No rest for the living

Tzu Kung grew weary of study and told Confucius, "I want to find rest."

"There is no rest for the living."

"Than shall I never find it?"

"You shall look forward to the lofty and domed mound of your tomb and know where you shall find rest."

"Great is death! The gentleman finds rest in it, the mean man submits to it!"

"Tzu Kung, you have understood. All men understand the joy of being alive, but not its misery; the weariness of growing old but not its ease; the ugliness of death but not its repose."

How often do you allow negative thinking to shape how you view your circumstances? The main barriers to perceiving your life for what it is are the words you hear and use, the theories you hear, and the conditioning you have been given. In different settings, authority figures in charge have taught you what they think is acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Have you evolved in your own life experience to see beyond their prejudices?

For example, you have learned to work, to devote time and energy to a task or a cause. You have come to realisations about your physical, emotional and other limits. This usually happens when you surpass them and become injured or, when you overstep someone else's boundaries. Each of us has been trained to listen and interpret words. We all have to take in theories about what's acceptable in a given place at a given time with particular people. If you reflect on all this conditioning, how do you evolve to discern your truth? Do you ever rest?

At times, as you sort through your dilemmas, you may borrow answers from people as a strategy to resolve the matter, and move on faster to something else. Yet, over time, you may come to believe other ways of perceiving and judging are not your own, and be left unsatisfied. Thinking may enable this reality to reveal itself to you. At some point, your inner voice must go silent. At this time, you'll know no barriers to improving yourself and realize they never existed. Uncover the truth about your mindset in order to recognize why you head away when answers lie right here.

Not just a superficial exercise

Those people who dream of more sustainable living may be inspired by changes in business practices. For companies that sincerely care, this isn't just a superficial or short-term exercise.  Internal policies are changed and company culture evolves. Certain companies actively take steps to become more environmentally aware. This leads them to recognize the importance of developing more sustainable, eco-friendly practices, and to raise standards for staff and contractor behavior. This influences ecological company reputations and has been shown to positively shape their market shares. Two examples are Patagonia and Land's End which manufacture clothing. Consider some ways these companies have translated their eco-friendly mindset into positive environmental action.

1) They deepen their appreciation of the source. Patagonia launched its 2006-07 environmental campaign on oceans. The company goal is to raise global awareness of human connections to what lies under our seas. Patagonia research and fieldwork compares sea bottom fish-trawling to clear-cutting forests. The company catalogs, retail store and website images reflect 18 months spent with marine scientists, writers, surfers and fishermen, to learn and also teach customers inter-dependence between humans and marine environments is life-preserving. As Patagonia takes steps to translate appreciation of the world into business practices, this company inspires us to become better stewards of the oceans and other waterways.

2) They realize how dependent they are. Patagonia has evolved in its latest environmental campaign to raise awareness of ocean contamination. From plastics and wrappers you observe floating in the harbor to invisible pollutants under the surface, contamination poses a serious threat to marine environments we depend on to survive. Patagonia employees and executive participate in ocean clean-ups and recruit local people to teach them what they can proactively do to make a difference. Patagonia has also donated over 20 million dollars to grass roots environmental activism projects. These organisational projects were reviewed, deemed meaningful, and were otherwise unable to secure corporate or other funding.

3) They take steps to eliminate abuse and restore ecosystems. Land's End staff travel widely to locate partners that offer the best combination of quality, price and service. In developing standards for partners worldwide, Land's End adapts to diverse cultures, encourages workers to be proud of their work, and respect local environments. Compliance with high standards is a prerequisite for becoming and staying a business partner. If Lands' End determines a business partner has violated Standards of Business Conduct, and corrective measure aren't initiated, the business relationship ceases. New rules mean Land's End staff could arrive for unannounced environmental or employee practice evaluations. Land's End has evolved to view relationships with clients, contractors and environments very seriously.

The above examples prompt us all to rethink how well we know the environmental positions and business practices of companies we support. It's a case of reconnecting with the source of your consumption. Ask yourself where it comes from, why you chose it, and whether your beliefs and principles are compatible with your business choices. You're free to change. Its a question of developing critical thinking and environmental awareness.

An analysis of human nature

My first book invites readers to examine different facits of human nature. This is an approach to promote personal growth and improved health and well-being. I systematically explore select human emotions, ambitions and life experiences for the benefit of people who seek to better know themselves and make uplifting self-discoveries. If you choose to take the journey with me, you will simultaneously be on a journey to clarity and increased self-awareness.

Unbeknownst to you, reasons exist for why you make choices and actively or subconsciously shape your life experience. Whether or not you recognize what you're doing and why remains to be seen, doesn't it? Writing exercises can draw out parts of yourself which may have seemed dead or buried. What you may not know on a conscious level will be drawn out of your soul. Develop courage and join me.

