“I tell you that virtue does not come from money but from virtue comes money and every other good of man” - Socrates

Money does not define who you are or your value in society. Pursue a full - and virtuous - life regardless of the financial implications and I would suggest that you would find ‘richness’ that can’t be obtained through money.

“Money often costs too much” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

When money becomes a focal point in your life, the costs to your well being and those around you well outweigh the benefits that money can help you obtain.

” When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves” - Viktor Frankl

Finally, a great quote from the Jewish Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl. The economic and financial situations we find ourselves facing are often beyond our ability to change them. However, spend your resources changing yourself. This concept is similar to the concept espoused by the final quote below.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” - Buddha

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While Amazon’s “Wish List” is great for the products on Amazon, it doesn’t do anything for those outside of of the Amazonian world. Solving that problem once and for all is Google (capital G) with their Google Notebook product. The nice thing about Notebook is that you can “clip” any web page or any portion of a web page (and that includes Amazon pages) and save it within Notebook … and then, you can share that folder of “clipped” items with a selection of your friends or family that have email. In this way, you can find any product on the web and with one click of the mouse,you can send this to your Notebook “wish list” without leaving that page, and that selection will be shared with your selected friends.

Rather than walking you through the steps, Google does a much better job … Google Notebook Tour.

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Regardless, I have some posts that I will be putting up soon, so I hope you stick with me.

Macho Guys Drinking Manly Beer

Let me be the first to admit publicly that I like beer. I drink it.
I also mow my own lawn and sometimes work with wrenches and hammers. So … I guess you could say I’ve got a bit of testosterone running through my blood.
If I were to steal a term from a Village People song, I’m a Macho, Macho Man” (the irony is not lost on me).

I also meditate.

I guess “some people” don’t associate machismo with meditation. Or at least that’s the feedback I’ve received … and it basically seems like that is a fair assessment. I will also admit that I’m a bit of a “closet meditator”. Which means basically that my wife is the only that knows I do meditate (excluding you, of course). WHY?
The honest answer is that “some people” (yes, the same some people from above) will think of me differently. Of course, that begs the question of “In what way”. Well … they might think me … less macho? … less manly?

Consider this a “coming out of the meditation closet” moment. And if anyone wants to challenge my masculinity or machismo, I’m willing to beat you up if that will change your opinion.

The reality is (I think) that manly men can benefit as much (if not more) than anyone from mindfulness meditation. WE are raised to provide for others, protect others and ourselves, be stoic and unemotional (well … most emotions). Many of us (let me be so bold as to speak for “many” men) hold internal dialogues versus external dialogues. This leads to mental traffic jams and congestion that mindfulness meditation helps remove.

Therefore, all macho men … try meditation and kick anyone’s ass who gives you crap about it.

Meditation found to increase brain size
Mental calisthenics bulk up some layers
By William J. Cromie
Harvard News Office
People who meditate grow bigger brains than those who don’t.

Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found the first evidence that meditation can alter the physical structure of our brains. Brain scans they conducted reveal that experienced meditators boasted increased thickness in parts of the brain that deal with attention and processing sensory input.

In one area of gray matter, the thickening turns out to be more pronounced in older than in younger people. That’s intriguing because those sections of the human cortex, or thinking cap, normally get thinner as we age.

“Our data suggest that meditation practice can promote cortical plasticity in adults in areas important for cognitive and emotional processing and well-being,” says Sara Lazar, leader of the study and a psychologist at Harvard Medical School. “These findings are consistent with other studies that demonstrated increased thickness of music areas in the brains of musicians, and visual and motor areas in the brains of jugglers. In other words, the structure of an adult brain can change in response to repeated practice.”

The researchers compared brain scans of 20 experienced meditators with those of 15 nonmeditators. Four of the former taught meditation or yoga, but they were not monks living in seclusion. The rest worked in careers such as law, health care, and journalism. All the participants were white. During scanning, the meditators meditated; the others just relaxed and thought about whatever they wanted.

Meditators did Buddhist “insight meditation,” which focuses on whatever is there, like noise or body sensations. It doesn’t involve “om,” other mantras, or chanting.

