The most important thing to understand about our own mind

When it comes to our own mind, what is the most important thing to learn? As a meditation teacher, what is the most important thing to teach?

Important questions given in 2020 Ruth and I will lead a 7 day meditation retreat and two 5 day meditation teacher training programs in the Yarra Valley. Also in 2020 I will turn 70 and it will be my 40th year of teaching.

So after all those years of personal practice and teaching, quite simply the most important thing is this. The mind has 2 aspects. Get that, understand that, live in the light of that knowing, and all else will fall into place. So this week, a short piece on the 2 aspects, then details of the 2020 program of retreats and meditation teacher training for Ruth and myself, but first


        Thought for the day

      I think 99 times and find nothing.

      I stop thinking,
      Swim in silence, 
      And the truth comes to me.

                           Albert Einstein









Our mind has two aspects. How do we know that? What is the big deal?

Well first, these 2 aspects are the Active Mind and the Still Mind.

These 2 aspects can be compared to the blue sky and the clouds.

The clouds act as a metaphor for our active thoughts and emotions that come and go and change all the time.

They can range from beautiful and serene to wild and turbulent.

The blue sky is a metaphor for that aspect of mind beyond all the activity of thoughts and emotions wherein dwells a stillness.



This still aspect of the mind is the natural home of profound peace, clarity, wisdom and compassion.

The key point is that under normal circumstances, most of us function with a life view based upon identifying with the Active Mind. As such, we mistakenly approach life as if we and things around us exist independently of each other, are permanent and are singular.

In reality, in truth, however, if we analyze life we find it to be highly inter-dependent, changing all the time, and multiple in its character.

Now it can take a while to make this analysis – even in theory, It can take longer to really “get it” and to do something radical yet freeing; something that actually ensures long-term happiness. And that is to shift our life view from the Active Mind to that of the Still Mind.

The reason this is so important is that when we function from the perspective of the Still Mind, we natural see how we are all inter-connected and we naturally become very caring for those around us and for our environment. We are all in this together. This perspective quite naturally brings out our good heart. Almost effortlessly we become more loving. Unconditionally loving.

Hence the need for retreats.

Take time away from the business and full on engagement with the Active Mind and all that goes with it, and spend time re-connecting with the Still Mind.

To do this we need the theory and the practice.

We need time to build our understanding.



We need time to establish our practice and our direct experience of the truth of what we are learning.

Now of course, the reality is that with meditation we have the opportunity to get to know both aspects of our mind better. As well as reconnecting with the Still Mind, we can observe what our Active Mind is up to, take more control of it, use it more effectively for good and lighten up on the problems it so often leads us into.

In meditation we get to connect more deeply with our own innate stillness, and in doing so, we connect with what we are actually capable of, our greatest potential, and our inner wisdom.

So for Ruth and myself, this is at the heart of what we teach.

No wonder it is our passion.

Ruth has asked me to help lead her Pre-Easter meditation retreat so I have agreed.

And we have been asked to present the Meditation Teacher Training program at the Foundation for 2020.


This too is a passion, especially as in 2020 as well as providing a pure meditation teacher’s training, we will also present a training around teaching contemplation – another area of great interest and joy for me.

So here are the details…


RECLAIMING JOY    

7 day Residential Meditation Retreat with Ruth and Ian Gawler and Melissa Borich 

Modern culture has taught us to look externally for solutions to feeling better… substances we can take, new and exciting experiences, the acquiring of new ‘things.

However, to regain balance and cultivate reliable, sustainable joy, we learn to go within.

Meditation provides real answers.

And all of this amidst the nurture and beauty of the Yarra Valley Living Centre…



Dates     Friday 3rd to Thursday 9th April (pre-Easter)

Venue   The Yarra Valley Living Centre, 55 Rayner Crt, Yarra Junction, Victoria

More details   CLICK HERE

Inquiries and Bookings    Call 1300 651 211   or  www.gawler.org


MEDITATION TEACHER TRAINING   with Drs Ruth and Ian Gawler

Ian and Ruth have been teaching teachers of meditation for decades. This is a unique opportunity to learn from them directly in two 5 day residential trainings – Module 1 on meditation, Module 2 – contemplation. Attending both modules will meet the requirements for provisional membership of the Meditation Association of Australia. Both trainings will be highly experiential and be based upon comprehensive manuals.

Venue     The Yarra Valley Living Centre,  55 Rayner Crt, Yarra Junction, Victoria

Dates     Meditation Teacher Training 27 April – 1 May, 2020 ; Full details  : Click here

          Contemplation 7-11 September, 2020  ;  Full details :  Click here

Inquiries  and Bookings   Call 1300 651 211 or www.gawler.org

Tough relatives? The emotional challenges of Christmas – and a simple solution

So here is the challenge. Honour the celebration of Christmas, honour the gathering of family and friends, cope with people we have difficulty with, and yet honour our own emotional health and wellbeing.

