C'est à mon avis le point qui n'a pas, volontairement ou non, été abordé par le prestigieux panel qui a animé cette conférence au demeurant fort intéressante.

Xavier Bertrand, Raymond Boudon, Roberto Frega, Christophe Lambert, Matthieu Ricard, Thierry Saussez, Henri Weber avec comme animateur le journaliste Jacques Hébert, voici qui promettait des échanges riches autour de la question du rôle de l'opinion publique.

C'est devant un amphithéâtre comble que la conférence démarre avec quelques minutes du retard du fait du Ministre "que l'on espère ne pas être en pleine négociation avec Laurence Parisot" indique non sans humour Jacques Hébert.

Raymond Boudon lance les hostilités en faisant référence à Adam Smith et au principe de "sagesse de l'opinion". Chacun est censé évaluer une situation à l'aune de son "bon sens" et se dessine ainsi une opinion publique impartiale. L'analyse est tempérée et assortie d'exemples et d'une pointe d'humour. Un vrai bonheur.

Et là, c'est le drame ;-)

Le débat a en effet, à mon avis, un peu dévié par la suite pour ne plus considérer l'opinion publique que sous l'angle politique. Il faut dire qu'avec un Ministre, un député, un conseiller au Président et un membre de la commission Attali, le risque était élevé que cela arrive !

Et c'est là qu'au delà des points de vue exprimés, tous marqués par la qualité des intervenants qui ont l'art de s'attirer les bonnes grâces de leur audience, il m'est apparu qu'on nous prenait quand même un peu pour des buses... bref, que l'opinion publique, toute titanesque ou tyrannique qu'elle soit, se faisait encore enfimanipu-ler !

En effet, comment écouter sans sourciller deux publicitaires et deux hommes politiques vous expliquer qu'ils sont les "victimes" de cette opinion publique toute puissante qui leur dicte leur conduite et contre laquelle ils parviennent parfois, grâce à des efforts surhumains et au dépens de leur vie, à imposer leurs idées (vous savez, nous avons eu bien du mérite à imposer l'abolition de la peine de mort ma bonne dame!).

Ainsi de nous expliquer que les deux candidats à la dernière élection présidentielle seraient les premiers à avoir été imposés par l'opinion CONTRE les partis. C'est, je pense, faire bien peu de cas des candidats eux-mêmes et des formidables machines de communication mises en place par l'un et l'autre pour au contraire façonner "l'opinion publique" et forcer la main aux appareils politiques.

Hommes politiques, publicitaires et médias ont intérêt à promouvoir une opinion publique désincarnée qui représenterait le bons sens et contre laquelle il n'est possible que d'avoir tort. Ce sont en effet eux qui bien souvent lui donne vie et lui prête une "opinion" justement.

Alors bien sûr, le propos était plus nuancé. Xavier Bertrand a versé quelques larmes sur le peu de possibilité que lui donnait les médias de faire de la pédagogie. Jacques Hébert a regretté que sur les 3 000 infos qui inondent les rédactions chaque jour la presse écrite ne puisse en reprendre que 300 et la télé que 30 (il faudra quand même m'expliquer alors comment le sabotier de Saint-Ploucdu-sur-Flotte a réussi a damer le pion aux victimes d'exactions au Népal en conf de rédac'). Et Christophe Lambert a déploré (lui le pro de la com') les erreurs de communication dont a été victime le rapport Attali.

Le sentiment demeure que la vraie question aurait dû très vite devenir comment, à touche plus ou moins nuancée, ces professionnels de l'opinion publique arrivent à lui donner les couleurs qui leur siéent. Mais demande-t-on à un illusionniste venu discourir sur les phénomènes paranormaux de nous expliquer ses trucs ?

P.S : un mot quand même sur les interventions du moine bouddhiste et traducteur officiel du Dalaï-Lama, Matthieu Ricard. Il est toujours un peu déstabilisant de confronter les enjeux qui animent une conférence comme celle d'hier et ceux qui animent sa vie au quotidien... vous avez dit frivole ?

1. NCCAM report citing Antoine Lutz's 2008 PLosOne article. NCCAM site; Lutz article HERE

2. Tania Singer: a. The neuronal basis and ontogeny of empathy and mind reading: Review of literature and implications for future research; NaBR, 2006 article HERE; b. Empathy for Pain Involves the Affective but not Sensory Components of Pain - Science, 2004 article HERE

Tania states: "We propose two major roles for empathy; its epistemological role is to provide information about the future actions of other people, and important environmental properties. Its social role is to serve as the origin of the motivation for cooperative and prosocial behavior, as well as help for effective social communication."

3. Hein and Singer: I feel how you feel but not always: the empathic brain and its
modulation;article HERE

CLARIFICATION NOTE: Empathy is the capacity to recognize or understand another's state of mind or emotion. It is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another's shoes", or to in some way experience the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself. It is important to note that empathy does not necessarily imply compassion. Empathy can be 'used' for compassionate or cruel behavior.

Emotional Contagion: The tendency to express and feel emotions that are similar to and influenced by those of others. One view of the underlying mechanism is that it represents a tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize facial expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements with those of another person and, consequently, to converge emotionally (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1994). see WIKI

Sympathy: the recognition of another's suffering; making known one's understanding of another's unhappiness or suffering

Compassion: Profound human emotion prompted by the pain of others. More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering. It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the social context as altruism

From Wiki: "Compassion or karuna is at the transcendental and experiential heart of the Buddha's teachings. He was reputedly asked by his secretary, Ananda, "Would it be true to say that the cultivation of loving kindness and compassion is a part of our practice? To which the Buddha replied, "No. It would not be true to say that the cultivation of loving kindness and compassion is part of our practice. It would be true to say that the cultivation of loving kindess and compassion is all of our practice." See WIKI

Schadenfreude: Enjoyment taken from the misfortune of someone else

Tania and her imaging lab has been looking at these components of emotion in experienced, long-term meditators like Matthieu Ricard

El Tantra de Kalachacra es la vía más esotérica del misticismo Tibetano. “Kalachakra” significa “Rueda del tiempo” y representa los ciclos de la existencia bajo el "río de la continuidad” (Tantra). Su Santidad Dalai Lama suele iniciar el proceso creador del Kalachakra, y es una expresión del deseo por promover un estado de paz y armonía en el individuo y en toda la humanidad.

