New Year - Old Me

I've always been introspective. Am I the person I should be? Do I try hard enough? Am I good enough? Am I smart enough...healthy enough...kind enough...philanthropic enough? So normally resolutions are simply reiterations of fifty odd years past, made with the intent of improving upon myself...as probably most of us 'insecure' types do.

This year will be different! ;) Things I am doing as we speak...starting a heart healthy diet and setting a docs appointment to have my blood pressure checked, which I already know is too high. I'm getting that in order this year! Setting a 'learning objective' for each day...I'll never be smart enough, but I'll never quit trying! A daily exercise regime...this year I'll quit looking in mirrors when I walk by and wonder who the heck that old chubby lady is! And, a regular reading from a book I've tried to get through many times before, "How to Practice The Way to a Meaningful Life," by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Each time I blog, I will attempt to make some sense of what he says and how it relates to my life and how I live it...how I hope to live it!

I've held a curious fascination for Eastern philosophies since reading some of
DeePak Chopra's books during the mid-nineties. This interest reawakened during my trip to Thailand last spring and then again with the Dalai Lama's book.

In the introduction, Dalai says (or is interpreted as saying,)

"...but more dangerous than guns or bombs are hatred, lack of compassion, and lack of respect for the rights of others. As long as hatred dwells in the human mind, real peace is impossible. We must do everything we can to stop war, and to rid the world of nuclear weapons."

So, many of us know that...how do we do it? He goes on to say the we are all one in the same. Even though we come from different backgrounds, political structures, religious beliefs...we are all the same. So we all must come to the following...

"practice of compassion and love-a genuine sense of brotherhood and sisterhood-is the universal religion. It doesn't matter whether you are Buddhist, or Christian, Moslem or Hindu, or whether you practice religion at all. What matters is your feeling of oneness with humankind."

Once we realize we are the same, one we understand we all have similar hopes and fears, once we realize that without compassion, calm and insight that he prescribes to, we face angry reactions with deadly consequences. So...that's what we'll do over the next year. Cultivate compassion, calm and insight...here goes...