The Meatball Fix

The problem with making a decision in favor of something means that one has decided against another thing. With every action, inevitably a reaction occurs in direct proportion and velocity, forming its antipode.

About six months ago, my body told me it didn't want animal flesh anymore in the form of sudden nausea when confronted with a plate of chicken, meat and fish. Then, it had an equal and opposite reaction on New Year's Eve. Every year my husband and I host what is called a "Planetary Healing Circle," a guided visualization by a group of willing participants to send positive energy to people and places on the planet in need of prayerful thoughts. After prayers, we party.

Because of my fear of entertaining uncertain numbers of people with food stuff, guests are asked to bring an offering of food; this insures the proper amount and variety of goodies. One guest brought a tray full of turkey meatballs. After leading an hour long deeply energizing, peaceful meditation, my innards piped up, "Gimme meatballs," whilst still floating in the bliss of group goodwill in the meditation room.

About twenty herb-spiced-turkey-meatballs-swimming-in-marinara sauce later, my stomach was about to burst. But an unamed subpersonality was gloating. Finally, a real hit of honest to god protein.

At about 2AM, with the guests long departed and the fairy lights dimmed down, I realized that pre-bed herbal capsules were stuck in my esophogus, the gelatin caps slowly melting and causing digestive angst. Normally, my little feet would creep downstairs for a glass of water, but this time, that voracious inner carvniore said, "More meatballs."

Washing down pills with turkey meatballs is very effective, by the way. And lest anyone think this sometime vegetarian had a bad reaction to such an influx of bird, not the case. It went down like a rootbeer ice cream float on a hot summer day.

The old aphorism, "The body knows" must be at work here. Although I don't plan to continue this turkey meatball habit, somewhere in the depths of my mortal coil the cells are boogying.

Apologies to all my turkey brethren. It's not my fault that human beings are part carnivore, with little side fangs in our mouths for ripping flesh more effectively. But I promise to control the urge to savage the animal kingdom in this new year. Scouts honor.

The Unbearable Politeness of Being

Theoretically, it is impossible to become enlightened and simultaneously act in a self-serving manner. Like the surgeon who uses dissolving stitches, analyzing one's own mind in order to understand its modi operandus dissolves egotistical motives; the ultimate metaphysical manifestation of courtesy.

How does one set about doing this in the fast paced western world of materialism?

The Dalai Lama and other great masters instruct students to critically examine the teachings and the teacher before buying into them. While this lazy American practitioner makes no claims as to a true understanding of the dharma, nonetheless it seems important to carefully examine doctrines for their relevance. Personal understanding, grounded in experiential knowledge, is the only foundation upon which to build. 

Conversely - or perhaps paradoxically - trust, faith and dedication are vital ingredients in following a path to realization. When one is a beginner, a worthy teacher must be found.

As one ventures into the newness of every moment, it is essential strike a delicate balance between common sense and the commitment to a goal that may seem elusive and mysterious. This applies not only to the spiritual path but every other endeavor in this conundrum called "life." Nobody has the magical formula but as long as there is breath there is possibility.

It's New Years All Year Long

The onset of a new calendar year varies, depending on cultural norms. Among the numerous start dates, the below offer up several examples:

• Western New Year - Jan.1, 2014 
• Chinese New Year - Jan. 31, 2014
• Tibetan New Year - March 2, 2014
• Jewish New Year - Sept. 24th 2014
• Mayan New Year (they gave up in 2013)

This begs a fascinating question: why are there so many different dates for the start of a new year if we all live on the same planet in the same solar system?

Scholars would be able to answer this question, but the average lay person should be given a chance to contemplate this enigma without all the justifications set forth by anthropologists, astronomers, historians, and holy men with their holy books held high.

While this blogger dares not to venture a guess, there is an upside to the dizzying array of New Years. If one slips up on the typical New Year's resolution, i.e. lose weight, make more money, stop yelling at kids, spouse and dog, go to a yoga class - hey, no worries.

Simply honor all the other New Year's days and you can resolve to resolve all over again. Just think what a wonderful life! So many new beginnings and choices available to the human race... 

So if at first you don't succeed, just Google the next upcoming New Year and try again.

Blood and Water

The saying, "Blood is thicker than water" makes no sense in the context of today's English language. As for the "blood" portion, this aphorism refers to the strong bonds of family, which is obvious as families have bloodlines in common and under normal circumstances they have lived together with shared experiences. Thus, bonds that bind.

But where on earth does the "water" piece of the equation fit? Does it mean that we have more in common with our relatives than fish? Or, the consistency of the liquid makes thick preferable over thin? Anyway, blood is only thicker than water under certain circumstances. Clotted blood is thicker than running water, but ice is more solid that flowing blood.

In its original context, the phrase was "the blood of the convent is thicker than the water of the womb," a horrific reference denoting that the blood shed together in battle creates more bonds-in-common than the amniotic fluid in which a growing fetus thrives. 