Werner Herzog es un creador polifacético: director, guionista, actor, productor… Antes de comenzar su reconocida obra “Grizzly Man”, viajó a Bodh Gaya, en India, justo donde se encuentra la higuera en la que Buda “logró” la iluminación. Allí se iba a impartir el siguiente Kalachakra. Werner quería plasmar en imágenes esta experiencia, tras haber obtenido el permiso por parte de Su Santidad Dalai Lama para la filmación de algunas partes del ritual.

Más de medio millón de peregrinos habían recorrido cientos, miles de kilómetros para acudir a la cita con Su Deidad. Hubo un caso, que muestra “La rueda del tiempo”, de un peregrino que había tardado tres años en llegar: había avanzado miles de kilómetros sólo postrándose. Las personas, al ver su esfuerzo, le habían ayudado durante el camino. Tenía una cicatriz en la frente, en la zona en que había tocado el suelo cada vez que se postraba; cientos de miles de postraciones. A pesar de que -tras tal inimaginable esfuerzo- sería comprensible que mostrara señales de cansancio, su apariencia es serena; satisfecho por haber cumplido su sueño: ser testigo y parte de las enseñanzas del Kalachakra. En otro lugar se encuentran otro grupo de fieles realizando postraciones sin avanzar. Su meta está en realizar cien mil; tardarán semanas; meses, quizás. Una muchedumbre de harapientos contempla el ir y venir de los monjes, extendiendo sus débiles manos a la espera de recibir alguna dádiva en forma de dinero o comida.

Lamentablemente el Dalai Lama no puede realizar todas las tareas propias de su condición, dado su debilitado estado de salud. Aún así, se persona en Bodh Gaya ante la multitud que espera sus palabras. Sin embargo, como se refleja en el documental, Su Santidad no tiene fuerzas para la labor exhausta que ha de acometer, y así lo manifiesta. Su mirada en esos instantes -captada en primer plano por la cámara de Werner Herzog- expresa su dolor y su malestar por fallar ante tales gestos de entrega de cientos de miles de personas.

En esos instantes, el Dalai contempla a sus fieles, que a su vez le observan mudos, expectantes, esperando con esperanza que todos sus esfuerzos se vean recompensados con la presencia activa de Su Santidad... y el Dalai los observa. Y está a punto de expresarse ante el micrófono, pero algo le hace desistir de emplear palabras... Enmudece.

En el siguiente Kalachakra, en Graz, Austria, Werner Herzog acude con su cámara para filmar a Su Santidad realizando en plenitud sus funciones; entre otras, trazando la primera recta del mandala, el cual acabará -tras ser visto por los asistentes- convertido de nuevo en polvo, como símbolo del desapego material y de la transitoriedad de todo lo manifestado. En esta ocasión, el director tiene la oportunidad de realizar una entrevista al Dalai Lama, quien se muestra, como es usual en él, en una actitud relajada y sonriente mientras va desgranando la esencia del significado de los mandalas y sus dioses; en especial, el hecho de que el mandala interior -el estado previo a la ejecución- es la razón de ser y la meta de lo que será luego un detalladísimo y laberíntico dibujo de arena. (Un ejemplo de mandala kalachakra lo podeis ver aquí)

Junto al Dalai Lama aparecen personalidades como Takna Jigme Zangpo un maestro de escuela que ha pasado treinta y siete años en prisión por cuestiones políticas; los últimos ocho años le fueron añadidos a su condena cuando gritó "tibet libre" durante una visita del embajador suizo a la prisión. En esta entrevista hace de traductor el asesor personal del Dali Lama: el conocido monje budita, escritor y fotógrafo, Matthieu Ricard.

Una obra filmada en formato cinematográfico, neutral, donde Werner Herzog plasma -con su original visión de los pequeños detalles y los planos fijos- su espíritu afín a la búsqueda interior del misterio humano.

Promoción en versión original

*Todas las imágenes, extraídas del documental*

FICHA TÉCNICA

TITULO ORIGINAL: Rad der Zeit

DIRECTOR: Werner Herzog

GUION: Werner Herzog

FOTOGRAFIA: Meter Zeitlinger

AÑO: 2003

DURACIÓN: 81 min.

PRODUCCIÓN: Werner Herzog

FORMATO: 1.85:1

Otros documentales recomendados:

ZEITGEIST- Tu vida tiene valor

MENTES BRILLANTES (living luminaries)

EL GRAN SILENCIO

EL GUERRERO PACIFICO

GRIZZLY MAN- El viaje de un "guerrero amable"

]]> http://thehostess.wordpress.com/?p=1161 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:24:11 +0000 thehostess http://thehostess.wordpress.com/?p=1161

... and you can learn how he does it, says academic-turned-Buddhist monk

(Independent.co.uk) To scientists, he is the world's happiest man. His level of mind control is astonishing and the upbeat impulses in his brain are off the scale.

Now Matthieu Ricard, 60, a French academic-turned-Buddhist monk, is to share his secrets to make the world a happier place. The trick, he reckons, is to put some effort into it. In essence, happiness is a "skill" to be learned.

His advice could not be more timely as tomorrow Britain will reach what, according to a scientific formula, is the most miserable day of the year. Tattered new year resolutions, the faded buzz of Christmas, debt, a lack of motivation and the winter weather conspire to create a peak of misery and gloom.

But studies have shown that the mind can rise above it all to increase almost everyone's happiness. Mr Ricard, who is the French interpreter for Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, took part in trials to show that brain training in the form of meditation can cause an overwhelming change in levels of happiness.

MRI scans showed that he and other long-term meditators - who had completed more than 10,000 hours each - experienced a huge level of "positive emotions" in the left pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which is associated with happiness. The right-hand side, which handles negative thoughts, is suppressed.

Further studies have shown that even novices who have done only a little meditation have increased levels of happiness. But Mr Ricard's abilities were head and shoulders above the others involved in the trials.

"The mind is malleable," Mr Ricard told The Independent on Sunday yesterday. "Our life can be greatly transformed by even a minimal change in how we manage our thoughts and perceive and interpret the world. Happiness is a skill. It requires effort and time."

Mr Ricard was brought up among Paris's intellectual elite in the 1960s, but after working for a PhD in biochemsitry he abandoned his distinguished academic career to study Tibetan Buddhism in the Himalayas.

A book of philosophical conversations he conducted with his father Jean-François Revel, The Monk and the Philosopher, became an unlikely publishing phenomenon when it came out in France in the late 1990s.

Mr Ricard is to publish his book Happiness for the first time in the UK next month.