While many simply love Christmas; others find it leaves them feeling stressed out, sad and disappointed.

So this week we go way Out on a Limb to consider the emotional side of Christmas, plus news of a meditation retreat I will contribute to with Ruth and Melissa Borich and meditation teacher training in 2020, but first

      

      
              Thought for the day

                          Love is our true destiny.
                          We do not find the meaning of life
                          By ourselves alone
                          - we find it with another.

                                               Thomas Merton









I love Christmas.

I love the metaphor. Christ embodies love. Christmas celebrates His birth. Christmas is a festival celebrating the birth of Christ which metaphorically represents the birth of love within us all. Bring it on!!!

For me Christmas is a time to check in with any forgiveness needed, to be reminded of who to express gratitude towards, how to manage gifts in a world where most people already have too much stuff, and most importantly, consider how I might be more loving now and in the coming year.

Yet Christmas can be difficult for many.

How to manage what can often be complex gatherings of families and friends that include people with whom we may well have complex histories?

Well, many seem to approach such events attempting repression and fearful of unwanted explosions.

So a tip straight out of mindfulness – with a touch from the wisdom teachings.


It is very difficult to manage our own emotions well, let alone manage someone else’s. Particularly when it comes to people we need to see and who have expected patterns of behaviour we do not like, try this.

Leave them be. Given no physical abuse takes place (and that is clearly not OK), try acceptance. If Uncle Roger has been like he is for 40 years, chances of him being different in 2019 are slim. Same with Aunty Flo or whoever else is the worrying one.

If the need is to attend an event where they will be present, accept well in advance what they are like. Expect them to behave in their same old way. And if by chance they have seen the light you would like them to see since last meeting, and they do happen to behave in some miraculously different way, well simply accept that as a bonus.

But given they are as usual, try delighting in what they are like.

Yes, rather than sinking into aversion, try actually delighting.

Be aware, be present, observe how they are and at the same time, do what you can to let go of any judgement and commentary.

Rather than reacting, rather than railing against their behaviour; recognize it, accept it and a bit like a wise old woman watching children play, smile and maybe even laugh a little.

Can you feel the difference in this attitude?


Can you feel into the different atmosphere this approach will create? Instead of fear, dread, maybe loathing, there comes acceptance, humour, maybe even some warmth.

At the end of the day you may well find yourself thinking or saying to someone close, “Did you see old Uncle Roger today. Just like always; it is almost comical the way he behaves.”

And you know what, Christmas would not be the same without him.

And maybe there comes a smile…

This is love in action, mindfulness style. This is love in action using our will to manage our heads – and our hearts.

So may the true spirit of Christmas touch you deeply, and may this awakening of love be felt more strongly in all our lives both now, through the festive season and into and throughout 2020.


                  Happy Christmas!



EVENTS in 2020
Sometimes people appear confused when I turn up working, given I seem to be getting older and have retired from various commitments. Please be clear, I have not retired from everything!

I did retire from my fulltime job at the Foundation 10 years ago this week. I have reduced my public speaking significantly and I have not led any meditation retreats for a couple of years. But 2020 promises to be quite active.


MEDITATION RETREAT  -  pre-Easter - Reclaiming Joy.

Ruth has asked me to join her along with Melissa Borich to co-present her popular pre-Easter retreat.

Details : CLICK HERE.



MEDITATION TEACHER TRAINING 

Ruth and I will present the 2020 meditation teacher training program for the Foundation in two parts.

I must say how pleased I am to be involved in this again in 2020 as I simply love training.

Also delighted as this time, as well as 5 days of residential training specifically on teaching meditation, we will present another 5 day specific training on contemplation.


Little is written on this super useful subject, and I have not heard of any other trainings that do focus upon it.

Details : CLICK HERE



In other arenas, the meditation app I have been involved in developing is being made more specific to assist people to overcome some of the key challenges associated with chronic degenerative disease.

Then there is another major meditation project intended to help younger people learn more about meditation and Perennial Wisdom via a residential program in a beautiful and inspiring natural setting, but more on those things soon…

Two types of soy receptors and how they affect your cancer risks

Perhaps more than anything else to do with food, people ask me about the cancer risks associated with soy. Is it safe? Is it dangerous? Is it even helpful?

Well, the research gets clearer and clearer, while the social media and some health practitioners seem to get more and more confused. So this week, vital new insights into why soy acts the way it does – and what that means for our health, plus details of Ruth's pre-Easter meditation retreat with Melissa Borich that I will be joining next year - April 3rd - 9th, but first




       Thought for the day   

Meditation enables me to feed myself - the soul 
With spiritual knowledge that gives me 
The experience of peace, purity, wisdom, love and lasting happiness. 

