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Managing Life Gracefully


I love the guidance of Sylvia Boorstein because it teaches me how to deal with my mind which is the root of most, if not all, of my problems. She writes things I would have wanted myself to express. She writes about experiences like mine. I prefer her Buddhist wisdom to religious teachings which I find mostly irrelevant.

For example, Boorstein wrote:”… the mind has – as its essence- the Clarity from which wisdom arises. It also implies that a full religious path must include TOOLS for accessing that essence directly.”

“The Buddhism that had come from the West offered a clear explanation of suffering and tools for the direct, personal realization of a peaceful mind.”

Most of all: “It required practice not AFFILIATION. It was a great spiritual path. It promised transformation.”

Too See

Neale Walsch wrote: “Like a tree outside your window, whose seed carried within it all the coding required for it to grow into what it has become , you arrived here knowing everything you needed to know to be everything you were designed to be.”

I interpret Walsch to say: “My belief that I was given all I need before I came to this life must explain why i get so many challenges for me to experience and respond using my personal gifts.”

My prayer, therefore, is that I am see.

When challenges come one after the other I forget that I was made to the image and likeness of God.

When I am scared I lose the essential nature of my mind. I get confused and my mind becomes even more upset and i fail to see what i already have.

Staying in the moment

“Practicing remaining calm and alert through the whole range of body and mind states that present themselves- all the while not doing anything to change experience but rather discovering that experience is BEARABLE.”

The above piece of Buddhist wisdom from Sylvia Boorstein is applicable to me whenever I itch due to new food in my diet. It helps me not to scratch to prevent scars on my skin. I have stopped buying expensive ointments that don’t work anyway. What have helped are vitamins A and C.

For me HEALTH is an inside job: what I take in orally and what I take n through my mind. My thoughts play a large role in maintaining the chemical balance in my body. “Emotional Agility” and posts by Dr Lipton have been helpful.

The Mind Affects the Body

Because of my skin eruptions (Different from those I had last April) I was frightened. Sylvia Boorstein wrote: “Because we become frightened as soon as a difficult mind state blows into the mind, we start to fight it. We try to change it, or we try to get rid of it. The frenzy of the struggle makes the mind state even more unpleasant.”

“In traditional Buddhist texts, the five energies of LUST, AVERSION,TORPOR, RESTLESSNESS and DOUBT are called mind hindrances.”

“They are called hindrances of the mind because they obscure clear seeing…”
“They hinder the possibility of us reconnecting with the peaceful self that is our essential nature. They confuse us.”

Dr Lipton posted the Following: “Your body hears everything your mind says. Stay POSITIVE.”

Boorstein wrote: “The best solution would be the the unalarmed recognition of the condition/situation.

Easier Pathway for Me

“…love, joy, happiness, sense of true self that you experience – and that others experience in their life because of you- along the way.”

Neale Walsch along with Sylvia Boorstein make my pathway easier. No impossible dogmas to believe in Faith. No vague obligations and responsibilities.

Self-worth is enhanced. Both guides make me firm in my belief that “I was made to the image and likeness of God.” How empowering.

If only Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain had met Walsch and Boorstein!