Life Along The Irrawaddy River: Lessons In Sustainable Living

Last week I returned from Southeast Asia and an opportunity of a lifetime. I spent 14 days traveling on the Irrawaddy River by riverboat, 600 miles into the remote center of Myanmar (Burma). This is a land frozen in time. There is no internet access, no cell phones or land lines. Cars are only found in the larger cities where they are used as taxis. You can’t use your credit card because Myanmar is not connected to the world’s banking system. The vast majority of the population lives in what we would consider subsistence poverty which means they have food, mostly from their garden and animals, and other essentials. The children are educated and seem happy. Family and Buddhism are at the center of village life.  An archeologist traveling with us told us that the small villages that we visited still live in the Iron Age.

Yet the starkest difference that I saw is that there is no culture of consumerism and technology like our own to fuel never ending economic expansion. Village life is simple and sustainable. It was a wonderful opportunity to see life in reasonable harmony with nature –the way we as a species lived for hundreds of thousands of years.

But as the days rolled by on the river a darker story unfolded.  I became witness to the systematic looting of the country’s vast stores of natural and cultural resources by the “generals”, as the military dictatorship is called. We passed miles of denuded hillsides as raft after raft of old growth teak floated down the stream to Mandalay or Yangon.  The generals have been cutting the old growth teak forests for decades. It takes at least 30 years to grow a mature teak tree so they just continue to harvest further up river to meet the huge demand, mostly by Japan. They are also aggressively mining precious gems and gold for export and pumping their vast stores of oil out of the ground and sending it by pipeline to China.

While it would be easy to vilify the ruthless dictatorship that rules the country with an iron hand, I’m not going there. I want to stay focused on the broader global issue of sustainability. After all, the generals wouldn’t be pillaging the land if there wasn’t such a pent up demand by the “developed” countries, and aspiring developing countries, to support our lifestyle of consumerism and continuous economic expansion.

Spending a couple of days in Bangkok on our way home made the situation all the more clear. The last time I was in Bangkok was 1986. It was a bustling city of two and three story buildings, food venders and Tuk Tuks on the streets. Last month we flew into a modern city with freeways, luxury cars and a swelling middle class. As I looked out across the city from the 30th floor of the Millennium Hilton I was stunned. High rises dominated the horizon in all directions as far as I could see through the smog. The pace of economic development, the display of extreme wealth and the massive consumption of the mushrooming middle class was astonishing. I also knew that this same lust for consumerism was playing out in India, China and most of Southeast Asia. Together these countries represent a significant percent of the world’s population. That’s when it sunk in that this shift in values and lifestyle, from subsistence to voracious consumerism, in the last two decades represents a significant uptick in the rate of environmental degradation. What the generals are doing in one small country mirrors the vast economic growth spurt in Asia which aspires to the consumerism of the west.

How did we get here?

Many of you have heard this: if you put a frog in a pot of hot water on the stove it will jump out. But if you put it in cold water and very slowly turn up the heat it will just sit there until it boils to death. If the rate of temperature change is gradual enough it doesn’t even notice that it’s getting hot. We are the frog, and the rate of change in water temperature equates to the rate of global environmental degradation.

“How did we get so badly out of balance with our natural world?” I wondered as I felt grief for a plundered world, the unacknowledged grief that many of us carry manifested as depression, anxiety and a sense of meaninglessness.

What do we need to restore balance?

Most of us are trying to be more ‘green’. But our efforts are little more that holding actions. We’re recycling, driving hybrid cars, changing our light bulbs and putting on a sweater instead of turning up the heat. And yes, we’re looking at alternative sources of energy and creating green jobs. But what became clear to me in Thailand is that our current efforts are a drop in the bucket when what we really need is a sea change.

The only thing that will turn us around is a fundamental shift in world view and values.

Too many of us lack intimacy with the natural world. Instead of understanding our place in the natural world, we see ourselves as separate and it is this estranged relationship that is creating untold environmental damage.

It’s not too late to change but we must resist the temptation to point our index finger outward toward The Media, politics or even modern culture. The change I’m speaking of must go beyond any transformation of contemporary culture because that culture is based upon the illusion of separateness from nature.

