Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering

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The combined skills of mindfulness and intention described in this book represent an approach to transforming life’s many challenges into opportunities for growth. This approach constitutes the foundation for a more authentic relationship with yourself and others. As you apply these life skills you will feel more grounded and oriented in your life. My purpose in writing this book is to assist you in this process of learning how to live more skillfully.

Dancing with Life: Phillip Moffitt, Fred Stella

A Strictly spokesperson said: ‘ Amanda Abbington is unable to continue in Strictly Come Dancing and has decided to withdraw from the competition. The show wishes her all the best for the future.’ You may recall that I asked if your book would provide practical applications or examples of the 4 Noble Truths and the corresponding 12 insights. You assured me it would. I found one particular passage to be amazingly concise as well as entirely useful in my day-to-day dealings. I am quite sure that I will refer to it often as it provides one of the best summaries of why I recently removed the words good, bad, want and wait from my vocabulary with the word hope not far behind. I am now working on keeping them at bay in my thinking before they can start me on the well-worn path from pain to suffering.” II. One way to understand Dancing with Life is that it is a teaching about psychological development as well as spiritual development. Therefore, as you practice each insight, you’re directly working to mature your ego. The flowering of this is noticed as you gain more independence around ego issues. The second major theme is intentionality, the commitment to living all the moments of your life based on your values as you move toward your goals. It is genuinely possible to experience a sense of purpose in life, one that is based on living from your intentions, regardless of almost all external circumstances. This is a remarkable truth that has held my wonder for decades and has been a major source of inspiration.Outstanding program connected to curriculum with positive messages. Instructor was outstanding and maintained her high energy level all day and all week. The whole school performance was inspiring. Our students loved it and would like us to book again for next year! 🏴 Flag as inappropriate urn:lcp:dancingwithlifeb0000moff:epub:a5c48ff5-9bbc-462c-ad0d-d7da676491ba Foldoutcount 0 Identifier dancingwithlifeb0000moff Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s2fqwn4gg0w Invoice 1652 Isbn 9781594863530 Phillip Moffitt has given us a clear and practical guide to dealing with the unhappiness and frustration that come our way in life. He leads us on a path of connection rather than isolation, and compassion rather than fruitless anger and self-judgment. Everyone could benefit from reading this book.” —Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness Phillip’s teachings are invaluable. I’m about to take my 3rd retreat with him. He is humble, funny, extremely knowledgeable, intuitive. I would recommend not only reading his books, all of them, but working with him if you are a beginner or many years in Buddhist practitioner. Or not. His nine bodies work is not Buddhist, but he frames it in a Vipassana context.

Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meanin… Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meanin…

Lccn 2007047263 Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-1-g862e Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9541 Ocr_module_version 0.0.14 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-NS-1200133 Openlibrary_edition Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-12-16 03:14:40 Bookplateleaf 0004 Boxid IA40314608 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier Moffitt states that the purpose of writing this book was to “help people learn to live more skillfully,” just as he began to do at age 40. Leaving behind a successful career, he embarked on a journey of study, meditation, and Jungian analysis to discover new capacities in himself, and a connection to a larger purpose. That larger purpose evolved into helping others find clarity, direction, and meaning in their lives. Moffitt’s a skilled writer. There is no flowery language painting an abstract portrait of the secret to life. He writes cleanly and directly. However, he still thoroughly conveys his message. He strikes the perfect balance. The Four Noble Truths are at the heart of every Buddhist tradition. Phillip Moffitt’s wonderful book, Dancing with Life, plumbs their timeless wisdom with a refreshing depth of insight. Phillip’s pragmatic and incisive understanding transforms theory into practice and helps actualize the liberating potential of these teachings. This book is an important contribution to our journey of awakening.” —Joseph Goldstein, author of A Heart Full of Peace and One DharmaIt's because of this book that sometimes, when I'm sitting in traffic and the person behind me is honking as if we aren't all trying to move forward I'll (somewhat glibly) say "Thank you for this opportunity to embody suffering!" And, you know what? At least it makes me laugh for a second, and I kind of feel better... I chose to devote the second chapter of the book to the questions of how identity is created and how our ideas about the self trap us in a cycle of suffering. Such a discussion is challenging for many readers because we all have unrecognized attachment to our various identities. Being told they are temporary can generate resistance. Despite my concern that readers might feel resistance, I decided to place this chapter at the beginning of the book because having mindfulness about how you create identity is an essential understanding for gaining clarity. I felt it needed to unfold in the reader’s mind throughout the book, rather than being introduced to the reader at the end. Moffitt brings to his role of dharma teacher a range of life experiences which include being a longtime student of yoga and Theravadin Buddhism, author, former editor-in-chief and chief executive of Esquire magazine, and board member for the C. G. Jung Institute. His long- standing interest in Jung, Helen Luke, and T. S. Eliot enriches his teaching with psychological insight. Moffitt quotes Ajahn Chah: “There are two kinds of suffering: the suffering that leads to more suffering and the suffering that leads to the end of suffering. If you are not willing to face the second kind of suffering, you will surely continue to experience the first.”

