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Thought- Provoking

  • Barbara Ehrenreich: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

    Barbara Ehrenreich: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
    Read this book. If you’ve ever slogged your way through an endless shift making next to nothing, or, more to the point, if you haven’t, you will be fascinated by Ehrenreich’s three-months-in-three-cities-making-$6-and-$7-an-hour experiment to see if an unskilled single person can make ends meet as a low-wage earner. I’ll confess that I bought this book years ago and only just now read it. I expected it to be Important and Worth Reading, but what I didn’t expect was how much I would enjoy it. Ehrenreich treats her subject with the gravity it deserves, yet writes with sandpaper-dry humor in a deadpan style that perfectly captures the absurdities she and her fellow low-wage earners are forced into as they try to play by the rules while earning only a fraction of the deck. Submitted by Louise Julig

  • Michael Gates Gill: How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else

    Michael Gates Gill: How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else
    Michael Gates Gill was 64 years old, divorced from the wife of his four children and not married to the mother of his fifth, a laid-off ad executive with a dwindling client list wondering if he would be able to make rent the next month. Fate brought him to a Starbucks on the day of a job fair and on impulse he applied for a job. The book chronicles his first year working as a “regular joe,” and the everyday triumphs and struggles that came with it. Plenty of flashbacks (and name-dropping—but he’s got them to drop) fill in the backstory of his former life and childhood. Gill’s gratitude for the co-workers and customers at Starbucks who gave him a second chance comes through in his vivid characterizations and observations. Submitted by Louise Julig

  • Malcolm Gladwell: Outliers: The Story of Success

    Malcolm Gladwell: Outliers: The Story of Success
    Malcolm Gladwell presents a fascinating and provocative blueprint for making the most of human potential. He takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"—the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. His newest book, Outliers poses the question: what makes high achievers different from the rest of us? Gladwell's answer—that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from—may surprise you. The author says that their culture, their family, their generation and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing play powerful roles in success. His book explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band. Submitted by Claire Yezbak Fadden

  • John U. Bacon: Cirque du Soleil: The Spark - Igniting the Creative Fire that Lives within Us All

    John U. Bacon: Cirque du Soleil: The Spark - Igniting the Creative Fire that Lives within Us All
    Frank followed the nondescript men through the white door, unmarked and forgettable on the overactive casino floor. On the other side he found KÀ—a permanent Cirque du Soleil performance in Las Vegas—and the opportunity to redefine himself and his career. "Cirque du Soleil: The Spark—Igniting the Creative Fire That Lives Within Us All" is a whirlwind tour of the shows, people, costumes, make-up and magic of this modern-day circus while reminding Frank—and the reader—how fundamentally important creativity is in all aspects of our lives. As Frank journeys through his personal transformation from uninterested to invigorated, readers are reminded that a few small things can go a long way in reigniting the creative fire that smolders in us all. Submitted by JoAnna Haugen

  • Thich Nhat Hanh: Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha

    Thich Nhat Hanh: Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha
    Thich Nhat Hahn traces the life of Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha after his enlightenment, from birth to death. More than a strict biography, it also relates the teachings of the Buddha as they unfold naturally throughout his life. These are told in very straightforward language without proselytizing, following the principle “Every person should be a lamp unto himself.” There is a great deal of repetitiveness in the story, which can irritate, but think of it as a mantra and it becomes calming. Though lengthy, the book reads quickly due to the simple yet elegant writing, and is recommended to anyone with an interest in Eastern religion or philosophy. Submitted by Louise Julig

  • Richard Preston: Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science

    Richard Preston: Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science
    This collection of nonfiction narrative essays by the author of "The Hot Zone" are thought-provoking and deftly written. Favorites were "The Mountains of Pi" about the Chudnovsky brothers, "one mathematician born into two bodies," who built a supercomputer in their apartment to calculate pi to two billion digits, and "The Self-Cannibals" about a little-known genetic disease that causes its victims to compulsively self-sabotage to the extent of mutilation. With compassion and humor, Preston shows the humanity of the victims of this disease and allows us to see them as one of "us" rather than one of "them." The introduction, "Adventures in Nonfiction Writing," is a bonus to anyone interested in the writing process. Submitted by Louise Julig

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Travel

November 04, 2009

Zen Mind, Vacation Mind

EmpireState I recently meditated on New York City for a week. Technically it was a family vacation, but even though we hauled our asses all over Manhattan until our feet ached and we inhaled a year’s worth of secondhand smoke, I felt refreshed, and no wonder. I was practicing Vacation Mind.

There is no “Before We Left” in Vacation Mind. There is no “After We Get Back” in Vacation Mind. There is only Right Now, as in Right Now, I am completely immersed in the Arms and Armor collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and even though the sum total Armor that I have ever thought about Arms and Armor before now has probably added up to a few random hours while reading “King Arthur,” I can somehow find nothing so fascinating, at least for the next 20 minutes.

Guggenheim Ditto for Kandinsky at the Guggenheim, the view from the Empire State Building and the tacky glory that is Times Square. If meditation is placing the mind completely on one object, then I think I meditated plenty on subway signs, walk signals, maps and menus.

No wonder the root of “vacation” is “vacate.” We vacated our normal lives for six blissful days of Right Now, where the most important thing we had to worry about was which train do we take to get from the Lower East Side to Midtown, and our most pressing decision was should we do Tibetan, Turkish or Brazilian for dinner. The nagging minutiae of our Non-Vacation lives was left behind.

TimesSquare After we got back I thought about Vacation Mind, wondering if I could trick the ol’ mind into believing it was still on vacation, that worry-free state of contentment in the Now, for even a few minutes a day. But instead of New York City it would be — CVS! Could I manage to take a mini-vacation in the toothpaste aisle, meditating on the boxes of Crest and Colgate to the exclusion of everything else?

Not sure how well that’s going to work out, but if you’re in Southern California and see me at the drugstore staring entranced at stacks of toilet paper, don’t bother me. I’m on vacation.

Posted by Louise at 05:37 PM in Meditation, Travel, Zen | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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  • Thoughts Happen. A lot. How we relate to them and how we act (or don't act) on them is how we choose our reality. Thoughts Happen is dedicated to choosing a reality of kindness, curiosity, and humor, honoring the interdependence of all things. The site publishes essays, profiles of the neighbors in our lives and links to sites, photos, books and music that encourage mindful thought and action.

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