We must start with ourselves by healing our relationship with the natural world that sustains us. As we heal, we align our identity and core values with our deeper human nature. At the same time we fulfill a universal longing for a sense of oneness with the universe and all of creation. We must find our niche – our soul – and in doing so discover our particular place in the world and our unique purpose. We can think of our soul as our true place in nature, what biologists might call our ecological role, the unique way that each of us is meant to serve and nurture the web of life.

How do we find our niche? The easiest way to start is to spend time in nature appreciating its beauty. Quickly we learn that nature reflects our soul and reveals our unique purpose: our gift to the world and our potential awaiting to be discovered. And as we each mature fully into ourselves- into our wholeness- this unique gift brings healing to the world and purpose to our lives. The world cannot become full until be become fully ourselves. As we do, we awaken the universe.

The unimaginable suffering in Haiti is overwhelming and at times I’ve caught myself shutting down emotionally and creating distance because the pain is so difficult to bear. I’ve heard friends express anger, pity and depression over the devastation. These responses are draining so we are of little help to others in time of need. Our challenge is to feel compassion while deeply caring about what the people of Haiti are going through without experiencing the emotions that drain our personal energy. We need to develop a more balanced compassion.

We can’t change the tragedy in Haiti but we can become aware of what we feel and then ‘practice compassion’ to neutralize the negative emotions of anger, pity and confusion so we are better prepared for natural disasters and personal upheavals such as divorce, sickness or death of a loved one.  In turn we improve the quality of our own lives.

Compassion arises from a sense of being connected. It brings about positive emotions that reduce stress and help us meet life’s challenges. Positive emotions bring about the increased health and vitality among elderly people who have pets or a circle of good friends, and are the reason that happily married couples live longer. It stands to reason that the more that we can stabilize positive emotions, the healthier, happier and more compassionate we will be. The world becomes a better place because we are in it.

But for most of us positive emotions aren’t sustainable because we don’t feel connected. Just as our sense of connection evokes positive emotions our sense of isolation brings negative ones. The more separate we feel the more depressed, angry and stressed we become. A sense of scarcity hangs over us. We feel competition for limited resources. Stress taxes the immune system making us prone to cancer, heart attacks and other life threatening illness. In short if we live from separation we die sooner.

The question is how can we most effectively evoke and stabilize positive emotions and balanced compassion in our lives? Is there something we can do beyond focusing on our breath or trying to think better feeling thoughts? The simple answer is yes. We can draw upon the wisdom of our body to bring positive emotions more to the forefront of our lives and with them, an increased sense of connection which improves our health and feel loved and cared for.

Scientists have been studying the biology of stress for years. We know that it triggers the fight or flight response which is regulated through the sympathetic pathway of the autonomic nervous system and mediated by the hormone adrenaline. It quickly ramps up processes that increase our energy level, such as heartbeat, respiration and blood flow, and it shuts down nonessential processes such as digestion. A structure call the amygdale which lies near the emotional limbic system in the brain triggers alertness, defensiveness and fear. These habitual negative emotions can stay revved up for long periods of time causing physiological burnout that compromises our health.

What many of us might not know is that our body also responds as we reach out to connect to others and to the natural world. In contrast to our response to stress, connection triggers the compassion response which evokes the positive emotions of love, security and gratitude. Also under the control of the autonomic nervous system this reciprocal response is regulated through the alternate parasympathetic pathway. While stress increases the heart rate and slows down nonessential processes to prepare for fight for flight, this counterpart slows down the heart rate, slows down breathing and relaxes us by synchronizing the heart, and the nervous system and endocrine systems. It is coordinated through the vegus nerve which resides in the chest and produces a feeling of warmth that spreads through out the heart area when it is activated. It also triggers the secretion of oxytocin, a hormone which elicits a sense of trust, love and compassion. Practices of connection also affect neurochemicals in the brain, including dopamine and GABA which bestow a sense of peace, happiness and security while reducing anxiety, depression and stress.

