Author Archive for Diana

A Mindful Mom tries Kung-Fu, and lives to tell about it - Diana Winston

“We started with some shadow boxing. My half-hearted attempts to be aggressive were laughable even to me. But when we broke into pairs, that’s when I lost it. I can’t hit anyone. I’m a non-violent Buddhist. I’ve never swung a punch at anyone my whole life. How could I do this?”

Why Tina Fey is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency—Diana Winston

Since Tina Fey looks just like Sarah Palin, can do the accent and hand gestures to a tee, and is an excellent impersonator, let’s just swap the two. Besides, Sarah clearly stole the glasses idea from Tina.

Here are the 10 reasons Tina should be the next VP:

1. Tina is funny, Sarah is distinctly not. Times are scary and depressing; we need a comedienne in the White House.

The difference between being uninformed and being misinformed

A post in AlterNet on being attached to your views and changing other people’s minds…

A long time ago, Mark Twain told us: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Entwined in Twain’s train of thought, is an implicit — and important — distinction: the difference between being uninformed and being misinformed.

I’m Right! Right?—Diana Winston

And in Buddhist teaching, one major cause of suffering is our attachment to our opinions. We hold on, polarize, entrench, and separate ourselves from others. You might say attachment to views is the source of a lot of large scale planetary suffering, perhaps a root of the mess we’re in. So am I fostering more divisiveness by holding fast to my view? But if I don’t, will anything get accomplished?

Sarah and the baby—a shout out for feminism —Diana Winston

Suddenly, we have a woman—although utterly unqualified and clearly a media package with rock star charisma and medieval viewpoints—running for the second highest office in America with a baby on her shoulder.

It’s moving. It’s historic. It’s not about Sarah Palin.

Why Kelley Did Not Cause the Financial Crisis — Diana Winston

It is easy as conscious people to place the blame on ourselves. If we do that, we feel guilt, shame and disempowerment. The government wants us to feel bad. Then we don’t act. Deep understanding involves not only seeing our own part, but also recognizing the intricate web of conditions in which our part lies.

It is called structural violence if we blame ourselves when actually the system is at fault.

Why I can’t wait for the new Hand-Held Wireless Telephone: Prohibited Use – Vehicle Code 23123 to go into effect. — Diana Winston

I can’t wait for the new law to go into effect because my mindfulness has been seriously at risk thanks to using my cell phone in my car.

Alice and Rebecca Walker Clash: Do Feminist Mothers Have to Choose Between Dreams and Diapers?

What I take issue with, and I am not alone, is Rebecca’s black and white take on mothering — there is her mother, the selfish careerist, and then there is her, the new mom who argues that all that should matter to a young woman with children is “a happy family.” What happened to the self-preserving and child-loving in between?

Can Teens Meditate? Diana Winston

In this Teen Day of Mindfulness, one boy said, “I have been really upset since my girlfriend broke up with me this week. I noticed that if I just focused on my breath, I didn’t have to think about her. Every time my thoughts went there, I just returned to my breath. I felt less messed up than I have all week. That’s amazing.”

Handling a Moment of Peace - Diana Winston

A few years ago our center piloted a small study on mindfulness and ADD and found mindfulness to be remarkably helpful for those struggling with attention issues. So by phone, I recommended she start on a basic program to meditate daily, beginning with just five minutes a day.

Mindfulness is not neutral. Diana Winston

Mindfulness is a matter of remembering to be mindful, and then shifting our attention to a more receptive and open state where we’re fully present with things exactly as they are. But what happens when you’re fully present as you’re committing a bank robbery?