by Alan Briskin | I Heard It Like This..., Self Awareness, Spirituality
I Heard it Like This…
Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax.
HDR photography by Alan Briskin
TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESS
There are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness. These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano. We can practice them separately but when played together, we can make beautiful music.
(if you prefer to listen & meditate – there is approx. 30 seconds of silence after the bell, before Alan speaks again; but you can fast-forward if you don’t wish to meditate)
The fourth step is CULTIVATION. What are we cultivating? We are cultivating the capacity for moral sensitivity and judgment. Self awareness is advanced when we recognize that right action is not prescribed for us; it is a personal act of conscience grounded in understanding.
When we cultivate moral judgment, we are going beneath the surface of things to understand the interconnectedness of life. We are seeing beyond appearances or the simple duality of this or that. Moral sensitivity leads us to continually ask how we are being affected by others and how others are being affected by our thoughts and actions. By practicing this form of careful discernment, we become more decisive in our actions and better able to articulate the basis for our decisions.
by Alan Briskin | I Heard It Like This..., Self Awareness, Spirituality
I Heard it Like This…
Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax.
HDR photography by Alan Briskin
TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESS
There are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness. These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano. We can practice them separately but when played together, we can make beautiful music.
(if you prefer to listen & meditate – there is approx. 30 seconds of silence after the bell, before Alan speaks again; but you can fast-forward if you don’t wish to meditate)
The third step is INTENTION. What kind of intention? Intention that has a high regard for unselfishness. Often, we are unconscious of our own motives, going through our day reacting to people and events with habitual behavior. We smile at what amuses us and frown at what frustrates or annoys us. Certainly we pay attention to others, but not with any particular intention to listen, comfort, or care for them.
When we set our intention to be considerate of others, remarkable things can happen. Possibly it is in small steps, like letting someone go ahead of us in line or preparing a meal for a friend who is ill. Sometimes it can have larger consequences. I know a business executive who said his life was changed when he approached his staff with a “generosity of intent.” Setting an intention for unselfishness creates a tension, balancing our own needs and perspectives with the needs and perspectives of others. This tension makes us wake up to a higher purpose in life and becomes the ground from which we continue down the path of learning.
by Alan Briskin | I Heard It Like This..., Self Awareness, Spirituality
I Heard it Like This…
Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax.
HDR photography by Alan Briskin
TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESS
There are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness. These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano. We can practice them separately but when played together, we can make beautiful music.
(if you prefer to listen & meditate – there is approx. 30 seconds of silence after the bell, before Alan speaks again; but you can fast-forward if you don’t wish to meditate)
The second step is AFFECT. What kind of affect? Affect that has a bias toward pro social emotions such as kindness, understanding, joy, and curiosity. These are the positive emotions that warm us in pleasurable feelings and attract similar energies in others. These are not false or forced feelings, though they can be. Self awareness allows for choice and the choice to be curious, kind, understanding and joyful in the face of rigid certainty, meanness, confusion, and hatred is one of the most difficult we can make.
A choice for these positive emotions does not make us delusional or oppressively cheerful. Rather it deepens our self awareness and becomes a deliberate practice. When we practice putting forward pro social emotions in the face of pessimism or hostility or demonstrate curiosity and kindness facing head winds of destructive sentiment, then we are truly on a path toward wisdom.
by Alan Briskin | I Heard It Like This..., Self Awareness, Spirituality
I Heard it Like This…
Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax.
HDR photography by Alan Briskin
TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESS
There are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness. These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano. We can practice them separately but when played together, we can make beautiful music.
(if you prefer to listen & meditate – there is approx. 30 seconds of silence after the bell, before Alan speaks again; but you can fast-forward if you don’t wish to meditate)
The first step to increased self awareness is ATTENTION. What kind of attention? Attention to an inward watchfulness. When we practice this form of alert behavior, we bring awareness to the flow of feelings, thoughts, moods, fantasies, and sensations that lie within us.
Our interior is a kaleidoscope of mental, emotional, and spiritual activity constantly in flux. How can we be self aware if we do not honor this activity? As a single note on a scale, inwardness can be an act of self absorption but it is not a single note. It is part of a greater harmony.
by Alan Briskin | Leadership, Nature, Photography
hdr photography by Alan Briskin
March 27: In the Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle there is a front page story of how the Golden Gate National Recreation Area has been awarded three Stewardship Awards from the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a national organization.
They are being recognized for a partnership among public agencies and various stakeholders in creating “cultural landscapes” that are dynamic in nature and harbor beauty and historical meaning – “layers and layers of history, with our time putting down its own layer.”
The physical beauty and the visible element of human design is what distinguishes the outcome of this partnership. The physical sites include Muir Woods, Golden Gate Park, The San Francisco Presidio, and Crissy Field.
The planners were praised for their “mindfulness” and “the elegance of design, sustainability, intelligence of siting and an understanding of the continuum of nature and culture.”
Is this not an aspiration for leadership more generally? Is this not what stewardship might represent for a new generation of leaders?
My question, of course, is about how we can re-imagine both leadership and stewardship as ideas that go beyond simply having power over decisions or people, or conversely, being flunkies for invisible forces or simply for our own personal, financial and egoic gain.
Mindfulness, Elegance of Design, Sustainability, the intelligence of siting/sitting (reflecting) and an understanding of the continuum of nature and culture are powerful ways of describing both leadership and stewardship.
