Monday, February 21, 2011

The Sad Truth about Facebook Happiness

Compiled by Ashley Wells (Wisdom Quarterly)
Putting a brave face on Facebook: "I do think there's a potential hazard when people log online at times they're already feeling sad, if they don't recognize that the portrait of peers' lives they're receiving online can be as heavily edited as a television program" Caroline Purser (Irish Times).

Research suggests that browsing the seemingly happy lives of others on social-networking sites could contribute to feelings of unhappiness, writes Keith Duggan.

"Because they are exclusive, and fun, and they lead to a better life,” Mark Zuckerberg tells his (soon-to-be-ex) girlfriend in "Social Network," explaining why he wanted to crack the Harvard society clubs with his cyber invention that quickly transmogrified into Facebook.

One of the fascinations of the film lay in watching the dramatisation of its lightning growth from a geeky collegiate late-night experiment to its present role as the contact point hundreds of millions of us now switch on to as automatically as the previous generations did the television and the radio. More>>

“If we train our breathing, we can control our emotions -- that is, we can cope with the happiness and pain in our lives” (Buddhadasa Bhikkhu).

Improve your Health with How you Breathe
Delia Quigley (care2.com/GreenLiving)
Ever try to hold your breath until you turned blue? But before you would turn blue you would just pass out so your body could take a big suck of air and get back to living. Three minutes, that’s all it takes to rob the brain of enough oxygen to put you into the deep sleep. And yet it is common for people to unconsciously hold their breath for short periods throughout the day.

In a yoga or meditation practice your breath is the key that unlocks the door to the inner Self. It is called Prana, a Sanskrit word, which translates as both breath and life. Prana is the vital energy force that pervades our physical, mental, and spiritual bodies, keeping us alive and vibrant. It also pervades the entire universe.

I met a man once who told me how his quick temper had ruined his marriage and relationships with co-workers. Someone had suggested he try meditation to gain control over his emotions. What he found was that the angrier he became in a situation, the more his chest would tighten from holding his breath until he would explode with verbal or physical violence.

He began to focus his awareness on just breathing calmly. To his surprise, his heart rate would begin to slow, the tension in the pit of his stomach eased, and he could take a full, deep inhale, dissipating his anger.

Godfrey Devereux, in his book The Elements of Yoga, describes how there is no amount of flexibility, strength, stamina, or concentration that can compensate for breath that is repressed in the body. More>>

Tracing President Lincoln's Thoughts On Slavery

Abraham Lincoln always thought slavery was unjust — but struggled with what to do once slavery ended. Historian Eric Foner traces how Lincoln's thoughts about slavery — and freed slaves — mirrored America's own transformation in The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. ListenPlaylist

Her happiness is an inside job
Real Happiness
Los Angeles Times
When Sharon Salzberg returned to New York from her first trips to India in the 1970s, a crinkled cotton blouse was still exotic and people would politely sidle away from her at parties after she told them she taught meditation for a living. More>>

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