We can bring about the ‘compassion response’ by simply slowing our breathing. Nasal breathing is particularly effective as it increases the release of nitric oxide which improves the respiratory and circulatory systems. The response is strengthened even further if we consciously generate feelings of love and appreciation, and imagine breathing directly through the heart area. The practice has the added benefit of over riding negative thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Through practice the response becomes stronger and more enduring. In time, simply visualizing our breathing through the heart during a challenging situation will shift us from stress to relaxation and from thoughts of separation and limitation to connection, love and compassion. Recent studies show that repetition changes synaptic activities and eventually alters cell structure.

These structural changes making it easier to remain positive in our day-to-day lives and can happen fairly quickly. Repetition builds new neuronal circuits that reinforce the response and permanently alter the brain in ways that control emotions and alter sensory perception. It calms our body and our mind by strengthening a brain structure called the anterior cingulated which integrates different parts of the brain to allow self-consciousness to emerge.

We strengthen our social awareness skills by integrating the thoughts, feelings and behaviors that steer us toward positive emotions and away from negative ones. As we heighten our social awareness, we evoke balanced compassion which changes the way we see ourselves in relation to the world and positions us to be natural leaders in times of great change.

Sources: Institute of Heart Math (heartmath.org)

Born To Be Good. The Science of a meaningful life. Dacher Keltner. W.W. Norton and Company, 2009
How God Changes Our Brain. Breakthrough findings from a leading neuroscientist. Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Waldan, Ballantine Books, 2009

I went to see Avatar last week. Actually it was my second viewing as I saw it the first time on Christmas Day. It’s rare that I see anything twice but it struck a chord. Yes, the 3D is phenomenal and the special effects stunning but that wasn’t why I went back.

The film’s plot carries a strong environmental theme but that wasn’t the reason I saw it again either. It tells of a time after earth’s resources are depleted and we spread out to other planets to exploit them too. It features corporate greed at its worst. A large corporation is hell bent on mining a rare mineral even though it means destroying the habitat of the native Na’vi, who inhabit their world in perfect harmony with nature. The movie’s plot has strong similarities to Dances with Wolves and even Pocahontas, both of which I enjoyed. But there was something else that called me back to the movie theater. It was the chance to experience vicariously the oneness with nature that is the Na’vi way of life on this colorful enchanted planet.

Avatar caresses our longing for the natural world that nourishes us, and upon which our very survival depended, minute by minute for millions of years. This “scratching of an itch” that most of us didn’t even know we had has stirred up strong emotions and the grief of our loss is being voiced by many for the first time.

Fans voice confusion on the internet about what the movie is bringing up for them. There are forums that have thousands of posts to help cope with depression.

“When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed grey. It just seems so meaningless.” wrote one.

“I even contemplated suicide thinking that if I do I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora.” wrote another.

“It showed a world where people are connected to each other and to nature.” wrote Maureen, 17

‘James Cameron’s created world strikes a deep longing for a world that once existed on our planet. By comparison, today’s world seems lifeless, full of amateur attempts to replace the longing. We envy the connection that Na’vi have with nature.’ says Lennon, 23.

Many opinions are being voiced about this phenomenon. “It [Avatar] has taken the best of our technology to create a virtual world and real life will never be as utopian as it seems on screen. It makes life seem imperfect.” said one psychiatrist.

I beg to differ.

Life can be whole, and as perfect as Pandora if we rekindle our relationship with the natural world. This is an inside job. It starts with walks to take in nature’s beauty. Time stops and the mind stills. It continues with the practice of appreciation every time we catch a glimpse of its wonder out of the corner of our eye. Soon a vivid sense of realness sets in, and awe creeps into our daily lives. Positive emotions flow. A baby laughs, we laugh. Our heart opens to others. Life becomes simple, and meaningful.

Avatar gives us a stunning vision of what is missing in our lives. It is helping many of us see our true relationship to nature for the first time. This awareness is the first step in healing ourselves. This stirring of emotions might bring us closer to the tipping point. We may be waking up just in time to save our planet, and ourselves.