It gradually restores in me the confidence and dignity 
To live in the light of my original nature 
And awakens hope in the self.

                         Sister Jayanti



One thing is certain, oestrogen is not all bad. It is the main female hormone and is closely tied to so many of women’s wonderful qualites. Men produce it too but in much smaller quantities (just as women produce some testosterone). Also, oestrogen does reduce menopausal symptoms, improve bone health, and reduce hip fracture risk.

However, oestrogen clearly also has a dark side. It is associated with increasing blood clots in the heart, brain, and lungs, and more troubling still, with breast cancer.

How oestrogen has its effect is due to the fact various types of cell within our bodies have receptors on their surfaces that respond to oestrogen.

When oestrogen comes in contact with these external receptors, an internal reaction is triggered that in bone tissue is healthy, in breast tissue - unhealthy!





Now the old theory related to breast cancer risks – one I have shared a lot - is that phyto-oestrogens, plant based oestrogens like genestein in soy beans, compete with a woman’s own estrogens, effectively block the natural oestrogens and in doing so inhibit breast cancer growth. In this theory, the oestrogen-blocking ability of phytoestrogens explained their unhelpful effects, yet can we explain their helpful effects on other tissues like bone?

So here is where both the body and plants are so amazing. First the body. Recent research has established there are 2 types of oestrogen receptors. The recently discovered ones are being called estrogen receptor beta…to distinguish them from the ‘classical’ oestrogen receptor alpha”.

As for the plants, soy phytoestrogens preferentially bind to the beta receptors, and you can probably guess… the beta receptors have the positive effects; the alpha receptors the unhelpful effects.

Natural oestrogen from the body tends to bind to the alpha receptors.

What does this all mean in real life? If you say eat a cup of soybeans or its equivalent in natural soy products like tofu, there is very little alpha activation, but lots of beta activation.

By contrast, chemical oestrogen supplements increase the risk of fatal blood clots by causing the liver to release high amounts of clotting factors. And again, you can probably guess – our livers contain only alpha estrogen receptors, not beta receptors. In theory if you ate a huge amount of soy – like 30 cups (as maybe you might in a concentrated supplement) well that could be a problem but at the concentrations associated with normal soy consumption, no problem.

The effects on the uterus also appear to be mediated solely by alpha receptors, which is presumably why no negative impact has been seen with soy. So, while oestrogen-containing drugs may increase the risk of endometrial cancer up to ten-fold, phytoestrogen-containing foods are associated with significantly less endometrial cancer. In fact, protective effects are recorded for these types of gynaecological cancers in general: a study showed women who ate the most soy had 30% less endometrial cancer and appeared to cut their ovarian cancer risk nearly in half.

Soy phytoestrogens do not to have any effect on the lining of the uterus and can still dramatically improve some menopausal symptoms.

In what is probably the most robust study to date, researchers compared the soy phytoestrogen
genistein to a more traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) regimen.

 Over one year, in the spine and hip bones, the placebo group lost bone density, while it was gained in both the soy phytoestrogen and HRT estrogen groups. The “study clearly shows that genistein prevents bone loss…and enhances new bone formation…in turn producing a net gain of bone mass.”

The main reason we care about bone mass is that we want to prevent fractures. Is soy food consumption associated with lower fracture risk? Yes. In fact, a significantly lower risk of bone fracture is associated with just a single serving of soy a day, the equivalent of 5 to 7 grams of soy protein or 20 to 30 milligrams of phytoestrogens, which is about a cup of soymilk or, even better, a serving of a whole soy food like tempeh, edamame, or the beans themselves.

Fracture data has not been determined for soy supplements. “If we seek to derive the types of health benefits we presume Asian populations get from eating whole and traditional soy foods,” maybe we should look to eating those rather than taking unproven protein powders or pills.

Finally, is there anyone who should avoid soy? Yes, if you have a soy allergy. That isn’t very common, though. A national survey found that only about 1 in 2,000 people report a soy allergy, which is 40 times less than the most common allergen, dairy milk, and about 10 times less than all the other common allergens, such as fish, eggs, shellfish, nuts, wheat, or peanuts.

Happy eating


MEDITATION RETREAT

Ruth has asked me to contribute to the meditation retreat she will present with Melissa Borich pre-Easter next year. Not possible to refuse, so looking forward to being involved once again and joining these two extra-ordinary women.

Here is the link to Reclaiming Joy : 3rd – 9th April 2020

Enjoy!!!

RELATED BLOGS
Is soy safe – Part 1 

Is soy safe – Part 2


The latest on soy and breast cancer

Ian Gawler art show

After all these years my own artworks are to be involved in my first ever exhibition! And also for the first time, my pictures will be offered for sale!

There will be an opening night – Friday 15th November, however, most of the pictures can be purchased now via the internet. Some of the paintings are quite special – like those done during my recovery or are of places where meditation retreats have been held. All are in oil on good quality canvas and most are framed – by me.