Bring to your mind a past occasion of inner joy and happiness," writes Matthieu Ricard in his new book Happiness: A Guide To Developing Life's Most Important Skill. "Recall how you felt. Consider the lasting effect this experience has had on your mind, and how it still nourishes a sense of fulfilment."

"Now this," I tell Ricard, "was the point where I started to run into trouble. However long I worked at this meditation exercise, the memory that kept coming back to me was of the evening in May 1999 when I was sitting in the Nou Camp in Barcelona, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the injury-time goal that won the Champions' League for Manchester United."

"I would suggest that what you experienced that night was elation. And elation is not really what we mean by happiness. It would be an interesting experiment for you to relive that night, and assess what you actually gained from it."

"You're right," I tell him, remembering how, once the euphoria had worn off, I was left contemplating the same void that has been described by countless sports fans, from Frederick Exley, author of the classic A Fan's Notes, to Doug Stanhope, American comedian and follower of the Boston Red Sox.

"When I woke up the next morning," I tell him, "my head still ached, I was still working for a magazine editor who loathed me, and my laptop was still broken. Now that I come to think about it, Manchester United had done absolutely nothing for me."

"Because elation is a transient thing - not true spiritual fulfilment."

"But if I achieve spiritual fulfilment, will I lose interest in going to Old Trafford?"

"Absolutely not. That's one of the mistakes people make: that a serene, balanced mind is a dull mind. I love football."

Matthieu Ricard, French translator and right-hand man for the Dalai Lama, has been the subject of intensive clinical tests at the University of Wisconsin, as a result of which he is frequently described as the happiest man in the world. It's a somewhat flattering title, he says, given the tiny percentage of the global population who have had their brain patterns monitored by the same state-of-the-art technology, which involves attaching 256 sensors to the skull, and three hours' continuous MRI scanning. The fact remains that, out of hundreds of volunteers whose scores ranged from +0.3 (what you might call the Morrissey zone) to -0.3 (beatific) the Frenchman scored -0.45. He shows me the chart of volunteers' results, on his laptop. To find Ricard, you have to keep scrolling left, away from the main curve, until you eventually find him - a remote dot at the beginning of the x-axis.

"It's true," he concedes, "that I was well outside the normal parameters."

As a young man, Matthieu Ricard, 60, was regarded as one of the most promising biologists of his generation. He completed a starred PhD at the Institut Pasteur under the supervision of Nobel prize-winner François Jacob, but abandoned his scientific career in 1972, when he moved to Darjeeling. There, he devoted himself to studying under Kangyur Rinpoche, a Tibetan master in the Nyingma tradition: the most ancient school of Buddhism. He has been a monk, and celibate, since he was 30. Ricard still lives at the Schechen Monastery in Nepal.

All proceeds from his books go to funding hospitals and schools in Tibet - which makes it feel barely appropriate that we should be meeting in a large apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, an area roughly comparable to Mayfair. The monk explains that the flat - sparsely decorated with Tibetan artwork, and pictures of the Dalai Lama - belongs to a wealthy philanthropist who has moved to the country. Before I met Ricard, who greeted me in his maroon robes, I confess to having harboured some scepticism about his good works. But within minutes of speaking to him, I can tell that the $30m mansion in Malibu, where he secretly retires to snort cocaine off the thighs of Lithuanian hookers, in the tradition of innumerable TV evangelists, cannot conceivably exist. In the foreword to Happiness, the psychologist Dr Daniel Goleman describes how a three-hour wait at an airport "sped by in minutes, due to the sheer pleasure of Matthieu's orbit" - a phrase which had made me faintly nauseous when I first read it. Now, it seems to make perfect sense. Ricard exudes a sense of tranquillity, kindness and - surprisingly enough - humour.

Versatility has been the keynote in his life. An outstanding goalkeeper in his youth, Matthieu Ricard also enjoys an international reputation as a photographer, and was lauded by Cartier-Bresson. He shows me pictures he's taken of the idyllic view from his hermitage. Having myself been described by Private Eye as "journaliste misérable" - harshly I think, given that, of the "84,000 negative emotions" described in Buddhist teaching, there are at least a dozen that I haven't yet experienced - I feel obliged to concede to Ricard that I may have something to learn from him.

"On the other hand," I ask the monk, "how hard is it to be happy when you live on a mountainside with breathtaking views of the Himalayas, where your only concern is polishing your wind chimes? What if you had my life, living in the shadow of the new Arsenal stadium, the streets crowded with vengeful Cockney van drivers, the supermarkets staffed by cashiers who pass on the oppression of their wretched existence by drumming their fingers and flinging goods down the checkout at a speed that would have tested Peter Schmeichel in his prime? Not that I'm saying you'd be any happier where I grew up in Manchester, where two of my three uncles have been fired at with Uzis..."

"What," Ricard interrupts, "is an Uzi?"

"It's a machine gun."

"Ah." The monk pauses. "I understand what you're saying. I believe that, if I had to live where you live, I could. By choice, I would not move there. But if you allow exterior circumstances to determine your state of mind, then of course you will suffer; you become like a sponge, or like a chameleon. I have lived in difficult areas. I lived in Old Delhi for almost a year. That really is a miserable place. And yet sometimes I felt so light there. It was like - how can I put this - different weather."

Happiness is a remarkable book, untainted by the pretentious tone of many works that offer life-enhancing advice - even if one of the reviews quoted on its first page praises Matthieu Ricard for locating "the chambers of the mind where serenity resides". ("In the wardrobe of my soul," I can hear the late Vivian Stanshall singing. "In the section labelled 'Shirts'.")

Developing happiness, Ricard argues, is a skill. Most people exist like beggars, "unaware of the treasure buried beneath their shack". We can develop our potential as if "polishing a nugget" and eventually (omega) achieve happiness, "like a bird soaring into the sky when his cage is opened".

Ricard's book exudes inspiration and intelligence, qualities embodied in its author. Even so, I tell him, one line that resonates with me is a quotation from the critic Dominique Noguez, who argues that misery is more interesting than contentment: "Because it has a seductive intensity, and the attraction of always leaving something to anticipate: happiness."

"What other things," Ricard asks now, "make you happy?"

"I don't know... a half case of Jaboulet's Parallèle 45 Côtes du Rhône with friends, over prawn dhansak..."

"What you're describing is a lull; a calm in the storm. You have to identify what it is in that situation that makes you happy. It's as though you're making a journey, and you look in your rucksack to find it half filled with provisions, half with stones. You need to take out the stones and put in more provisions."

"More wine?"

