Friday, October 9, 2009

i've learned a lot these last two days

i know you're waiting with baited breath for the details of my time with my new BFF (His Holiness, the Dalai Lama).... and i'm eager to share.

but i'm also quite knackered... it's surprising how exhausting it can be to sit and pay attention and think about new things all day.

so i'll give you a little teaser... a preview, so to speak.


  1. HH the Dalai Lama laughs at his own jokes... a lot. And he tells a lot of jokes.
  2. Recent research has shown that structural changes in the brain can be seen with as little as three months of consistent meditation practice.
  3. The most basic element necessary for humans to flourish is happiness... this raises the question as to whether current measurement of national success are even relevant... ie what does Gross National Product really say about our success? We'd be better off measuring Gross National Happiness. (how do you think we'd score on that survey??)
  4. By age 2, the children of bad parenting suffer irrevocable damage to their cognitive development, even if their home life situation is altered and their physical development recovers.
  5. The tradition of giving white silk scarves is a fairly recent one, and HH the Dalai Lama explained it thus: the tradition of a host giving scarves to honour his/her guests comes from India... the softness of the silk represents kindness, the white represents purity of heart... the silk comes from China... the length of the scarf represents longevity... and I can't remember all the rest of the details.
more soon...

4 comments:

  1. I didn't know that about the scarves. I will have to remember that. and I agree about happiness - that is the true measure of a life.

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  2. For quite some time I have been in need of a scarf of happiness.
    I think good friends are scarves, and so, just here, on this page, I have been given two beautiful scarves. I love you Meggy Mouse. I love you, Char.
    I am blessed.
    xxoo

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  3. I think our Gross National Happiness level is just plain gross.

    Bating breath for more.

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  4. bated breath, not baited breath?? as much as i hate finding out that i've made spelling and/or grammar mistakes, i had to laugh at myself for that...

    sorry for the long delay... i've been caught up in the whirl-wind of looking for a new home, and continuing to look for a job, and tending to running injuries and bad colds...

    i will come back to posting about the Dalai Lama soon. i just need to re-read some of my notes as my head is caught up in trying to remember which house had the good kitchen, and which one looked great but reeked of cat pee, and which one we really loved except for the fact that the neighbour's driveway had 7 rusting cars with no wheels upon it....

    ps.. bait breath! ew...

    pps... Pina, i'm working on your scarf xoxo

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