So this week, a little on each of the pictures plus their images and a little of my art history, plus news of the meditation workshops Ruth and I will present in Queensland over the next few weeks, but first

           Thought for the week

If we could say it we would. 
What wants to be said is unsayable - and unthinkable too. 
That is why we make music, we dance, we paint and write poetry. 

Language and words are for mundane things 
Like shopping and running a country. 

The arts are a way to impart to each other 
The wordless core of experience: 
They are nothing short of stepping stones 
To the heaven hidden here on earth.

                                 Rashid Maxwell

As a teenager, I always wanted to be a veterinarian – and so it was. Yet the arts always held a special place in my heart. I held great admiration for artists and writers and actually yearned to do both.

At school I was fortunate to be accepted into veterinary science at the end of year 12. However, I was very young and at the school I attended, rather than taking gap years, many boys did a second year 12 – or matriculation as we called it.

So in my second year, I took English Literature and Art. What a delight! Probably my favourite year of study ever. In art we had two professional artists as our teachers… the wonderful Ronald Miller and the quiet, unassuming and highly talented Des Norman (of the Daisy Bates series of paintings).

That year provided a framework of both theory and technique and I struggled through to achieve a fabulous basic pass mark! Since then my art has surfaced in fits and starts. It was taken up seriously for a few years following my cancer diagnosis then relapse.




This first picture was painted

from the veranda of the house

I convalesced in near Melton

- AUTUMN LIGHT KIPPEN ROSS

Next big influence was Larry LeShan, the real founder of psycho-oncology and author of Cancer as a Turning Point. Met Larry at a conference in the USA and became good friends – a delightful, insightful maverick of a man.

Anyway, Larry challenged me… Said if I did not have half a day to put aside for myself each week I was missing something really important. So I came home and enrolled in the art class my sister Sue was attending. This was with Peter Churcher – a great painter of figures, classically trained and a wonderful teacher.

So these next 3 come from those days…






A still life with grapefruit that I really like :

GRAPEFRUIT

Another still life, simply named STILL LIFE












And a model from the classes : THE MODEL AT REST











In recent years there was quite a lull in painting up until last year when I joined Anne Esposito's weekly art classes; again with my sister. Anne is a great artist in her own right and an excellent teacher while the group includes many highly talented artists. We will all have works on display and for sale at the exhibition.

So this has led to a series from times spent around Alice Springs, including a picture from a perspective above Hamilton Downs where we held 7 Meditation in the Desert retreats :

HAMILTON DOWNS

















NAMATJIRA GHOST GUM
is of the last of the 2 famous ghost gums
West of Alice Springs that were
a favourite subject for Albert Namatjira.
Sadly, both are now gone...

SPINIFEX MACDONNELL RANGES
– such a beautiful part of the world…











RAIN SHOWER MACDONNELL RANGES















And this one from the Eastern Macdonnell Ranges : GHOST GUM









And of course, Uluru – no longer climbable
and here under an amazing sky as it is so often…

ULURU EVENING

(Note: this one is not framed although it says it is on the website)









Finally, a moment of reflection caught in WA
at the aptly named Green’s Pool.
(Note: this one too is not framed
although it says it is on the website)







All the pictures are featured on my art group's website - LINK HERE 

The photos on the website are good indications, but not always true as you might expect… For most of the pictures above the frames do not appear and there are 2 without frames.

ANYONE INTERESTED IN SALES PLEASE CONTACT:
Email: theartistsgroup1@gmail.com. 

If you are local enough and would like to attend the art show, it includes works from the art group I am involved with. There will be an opening on Friday 15th November at 5pm, and then more showing Saturday 16th from 10am to 2pm. For more details of the exhibition, including the venue, or to attend the opening, please email Info@insighthealth.com.au.

If you have questions re any of the works, please do direct those to me via Info@insighthealth.com.au. as well.

Hope to see many of you at the exhibition – this is quite a buzz for me… Something quite different


Plus news of our coming events...

Go retro – one simple solution to thwart climate change

Are you old enough to remember simpler times? Maybe you have watched films or TV shows from the 50s and 60s. No plastic, less stuff, less people. And yet we all managed quite nicely. These days so much plastic and stuff. So much we can learn from back then, so here is a delightful tale, but first


         Thought for the day

   I was sitting on a hilltop looking 
   At the endlessly expanding horizon under the blue sky …
   A bliss began to permeate my body and mind. 
   I didn’t know that my eyes welled up with tears. 
   I bent down to kiss this earth. 
   This is a magic land, a sacred pureland…

                 Chen Xiaodong
   freelance Buddhist writer based in Shanghai



Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring

her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.


The woman apologized to the young girl and explained,

"We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded,


"That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."


The older lady said that she was right our generation did not have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.



