Team Arles

Our very good friend, best friend really, Arles received a kidney just over 16 years ago. Last year we decided to start doing the kidney walk in his honor. I think we "raised" a measly $50-100 - donated all by the two of us actually. I'm so happy to see that this year we are almost at $500!  Feels like this is really coming along. Maybe next year we can do even more. We are looking to make some t-shirts for our team this year as well. I'll post pics if/when that happens. :)

http://donate.kidney.org/site/TR/Walk/NorthTexas?pg=team&fr_id=4310&team_id=108592

Dinner...pics!

We haven't eaten the dinner yet, but here are the pictures of it in the almost-finished phase.  All that is left is to heat up the oven and throw everything in!

Looks tasty so far....

Dinner...a yummy Monday

Tonight's Pinterest-inspired meal...

Jalapeno Chicken
"Extreme" Brussel Sprouts
Twice-Baked Potatoes

Pictures to follow along with a little analysis of how it all went.

"I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman."
Anaïs Nin

 

 

This is hard to swallow some days. It forces me to get out of bed and be stronger than I thought I could be that day.

Meaning in Pain and Suffering

There are just so many things I want to write about The Art of Happiness that I almost didn't know where to start...until I read this section today. The Dalai Lama and Dr. Cutler discuss how people can get through emotional suffering. The Dalai Lama (DL for brevity purposes) talks about how we can transform our suffering into something else, something better for us. But first we have to accept that suffering is a part of life and a part of the body we were given. We must be able to reject the feeling that we are victims."...at that moment if you can look at the situation from another angle and realize that this very body...is the very basis of suffering, then this reduces that feeling of rejection - that feeling that somehow you don't deserve to suffer, that you are a victim. ...once you understand and accept this reality, then you experience suffering as something that is quite natural." (141) We must learn to accept that suffering is just a part of our existence, and to exist, we must suffer.

He then goes on and talks about Victor Frankel's idea that "man is ready and willing to shoulder any suffering as soon and as long as he can see a meaning in it." Finding purpose in your suffering will help you get through it.Buddhists and Hindus see suffering as something that will make us want to find spiritual liberation. Others may see it as a test or something that can bring us closer to God.

The Dalai Lama encourages the practice of Tong-Len. It is a practice where a person who is suffering will mentally imagine/visualize that his/her suffering is taking away that amount of pain and suffering from someone else. Then in turn, it is helping that other person gain positive things. It all really boils down to finding meaning in your suffering rather than just sitting around wallowing in it.

As I read this part of the book I recalled times I've been in physical or emotional pain or suffering. I wallowed in it. I want to try and take the idea of Tong-Len and use it to - as DL would recommend - expand my compassion and take control of suffering.