"No. What I'm saying is that these interludes - of alcohol, or physical exercise - give a hint of what life could be like, if you changed the balance of your mind, instead of altering external circumstances." A laboratory rat, he says, given access to a "pleasure bar" that stimulates euphoria in the brain, will keep pressing the lever until it dies of starvation.

Ricard is a highly unusual figure in that - by contrast with the unquestioning, some would say credulous, nature of many believers - he has brought the scientific rigour of his early life to his faith: first in the form of his translations of texts from Tibetan (the language in which he normally communicates) then, more recently, in his contribution to the question of whether science can accurately map an individual's mental equilibrium.

He was assessed in a programme headed by the cognitive scientist Professor Richard K Davidson, principal of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Davidson is one of the world's leading investigators in the field of neuroplasticity: the comparatively recent discovery that the brain is constantly evolving in response to experience, and that such evolution can be represented in a scan, then quantified.

"The relationship between the left and right cortex of the brain can be measured," says Ricard, "and the relationship between them faithfully represents the subject's temperament." Heightened activity on the left, he says, is associated with pleasant emotions; bias to the right indicates negativity and depression.

"In these tests," he explains, "all the meditators were outside the standard curve. Statistically, they fell into in a tight, well-defined group. Even though they came from different backgrounds: a Tibetan nomad, a young French boy, an academic. They all came in a cluster. That's the point. If it was just me, it could have been a fluke."

"Isn't there an inherited predisposition to gloom?"

"It's true that a difference in mental balance can be demonstrated in children aged two. So now you're going to ask, what's the point? It's this: the important thing with mind training - probably a more useful term than meditation - is that you change your own base line. This is very different from the temporary sensation of feeling good that you might experience when you watch a Marx Brothers film. What you have to do is raise that base line."

Matthieu Ricard was born into a family that could hardly have been better-connected. His mother, Yahne Le Toumelin - who has become a Buddhist nun herself - is an abstract artist, praised by André Breton in his 1957 study, Surrealism and Painting. His father, Jean-François Revel, who died last year, was one of France's most celebrated philosophical authors and journalists. Matthieu attended the private Parisian Lycée Janson-de-Sailly; fellow alumni include Jean Gabin, Valerie Giscard d'Estaing and Lionel Jospin. He was 16 when he first had lunch with Stravinsky.

His father was less than delighted when Matthieu (influenced by films on Tibetan Buddhism, made by his friend Arnaud Desjardins) abandoned his studies and left for India. In 1998, father and son published a series of dialogues, The Monk and the Philosopher, which sold almost 500,000 copies in France, and is one of the most brilliantly informative works of modern philosophy ever written.

Happiness, a more accessible book, contains simple exercises designed to help the reader achieve the same sort of composure that radiates from Ricard himself. "Anger," he says, "is a destructive emotion, which reduces us to puppets."

"Have you never lost it?"

"Occasionally," Ricard says. "In the 1980s I got my first laptop. I used it to translate Tibetan texts. A friend tossed flour on to the keyboard, as a joke. When he saw I was really angry, he said: 'One moment of anger can destroy years of patience.'" Psychological studies, Ricard argues, "contradict the notion that giving free rein to the emotions relieves bottled-up tension."

"Staying with laptop rage," I tell him, "I had an Apple that was constantly crashing. In the end, I took it into the back garden and kicked it to pieces." Like my friend Ralph Steadman who recently put a pickaxe through his fax machine, I explain, I felt much better for it. "Then with my next laptop - a Toshiba whose screen was forever whiting out - I tried to do the right thing. I posted it with a civil letter to Mr Walker at Toshiba's PR company. He never returned the machine, or replied to my subsequent correspondence. This has left me subject to feelings of real loathing towards Mr Walker, which can surface at any time of the night or day. Are you absolutely sure that mindless vandalism can never be good?"

"I think this is an example where cognitive therapy could be very good for you," Ricard replies. "Your problem is that you imagine Mr Walker had something against you personally. The truth is that he had (omega) nothing against you at all. He was probably overworked. If something is not going to happen, you have to leave it at peace. Let it go."

"I know you had another laptop stolen not so long ago, when you were travelling in India."

"I didn't feel aggrieved at all," Ricard says, adding that his only regret was that he hadn't been able to send the thief the power lead.

But where does such passivity lead, I ask Ricard, in less trivial circumstances?

"Let's say, for the sake of argument," I continue, "that you live in a country governed by a man who has betrayed every principle he ever professed to believe in, who habitually lies, who has sent innocent citizens to die in illegal combat he wouldn't choose to engage in himself, and who accepts the hospitality of at least one world leader who is shamelessly corrupt. What's the correct response to that behaviour?"

"To expose it," says Ricard. "It's important to have a desire for honesty and truth. But in a practical way. Not through hatred."

"To take a well-worn example: if you'd found yourself armed and alone in a room with Hitler at Berchtesgaden in 1937..."

"I'd have shot him, certainly. If there was no other way. Because it would have alleviated greater suffering. Somebody once asked the Dalai Lama what he'd do if someone came in wanting to murder everyone in the room. He replied: 'I'd begin by shooting at his legs. If that didn't work, I'd move up to his head.'"

"He has a sense of irony, then."

"He does."

"Does he watch the Marx Brothers too?"

"He doesn't have to. His life is so full of humour. Although I think he used to watch Mash."

My own limited knowledge of Buddhism, I tell Ricard, relates to the life of Chogyam Trungpa, who was one of Allen Ginsberg's mentors. Trungpa, who died of cirrhosis in 1982 aged 48, was responsible for helping to popularise the religion in Britain. A notorious alcoholic and philanderer whose spiritual reputation suffered a public setback when, drunk at the wheel of his sports car, he crashed into a joke shop on the outskirts of Dumfries. Just as Christianity is symbolised by the crucifixion, for me, until now, just the mention of Buddhism has evoked the image of a robed figure lying semi-conscious among pieces of dashboard, whoopee cushions and chattering teeth.

"Trungpa was extremely unconventional, as you suggest. He never tried to hide his behaviour. I never met him. I would not take him as my teacher."

The fundamentally unconfrontational philosophy of Buddhism, Ricard says, will triumph in the end.

"If you have a society of selfish people, combined one-to-one with altruistic people, theoretically the altruists should be wiped out. But altruists can co-operate. Which gives them a strong advantage. That is the cause of hope."

"Hope's the right word, because I don't see the world getting any better."

