相約在禪修 最美不過夕陽紅

  騰福  騰禧   加拿大溫哥華   圖文由加拿大溫哥華藥師禪院提供

他們是一對年邁的老夫婦，一年前因為74歲的妻子騰福患上抑鬱症，80歲的丈夫騰禧陪同她一起走進菩提。走進菩提後，夫婦倆紛紛收穫著身心的健康和快樂，並將這份收穫傳遞給了更多的有緣人。在絢麗的夕陽裡，他們就這樣一起詮釋著感恩的真諦，執手共剪一段幸福的時光……

2013年3月份，騰禧的太太騰福患上了嚴重的抑鬱症，那段時間裡她終日夜不能寐，心情抑鬱痛苦，大腦裡總是無法控制地像放電影般一幕幕地出現負面的景象。不僅如此她還常覺得全身無力，走路時兩腿像棉花一樣軟綿綿的，坐立難安，茶飯不香。看過醫生吃了6個月的藥以後，也沒見一絲好轉。那時候面對每日飽受著病苦折磨的太太，騰禧是看在眼裡疼在心上，除了整天在身邊照顧她之外，也只是束手無策，唯有默默地嘆息…… 然而天無絕人之路，一個偶然的機會，騰禧在超市拿到了一本《禪修與健康》雜誌，這本雜誌深深地吸引了他。抱著一線希望，回到家後他說服了太太去試一試禪修。就這樣2013年8月底，他陪着太太一起來到禪堂參加了菩提禪修的能量調理。緊接著又參加了9月份的菩提禪修健身班。沒想到才初次體驗禪修，他的太太就驚喜地發現自己的身體竟然漸漸地輕鬆了很多，胃口變得好起來, 睡眠也有了改善！為了繼續康復身體，他們又繼續參加了多個健身班和念佛班。兩個月後，太太已從嚴重憂鬱症中完全解脫了出來！過去她每晚只能睡1個小時，而現在每天卻能睡 6小時，飯也吃得香，不僅如此她的心情變得快樂開朗了許多，經常與旁人有說又有笑。看著太太一天天的變化，騰禧也開心不已！ 在太太生病時，騰禧把注意力都放在了她身上，也從來沒有心思顧及自己的健康。然而沒想到來陪太太禪修這一年多，除了太太的抑鬱症得到康復，通過「大光明」及走「八卦」，他的身體狀況竟然也得到了改善。十多年來，由於血液不通暢，騰禧一直都有手冰凍的毛病，尤其是在冬天經常生凍瘡。不僅如此，他的鼻子過敏超過十年，經常打噴嚏流鼻水。禪修後，他發現自己過去手冰凍和鼻子的過敏竟然全部都好了！更神奇的是原先他有一頭的銀白髮，自從禪修後竟然開始漸生出黑髮來！現在的他每天的禪修時間都在2－3個小時之間，精力也越來越充沛。 對於他們夫婦而言，菩提禪修就好像是一道溫暖的陽光照進他們的世界裡。它不僅讓太太騰福從嚴重抑鬱症的痛苦中解脫出來，不再飽受病苦的折磨，而且也讓騰禧品嚐到健康的喜悅。他們的生活因禪修的出現再次回歸到幸福快樂的彼岸。為此，他們內心對金菩提宗師充滿了深深的感恩！ 除了帶給他們健康，禪修也讓他們的晚年生活充滿了無限的幸福。怀揣一份感恩之心，如今騰禧與太太騰福每天都來到禪堂做義工。在做義工的過程裡他們受益良多，感受到一種前所未有的充實和快樂。在這裡，他們希望自己可以永遠成為感恩的傳遞者，將宗師給予他們的健康和快樂，傳遞給與更多的有緣人！    

Happiness Habits

By Wendy Sterndale

Positive psychology is the scientific study of happiness. Psychologists have generated studies and analyzed the data to learn what people do and think to stay happy, to increase their happiness, and to thrive in spite of negative circumstances. Rigorous academic research gathered over the last half-century has more recently been getting translated for people outside academia. Some habits, when practiced over time, are likely to make you feel happier.

Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar is an author of internationally best-selling books about happiness and a former Harvard University professor whose classes on the study of positive psychology were among the university’s most popular. Here is Dr. Ben-Shahar’s philosophy in a nutshell: “When you learn how to live for today and for tomorrow at the same time, you learn how to balance your immediate personal needs with long-term goals and enjoy life as you never have before.”

