When I saw this video it had a profound effect on me, on my teaching, and on my parenting. I have watched this many times and I still think that it is very important. She touches on so many important points, but mainly talks about the profound effect of long term perseverance. Researchers are now asking the question, which I think is the real question, “How do we build perseverance?” I hope that you enjoy this as well:
http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit
Long Term Perseverance
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Some days teaching are just super cool.
(This is from late Spring 2014) Today our science class let go the butterflies that the students have been nurturing since they were caterpillars. We all went outside to a nice shaded grove and let them go one by one. We had flowers that the butterflies crawled onto and after about ten minutes outside of the air conditioned classroom, they started to fly.
What amazed me is how well behaved the kids were. There was a quite hush and everyone worked together. What an awesome day!!!
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Our Brains Need Our Attention
This quote is from the Johns Hopkins School of Education and is based on brain research, not philosophy.
“There are thousands of people who are born with the potential or circumstances to be quite smart who do not live up to this possibility, while there are thousands who are born with modest potential, but who maximize this “limitation” well beyond expectations.” Click here for the article
This quote is profound. You and I, whoever we are, have a destiny that is, not only not predetermined, but deeply in our own hands. That our brains, like our muscles, are deeply malleable and need attention…and that’s the key: Our brains need our attention and care, whether through exercise, meditation, or novel and creative endeavors, we need to constantly challenge, rest, and nurture our brains.
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Untying the Rope from the Dock
People often dismiss belief, their own included, as being intangible and without potency. Yet it is belief that differentiates the trajectory of our lives. Will we live and die without tasting the nectar of the almighty, who knocks on our door incessantly? Do we not honestly examine our beliefs because doing so would mean untying the rope from the dock and venturing into uncharted territory? Believers and non-believers are equally bound. Is trusting that difficult? Clinging to the unreal brings more difficulty and greater pain than venturing into the unknown. It is in the accepting of the unknown and the experience of trust that beckons the eternal friend. And it is within that beckoning that the beauty of our lives is revealed.
The Diversity of this World is Rich and Beautiful
One day I was eating breakfast with my daughters in a crowded restaurant and I asked them to look around. I asked them, “How many of these people look like Barbie or Ken?” They looked around…then had blank looks on their faces as if they were processing something…then a look of surprise…and then big smiles. They said excitedly “None!” Then I asked, “How many could be on TV?” There was one woman who could have doubled as a mannequin that they pointed to, “Maybe her,” they said. They seemed so excited and relieved that life was beautiful in its diversity.
Try it. The next time you are in a crowded restaurant, look around and see the beautiful diversity of life.
What we consume in the popular media doesn’t even remotely resemble life on earth. Also, we are often too uncomfortable to cross social and cultural lines to experience something different. Crossing social and cultural lines can be scary, but if it is done without hiding our authentic selves it allows us to broaden our family and transforms both cultures. We need each other in this world. Cross cultural communion is both a gift given and received.
I’m so grateful for the diverse beauty of this world. When I saw the video below, it reminded me of the moment I had with my daughters. Here’s the video that prompted this memory and post:
Savory (Sour) Cereal Recipe
Click here to go straight to a PDF of the recipe or see below.
This post is primarily for those who, at some point in their lives have ventured into the world of Siddha Yoga and have had the good fortune of savoring the delicious breakfast cereal served at ashrams and centers. It’s also for those who’d like to try an amazingly healthy and healing breakfast cereal.
In 1981 I was living in the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Santa Monica on 3rd and Broadway. (It’s now a Lululemon store.) My ashram work, or seva, was as an assistant in the kitchen. We didn’t know it, but Baba (Swami Muktananda), our teacher, would soon be leaving his body. It was a remarkable time with meditation programs free to residents, Swamis Brahmananda and Janananda leading programs, and the ashram manager Kadar (now Swami Akhandananda) helping to train rookies like me.