"It may look that way on the news," Ricard replies, "but every serious study indicates a decrease in the number of deaths in armed conflict. At the time of Napoleon, the Spanish took French soldiers and nailed them between planks. It was the most terrible death."

"Fair enough, but... they were French."

"They were..." Ricard extinguishes the hint of a smile. "The point is that I do believe there is an increased tendency towards compassion."

"In Baghdad?"

"Every conflict has its source in hatred. Once the forest is on fire, you're not dealing with how to extinguish the spark. Of course you can't go and teach meditation in the midst of genocide, say. But in the future, perhaps we can shift people's thinking to discourage such developments. People don't blow themselves up for no reason. Changes of mind build slowly, out of discontent, greed and neglect. These things have to be addressed before hatred is fully blown."

Like the Dalai Lama himself, Ricard says, he is an ardent follower of the BBC World Service, and BBC News 24.

And yet watching live reportage is hardly conducive to happiness. When, I ask Ricard - it's a question which, as I confess to him, makes me squirm slightly, but I don't think it's irrelevant in this context - did he last weep?

"I cried recently because of... what was it? I remember it was an item on the television news, about people who had suffered a lot. I believe it had to do with abuse. I cried for a long time."

We talk for two or three hours, into the early evening. I'm struck by how much better-known Ricard might have become had he applied his wit to his father's trade, in philosophy and journalism; and how much more impressive he'd have been than France's best-known contemporary intellectual, Bernard-Henri Lévy. Lévy, who has proved more susceptible than most to the charm of his own ego, recently claimed to have developed stigmata, and last year received his seventh cream pie in the face from the Belgian Nöel Godin, who has made it his life's work to subvert the immaculately preened thinker.

As it is, there's only one moment in our conversation when Ricard risks his karma by addressing current affairs in a waspish spirit. It happens when I ask him if he has even been tempted to write political articles.

"I have. Because you turn on the radio, and you hear Jeb Bush saying he is suspending capital punishment for a month because it took one man 20 minutes to die. And then you hear [Socialist presidential candidate] Ségolène Royal say: 'I admire Chinese justice because it is swift.' Well, she's right there. For sure," says Ricard, who has spent much of his life attempting to repair the consequences of that nation's brutal assaults on Tibet. "Chinese justice. It's swift."

By the time I leave, he has persuaded me of the benefits to be gained from forgiving my enemies - and I think I can forgive them, with the possible exceptions of Mr Walker and that bouncer at the Borderline.

And yet, I tell him, I know that, in terms of happiness, my nugget remains unpolished, my bird still caged.

"And as for the treasure buried under my shack - I'm not even sure I remember where my shack is. Apart from working with the meditation exercises in Happiness, what should I do next?"

"There's a programme called MBSR: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at Massachusetts University. They have produced a range of excellent tapes. But ultimately, it's how your mind relates to the world that determines whether you're miserable or not. You have to ask yourself: is my happiness dependent on other people?"

It's dark by the time I leave Ricard's borrowed apartment. Walking back into the streets of the city feels like re-entering another reality, a bit like coming out of a cinema to find that night has fallen. I have an appointment with a French journalist friend at a brasserie in north-eastern Paris. During the evening, a fellow diner who has clearly been pulling on the rat pleasure bar - which, in his case, takes the form of half litres of Stella Artois with Armagnac chasers - for a number of hours, makes the bold but mistaken decision to launch into solo renditions of anthems in praise of Olympique de Marseille. An ugly confrontation ensues, involving supporters of Paris Saint Germain.

I wonder if Matthieu Ricard would have sought to intervene in the ensuing fracas, at the height of which I'd guess that the Marseille supporter, had he been asked whether his happiness depended on other people, would have had a word or two to say. I couldn't ask Ricard about this because he was across town, finessing his Tibetan aid programme. If he had been here, I'm sure this remarkable man would have thought of something. That said, I think even Ricard would acknowledge that - contagious though his patience, compassion and serenity are - it may be some time before they are espoused quite so enthusiastically by the wider world.

From, The Independent by Robert Chalmers, February 18 2007- Article Link

"How many times have you thought: I just want to be happy?

Since the time of Aristotle humans have been trying to find the key to happiness, and how we can be happier. More than 35,000 books have been published on the topic, and it's been the subject of numerous TV shows, movies and motivational seminars.

Now the pursuit of happiness has become the subject of serious scientific study, and the results show there are some simple things we can all do to make ourselves even happier." <about>

"Positive psychology is a recent branch of psychology that "studies the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive." Positive psychologists seek "to find and nurture genius and talent," and "to make normal life more fulfilling,"not to cure mental illness. Martin Seligman is considered to be "the father of positive psychology."

Several humanistic psychologists—such as Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Erich Fromm—developed successful theories and practices that involved human happiness, despite a lack of solid empirical evidence at the time behind their work, and especially that of their successors, who chose to emphasize phenomenology and individual case histories. Recently the theories of human flourishing developed by these humanistic psychologists have found empirical support from studies by humanistic and positive psychologists, especially in the area of self-determination theory." <wiki>

Watch Video: How to be Happy

Related Post: On Happiness

The most common term used to find OpenLearning.wordpress.com :

"Harvard's crowded course to happiness: 'Positive psychology' draws students in droves" (Boston Globe) link

An ihrem Platz liegt ein dickes Buch mit Weisheiten für jeden Tag, namens

"Die Weisheit des Buddhismus Tag für Tag", in dem ich gern blättere.

Ich möchte nun eine neue Kategorie  öffen, in die ich meine Lieblingszitate ( unabhängig vom Tag ) veröffentliche.

Fang ich mal an:

"Der Neid und die Eifersucht gehen aus der grundlegenden Unfähigkeit hervor, sich an Glück oder dem Erfolg anderer zu freuen."

[Matthieu Ricard]

Al encontrarme esta frase, inmediatamente he pensado en Jaume Sanllorente y sus Sonrisas de Bombay..., él que vive en el lado de la pobreza nos habla de la felicidad que allí se siente.  Nos dicen que la felicidad está en el interior de nosotros mismos, me pregunto si será más fácil encontrarla cuando no tenemos con que distraernos en el exterior...