The field of psychology has a long history of studying mental illness with the intention of easing psychological pain. However, researchers were learning all about illness only, and not enough about inner wellness. In the 1940s, psychologists began to study people who thrived in spite of negative circumstances. Those people were observed adapting in positive ways by learning from what doesn’t work, developing their strengths, becoming more involved in their social networks through giving and receiving help, having a role model, and maintaining a bigger life purpose.

Dr. Ben-Shahar described examining the tip of the stem of a growing plant. The part undergoing the most growth is undergoing the most change, biologically and in other ways. He was referring to studying people who thrive and succeed regardless of their circumstances. Sean Achor, who studied with Dr. Ben-Shahar at Harvard, said in a recent TED talk, “If we study what is merely average, we will remain merely average.”

Martin Seligman, the former head of the American Psychological Association, and Karen Reivich, both researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, discovered that smiles are contagious. When you smile, you feel better as certain micro muscles in your face move. When you see someone smile, even if you don’t smile in return, those micro muscles in your face move anyway, and you tend to feel better. If you smile to three people, and each of those three people smile to three other people, and each of those nine people smile to three other people, in twenty cycles, the entire world will be smiling.

Resilience is very important in order for any person to succeed regardless of the circumstances in which they seek that success. Dr. Ben-Shahar describes resilience as consistently having a target within a greater sense of purpose. He noted that people who are the most successful have also failed the most times. Failure can lead to learning and growth when we look back on the failure to learn about what happened, and then make changes based upon what we’ve learned.

Dr. Seligman says, “Attaining lasting happiness requires that we enjoy the journey on our way toward a destination we deem valuable. Happiness, therefore, is not about making it to the peak of the mountain, nor is it about climbing aimlessly around the mountain: happiness is the experience of climbing toward the peak.”

There are financial and professional benefits to increasing happiness as well. People who start out happy, and keep themselves happy, display the following traits according to a study done in 2005 by Sonja Lyubomirsky:

• Better securing jobs
• Better keeping jobs
• Superior productivity
• More resilient
• Less burnout
• Less turnover
• Greater sales

Taking Action

Dr. Ben-Shahar said, “I don’t believe that things necessarily happen for the best, but I know that some people are able to make the best of things that happen.” He advises making a commitment to do the following things regularly. When you take responsibility in this way, you can rewire your brain to work more optimistically and successfully.

1. Spend quality time with people you care about and who care about you. This is the number one predictor of happy people. “Time affluence” is time spent sitting down with friends. In this modern world, we often get interrupted by our phones and are accustomed to monitoring electronic devices while socializing. Rather than more, do less. Switch the phone off for three hours when you get home, turn off email for periods of time.
2. Accept and feel painful emotions. Only psychopaths and the dead do not experience painful emotions. After a tragedy, when we allow ourselves to break down and feel the pain, we are more likely to pull through and begin to experience positive emotions again. Research has shown that the people who do this recover more quickly than people who try to control and suppress difficult feelings.
3. Regular exercise three times a week, thirty to forty minutes each session. This is equivalent to taking some of the most powerful psychiatric drugs. Researcher Michael Babyak noted, “Exercise teaches the body that it matters.” Although exercise decreased depression among all populations studied, it was most effective in decreasing depression for those most physically and/or psychologically unhealthy at the start of the exercise program. And, even though exercise significantly decreased depression across all age categories, the older people were (the ages ranged from eleven to fifty-five), the greater the decrease in depression through exercise. Exercise was an equally effective antidepressant for both genders.
4. Express gratitude and appreciation. It is through appreciation that we cultivate resilience. “Appreciate” means to regard highly and to increase in value. People who keep a gratitude journal are happier, physically healthier, and more generous and benevolent.

Try this exercise for two minutes a day, twenty-one days in a row, to create lasting positive change. Keep a journal of three recent things you are grateful for. After twenty-one days, research conducted by Robert Emmons and Mike McCullough in 2003 showed that your brain starts to retain a pattern of scanning the world for what is positive. Research conducted by Richard B. Slatcher and James W. Pennebaker from the University of Texas showed that the act of journaling allows the brain to relive the positive experience. And research conducted by Sonya Lyubomirsky shows that sending one supportive email each day will send out ripples of happiness through your social group.

1. Time in quiet reflection. Practice mindfulness meditation. Embrace stillness. An excerpt from a study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, by David Foster and Matthew Wilson:  Rat brains were scanned while in a maze and after going through the maze. Some rats were sent through a maze repeatedly with no break and compared to rats that were sent through and then given time to reflect before doing it again. The rats that had time to reflect did much better. Actual learning happens afterward, during periods of quiet wakeful reflection.