Very early one morning Kadar showed me how to make sour cereal and immediately it became my task to make the morning cereal for the hungry residents. (It’s now called savory cereal and has been for many years, but, on this issue, I’m stuck in the past. I still call it sour cereal.)
Fast forward to this morning. I hadn’t made sour cereal in over a year and some unconscious memory seized my brain upon awaking. I checked the kitchen…everything was there! Wow! Yum! As I’m typing this I’m devouring my second bowl. This cereal is like medicine…I’m in love again!
A few years ago I made sour cereal for a special program and a woman practically begged me for the recipe, but I didn’t have one that was similar to the one I made in the ashram. In honor of her, I had pen and paper on hand this morning. Below is the recipe I just made. This is just one of many variations of this fantastic tonic. This will make about 16 servings, which is perfect because sour cereal freezes very well.
Since originally writing this, I’ve made this recipe a few times and made some minor changes. I must say, this is a great sour cereal recipe and I’ve tried to make it user friendly for the non-chef.
Click here for a PDF of the recipe.
What you will need:
- Water (use purified if possible)
- 1 cup millet
- ½ cup basmati rice (choose any grain that you like i.e. quinoa)
- ¾ of a medium-large yellow onion chopped finely
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds
- 2 pinches of fenugreek seeds
- 1 level teaspoon whole coriander seeds (optional)
- 2/3 cup of dried unsweetened coconut (sometimes called coconut powder )(Can be purchased at an Indian Grocery store.) You can also use ½ of a fresh coconut if you have a strong blender (see below).
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- 2 medium size tomatoes, chopped into big pieces for the blender.
- 5 Medjool dates, pits removed and chopped into big pieces for the blender.
- 1 small to medium size jalapeño, stem removed and chopped into big pieces for the blender. (If you don’t mind your cereal warmer, a larger jalapeño is fine.)
- 1/3 cup fresh ginger, chopped large (skin and all) for the blender.
- A handful of oats (quick oats are fine)
- 2 ½ – 3 level teaspoons of salt (or to taste)
- nutritional yeast flakes to taste
- Wooden spatula with a flat end (optional, but very helpful for scraping the bottom of the pot.)
Remember, the feeling with which you cook is the main ingredient.
I do my chopping while cooking, but you can do yours ahead of time if you like.
Get two large pots (approx. 5 quarts or more). You can make sour cereal in one pot by starting with the sauté and then adding the water and grain, but using two pots is easy and quicker.
In one of the pots start 8 cups of water on a high heat and add your millet and rice or other grain. When the water boils, bring it down to a rolling boil stirring occasionally. Remember, throughout the preparation you can add water to get the consistency that you desire. I have noted where I usually add water, but this may change depending on the second grain used or the time and temperature of the cooking.
While the water is heating up and boiling, finely chop ¾ of the onion and set aside ½ the onion for use right now and a ¼ of the onion for use later.
In the second large pot, sauté the ½ an onion finely chopped in the butter on a low-medium flame. When the onions are soft, add the cumin and fenugreek and lightly toast the spices.
Now add the dried unsweetened coconut and very lightly toast the coconut stirring constantly. Turn off your sauté.
Fresh Coconut:
Only use fresh coconut if you have a strong blender. Turn off your sauté and grains as this may take a few minutes. Break the coconut open by tapping a hammer around the circumference. Make sure that you have a bowl underneath it to catch and save the coconut milk. Carefully remove the coconut meat from the shell. (Remember, you are only using ½ of the coconut.) If you have a stubborn coconut that will not easily come out of the shell, wrap it in an old clean towel and whack it hard on a concrete surface a few times to break it into smaller pieces. Then carefully slide a butter knife between the meat and the shell and rock the knife back and forth like turning a key. This should free the meat from the shell. Then chop the coconut meat into small pieces. Add the pieces to a blender and cover with water. Finely blend the coconut meat and add to the sauté cooking for a few minutes.