En defensa de la felicidad es un libro escrito por Matthieu Ricard, interesante saber lo que dice teniendo en cuenta que ostenta el titulo de hombre más feliz del planeta:

"No se trata de decidir ver la vida en rosa de un día para otro, sino de trabajar sistemáticamente en debilitar esos músculos de infelicidad que tanto hemos fortalezido creyéndonos víctimas del pasado, de los padres o del entorno y paralelamente, comenzar a ejercitar los músculos mentales que nos hacen absoluta y directamente responsables de nuestra felicidad"

Algunas ideas:

• Alegría,
• Está dentro de cada uno de nosotros. Sólo hay que mirar en nuestro interior, encontrarla y transmitirla
  Conflictos de pareja,
• Podemos minimizarlos, muy difícil pelearse con alguien que no busca la confrontación
  Deterioro físico,
• Hay que aprender a valorarlo positivamente, aprender a entenderlo como el principio de una nueva vida y no el principio del fin
  Familia,
• Requiere el esfuerzo constante de cada uno de sus miembros, siendo generosos y reduciendo nuestro nivel de exigencia
  Felicidad,
• Si la buscamos en el sitio equivocado, estaremos convencidos de que no existe cuando no la encontremos allí
  Identidad,
• No se trata de la imagen que tenemos de nosotros mismos, ni tampoco la que proyectamos. Es nuestra naturaleza más profunda, ésa que nos hace ser buenos y cariñosos con quienes nos rodean
  Muerte,
• Forma parte de la vida, rebelarse es ir contra la propia naturaleza de la existencia. Sólo hay un camino: aceptarla
  Relaciones sociales,
• Es más fácil estar de buen humor que discutir y enfadarse. Lo ideal es seguir siendo como somos y utilizar siempre que podamos la franqueza y la amabilidad
  Soledad,
• Existe una manera de no sentirse abandonado, percibiendo a todos los hombres como parte de nuestra familia
  Vejez,
• Cuando la agudeza mental y la acción disminuyen, es tiempo de experimentar y manifestar cariño, afecto, amor y comprensión

Me pregunto como enfocar el encuentro de la felicidad en mi vida, como un objetivo o como una consecuencia ...
Maru Canales 

Artículos relacionados:

• El equipo Hoyt
• El entorno de Nick
• El ejemplo de Tony Melendez
• Sonrisas de admiración por Sonrisas de Bombay
• Relación de artículos publicados en este blog

Científicos del Laboratorio de Neurociencia Afectiva de la Universidad de Wisconsin llevan años estudiando sobre la felicidad, dirigidos por el profesor Richard J. Davidson, se basan en el descubrimiento de que la mente es un órgano en constante evolución y, por lo tanto, moldeable. Los científicos han logrado probar que la corteza cerebral izquierda concentra las sensaciones placenteras, mientras el lado derecho recoge aquellas que motivan depresión, ansiedad o miedo. La relación entre el cortex izquierdo y el derecho del cerebro puede ser medida y la relación entre ambas sirve para representar el temperamento de una persona.

Al comparar los resultados obtenidos en cientos de voluntarios, cuya felicidad fue clasificada en niveles que iban del 0.3 (muy infeliz) a -0.3 (muy feliz), obtuvieron un resultado que desbordaba los límites previstos en el estudio, el de Matthieu Ricard. Se trata del asesor personal del Dalai Lama, quien logró -0.45, superando todos los registros anteriores y ganándose el título de «el hombre más feliz de la tierra»

Los neurocientíficos americanos no creen que sea casualidad que los mayores registros de felicidad fueran detectados siempre en monjes budistas que practican la meditación diariamente. La idea de Ricard de ofrecerse para los estudios de la mente que llevaba a cabo la Universidad de Wisconsin estuvo influenciada por el propio Dalai Lama, que durante años ha colaborado con científicos occidentales, facilitando el análisis cerebral de los monjes y su capacidad de aislar la mente durante las sesiones de meditación. Uno de los aspectos que más ha fascinado a los investigadores es la capacidad de los monjes de suprimir sentimientos que hasta ahora creíamos inevitables en la condición humana: el enfado, el odio o la avaricia. El estudio de sus cerebros demuestra una capacidad extraordinaria para controlar sus impulsos basados en el principio de que Buda no prometió a sus seguidores la salvación en el cielo, sólo el final de sus sufrimientos en la tierra si lograban controlar sus deseos.

Ricard es autor de numerosos libros y artículos sobre el camino a seguir, como "En defensa de la felicidad", aunque descarta que su lectura garantice el éxito: "Al igual que un logro en atletismo o en la vida laboral, el cambio sólo es posible con esfuerzo y tenacidad". Pero cree que nuestra vida puede ser transformada incluso a través de variaciones mínimas en la manera en que manejamos nuestros pensamientos y percibimos el mundo que nos rodea. Seguramente lo dice por propia experiencia, el dejó una prometedora carrera en Francia (hizo su doctorado en genética celular en el Instituto Pasteur de París y trabajó con el premio Nobel de medicina François Jacob) y se fue en busca de si mismo, al Himalaya.

Ricard cree que el problema es que nuestros sentimientos negativos hacia otras personas no están a menudo justificados, sino que los hemos creado nosotros en nuestra mente de forma artificial como respuesta a nuestras propias frustraciones. Y ése es uno de los impulsos que el monje francés piensa que hay que aprender a controlar si se quiere ser feliz. Para el escritor, la felicidad es «un tesoro escondido en lo más profundo de cada persona». Atraparla es cuestión de práctica y fuerza de voluntad, no de bienes materiales, poder o belleza. Los que llegan al final del viaje y logran la serenidad que lleva a la dicha, sienten lo mismo que «un pájaro cuando es liberado de su jaula».

Je regarde ce matin l’émission de samedi dernier que j’ai freeboxée (trop fatigué pour veiller le samedi soir).

Matthieu RICARD fait face aux assauts de ZEIMOUR. Il y une chose que j’aime chez ZEIMOUR comme vient de le relever un des invités, c’est sa franchise. Je ne partage pas souvent son avis, mais au moins il envoie et avec force argumentation. Il m’arrive même assez régulièrement d’être d’accord avec ses critiques mais c’est avec ses solutions que je suis aussi souvent en complet désaccord. ZEIMOUR ne croit pas en la bonté, moi si.
Le débat du jour est évidemment la cause tibétaine. Après quelques échanges, ZEIMOUR veut résumer en une phrase qu’il reconnaît provocatrice: les yeux dans les yeux, il demande à Matthieu RICARD si la France doit sacrifier ses intérêts économiques pour le peuple tibétain.
Matthieu RICARD rappelle que le Dalaï Lama n’en demande pas tant et reconnaît bien volontiers que les peuples du monde n’ont pas à sacrifier leurs intérêts pour ceux du Tibet.