But we did not have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things.

Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.



But, too bad we did not do the "green thing" back then. We walked up stairs because we did not have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and did not climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We did not have the "green thing" in our day.


Back then we washed the baby's nappies because we did not have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days.


Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we did not have the "green thing" back in our day. 
Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.


In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we did not have electric machines to do everything for us.


When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.


Back then, we did not fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.


We exercised by working so we did not need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we did not have the "green thing" back then.


We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.

We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.


But we did not have the "green thing" back then.


Back then, people took the tram or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing."


We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we did not need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.


But it is sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we did not have the "green thing" back then?


Of course, my older generation poisoned rivers and streams, created havoc with DDT, lead based paints and many other environmental disasters. So while we have made good progress in some areas, and there is much more needed in many, maybe we can learn from going retro in others...

Toxic tide - marine plastic pollution and what to do

In 2016, a Senate Committee released "Toxic tide: the threat of marine plastic pollution in Australia". This report contains alarming concerns about the impact of plastics found in abundance in our environment and provides suggestions. So this week we reproduce details to complete our 3 part series on plastic pollution, but first

   

            Thought for the day

     Power without love is reckless and abusive, 

     And love without power is sentimental and anemic. 

     Power at its best 

     Is love implementing the demands of justice, 

     And justice at its best 

     Is power correcting everything that stands against love.

                            Martin Luther King Jnr 

One generation ago, plastics were not part of our daily lives. Cloth, boxes or paper bags were used for shopping and there were no plastics for storing food in the fridges. Now it is part of our daily lives even for single-use packaging of food! The problem is global and widespread.

Go to Asia and places such as Bali and experience swimming in one of their beaches with plastic debris floating in the water and brushing up against your skin. 

It is not a pleasant experience!

The World Economic Forum warn plastics are increasingly being used across economies in sectors ranging from packaging to construction, transportation, healthcare and electronics. 

This increasing use is reflected in the rate of increase in global plastic production: in 1964, 15 million tonnes of plastics were produced, in 2014 that had increased to 311 million tonnes. According to the World Economic Forum, plastics production is expected to double again in 20 years, and to almost quadruple by 2050.

In summary, the Senate report raises serious concerns and highlights the following points:2

• There is an alarming production and use of plastics worldwide. 

• The vast majority of plastics is non-biodegradable and can persist in the environment for hundreds of years.

• Majority of marine-based pollution comes from land, originating from urban and industrial waste sites, sewage outlets, stormwater and litter discarded by recreational users of our coasts and marine waterways.

• A major national study led by CSIRO, documented the state of marine plastic debris in Australia and its negative impact on marine wildlife.  The study suggests most marine plastic debris in the Australian region is domestic and correlates with increase in local population, urbanisation and human activity. 

• Stormwater drainage is a significant contributor of plastic debris in the marine environment which often delivers directly to coastal areas, or via catchment runoff into coastal areas. 

Other sources include: urban litter, garbage from shipping and abandoned fishing gear from local, national and international fishing operations.

• Marine plastic pollution in Australian waters can also originate from international sources with ocean currents transporting plastic debris over long distances. According to the World Economic Forum’s best available data, Asia accounts for more than 80% of the total leakage of plastic into the ocean.  CSIRO also note that China and Indonesia are significant sources of plastic pollution.4

• Due to their light weight, plastics are readily transported by wind and water.

• National and international studies demonstrate significant quantities of hard plastics, plastic water bottles and packaging litter found in our coastal and river waterways such as Sydney Harbour and Port Phillip Bay. 2, 

• Plastic debris found in the marine environment is either larger debris (macroplastic) or small particles (microplastic) i.e. tiny plastic fragments, fibres and granules of less than 5 mms in size from intentionally produced items, inherent by-products of other products or activities, emitted through accident or unintentional spill or macroplastic degradation.

• Substantial human voluntary hours such as Clean Up Australia and BeachPatrol are expended on collecting record numbers of plastic littering on coast and land. 

The cost of removing litter by local and state Government is enormous. 

For example, the Victorian Government in 2012–13 spent $80 million in removing litter, including the removal of over 7,800 tonnes of litter from Melbourne waterways.2

• CSIRO report highlights the cost of littering to local government is substantial.4

• There are international efforts to address the global concern of plastic debris and pollution. At present this issue is addressed on a state by state level in Australia, yet the problem is not a boundary issue and the Senate recommends it be addressed on a National level.2

• The Senate committee received considerable evidence on the impact of plastic pollution on marine fauna and flora from leading Australian academics, government agencies and community organisations. The evidence indicates that plastic debris affects marine life through ingestion, entanglement, the transport i.e. plastic acting as a medium and bioaccumulation of harmful chemicals.2