How often do you question your range of abilities and the scope of your vision? It may be time to reframe your perception and invite other means of understanding into your life. Writing will serve a purpose you may not have expected. Feelings, a sense of grounding, what you think you know and experience, each only offer you a piece of a puzzle that I'll empower you to connect. If part of you yearns for a new sense of completeness, rest assured, you can learn what it takes to experience and develop this. Join me for a deeper analysis of your own human nature.

Move beyond seeing black & white

Narrow-minded people tend to perceive things as clearly black or white, good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable, based on a rigid standard or point of reference.  The ideas of attachment and detachment to what you experience greatly shape who you are and how you see your growth and fulfillment.

Ask yourself whether you or anyone you know defines happiness based on what they gain or lose.  Consider whether being too results-oriented may limit your self-view and understanding of the implications of praise or blame. Reflect on whether a lack of desired status or fame necessarily invites feelings of disgrace, low esteem, or lack of self-respect. Learn why you may have conditioned yourself to recognize and devalue opposition in people and things around you. What are the artificial distinctions based on? Who or what happened to generate or reinforce your attitude?

Take the example of modern wedding planning. At one end of the spectrum, individuals desire luxury, many guests, expensive gifts and gourmet meals. The organization and complexity of the affair can be daunting, and so can the pricetag. What causes people to develop expectations where they feel entitled or feel they must plan for ages to afford a lavish wedding? If this is a baseline, will growing desires and egos in each person ever really be fulfilled?

At another end of the spectrum, individuals celebrate their love differently with contentment and simplicity. They avoid extreme luxury and create a setting for companionship that doesn't produce emotions like attachment, pride, arrogance, or lead them to dwell on what they dislike. Internal thoughts of self-acceptance are nutured and developed. To gradually become less selfish and gain more respect for another, and how your behavior affects that person, is an attitude which nurtures love and compassion in a relationship and beyond.

No matter what your point of reference, and whether you're married or engaged, giving up attachment doesn't imply you must sever ties to everything and everyone you cherish. As you nurture desire for happiness in yourself and in others, you can learn to better understand your reasons for attachment and detachment to people and circumstances. What works or doesn't work begins inside. Learn to identify destructive beliefs that are purely self-serving. Remind yourself that progress can be partly defined by external, material things yet, improving yourself means inner development and self-awareness become inseparable from how you regard what you do in the outer world. Which of your actions are based on fallacies?

Grasp the scope of suffering

To connect more deeply with people, common Humanity, and to better understand thyself, it's useful to deepen understanding of the scope of suffering.  What types of suffering do you notice or overlook? How do you react? With emotion? Indifference? Compassion? Now what?

1) Mental & physical pain: This includes everything from the stubbed toe and toothache, back pain and arthritis, to discomfort and restlessness.  If you overindulge in something, like food, or exercise, you may know physical pain. Most people seek to medicate, to heal if possible, and to move beyond pain psychologically and otherwise. You may not know that believing in or dwelling on pain gives it life. What if pain is actually illusion that you devise, bring on or exaggerate? Notice what you observe, the story you tell. Do people magnify their sense of suffering to cling to the past or something else unreal? What about yourself?

2) Financial pain: You may find it easier to empathize with someone who experiences poverty than with someone living in apparent prosperity. Yet, suffering is a perception, state of mind, that can be linked to every condition. Why distinguish someone as being better off than another? Is this not a way to perpetuate illusion of separation and suffer yourself?

3) Emotional pain. Temporary pleasures have an underlying nature of pain or loss.  As you grasp nature of overuse and impermanence in anything you experience, you can gain insight into the power of resistence, temptation and the potential difficulty of adapting to what you have when it differs from what you desire. Dissatisfaction is a feeling you may find yourself grappling with on some level.  Notice when emotions control you and you, them.

4) Conditioned pain. People are constantly being influenced by cause, conditions, and events beyond their control. This kind of cycle can create a sense of suffering. You may become susceptible to undesirable experiences which alienate you and convince you that you must feel discomfort. You may also sense helplessness because you're unable to control the actions and reactions of other people.  Rather than take steps to control the uncontrollable, be open to gain insight into yourself.  Expand your awareness of suffering.

Consider the benefits of moving beyond a superficial understanding of suffering. Your sense of peace and contentment would not falter. As you interact with people then, you could imagine painful situations, and yet, not be controlled by them.  Instead, you remain grounded in  inner nature.   As you grasp meaning behind your actions, you'll effectively remove yourself from conditioning and expand how you see and connect with people.

Accept that suffering includes more than what you think you know.  As you expand your vision, you'll understand better suffering means more than what one has or has not.  Deficiency is a human invention.  Perception differs. We have much to unlearn.

"Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all." -George Lichtenberg