Video Master Series 3 of 5: Elizabeth Gilbert on Creativity
March 12, 2010 by dr. lam · 2 Comments
Although I have not read Elizabeth Gilbert’s famous Eat, Pray, Love, I really enjoyed her fluid and charming talk on how to nurture creativity. It will challenge everyone out there to unleash their creative genius (as you will see what that means in this video) without fear, prejudice, or self-reprisal.
Video Master Series 2 of 5: Pollan on the Sun Food Agenda
March 11, 2010 by dr. lam · 1 Comment
As most of you blog followers know, I am consumed with Michael Pollan’s thoughts as I have covered two of his books, Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. I have also enjoyed Botany of Desire. This video is an amazing encapsulation of his philosophy and espousal of his “Sun Food Agenda”. I also love the slides made by an amazing designer, Nancy Duarte, of Duarte Design. Enjoy:
PopTech 2009: Michael Pollan from PopTech on Vimeo.
Video Master Series 1 of 5: Jobs at Stanford
March 10, 2010 by dr. lam · 5 Comments
Although this blog is not a vlog, I am turning it into one for a short while because my belief is that the spoken word can be even more brilliantly powerful than the written. Further, rather than continue to interpret the great thinkers through my written word, why don’t I let them just speak for themselves unfiltered by me. I am constantly moved by thinkers and speakers, and the speakers that I will present in this series are the best of the best. We will explore passion, creativity, leadership, failure, and health in surprising and revelatory ways. We will start with Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford in 2005. It is at once touching and inspirational. It will provide you with nourishment for the soul.
If you haven’t heard Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford in 2005, you must. It is one of the most beautiful deliveries out there and is inspirational at a deep level. Read this excerpt:
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
At the end of his speech, he talked about the back cover of The Whole Earth Catalog that featured the line: ”Stay hungry, Stay foolish.” With that line, he exhorted his audience to do the same. As do I. Here is his speech:
Enjoy this whether you have seen it already or you have not.
10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace: Tenth Secret
March 9, 2010 by dr. lam · 3 Comments
Tenth Secret: “Wisdom is Avoiding All Thoughts that Weaken You”
You are what you think is a truism. If our mind is plagued with negative thoughts, we become a product of that negativity. Dyer opens the chapter with an example of kinesiology. When we hold up our arm and say a lie, our muscles go weak and we don’t even know it. When we tell the truth, our muscles are emboldened and remain strong. I tried this in the past, and I was shocked that it worked. At the time I did not even know what was going on but it happened, and I was flabbergasted. Dyer says if such a simple test can prove to be such a devastating force to our muscle capacity, how do consistently negative thoughts that course through our brains affect our bodies. Obviously, they wear us down.
When we are focused on peace, love and happiness, that is where we will reside. When we are entrained on hatred, anger, pettiness, and resentment, our hearts and minds will be aligned in such a way. If we believe that we will get the flu this season, we probably will. If we don’t, we probably won’t. We are a sum total of all our thoughts. We are truly what we think. Avoid all thoughts that weaken you, and be strengthened by all good thoughts that can enliven you.
Dyer cites a book entitled A Course in Miracles that divides all thoughts/beliefs/energies in this world into either love or fear. With this simple dichotomy, we can envision every thought we have as something that can either strengthen us with love or destroy us with fear. There are no neutral thoughts. Instead of a fearful, anxious mind, we should replace those thoughts with love, peace, joy, and happiness. Choose your thoughts, and choose them wisely.
Mindfulness Mondays 41: Why Are You So Angry?
March 8, 2010 by dr. lam · 2 Comments
I was in yoga practice a few months ago when my instructor, Suze Curtis, told a story during our shavasana practice at the end of class (for you non-yogis out there, that is when we all lie down in rest and meditation at the conclusion of class). Anyway, I really liked this story. She reminded me of a movie that I saw a few years ago, Seabiscuit, the prized horse whose jockey Red Pollard is about whom this story relates. In one instance, Red was riding Seabiscuit hard but was knocked out of the race by a dirty deed by another competing jockey. In disgust, as Red walks off the track, he encounters his advisor who asks him, “Why are you really so angry?” At that point in the movie, there is a flashback to when Red was 13 and it shows his parents abandoning him.
What Suze mentioned was that when we have a situation we are angry at, most likely it has very little to do with the other person or even with the circumstance. It has a lot to do with ourselves, how we allow anger to engulf our lives, how we allow ourselves to lose patience, how we allow circumstances and people to influence our behavior, reaction, thought and deed. Next time you get angry, ask yourself what you are really angry at. You might just find it has nothing to do with the other person or even your circumstance.