This unusual behavior in toddlers made me wonder if we (as human beings) are born with materialistic instincts or whether we learn to be this way? I have a two year old son who has given me insights into the reality of materialism. Quick opinion … I think we are born with the instinct to share our possessions. Nature endowed us with the desire to share that which gives us happiness. However, some children have learned that giving something away means that you will no longer have that item to give you happiness (seems obvious in hindsight, but for a two year old, it’s new stuff). Therefore, it’s easier to keep those items yourself. Thus, it seems the materialistic world rears it’s ugly head at a young age.

Can the materialistic instinct that we learned as small children be eliminated? I assume if you learn something, you can unlearn it. In a typical blog / Zendonut fashion, I have three steps to break your materialistic desires:

1. Give stuff away’

Insightful? Nope. But if you want to learn how to walk, you need to learn how to take steps. Start small. Give away (or throw away something). Do it again. The “uncluttering” of your life can be contagious and can “snowball” (for those of you in snow free areas, I am referring to “snowball” as explained in definition 6 of this link).

2. Suffer happily

When you really want something, practice restraint. It is hard … especially at first. However, you begin to realize that what you really wanted is not critical to your happiness. Deprive yourself of every little whim and you’ll find that your suffering is not as bad as you originally thought it would be.

3. Understand the concept of impermanence

Zen time … Everything is impermanent. How much “crap” have you kept in your life? (I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve kept too much, but I’m working on it). Understanding the Buddhist concept of impermanence helps you realize that materialistic desires are not “what is important” in your life. It helps to keep this frame of reference when you see your neighbor’s shiny new car.

Photo by makelessnoise

Photo by airgap

I’ve read umpteen articles (give or take one smattering) where someone has wished they could teach their “younger self” the lessons of life they’ve learned as they’ve matured. Unfortunately, until a time-machine is invented AND until teenagers listen to advice from adults, the idea of giving advice to their “younger self” is as silly as thinking that writing things down will remove them from your mind.

However, I was once young and knew a couple things. Therefore, I thought it might be more appropriate to recall what I learned at an early age and sometimes forget as an adult. It’s good to keep a reminder of what you’ve learned, otherwise, you may forget. Maybe after my De Lorean and Flux Capacitor are fixed I can reconsider what I’d teach my “younger self”.

1. Take advice from grown-ups with a grain of salt.

Hypocritical? Probably … since I am technically a “grown-up” and writing advice. However, there are many things in life I had to learn for myself despite adult advice. In today’s information overload society, advice is more common than a “getting hit in the groin” video on America’s Funniest Home Videos. Everyone wants to share their “wisdom”. Be a skeptic first.

2. No one likes a “suck-up”.

Checking the dictionary for suck-up, I find, “Slang: To be obsequious; toady“. Therefore, to rephrase, “No one likes someone who is obsequious or toady”. Acting in a manner that is contrary to your true self is rarely beneficial … and is not often appreciated.

3. You actually do “get out of it, what you put into it”.

If I wanted a good score on a test, I needed to put time, energy, and effort into my studies. Likewise, if you want to do well in a job, any relationship, athletic endeavor, negotiation, etc., you need to be present (i.e. in the moment), focused, and prepared. There are very few shortcuts.

4. When people like you, life is easier.

It didn’t take a genius to figure this out when I was in school. This is the basis of many after-school-specials. However, how easily people forget this in “the real world”. Ultimately being respected is important as well. But don’t underestimate the value of being liked. If your colleagues can say that they wouldn’t mind being stuck with you in an airport for 8 hours, then congratulations.

5. Sticks and stones may break my bones, But names can only hurt me … If I let them.

I remember a classmate who was new to my school. He got teased more than a little bit because of his weight. Somehow, it never seemed to bother him. It was clear that he didn’t let the statements of others impact his self worth … and he ultimately became a well-liked student. Apparently, a person’s emotional state can be dependent on something other than external inputs.

Thanks younger Mike. Make sure you visit again.

Photo by Foundphotoslj