Sloan - Dancing With Your Ghost (Lyric Video) Sasha Alex Sloan - Dancing With Your Ghost (Lyric Video)

Like Phillip Moffitt who left Esquire, and the industry, in 1987 after an apparently stressful stint as CEO and editor-in-chief, to devote himself to what he calls “the inner life.” In the two decades since, he has been ordained a Buddhist priest and, in 1991, founded the Life Balance Institute, a non-profit organization devoted to the study and practice of spiritual values. (He didn’t leave the industry altogether. From 1998 to 2005 he penned a bi-monthly column for Yoga Journal called “Dharma Wisdom.”)Moffitt (former editor in chief, Esquire; founder, Life Balance Inst.) describes emotional chaos as a reaction to negative life situations rather than an honest and clear response. He shows how a proactive response, using the skills of mindfulness and intention, can transform life’s challenges into opportunities for growth. Through Moffitt’s explanations, exercises, and assessments, readers can cultivate the practices of “skillful living,” e.g., learning to let go of expectations, ending the cycle of self-violence, and living life with gratitude. VERDICT: Moffitt includes case studies and psychological insights geared toward general readers. A helpful book for those who need a clear focus.

Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and

Reflect on what you have read in this chapter and ask yourself what you believe to be true about you and your identity. For example, which type of mistaken identity best describes the way you tend to think? Which type has caused you the most suffering in the past? The book is divided into three sections. Part I, “Practices That Empower You to Achieve Clarity,” explains the concept of mindfulness, explores ways to discover your true self (not the one guided by misperceptions), and introduces such practices as living an intentional life, letting go of expectations, starting over, and balancing priorities. The next section, “Developing Skillful Behaviors,” presents skills that will guide you to live according to your values and intentions. Skillful behaviours include making wise decisions, cultivating the qualities of loving kindness and compassion, living life through gratitude, doing the right thing, and overcoming attachments through generosity. Part III, “Removing the Sources of Chaos,” looks at what Moffitt calls unskillful behaviours; the ones that bring chaos and suffering not only into our lives, but to those around us, such as failing to set and maintain boundaries or practice restraint, along with compulsiveness. Why do we suffer? Is there a purpose to our pain? Noting that human beings have wrestled with such questions for thousands of years, Phillip Moffitt has found answers for his own life in Buddhist philosophy and meditation. Reflecting on his own journey from Esquire magazine editor-in-chief to Buddhist meditation teacher, Moffitt provides a fresh perspective on the Buddha’s ancient wisdom, showing how to move from suffering to new awareness and unanticipated joy. In this deeply spiritual book that is sure to become a Buddhist classic, Moffitt explores the twelve insights that underlie the Buddha’s core teaching–the Four Noble Truths–and uses these often neglected ideas to guide readers to a more meaningful relationship to suffering. Moffitt write: “These twelve insights teach you to dance with both the joy and pain, finding peace in a balanced mind and calm spirit. As the most specific, practical life instructions I have ever encountered, they serve as an invaluable tool for anyone who seeks a life filled with meaning and well-being.” Practicing these twelve insights, as Moffitt suggests, will help readers experience life’s difficulties without being filled with stress and anguish, and they will enhance their moments of happiness. With engaging writing and a strong message of self-empowerment, Dancing with Life offers a prescriptive path for finding joy and peace that will appeal to meditation students and readers of “Dharma Wisdom,” Moffitt’s column in Yoga Journal, as well as anyone searching for a more authentic life. Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering by Phillip Moffitt – eBook DetailsLife can be immensely challenging. Sometimes it feels as if we wrestle with it… can even be defeated by it. Have you ever felt that? The metaphor of Dancing with Life invites in creativity and flexibility and finding the steps that match whatever comes our way. And the practice of dancing in an embodied way helps us connect with the rhythms of life.