This realization forces us to examine a part of us that was buried as science, technology, economics, and consumption allowed us to think that we are apart from nature. As we made that shift nature went from being the sacred container of our lives to a wilderness that needed to be tamed. In the process it was devalued and often destroyed leaving us with lives of alienation and emptiness.

We’re seeing the signs of this renewed relationship everywhere. It is in our demand for organic food, sustainable manufacturing and green jobs. It is in our joy of gardening, appreciation of wisdom traditions and sense of environmental stewardship. Avatar is pointing us to who we really are and how we can live. It’s up to us to pick up the reins, to change our minds and change the world. I have faith that we will!

By now you may have you heard about the startling breakthroughs in brain science that have turned our ideas about how the brain works upside down. For years we were told that we were born with all the brain cells we would ever have. If we lost one it was gone and would never be replaced. Wrong!

Exciting New Breakthroughs in Brain Science
In the last few years as brain imagery studies became available scientists have made a startling discovery.  Our central nervous system is actually very flexible and dynamic.  New neurons are being created all the time and our brain is in a constant frenzy of connecting, disconnecting and reconnecting at an impressive speed.  Even more startling is that our thoughts and behavior have a rapid and direct impact on brain structure.  One impressive study with Alzheimer’s patients showed that memory was significantly improved in 8 weeks by mediating 12 minutes a day.  Further when the patients’ brain was examined at the end of the study the images showed increased activity and enhancement of brain structures that function in memory recall and information access.  These are astounding findings and take the body mind connection to a whole new level!  It also demonstrates the profound impact that mediation can have on our wellbeing.

For a millennium ancient traditions have used meditation and contemplation to enhance spiritual growth and quicken enlightenment, particularly in the east. We’ve also known for decades about the health benefits of mediation: that it can boost the immune response; lower stress, anxiety and depression; and even slows down the effects of aging. Now we are finding out that these profound impacts of mediation comes from its ability to change brain structure in ways that enhance cognitive function and accelerate our spiritual evolution. If there weren’t enough reasons to meditate before there sure are now!

Yet why do we still resist? Why is it so difficult to carve our 20 minutes a day when we know what an incredible effect it can have on the remaining 23 hours and 40 minutes? One reason is that our brains spend decades forming a stable personality that allows it to go about its day-to-day life to optimize survival. It doesn’t want to give up control. After all survival is more important that optimal health and wellbeing so why take the chance. Maintaining the status quo is a safe bet.

Old habits are hard to break. Biologically, old circuits don’t disappear and it takes a lot of energy to rearrange the brains wiring, grow new synapse and create new neurons. Disruption of old patterns causes anxiety through the limbic system which is the part of the more primitive area of the brain and isn’t as malleable as the more recently evolved frontal lobes that scientist are finding so easily altered by meditation. The limbic system instills fear and uncertainty and causes old patterns of behavior to keep rising to the surface.

The Reasons Not To Mediate: The Four Nooses

The reason it is so difficult to mediate or do anything new that challenges the status quo of the brain is that the older fear ridden limbic system doesn’t like change.  Hindu monks and gurus have observed this behavior in themselves and their students for centuries. From their understanding of our nature they have identified the four reasons that the mind consistently comes up with to not mediate. They call them the 4 traps or nooses: sam, dam, dand and bhed.

The more we understand these nooses the greater our chances of finding a few minutes a day to meditate.

•    Noose #1: Denial

The first noose, sam, is denial. We wake up in the morning intending to meditate when the thoughts start. “It is not a big deal … I can skip it today … I can always start it tomorrow.” Denial is a powerful strategy. It will justify procrastinating of anything new and deny the importance of the undertaking.

•    Noose #2: Bargaining

With discipline we fight back inching our way toward the cushion when the second noose, dam,  arises from the mind. This time the brain tries to maintain control and distract us from mediation by offering up something better to do. You make a promise to yourself to meditate the next morning. You set the alarm and go to bed. When the alarm rings, the suggestion will come: “It is still early … I am having such a good sleep … a little longer sleep won’t hurt …” Somehow you are able to work through this hurdle and get out of the bed and sit down to meditate. Then another option will be hurled at you. “It is such a nice morning; I could go for a nice walk instead… I will be doing exercise at the same time … it will be much better than trying to sit here with my eyes closed. ” Remember the brain is protecting the status quo and the last thing it wants is for you to sit on that meditation cushion and try to still it.