• Plastic ingestion is well documented in a large range of marine species, shorebirds and seabirds - small plastics look similar in appearance to prey for marine animals. The Senate also received evidence in relation to ingestion of plastics by turtles, seabirds, cetaceans (e.g. dolphins and whales), corals and zooplankton.2

• Marine plastic pollution also acts as both a transport medium for accumulated chemicals present in seawater, and is a source of toxic chemicals such as pesticides (e.g. DDT, polychlorinated biphenyls and endocrine-active substances).2 These substances are well known to be bio-accumulative and impact marine and human health. 1, Many toxic chemicals are fat soluble, lasting decades in the environment where they undergo biomagnification (tissue concentrations increase) as they pass up the food chain.1

• The effects of plastics on human life e.g. ingestion of plastics through consumption of marine life, is not well recognised or studied, and warrants further research in view of the growing contamination of plastics in the environment.

In summary, the Senate has made a number of recommendations to address the problems of plastics.2 

Every effort should be made at the State, National and International level to help raise community awareness of the problems of plastics on the environment. 

This includes a reduction in the production of plastics by industry and finding alternative options and the need and use of plastics by communities, e.g. one use plastic products. Additionally, the community and government should prohibit the supply of plastics where suitable options are available, e.g. shopping bags made of plastics, and for improved discarding and recycling programs of all types of plastics.

What chemicals are in the food plastics we use in 2019? How toxic are the chemicals in food plastics? And how to avoid food plastic chemical hazards?

How much food are you eating out of cans these days? Ever wonder about the plastic linings in those cans, or about the impact plastic is having in your food chain?

Could easily write a PhD on this, but let us go Out on a Limb once more, summarise where we are at in 2019 and suggest how to avoid some potentially major health problems, but first

         

      Thought for the day

   There is no need for temples; 
   No need for complicated philosophy. 

   Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; 
   My philosophy is kindness.

                     His Holiness, the Dalai Lama




Well I remember way back in the mid 80s and my old friend Michael Lerner from Commonweal in California shared evidence linking chemicals in plastics with breast cancer particularly, and other health problems in general.

Michael’s research was compelling so most will know I have recommended doing all possible to keep plastics out of your food chain since then.

Decades have passed and slowly the risks have become better known. BPA (bisphenol A) emerged as one of the main culprits and public opinion has driven legislation to limit its use and seek substitutes.

So in 2019 does this mean some food plastics are OK to use? 

Please note I have limited time and resources for this. It is written as if writing to one of the family and the hope is that you find it helpful… So while I did read and use many sources, I am not documenting what is written. It may well be incomplete, but it has been written with due diligence and represents the best I can offer on the subject. Let us examine the facts and the issues, and then attempt to reach some conclusions; starting with BPA itself.

What is BPA?
BPA is an industrial chemical used in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins.

In the ‘30s it was identified as a synthetic oestrogen and considered for pharmaceutical use but BPA-based plastics were first manufactured in the ‘60s.

Currently, millions of tonnes are produced each year, to make polycarbonates - for CDs, spectacles lenses, water bottles and other clear plastics, and resins - used to line food cans.

What risks are associated with BPA?
Basically, BPA is a hormone disruptor that mimics oestrogen and interferes with its healthy activity. Widely researched now, it has been associated with

i) Cancer
Particularly hormonally related cancers like breast and prostate cancers.

ii) Sexual function and anatomical issues
The oestrogen-like effects in women are associated with early onset of puberty in females, infertility, miscarriage, premature delivery and polycystic ovaries.

Then, as oestrogen can supress testosterone in males, it is associated with male genital defects, reduced sperm counts and reduced male sexual function.


iii) Obesity
In children and adults through stimulating the formation of extra fat cells.

iv) Behavioural problems in children
Including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, aggressiveness and impaired learning.

 v) Other conditions
Altered thyroid and immune function, diabetes, heart disease, chronic respiratory and kidney diseases.

What a list!!!

How do we become exposed to BPA? A list of major sources…
i) Can linings (it is in both aluminium and steel based cans).

ii) Polycarbonate food containers and bottles (both re-useable and especially single use bottles), plus
food wraps. Heat, scratching and cleaning can all increase exposure. Fast foods with the packaging used are a major source.


iii) Thermal papers - these are those all so common supermarket receipts, movie tickets, lottery
tickets and the like.

Using hand moisturisers or handling receipts with wet hands increases the risks of absorption greatly.




iv) Microplastics - BPA tends to aggregate on the surface of microplastics. Given it is estimated average current US ingestion is a staggering 50 - 90,000 pieces of microplastic per person per year, this is another major source.

v) Children’s plastic toys remain a real concern, especially when you consider how young children put everything into their mouths. BPA has been banned for years from use in children’s bottles and dummies (where it was a major source of this chemical and affecting young children for decades).

vi) Dust also builds up BPA residues.

vii) Some toiletries and women’s hygiene products

viii) Many plastic eyeglasses

So what is the biggest source? 
It is claimed 90% comes through our food chain. Fast and levels drop 10 fold in 10 days. Once clear, eat one can of food lined with PBA and levels go up hugely.