La question des “intérêts économiques” m’intéresse. En dehors de toute considération morale (puisqu’il ne saurait en être question…), the question is: vendrons nous moins aux chinois si nous adoptons une position ferme, ou doit on vraiment courber l’échine pour sauver Carrefour. ZEIMOUR prétend que l’exemple allemand n’est pas recevable carAngela saurait très bien que les machines outils vendues par l’Allemagne aux chinois n’ont pas de concurrence et que donc elle peut se permettre ce que les petits français ne pourraient pas. Et là je m’insurge! :)

Permettez moi ponctuellement Mr ZEIMOUR de vous signifier un exemple contradictoire: ma société fabrique de très grosses machines, nos visées portent sur des marchés de plusieurs centaines de millions d’Euros, notamment en Chine, et notre principal concurrent est une très célèbre et géantissime société allemande. En l’occurrence, nous rivalisons largement (et je reste modeste) en performances et en qualité avec nos frères teutons.
Je crois globalement que nous pouvons, nous la France moderne, nous permettre d’être plus courageux, sans pour autant certes ignorer toutes les réalités diplomatiques. D’ailleurs je ne sais pas vraiment si nous pouvons nous le permettre, mais je crois plus exactement que nous le devons. Surtout pour ajouter une once de polémique, quand “nous” avons fait campagne sur les droits de l’Homme et sur la rupture avec les courbettes ancestrales.
Ah si, j’allais oublié, j’ai bien aimé aussi la tirade de ZEIMOUR sur sa vision des choses quant à l’intérêt des français du 21 siècle pour le boudhisme, sur la dérive logique du christianisme lui même en rupture avec le judaïsme, qui se débarrasserait encore plus des dogmes pour ne plus laisser place qu’à l’Amour. Amour auquel en l’occurrence il ne croit pas. :)

Et ben dis donc, pour un gars qui se plaint de ne pas avoir le temps de blogger, je me suis pas mal répendu ce matin. Pardon d’avoir été si long.
Allez hop, je vous embrasse bien fort et vous souhaite un joli 1er mai, un grand pont pour les plus chanceux (dont je suis), et accessoirement un bon anniversaire au parrain de Jean qui sait-on jamais passera peut-être un jour par ces lignes.
PS: peut-être constaterez vous encore plus de fautes qu’à l’habitude mais je teste actuellement Safari pour PC qui me plait bien mais dont je n’ai pas encore trouvé le dictionnaire français.

Parcours

1946 Naissance à Aix-les-Bains (Savoie).
1967 Permier voyage en Inde et rencontre de son maître, Kangyour Rinpoché.
1972 Obtient son doctorat en biologie sous la direction du P-r Jacob, et part en Inde.
1997 Publie avec son père, Jean-François Revel, "le Moine et le Philosophe".
2000 Engagement humanitaire à travers l'organisation Karuna-Shechen.
2008 Milite pour une rencontre entre le dalaï-lama et le gouvernement chinois.

Fils de l'intelligentsia parisienne, scientifique de formation, il a quitté l'Europe il y a près de 30 ans pour vivre sa foi bouddhiste. Il est en première ligne dans le combat des Tibétains contre la répression chinoise

[ Lire la suite ]

Source: Le Monde. 22/04/2008.

Sur le même sujet

-> "Un dialogue entre la Chine et le dalaï-lama doit être la condition de la participation des pays aux JO".

Dans un "chat" au Monde.fr, Matthieu Ricard, l'interprète français du dalaï-lama, rappelle que le chef spirituel des Tibétains ne demande pas le boycott de la cérémonie des Jeux de Pékin.

-> «Le dalaï-lama demande un dialogue sans conditions».

Proche du guide spirituel des Tibétains, le moine bouddhiste Matthieu Ricard compte sur la mobilisation internationale pour forcer la main de Pékin. Et contrecarrer sa politique de sinisation forcée.

Entretien dans L'Express du 23/04/2008.

-> Le bouddhiste «constructif»

Retour au Népal, après la présentation à Paris de son nouveau livre, Kalachakra, un mandala pour la paix. Matthieu Ricard a rejoint aujourd’hui son monastère, non loin du dalaï-lama, dont il est un proche, au point d’être devenu, en 1989, son traducteur pour toute l’Europe.

Avant de partir, ce populaire moine bouddhiste de 60 ans a salué du bout des lèvres, vendredi, l’annonce de l’ouverture d’un dialogue entre la Chine et le chef tibétain : «Sept délégations d’émissaires se sont rencontrées ces cinq dernières années, sans aucune amélioration. L’esprit de conciliation des Chinois n’a pas beaucoup évolué.» Pour Matthieu Ricard, fils du philosophe Jean-François Revel, cette annonce n’est qu’ «une première étape». Il espère surtout une date précise. «Il faut une pression réelle pour organiser quelque chose avant les JO. Après, que pourra-t-on faire ?»

Il a rencontré à plusieurs reprises Nicolas Sarkozy, auquel il a présenté des témoignages de Tibétains persécutés. Et admet être «très étonné» par la «grande fermeté de la France». Ce scientifique de formation reconverti en militant se veut «constructif pour ne pas braquer la Chine. Mais faire preuve d’esprit d’ouverture, comme lors des JO, ce n’est pas devenir des paillassons».

Source : Libération.

E' un'articolo sulla felicità (in corsivo i miei commenti):

http://www.corriere.it/cronache/08_aprile_05/felice_monaco_7c3a1152-02e1-11dd-a6a3-00144f486ba6.shtml

Che cosa dobbiamo fare per essere felici?
«Istintivamente riponiamo tutte le nostre speranze nelle condizioni esteriori. Non è sbagliato. È normale anelare a una vita lunga, in salute, in un paese libero e democratico. Ma è fondamentale che ci concentriamo sulle condizioni interiori. Perché la felicità non è una successione fortunata di eventi felici, ma è un modo di essere ottimale che ci dà le risorse per gestire ciò che ci succede. La strada per arrivarci è l'allenamento dei nostri sentimenti migliori: l'altruismo, la compassione, la pace interiore. Ed è anche la liberazione progressiva dalla collera, dalla paura, dalla gelosia, dall'orgoglio».

Certo, se fai dipendere la tua felicità da fattori esterni sei completamente privo di potere sul tuo stato d'animo! Non è una bella prospettiva, non trovi? Se riesci a trovare in te stesso le motivazioni, gli stimoli per esere felice tutto torna ad essere sotto il tuo controllo. E' solo una credenza? Forse, ma è una convinzione positivia, che mi dà forza, per cui mi piace pensare che sia così.