When your grains have been boiling for about ten minutes or more, carefully pour the boiling water with the grains into the large pot with the onions, spices, and coconut. If needed, rinse the grain pot making sure to don’t leave any grains behind. Bring this mixture to a rolling boil. Stir thoroughly and regularly because if you don’t it will stick to the bottom and burn.
While the mixture is enjoying a mellow boil and you are stirring it regularly, chop the bottoms off the cilantro (leaving half the stems) and submerge the whole bunch in cold water. I use the second grain pot for this purpose. If your cilantro is muddy or dirty you may have to soak it a few times until the water clears up. Leave the cilantro submerged and set aside.
Continue stirring the mixture while it is enjoying a mellow boil.
Get out the blender and make the masala. Add to the blender: tomatoes, dates, jalapeño, and ginger. Cover with 1 ½ cups of warm water and pulse at first, then blend on high for a least one minute or until the masala is well blended.
Add the masala and oats to the main mixture and stir in very well. (If you used fresh coconut, strain the coconut milk and add to the cereal) Add 3-4 cups of water. As a matter of fact, add water at any time to get the consistency that you desire.
Add the salt to the sour cereal and stir in thoroughly.
Bring this to a boil. Remember to stir this thoroughly and regularly because if you don’t it will stick to the bottom and burn. If the cereal begins to stick, scrape the sticking with your spoon and don’t let it burn.
Once boiling, lower the heat to a strong simmer (occasional boil) for 25 minutes. Adjust the heat as needed but keep the mixture at a strong simmer/mellow boil for 25 minutes.
While the cereal is cooking, take your cilantro out of the water, (rinse again if necessary), shake out the water and chop it finely.
After 25 minutes of a mellow boil/strong simmer and stirring regularly, turn off the heat, stir in the ¼ of an onion finely chopped and the chopped cilantro, and let the mixture sit for ten minutes (if you can resist).
Pour a bowl and top it liberally with nutritional yeast and enjoy!!!
Freeze what you don’t use after two days and add water when reheating.
Before eating add SGMKJ. (This is an acronym of a prayer/salutation.)
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The Sky is Falling!
I remember growing up in Los Angeles with terrible smog. The smog was so bad that you couldn’t see more than a few miles on a clear day, our eyes burned, and our lungs hurt while breathing deep. The state of California proposed putting emissions controls on new vehicles and you would have thought the state was outlawing avocados. The auto manufactures said it was going to be the end of the auto industry in California. Cars would be too expensive and no one would sell vehicles in the golden state. Ten years later the air was great, the auto industry was still selling cars in California, and the rest of the country was using California as a model for emissions control.
Fast forward to health care reform. First, without this new law, people will die. If you don’t believe me, watch this story: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/27/health/health-care-insurance-lifetime-caps/index.html This is just one story, but there are many more like this one.
Second, health insurers are making record profits. Don’t take my word for it, read this story: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HealthCare/health-insurers-post-record-profits/story?id=9818699
And finally, it’s no surprise that the health insurance industry supports the individual mandate: http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2012/06/17/mandate-to-buy-coverage-health-insurance-industrys-idea-not-obamas/
Why does the U.S. spend more money on health care per person with fewer people covered? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=110997469 It’s time for regulation (which is not a bad word).
So when people tell you that the sky is falling because of health care reform, remember, the same thing was said when we ended child labor, we all supported women working outside the home, and we added emissions controls on autos.
Posted in Thoughts, Rants, and Sentiments
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The First Prescription
I don’t know much about the subject of depression, but I do know that yesterday I took an elderly relative (who’s showing signs of mild depression) to her doctor. Without even asking about the social and environmental aspects of her life, the doctor immediately prescribed her an anti-depressant. Have we become lazy? When research shows that exercise, socializing, singing, meditation, and finding purpose in life can remedy depression, shouldn’t these be the first prescriptions?
Who cooks your news?
A fellow parent in my neighborhood was telling me that she relies on Fox for most of her news and information. I said “What the *#@&!?” We had a cordial discussion and the following day she sent me an email with some news stories.