Quiet reflection is useful from preschool and on into the business world. People need time to think about what they’ve just done, or reflect on a question in their lives. Carol Dweck, a researcher at Stanford University, found that meditation trains the meditator to focus on one thing at a time.

“Doing meditation literally transforms the brain, making us more susceptible to positive emotions and more resilient in the face of painful emotions,” said Dr. Ben-Shahar during a positive psychology class lecture delivered at Harvard in 2006.

 

If we do not see our strengths and virtues, we are not as likely to experience self-respect, self-confidence and happiness. When we ask ourselves questions about how we can improve, we also need to ask ourselves about what is going well, and about our strengths. We can take responsibility for our happiness by doing things to increase our confidence levels, hope and optimism.

 
 

   

相約在禪修 最美不過夕陽紅

  騰福  騰禧   加拿大溫哥華   圖文由加拿大溫哥華藥師禪院提供

他們是一對年邁的老夫婦，一年前因為74歲的妻子騰福患上抑鬱症，80歲的丈夫騰禧陪同她一起走進菩提。走進菩提後，夫婦倆紛紛收穫著身心的健康和快樂，並將這份收穫傳遞給了更多的有緣人。在絢麗的夕陽裡，他們就這樣一起詮釋著感恩的真諦，執手共剪一段幸福的時光……

2013年3月份，騰禧的太太騰福患上了嚴重的抑鬱症，那段時間裡她終日夜不能寐，心情抑鬱痛苦，大腦裡總是無法控制地像放電影般一幕幕地出現負面的景象。不僅如此她還常覺得全身無力，走路時兩腿像棉花一樣軟綿綿的，坐立難安，茶飯不香。看過醫生吃了6個月的藥以後，也沒見一絲好轉。那時候面對每日飽受著病苦折磨的太太，騰禧是看在眼裡疼在心上，除了整天在身邊照顧她之外，也只是束手無策，唯有默默地嘆息…… 然而天無絕人之路，一個偶然的機會，騰禧在超市拿到了一本《禪修與健康》雜誌，這本雜誌深深地吸引了他。抱著一線希望，回到家後他說服了太太去試一試禪修。就這樣2013年8月底，他陪着太太一起來到禪堂參加了菩提禪修的能量調理。緊接著又參加了9月份的菩提禪修健身班。沒想到才初次體驗禪修，他的太太就驚喜地發現自己的身體竟然漸漸地輕鬆了很多，胃口變得好起來, 睡眠也有了改善！為了繼續康復身體，他們又繼續參加了多個健身班和念佛班。兩個月後，太太已從嚴重憂鬱症中完全解脫了出來！過去她每晚只能睡1個小時，而現在每天卻能睡 6小時，飯也吃得香，不僅如此她的心情變得快樂開朗了許多，經常與旁人有說又有笑。看著太太一天天的變化，騰禧也開心不已！ 在太太生病時，騰禧把注意力都放在了她身上，也從來沒有心思顧及自己的健康。然而沒想到來陪太太禪修這一年多，除了太太的抑鬱症得到康復，通過「大光明」及走「八卦」，他的身體狀況竟然也得到了改善。十多年來，由於血液不通暢，騰禧一直都有手冰凍的毛病，尤其是在冬天經常生凍瘡。不僅如此，他的鼻子過敏超過十年，經常打噴嚏流鼻水。禪修後，他發現自己過去手冰凍和鼻子的過敏竟然全部都好了！更神奇的是原先他有一頭的銀白髮，自從禪修後竟然開始漸生出黑髮來！現在的他每天的禪修時間都在2－3個小時之間，精力也越來越充沛。 對於他們夫婦而言，菩提禪修就好像是一道溫暖的陽光照進他們的世界裡。它不僅讓太太騰福從嚴重抑鬱症的痛苦中解脫出來，不再飽受病苦的折磨，而且也讓騰禧品嚐到健康的喜悅。他們的生活因禪修的出現再次回歸到幸福快樂的彼岸。為此，他們內心對金菩提宗師充滿了深深的感恩！ 除了帶給他們健康，禪修也讓他們的晚年生活充滿了無限的幸福。怀揣一份感恩之心，如今騰禧與太太騰福每天都來到禪堂做義工。在做義工的過程裡他們受益良多，感受到一種前所未有的充實和快樂。在這裡，他們希望自己可以永遠成為感恩的傳遞者，將宗師給予他們的健康和快樂，傳遞給與更多的有緣人！