What level of exposure is common?
Based on testing, virtually everyone has some BPA in their body; in the US, 93% of all over 6 years - and disturbingly it is commonly found even in babies prior to birth.

Are there safe limits for BPA?
Authorities in both Australia and the US claim our exposure levels are safe. France has banned BPA in plastics for food use. So if safe levels are not being exceeded, why are there so many problems associated with BPA?

What about low dose effects of BPA?
It is well know chemicals that mimic hormones and hormone disruptors can have significant impacts at low dose while not being so bad or having different effects at high doses. While the science is debated, and not surprisingly rejected by Industry sources, many researchers claim a low dose of BPA could well be worse than a high dose and that these low dose effects are yet to be fully researched and evaluated.

What about BPA substitutes?

BPA is associated with many problems but at least it has been studied extensively and those problems are reasonably well understood. When BPA is taken out of plastics, it needs to be replaced with another chemical, and here is the rub.

When you see “BPA free” touted on some plastic bottle or metal can, the implication we often take is
it is now safe.

Unfortunately this may well be far from the truth.

The substitute chemicals invariably are less studied, less known and while some substitutes may well be safer, others are clearly implicated with worse issues than BPA.

This is what is known as a “regrettable substitution”.

However, to be balanced, it is worth pointing out there may be a trade off here. Through the TGA and the CMI, the remarkable safety record of canned foods is observed: “More than 3,000 people die and more than 40,000 are hospitalized from foodborne illnesses every year, yet there has not been a single reported incidence of foodborne illness from the failure of metal packaging in more than 40 years and the consumption of trillions of cans of food.”

However, there are still major concerns that do need addressing…

Next blog we shall cover other chemicals in food plastics, and what solutions are available to us.

Please do consider sharing this post with others; it feels like one of the more important ones for some time…

And comments welcome - click on the tab below…

Dr Ainslie Meares, Shivapuri Baba and meditation

How many people would you say you owe your life to? Interesting question… Mother first and foremost. Father naturally. But after that???

One of the people I owe my own life to is Dr Ainslie Meares. He taught me meditation in a way that made it possible for me to endure all that cancer threw at me, and even more, to overcome it altogether.

But Ainslie’e knowledge of meditation had its genesis in a 3 day meeting in Katmandu with the venerable and ancient Hindu yogi Shivapuri Baba. This little known figure was truly remarkable, truly extra -ordinary. Recently I met up with Cliff Woodward who has been studying the life and works of Shivapuri Baba for many years and actually visited his ashram in Katmandu.

As part of this guest blog, Cliff has kindly shared some of the key points of Shivapuri Baba’s life and teachings. Enjoy, plus a reminder my new meditation book Blue Sky Mind is now available, but first




       Thought for the day

          If you can see your path 
          Laid out in front of you step by step, 
          You know it is not your path. 

          Your own path 
          You make with every step you take. 
          That is why it is your path.

                        Joseph Campbell





From Cliff Woodward…
Shivapuri Baba’s remarkable life spanned an astounding 137 years from 1826 to 1963. (This is based on British records - and they were meticulous!) Probably one of the greatest human beings of recent times, Shivapuri Baba remains one of the least known and least celebrated.

This slight, little man who lived a life of ascetic, utter simplicity, was a giant of the spiritual life, sharing a teaching that is absolutely relevant to our lives right now, and could rightfully be seen as the antidote to the path of blind, egotistical self –destruction that our species has got itself onto. He called his teaching Right Life.



The external facts of his long life are indeed remarkable and worthy of a full-length movie film, although I sincerely hope it is never made!

The fact that he walked every continent [except Antarctica] on his world pilgrimage beginning at around 60 years of age, lasting over 30 years; he met many of the great men and women of the early 20th century [such as Einstein, the Curies, Marconi, Tolstoy], had eighteen audiences with Queen Victoria – but about all that he wanted nothing said, no publicity at all.

He consented to only one book being written about him towards the end of his lifetime, by the great English philosopher and spiritual seeker, J.G. Bennett, called “Long Pilgrimage,” which was published in 1965.


And his unambiguous instruction to Bennett was “You must write a book about my Teaching, not my life.” He himself, though seeming to have read everything of significance, wrote no books. He shares this in common with some other teachers of universal significance like Socrates and Jesus of Nazareth.

So what is the essence of this Teaching, Right Life? The first thing to say is that S.B. never suggested that this Teaching was his invention or his ‘intellectual property’, only that he had made accessible, to the contemporary mind, what was at the core of all the great Teachings of mankind, since time immemorial. Why would this be so?