This got me thinking that, although we all know that consuming food at McDonald’s is vastly different than consuming food at Santa Monica’s Real Food Daily, many people never compare their news sources with other vendors.
Below is an excerpt from my reply email to my dear neighbor. I excluded some of my favorite progressive news sources. Here’s the excerpt:
Regarding news and information: News has become an obsession with observing sordid or sensational stories, but I don’t believe that this is news. This is voyeurism and negatively affects the mind and our relationships with others. Try answering the questions “What is news?” and “Who is promoting the news that I like and that I think is important?” Your news source is important.
Distinguishing fact from opinion is important. I can find Fox News entertaining, but it is just that…entertainment, not news. They take facts and then flavor and intentionally skew information for their own agenda…a common practice of not just Fox.
Everyone knows that Fox and MSNBC’s goal is to promote partisan ideology. What has diminished Fox’s reputation is that Fox promotes itself as an unbiased news source. If a democrat said to you “I have no interest in promoting the idea that government regulation can help and protect people. I just want to give you unbiased information.” You’d laugh and say, “Who are you kidding?”
Fox has lost credibility over the years by openly promoting the republican agenda and at the same time claiming to be unbiased. However, if you like hearing the republican or democratic prospective, there is Fox and MSNBC. But for either to claim an unbiased perspective is itself a dishonest practice. Fox and MSNB are good places to go if a person wants to hear opinion and the thinking behind an ideology.
My suggestion is this: First, using Fox News and some of the links below, go to the lead pages and look at the stories that the sites are promoting. What are the editors choosing to promote? Who is promoting better news stories?
Then, find a story from Fox News and then find the same story from one of the suggested links. Read both and then ask yourself these questions: “Which story was less emotional and got straight to the facts?” “Which has better facts?” “Which article is promoting an opinion and which article is leaving it to you to form an opinion?”
Here are some good links to information where, mostly, you will get a variety of views and, mostly, good facts. These are in no particular order:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/us_and_canada/
http://online.wsj.com/home-page
http://www.democracynow.org/ (Very left leaning, but a good source of information.)
Redefining Wealth
Imagine if a person’s personal bank account was directly correlated to the level of life fulfillment they felt. Imagine living in a world where the only way that you could increase your material wealth was to increase your sense of connectedness to your world. Altruism lasting for a day was an instant deposit of $50,000 into your bank account. Imagine this. Contentment, joy, love, and bliss are difficult to measure, but, without doubt, have tangible value.
This weekend three bands asked me to sit-in and play at the Texas Yoga Conference. Each band’s set was exquisitely blissful. Not only was the music beautiful, but the community of participants transformed the University of Houston facility into a friendly and inspiring little town for the weekend. This experience of love (Not the new agey immature and shallow love, but love that has sprung from commitment and discipline…not from neediness.) was tangible.
However, in our world we don’t really look at experiences like these as increasing our wealth. In the same way, we often overlook the massive wealth of physical health.
These times have been defined as “difficult” from a material perspective. It is often said that one of the core problems is that we no longer produce products like cars and electronics. What would happen to our world if we all became producers AND consumers of altruism, bliss, wellbeing, and love?
I propose that if we consumers viewed wealth differently…viewed wealth from a spiritual viewpoint…that our actions and days would look different. More people would exercise; meditate; turn off the TV; swim; do yoga; read scripture and poetry; eat better; chant, sing, and dance together; and be kind to strangers and look one another in the eye. I spent the other morning with my daughter and noticed that, after hours, we looked each other in the eyes and smiled. What is the value of this? What is this worth?
The commodity of bliss and love is real and has value. Equally important is to know that, like any valuable commodity, there is a lot of fraud and dishonesty in the marketplace. However this should not stop us from becoming great producers and consumers of real wealth…spiritual wealth. Become a producer! Look your children in the eyes; teach a class; play catch with the neighborhood kids; start a weekly singing group with your friends….whatever it may be…cook a dish that brings joy into this world. What’s on your menu today?