Facile in un monastero. Difficile da praticare tutti i giorni con il capo, l'amica o il vicino di casa.
«A maggior ragione in un mondo caotico è importante cominciare a trasformare dentro di noi. Con un po' di sforzo e tanta pratica. Come si dedicano molti anni alla formazione culturale e professionale, così dobbiamo darci del tempo per trasformare noi stessi ».
Cambiare noi stessi per cambiare gli altri. Non possiamo convincere gli altri a cambiare, ma possiamo persuaderli a seguirrci, seguendo il nostro esempio, riportando le emozioni ad un livello positivo. Go first! Fai il primo passo, il resto viene da sé.

Come «allenarci», per esempio, quando ci sentiamo provocati in ufficio?
«Con il contagio emozionale. Cioè rispondendo con un atteggiamento sinceramente positivo e aperto. L'aggressività di quel collega, alla fine, si smorzerà. Il che non significa essere passivi e subire. Vuol dire scegliere lucidamente di non litigare».

E' una "coincidenza". Solo qualche giorno fa avevo dato lo stesso consiglio a una persona che mi aveva scritto sulla rubrica emozioni

Fortunate coincidenze che rafforzano un messaggio positivo!

Grazie Maurizio

• Matthieu Ricard (French) - translator for Dalai Lama - Nepal, Kathmandu, meditation
• Dr Herbert Benson - the relaxation response - book
• Marharishi Vedic City
  • Transcendental meditation, impact on coronary health
• pubmed.gov for papers
  • "reviews" collate information from a number of papers, periodically
• Professor Mark Williams, Oxford
  • Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)
  • Anti-depression/clinical-depression 
  • 80% mindfulness meditation, 20% cognitive therapy
  • Uses meditation similar to that taught by Mattiau in Nepal
    • Buddhist practices
    • focus on breathing
  • Observing without trying to fix
  • Seeing thoughts as just thoughts
  • Reduces risk of recurrence by up to 50% in patients who have had 3 or more depressive episodes
  • Helps other anxiety - can help everyone (universal anxieties, self-doubts etc, awareness)
  • Available to some on the NHS
• Dr Richard Davidson, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  • Meditation shifts brain activity over time from left-hand-side to right-hand-side
• Dr Sarah Lazar
  • Meditation over time is associated with increased cortical thickness
  • Effects are cumulative ("every minute sitting counts")
  • Cortex associated with attention and sensory processing
    • alters ability to concentrate
    • alters response to "sensory" stimuli - physical sensations (pain, hunger etc) but also emotional sensations (fear, anger etc)

BBC Listing

OU information

Yes, meeting people through 2.0 is in that category. I had hoped this site was more in the "broaden-and-build" spirit of Barbara Frederickson. While she talks of emotions, I am interested in engagement with life. We both relate, I think, to the metaphor offered my Matthieu Ricard that well being is the depth of the ocean, and emotions are the waves on the surface, large or small.

So how does broaden-and-build differ from making connections and using them.

Firstly, I don't look around for someone who will help me. I look for who and what interests me and I join in on that basis. I introduce myself on that basis: "You are interesting. What you do is interesting. This is why I find you interesting".

Secondly, I follow up and I pass on information I have that they could use. The foreigner helps the native.

Thirdly, I stay in touch.

Now some people I contact are not interested in what I do. I haven't counted the proportion. But because I am interested in what they do, I continue to follow their work. It enriches my life! And I continue to send them anything that is helpful to them.

Only a few people pass information to me. They really stand out. It may be an English-thing. English people will say thankyou, but they may not generate another opportunity to work together. Other cultures are the opposite. Their thanks will be perfunctory but they will suggest ways to do business together again. Celebrate the people who "return the ball". They are precious and you have like-minds.

And I stay in touch. I notice English people send a lot of notes: thank you cards rather than emails and loads of Xmas cards even if they will see you on Christmas day or thereabouts. But they don't follow up on business cards , or even exchange them necessarily. There also seems to be UK, of the deep ocean perhaps, and UK of the waves on the surface, maybe. New media and creative people in Britain are fast, quick, cosmopolitan. Have two sets of stationery! Calling card, expensive notepaper, cards and a set of postage stamps for some. And email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing, RSS feeds and "moo" cards for others.

p. 38 "We are very much like birds that have lived too long in a cage to which we return even when we get the chance to fly away. We have grown so accustomed to our faults that we can barely imagine what life would be like without them. The prospect of change makes us dizzy."

p. 42 "Pleasures become obstacles only when they upset the mind's equilibrium and lead to an obsession with gratification or an aversion to anything that thwarts them."

pp. 56-57 "When individuals change by bringing their consciousness to maturity, the world changes too, because the world is made up of individuals." - Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza

Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill
Matthieu Ricard

listen to this entry

However, as part of my quest I think I might have to renounce our materialistic modern society and go and live in the Himalayas.  My latest bedtime book is by Matthieu Ricard - 'Happiness: a guide to developing life's most important skill'.  He's A Buddhist monk who spends most of his time in a monastery or hermitage up in the mountains, and he makes it sound amazing.  Slightly ironic that I was reading it yesterday after a day braving the Oxford Street crowds to go Christmas shopping!

I somehow also managed to spend £150 on smart clothes yesterday, on the basis that I need to start going to a few more networking events and I don't really think my normal slummy mummy attire would make the right impression!  Any excuse.  It's just a shame that silk tops don't count as valid business expenses.

Anyway, as far as business goes, I am making very - s - l - o - w - progress.  Just putting the finishing touches to a presentation that I am going to send out to potential partners, to see if I can get a suitable corporate sponsor or two.  More than anything else I need some help spreading the word about Mummo, so if anyone's got any ideas as to how I can do it on a shoestring budget, please do let me know!

Back soon, hopefully in more of a Pollyanna mood ...

Dan Gilbert: "Why are we happy? Why aren't we happy?"

Yes, design can make you happy.

In addition, Daniel Gilbert, has an excellent talk on happiness and how humans have an amazing ability to create synthetic happiness that is just as real as happiness supplied from external circumstances and how we over-emphasize the happiness we will get from changes in our life (a promotion, winning the lottery, a new house, etc.). Once you hear the TED talk by Daniel Gilbert, you should read the comments below the talk. [Also good interview with Daniel Gilbert in NYT, 4/22/08 called "The Smiling Professor".]

And for a very different approach, listen to Buddhist monk and photographer Matthieu Ricard's talk on how to train our minds in the habits of happiness.