•    Noose #3 Fear

If you are able to ignore the second trap and continue to sit to meditate, the third trap, dand, will be flung at you. Your mind will come up with fearful thoughts. “Did I leave the stove on? … I don’t have time to meditate today. I must make that important call now or I will miss out … My legs are uncomfortable this can’t be good for them.” There are endless variations of fear that can appear and try to get you away from your meditation.

•    Noose #4: Separation

If you’re actually able to get past the first three traps and continue your meditation you’ll encounter, the last and most powerful noose, bhed, or separation. In order to trap you with this tactic the mind will suggest thoughts like, “Meditation is not for me, I am different … I am unique …I’ve tried mediation and it doesn’t work for me… I am a certain body type (personality type or astrological sign) … this is not for me, it is for somebody who is different than me … I am special or I don’t deserve it … I am too old for it.” You name it; the suggestions come in many disguises.

Many of us fall into these traps. We are effectively deprived of the spiritual growth and health benefits of meditation for a lifetime. What can we do to not be snared by the nooses? We can stay aware of these four nooses; identify them as the thoughts arise: “Oh, denial is coming to me this morning.” Call them out for what they are as they arise and move toward that cushion to in making mediation a habit. Over time and with repetition the brain will befriend the process and a new habit –of meditation practice- is instilled.

Even then it’s easy to break the habit and fall back to the old neuronal circuitry so don’t let your guard down. Beware of the four nooses! Use this knowledge protect yourself from thoughts created by the brain to keep control. Make mediation a daily habit and watch how quickly it will change your health, values and emotional life.

We tend to focus on what we can see and it sure appears as if we are separate from each other and our environment. Yet we are more than we seem. Many of us know this from direct experience.  We have glimpsed another reality in which we are all interconnected through the one seamless whole that animates all life and cloaks us in abundance, beauty and divine love. This other reality feels more real to us. It also feels good, because it evokes in us love, compassion and awe, emotions that are directly linked to our wellbeing. Recent studies have shown that the greater our feeling of connectedness the less stressed we are (1). Positive emotions help us meet life’s challenges with grace and sustain meaningful relationships. They account for the increased health and vitality among elderly people who have pets or a circle of good friends, and are the reason that happily married couples live longer than singles. Yet because our interconnection defies our senses, and our logical mind only recognizes our separateness, positive emotional experiences are short lived for most of us in our day-to-day lives. They are transient and unpredictable, wiped out in an instant when an event passes by that is not to our liking.

Just as our sense of connection evokes positive emotions, our sense of separation brings negative ones that pull us even further away from oneness. They bump us out of present-moment awareness which is the only place that oneness can be found. The more separate we feel the more depressed, angry and stressed be become. Our isolation brings a sense of scarcity and we feel as if we are in competition for limited resources. We know that stress taxes the immune system and other natural defense systems in the body making us prone to cancer, heart attacks and other life threatening illness. In short if we live from separation we die sooner.

Yet unfortunately, as adults our natural tendency leans closer to viewing ourselves as separate which evokes negative emotional experiences, then to seeing our interconnection and the positive emotions that ensue. It seems to be part of the human condition that even when we know that we are spirit at our very core, we function in a constant state of forgetfulness thinking that our physical form is all there is. It is as if our short-term memory of our oneness can last only a few moments and we must reconnect with it on a daily, even moment to moment, basis. This is why we need a daily practice- to remember. In this remembering we can hold the vision of our oneness, even though unseen, in a balance with the visible world. It affords us the perspective of the modern mystic, of seeing the divine through our human form and seeing ourselves in the presence of god. It is only from this place that we can become awakened leaders who inspire others to make a difference. We change the world by changing ourselves for as we change we lead through our love, compassion for each other, and appreciation of life’s gifts. This is the only path of effective global transformation as it is the very catalyst that shifts us to a higher order of interconnection and oness awareness.

