thinking thursday.
(I see Johnny Depp got the copy of my new book I sent him. Smile)
mind :: my brain and yours
Get out the yoga mat. Yoga protects the brain from depression, says a new study: "Researchers have found that three sessions of the exercise a week can help fight off depression as it boosts levels of a chemical in the brain which is essential for a sound and relaxed mind. Scientists found that the levels of the amino acid GABA are much higher in those that carry out yoga than those do the equivalent of a similarly strenuous exercise such as walking." (Thanks to Lachrista Greco)
body :: my place and yours
About grief and dying, a moving post by Mason Rizzo, a man I met on an important plane ride last fall.
I came across this earlier post, "What is this green stuff?" and loved it even more the second time around.
The "Ground Zero Mosque" that is neither on Ground Zero nor a mosque has taken on a life of its own. Roger Ebert tells us ten things he knows about the mosque, including this one, #10: I wonder how many Americans realize the community center is not intended for Ground Zero. What will be constructed there includes a 55,000 square foot retail mall. This mall will be deep enough to connect with subway lines — deep enough, that is, to theoretically be embedded in the ashes of some of the 9/11 victims.
Dick Cavett asks some important questions about the controversy, including this one: What other churches might be objectionable because of the horrific acts of some of its members? Maybe we shouldn’t have Christian churches in the South wherever the Ku Klux Klan operated because years ago proclaimed white Christians lynched blacks.
And as Bob Cesca reminds us, "As many of us have heard, there's a strip club two blocks away. I'm not sure how lap dances are less offensive than a religious community center."
Harmony is the sound of cultures colliding: "Great cities have wild landscapes. The Lemongrass Thai Restaurant can be right next to the Iglesia Hispana Evangelica, just across from the B’nai Baruch Kebbeleh Center, the Flying Kick Taekwando School, Ali’s Roti Shop, the Manhandler Saloon, and Pinky’s Nail Salon."
soul :: my heart and yours
I might need me some of these earthling crazy recycled crayons. (Thanks to Tamara Bailie)
When parents die, leaving young children behind, how can we explain that? Helping a toddler grieve: "So, I’ve told her that appa is with God now and, like the moon, sometimes, we won’t see him anymore — but he is always there. I’ve also told her that he became a beautiful butterfly. O.K., maybe she’ll need therapy, but it’s hard to put death into words that a 22-month-old child can possibly grasp when I myself cannot grasp it. And yet, this is the task before me."
How mindfulness can heal Alzheimer patients and those who care for them: "People with Alzheimer's have a great deal to offer us in terms of heart intelligence. From them, we can learn:
to let go of our anxiety about the future,
to live in the moment,
to love without the taint of attachment,
to be real,
to play and laugh,
to not bring past resentments into the present,
to be spontaneous,
to not identify so much with our thoughts,
to not busy ourselves so much,
to open our hearts,
to slow down,
to be grateful for the small things,
to just be,
to free ourselves from judgments and opinions,
to venture into the bright field of spirit.
A final thought :: Here's to strong women. Let us be them. Let us raise them. And let us love them. -Carol Capó
[Thanks to the mad photoshopping skills of Kathryn Ruth Schuth for this fantastic Johnny Depp/Four Word Self Help mashup]
