY IT SOONER
Mark Twain once attended a church service during which the city missionary passionately appealed for donations to aid the community’s poor.
“The appeal had so stirred me that I could hardly wait for the [offering] plate to come my way. I had four hundred dollars in my pocket, and I was anxious to drop it in the plate and wanted to borrow more. But the plate was so long in coming my way that the fever-heat of beneficence was going down lower and lower—going down at the rate of a hundred dollars a minute. The plate was passed too late. When it finally came to me, my enthusiasm had gone down so much that I kept my four hundred dollars—and stole a dime from the plate. So, you see, time sometimes leads to crime…”
The long-winded preacher had persuaded Twain, but then proceeded to drone on for so long that he nullified the appeal his message. The moral of the story? Be brief.
In communication, complexity is creepy, so … SAY IT SIMPLER
When communicators try to say too much they creep away from their main idea. Too many points and principles muddy the message.
Communicators need to adjust their volume—not by raising their decibel level, but by cutting back on their amount of content. Our words purchase the most when spent sparingly.
In communication, audiences are forgetful, so … SAY IT STICKIER
Great speakers communicate memorable messages that stick in the minds of the audience. Don’t be lazy and merely share information; put in the energy and effort to say things in an interesting way.
Couch your core ideas in catchy slogans that the audience can quickly latch onto and easily recall. Use shocking statements or statistics to lower your predictability and pique the interest of listeners. Finally, and most importantly, craft your speech in a way that connects with the wants of the audience. People perk up and pay attention when they hear something that addresses their deeply felt needs.
http://business.inquirer.net/3279/communication-101
By: John C. Maxwell
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:42 pm | Saturday, June 4th, 2011
“Instructions for making a speech: Be sincere; be brief; be seated.”
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
In communication, speaking overtime is a crime, so… SAY IT SOONER
Mark Twain once attended a church service during which the city missionary passionately appealed for donations to aid the community’s poor.
“The appeal had so stirred me that I could hardly wait for the [offering] plate to come my way. I had four hundred dollars in my pocket, and I was anxious to drop it in the plate and wanted to borrow more. But the plate was so long in coming my way that the fever-heat of beneficence was going down lower and lower—going down at the rate of a hundred dollars a minute. The plate was passed too late. When it finally came to me, my enthusiasm had gone down so much that I kept my four hundred dollars—and stole a dime from the plate. So, you see, time sometimes leads to crime…”
The long-winded preacher had persuaded Twain, but then proceeded to drone on for so long that he nullified the appeal his message. The moral of the story? Be brief.
In communication, complexity is creepy, so … SAY IT SIMPLER
When communicators try to say too much they creep away from their main idea. Too many points and principles muddy the message.
Communicators need to adjust their volume—not by raising their decibel level, but by cutting back on their amount of content. Our words purchase the most when spent sparingly.
In communication, audiences are forgetful, so … SAY IT STICKIER
Great speakers communicate memorable messages that stick in the minds of the audience. Don’t be lazy and merely share information; put in the energy and effort to say things in an interesting way.
Couch your core ideas in catchy slogans that the audience can quickly latch onto and easily recall. Use shocking statements or statistics to lower your predictability and pique the interest of listeners. Finally, and most importantly, craft your speech in a way that connects with the wants of the audience. People perk up and pay attention when they hear something that addresses their deeply felt needs.
http://business.inquirer.net/3279/communication-101
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