From a personal perspective it stands to reason that the more that we can stabilize the positive emotions that lead us, in baby steps to oneness, the healthier, happier and more compassionate we will be. We will grow spiritually and abundance will flow into our lives. We will also live longer and find true intimacy in our relationships. The world will become a better place because we are in it.

But how can we most effectively evoke and stabilize positive emotions? Is there something we can do beyond focusing on our breath in mediation or trying to think better feeling thoughts? Can we draw upon the wisdom of our body to bring positive emotions more to the forefront of our lives? The simple answer is yes, and furthermore as we practice we increase our interconnection which improves our health and happiness. We feel loved and cared for and much more. Such practices can change the very structure of the nervous system in ways that make it easier to maintain our sense of connection as we go about our day-to-day lives .

Scientists have been studying the biology of stress for years. We know that it triggers the fight or flight response which is regulated through the sympathetic pathway of the autonomic nervous system and mediated by the hormone adrenaline. It quickly ramps up processes that increase our energy level, such as heartbeat, respiration and blood flow, and it shuts down nonessential processes such as digestion. The amygdale which lies near the emotional limbic system in the brain triggers alertness, defensiveness and fear. While the stress response evolved very early, help us better fight an adversary or flee from a predator, its habitual negative emotions can keep it revved up for long periods of time causing the physiological burnout that compromises our health.

What many of us might not know is that our body also responds as we reach out to connect to others and to the natural world. In contrast to our response to stress, connection triggers the relaxation response and the positive emotions of love, security and compassion. Also under the control of the autonomic nervous system this reciprocal response is regulated through the alternate parasympathetic pathway. While stress increases the heart rate and slows down nonessential processes to prepare for fight for flight, this counterpart slows down the heart rate, slows down breathing and relaxes us by synchronizing the heart and the nervous and the endocrine systems. It is coordinated through the vegus nerve which resides in the chest and produces a feeling of warmth that spreads through out the heart area when it is activated. It also triggers the secretion of oxytocin, a hormone which elicits a sense of trust, love and compassion. Spiritual practices of connection also affect neurochemicals in the brain, including dopamine and GABA which bestow a sense of peace, happiness and security while reducing anxiety, depression and stress.

We can bring on the relaxation response by simply slowing our breathing. Nasal breathing is particularly effective as it increases the release of nitric oxide which improves the respiratory and circulatory systems. The response is strengthened even further if we consciously generate feelings of love and appreciation, and imagine breathing directly through the heart area triggering positive feelings of connection, security and well-being. The practice has the added benefit of over riding negative thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Through practice the response becomes stronger and more enduring. In time, simply visualizing our breathing through the heart during a challenging situation will shift us from stress to relaxation and from thoughts of separation and limitation to connection, love and compassion. Recent studies show that repetition changes synaptic activities and eventually alters cell structure.

These structural changes making it easier to remain positive in our day-to-day lives and can happen fairly quickly. A recent study showed both improved memory and changes in brain structure after mediating for 12 minutes a day in as little as eight weeks.  Focused attention to practice builds new neuronal circuits that reinforce the response and permanently alter the brain in ways that control emotions and alter sensory perception. It calms our body and our mind by strengthening a newly evolved brain structure called the anterior cingulated which integrates different parts of the brain to allow self-consciousness to emerge, especially in the way we see ourselves in relation to the world.  We strengthen our social awareness skills by integrating the thoughts, feelings and behaviors that steer us toward positive emotions and away from negative ones. This is the way in which spiritual practices heighten social awareness and compassion.

We can strengthen the response many fold by being in the presence of others who also express positive emotions and highly developed social awareness skills. With further practice we increase our capacity to model empathy and compassion in times of rapid change. We practice the compassionate communication, intuitively follow the golden rule and are stewards of the earth. We use an understanding of our own biology to speed up our spiritual growth, build community and inspire each other to transform the world, one mind at a time.