Because the fundamental challenges that face how we live our lives as human beings have never been any different and never will be. All of the great spiritual traditions can be seen as different attempts to guide us into the solutions to these challenges, with greater or lesser success as we manage to despoil them.

It is interesting to note that there are many accounts of people from different spiritual/religious backgrounds meeting S.B., and each of them thought that he was the most perfected Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Muslim - whatever background they were coming from - that they had ever met!

This was surely because S.B. could go to the core of any of these Teachings and speak its Truth.

He was completely free of dogmatism or any narrowness of perspective – a Universal Man.

Right Life is structured around three fundamental Duties.

With the First Duty, Right Life begins by acknowledging the fundamentals of our human life.


We have certain inescapable obligations or duties: the need to maintain our physical body, feed it, clothe it, keep it in health; and the need to earn a living in some way. This is a baseline that none are exempt from. We could see the First Duty as centred on the fundamental ‘Laws’, physical, moral and societal, that we have to obey. If we neglect them our lives end up in a mess of one kind or another.

The Second Duty focuses on our inner or moral life. It is about removing or overcoming our ‘defects in character’, our anger, resentment, jealousy etc. These things have to be seen, accepted and gradually eliminated from our lives. Further, we can consciously cultivate the positive qualities that may be missing from our lives, or at least not playing a strong enough role. So things like forgiveness, humility, empathy, kindness, need to be deliberately cultivated in our lives, must manifest in our lives – not just be ‘good ideas’ to aspire to.

These positive virtues can be found spelled out in any of the great spiritual teachings, for example The Sermon on the Mount in the Christian tradition, in Chapter 16 of the Bhagavad Gita in the Hindu tradition.



These Duties, according to Right Life, are not just to be acknowledged/accepted, they are to be perfected.

They have to be mindfully engaged with and worked on with perseverance.

We need to be consciously directing our lives in these directions, even down to the most basic practical tasks; for example, if I am failing to pay my bills on time, how do I get better at this?

If I can’t remember where I put things, how do I improve on this?

We do not accept or indulge our failings or weaknesses in little things or big.


Our constant aim is to make small, achievable changes that we can build on; like radical, sudden-weight-loss diets, attempting too much change too soon, will just rebound on us.

Of course we are going to fail, especially in the beginning, but we are enjoined to learn from our mistakes and keep at it – this is a life-long process! Ask yourself, what is the alternative to this? Surely the answer is to keep making the same errors and not evolving.

Shivapuri Baba described Right Life as “Your self-promised life”, meaning the life that you have set for yourself. So, for example, if I recognize that anger plays too strong a role in my life {at home or at work} and I have set myself to make some changes around this, this is my promise to myself.

It does not require the approbation {or the condemnation} of anyone or anything else – not THE church or THE faith or THE dogma. It is my deal, my promise, with myself. This places the teaching of Right Life in a very different space than we are accustomed to. It is not immediately obvious to most of us just how unique this is – it dawns over time!

But there is more!

The Third Duty is concerned with our Spiritual or Soul life, our deepest connection with ourselves, the Universe, God; express it as we will. S.B. said that eventually, to any sane human being looking at the basic facts of Life, there must arise a question such as:

What is the source of all this?

What is my significance in all this?

Does it all die with me?


The satisfactory answer to such a question, for you or I, is the basis for our deepest sense of peace or fulfilment – my answer, or anybody else’s answer, will not cut it, it must be YOUR answer. S.B. taught, again in line with all the great traditions, this is what we are here for on planet earth, to find such an answer – nothing, absolutely nothing, material success or power, will suffice. We can fill our lives with all sorts of things, all sorts of distractions, but the fundamental question will never go away.

So clearly the Third Duty relates to our practice of Meditation and Prayer. Note that S.B. never taught that there was one way into this: he encouraged people to follow their Christian way or Buddhist way, whatever they are connected to, but follow it with the correct understanding of its foundation in Right Life.

We need to attend correctly to all Three Duties, not any one of them, in order to succeed – truly a three-legged stool. Can you see how important this is? This Teaching is telling us, insisting, that, for example, you cannot just plunge into Meditation or diverse religious observances, leaving your practical life and moral life a total mess, and expect any success. It just does not work.

The other clear implication of this Right Life Teaching is that it encompasses the whole of your life. The very living of your life, on a day by day, minute by minute basis, is your Spiritual practice, is your life’s significance.

This is not a Teaching for the spiritually immature, for the ‘spiritual thrill seeker’; this is a Teaching that asks everything of you, but delivers Everything in its place.



AND A REMINDER

Blue Sky Mind, my new meditation book is now published and coming into bookstores and on-line stores everywhere.

If you do go into a store that does not have it, please ask for it as booksellers these days respond very directly to feedback.

Signed copies of the book are available through the Foundation - and you support their work …

CLICK HERE 

Enjoy deepening your meditation