The Dark Empty Sky

We should always live in the dark empty sky. The sky is always the sky. Even though clouds and lightning come, the sky is not disturbed. Even if the flashing of enlightenment comes, our practice forgets all about it. Then it is ready for another enlightenment.

-Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind"
From "365 Buddha: Daily Meditations," edited by Jeff Schmidt. Reprinted by arrangement with Tarcher/Putnam, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.

Meditation

Sleeping, sitting, walking,
Nothing good or bad befalls me.
I sleep, I sit, I walk,
And I am happy.

-Ashtavakra Gita 13:5

From "The Heart of Awareness: A Translation of the Ashtavakra Gita," by Thomas Byrom, 1990. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston. www.shambhala.com.

Islamic Fashionista

Rabia Z designs women's clothing, striving to combine her religious and cultural values with a modern sense of fashion. In Islamic tradition, women's bodies and hair are covered to convey the virtue of modesty. However, most women still want to look feminine and pretty. Rabia Z targeted this niche market by offering beautiful fabrics, flattering cuts, and lots of designer details.

She's been very successful because she perceived a unique need and filled it. It came out of her own desire for modern clothing after deciding to cover up in 2001. On top of that, she is fulfilling the general human desire to contribute to her community. As she says in the video, the world sees very little but negative images of Islam. She is showing a positive side that I think most of us, especially women, can relate to.

Ran across this video on Current TV - if you haven't run across this cable channel devoted to "viewer created content," you're missing out. I almost always learn something new, or get a different perspective on a topic. Click on the title above to watch.

Peace.

Waste

I recently ran across this little product and, somehow, it's bothered me beyond all reason. It's an ice cube tray for making ice for water bottles. Now, I realize that many real sports people use reusable bottles. However, most everyone else buys bottled water, drinks it, and throws the bottle away. So, to my mind, we have materials being wasted to produce an accessory for a product that's designed to go into landfills!

A few plastic recycling facts from www.earth911.org:

• In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each, but only recycled an average of 23 percent.
• That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills.
• According to the Beverage Marketing Corp, the average American consumed 1.6 gallons of bottled water in 1976. In 2006 that number jumped to 28.3 gallons.
• It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture a year’s supply of bottled water. That’s enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars.
• Eight out of 10 plastic water bottles become landfill waste.
• Plastic bottles take 700 years before they begin to decompose in a landfill.

I'm sticking to Dallas tap!

Approaching a Problem Creatively

I'm reading Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It's a marvelous story of a man who unexpectedly finds his bliss, then goes through an extremely "up and down" (literally and figuratively) journey to accomplish his goal.

So, I was interested to see an article in the New York Times (http://tinyurl.com/4x2jsf) about U.S. women's colleges seeking to attract women from the Middle East to their schools. Their problem: Enrollment in women's colleges has declined within the U.S. Creative Solution: Think differently about recruitment - "If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed will go to the mountain." (http://tinyurl.com/4ty65n)

We get so stuck in our same mindsets that it can be really hard to imagine creative solutions to challenges. These colleges, instead of focussing solely on their traditional recruiting methods, went outside of themselves to find new solutions; and, in doing so, are creating educational pathways for women who might not otherwise have access. It's a winning situation for all!

That's my bliss - through helping others, I help myself.

The BBC

This is the BBC - Books, Broads and Conversation. These are my very dear friends who have loved and supported and encouraged me in all my endeavors. I dedicate my Life Coaching practice to them, and thank them for helping me to "follow my bliss." Left to right, Lynne, Nancy, Janice (front row), Pam, me (front row), Ethel Jean, Liz and Connor, and Lucie.