Clearly, customs evolve. Humans are the arbiters of both culture and language; the former is the left hand and the latter is the right hand. As hostages of time, certain anachronistic phrases linger when they no longer have a function (much like the troublesome appendix). 

As humanity moves into a new age where our toys are powerful enough to destroy an entire planet, perhaps phrases comparing the virtues of blood versus water could be eliminated altogether.

Blood and water both comprise essential elements needed for life. Let us eliminate their historic sibling rivalry and give them equal parts in the stage play of existence, bonding all humanity in a collective caring that shows no favoritism.

Grounded Cognition

Neuroscientists use the term grounded cognition for a process that broadly includes mind-body-environment interaction. Narrowing down the playing field, one area begs further examination.

Sophisticated scans enlighten us as to the mysterious ways of the brain: the mere remembrance of an activity or experience stimulates neuronal activity in the brain, causing those little balls of energy to fire away as if recalled events were occurring in "real" time.

Thus, it is only logical that one-pointed concentration on a particular event in the memory bank will reactivate it; a nasty breakup makes your stomach churn anew; the delightful memory of a lover's kiss has you staring reverently into space in the middle of a busy office; the smell of lilacs places a childhood hiding place front and center in your inner vision.

Thanks to neuroplasticity, our gray matter develops more of itself in the most frequently activated parts - not unlike a body builder whose pectoral muscles expand with exercises designed to enlarge that area. 

So what part of our brain/psyche do we want to enlarge? The primitive reptilian bit, or the logic bit, or the compassion bit, or the nicotine sensitive area, as well as thousands of other places enfolded in those convoluted coils that function as command central in our complex lives?

Tibetan Buddhist philosophy has been hip to this brain-building process for centuries. In a practice called deity yoga, one pictures a Buddha or Bodhisattva that embodies qualities such as compassion, wisdom, purification, joy, equanimity, etc. These energies can be contemplated via specific visualization techniques given by a qualified lama to the student. The end game: to embody that quality represented in the externally perceived entity such as a Buddha of Compassion; insight then arises as to the non-dual nature of "other" and "self" as the flow of compassion becomes one river.

Outside observers mistaken deity yoga as akin to pantheistic traditions with a plethora of gods and goddesses, but this is not what's going on. The purpose of deity yoga actually echoes grounded cognition. When one perceives a Buddha of Compassion as a visualization beaming his love at you, the brain actually starts registering this phenomenon as real. And voila! One not only feels compassion but the compassion center of the brain actually grows. With enough time logged sitting on one's ass in meditation, the compassion center not only asserts itself as bigger and badder than other parts but it stays with the meditator in his or her "off the cushion" moments. No fake smiles and guilt-ridden acts of charity; compassion in action becomes an effortless, spontaneous event.

While not everyone wants to practice deity yoga Tibetan Buddhist style, it would be wise to understand the impact of thoughts and memories. What one reads, sees at the movies, speaks to others, speaks to oneself, imagines, or projects - the stories we tell ourselves about how things are - all have significant impact on how our brains develop.

We are literally growing ourselves with every thought. So buyers beware. You are what you remember.

The Day After

It feels like the day after an atomic blast minus the complete and utter ruination of body, mind, soul and property. Wreckage abounds but all is quiet on the western front. Christmas presents have been opened and trash cans overflow with wrapping paper and cardboard boxes. The content spilled from this wastage varies. Some is useless junk received with artificial squeals of "it's perfect" while others delight in new gadgets that make life more efficient, swift, pleasurable, or difficult to manage when premature planned obsolescence sets in.

What does all this celebratory hoohah really mean?

If people came together with gratitude, love, and an appreciation for our human connection, triggered by the notion that Christmas time appears more special than any other time, then that's a good thing. If the holiday represents a dreaded time of familial suffering or severe loneliness, then why bother with a tradition gone south.

In any event, the Balinese, who are decidedly not Christian, have it right at least in one small sector of social mores. Daily, the highways and byways of life are suffused with tender offerings of fruit and flowers, displayed for the delight of divine presences. Left on sidewalks in front of dwelling after dwelling, these lovely offerings abound in the most natural manner. They represent a sense of daily celebration, a nod to sacred life as the sun kisses the earth every morning.

Real or imagined, when every day becomes Christmas - or an offering to life divine - we will have arrived.

Sugar Time

I have a new refrain for the holiday season, sung to the melody "Summertime" from the wonderful Porgy and Bess musical.

The lyrics go like this:

Sugar time and the eating is greasy, 
Sugar time and the glucose is high, 
Oh your tummy's fat, and the cal'ries come easy, 
So eat, big ol' mama, do-n't you deny.

Come the new year, there may be cause for deep regret when previously comfortable clothing digs tightly into new folds of flesh. But in the best tradition of short-sighted decision making, let's eat, drink, and be merry and deal with the now of tomorrow when it arrives. 

And when that moment arises, one can only bemoan the feeding frenzy of the holiday season and proclaim, "Why did I put off until next month what I could have done last month?