We would walk into the swimming pool and the baby would burst with excitement. Photograph: iStock

Im just going to come out and say it, because Lord knows no one else is likely to: small babies are boring.

They cant talk to you about reality TV (mainly because they dont know who anyone is, and they cant talk); they cant get a round in (owing to not being allowed to drink, plus no money); and they dont laugh at your jokes (which I suppose makes them like everyone else).

Im nostalgic for the days of maternity leave, when Isola was a tiny, non-crawling, non-jumping-off-the-changing-table thing. It was hard work, certainly, keeping her fed and changed, but once the visitors scattered to the wind, filling the days seemed to require a degree of effort. After a couple of hours, wed both be tapped out on cuddles and cooing. Id look at the clock, and there would be four more hours until B was due to walk in the door. Its a strange kind of benign solitude, but we certainly needed something to do.

A friend had mentioned Water Babies as a potential activity and lo, there were beginner classes in the next neighbourhood over. The baby would learn to swim, I would get some semblance of exercise, and best of all, wed be doing something together. There was nothing not to like in this plan.

Except on the first day, I damn near gave up on the whole thing and fled in my half-on, half-off swimsuit. Have you ever tried to dress a baby in a swim nappy and too-tight shorts, while also trying to get yourself into a swimsuit? On the first day, a half dozen of us were trying the same polite, tricky feat. Id been running late, so was already sweating like I was due in court. I peered into the bag. In the rush of it all, we were one clean pair of knickers down.

Im never leaving the house again, I shouted, exasperated. Finally, and with much ado, we were ready for the water.

Reader, the baby absolutely loved it. After a few minutes of oh, this is new suspicion, shedecided that she was fully committed. She splashed and flailed, trying to break free into the big blue. It was such fun, seeing my fearless little adventurer want to become independent and give this swimming lark everything she had. She shrieked and laughed and screamed and it was wonderful. She didnt even hold it against me when I sent her underwater a couple of times.

The Water Babies classes are roughly a half-hour of gentle water aerobics, singing cute nursery ditties and, after a while, dunking the babies so they learn how to deal with being underwater. All told, I was a little self-conscious of breaking out the Twinkle Twinkle in public, but after a few minutes I, too, was fully in.

The changing/showering/drying got easier in the end (top tip: have a rice cake to hand). The exertion and excitement of the morning would send the baby straight to sleep, meaning I could have a peaceful post-swim coffee. In the weeks that followed, we would walk into the swimming pool and the baby would burst with excitement.

This has been one of the most gratifying parts of becoming a new mum: watching this tiny personality unfurl and bloom. Seeing her react to small challenges and new experiences. Standing back (well, not in the pool as such) as she becomes her own little person.

And what a person she already is. At the risk of sounding like one of those insufferable parents, sheis already a cooler person than both her parents put together. She stares at all strangers, hoping to catch their eye and lob them a charming smile (this, I suspect, is a trait she inherited from B, who starts conversations with every stranger he can, even on the Luas). She is a keen watcher and appraiser of people; she enters every room with her head held high, uninhibited, looking for the action. I hope it will always be this way.

Best of all, she glares in an absolute state of you fashion at toddlers having tantrums in the supermarket who are in the midst of a biscuit-aisle meltdown. This gives me no end of hope for the near-future.

The year has felt molasses-slow in some ways, and like a finger-snap in others. Isola changes all the time; behind my back and then right in front of my eyes. She is burbling now, and the words are doubtless the next thing to come.

What a time that will be.

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I nearly gave up on Water Babies on day one, but Im glad I didnt - The Irish Times

Sri Lankan authorities delay on whether to prosecute award-winning writer Shakthika Sathkumara By Vimukthi Vidarshana 16 December 2019

Sri Lankan police told the Polgahawela magistrates court last week that they are yet to receive the attorney generals decision on whether to prosecute Shakthika Sathkumara. The acclaimed writer was arrested on April 1 and illegally held in remand for 130 days for allegedly defaming Buddhism.

Released in August on strict bail conditions, Sathkumara is accused of violating Section 291B of the Penal Code and Section 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Act (ICCPR) No. 56 of 2007. According to legal procedures, the author should have been released on bail by the Polgahawela magistrate as soon as the case had been filed.

If the attorney general decides to indict Sathkumara, he will be prosecuted at the Kurunegala High Court and, if found guilty of the bogus defamation charge, could be sentenced to ten years jail. The next hearing in the Polgahawela magistrates court will be on May 19 next year when the attorney generals decision will be announced.

Questions are being raised about the attorney generals impartiality, given that he has been listed to appear for R.D.M.Syril, the officer in charge of Polgahawela police. Syril is a respondent in a fundamental rights case filed by Sathkumara over his arbitrary arrest and the violation of his freedom of expression and other constitutional rights.

Sathkumara was arrested following a complaint by a Buddhist monk, who is affiliated with a right-wing extremist organisation, over Ardha (Half), a short story by the author published on his Facebook page.

The monk claimed that the story, which included a reference to homosexuality among Buddhist monks, insulted Buddhism and Buddha. Extreme-right Buddhists are acutely sensitive to any exposure of the pseudo-sacred pretences of the religious establishment.

In his objections to Sathkumaras story, which were filed belatedly on August 15, Polgahawela police chief R.D.M. Syril did not present any substantive evidence to justify Sathkumaras arrest. One of the documents submitted by the policea statement from the inspector of police on April 1reveals that the police arrested the writer and brought him before the court on the request of the Buddhist monk.

Counter-objections filed by Sathkumara in a fundamental rights case argue that Polgahawela police organised protests in support of extremist Buddhist monks in order to bring pressure not to grant bail for the author. A hearing on Sathkumaras fundamental rights case, which was last heard on September 30, has been postponed until July 28 next year.

The Sri Lankan police are closely linked to the religious establishment and notorious for promoting the extreme-right Buddhist organisations, and have directly and indirectly backed racist assaults on minority communities. Recent communalist attacks included mob violence against Muslim-owned shops and houses in the Minuwangoda area on May 13 following the Easter Sunday bombings this year by a local ISIS-inspired terrorist group.

On October 24, Sathkumara was assigned to work at the Irrigation Department by the Director of Combined Services. However, in a blatant violation of the authors democratic rights, this was overruled by a senior official who is reported to have said that someone who wrote a book against Buddhist monks is not fit for this department.

On December 2, Sathkumara was reappointed as a development officer at the Maspotha Divisional Secretariat but on the condition that he may have to face a disciplinary inquiry into his authorship of the short story. The civil administration, however, has no legal mandate to conduct such disciplinary inquiries into this non-service related matter.

The state witchhunt of Sathkumara has been condemened by prominent Sri Lankan artists and international figures, including most recently a letter of support by Sahidul Alam, a renowned photojournalist.

Alam was arrested by Bangladesh police in August last year for condemning violent police attacks on students and for voicing his concerns on the al-Jazeera network. He was later released following local and international protests. Alams letter to Sathkumara is part of a campaign being organised by PEN International, which defends writers internationally from all forms of government repression.

Sathkumara responded to Alam with the following reply:

The repression I am facing is not limited to this country alone ... We are being driven to a magical world of after-life beyond the objective world, to hide the real causes of the social catastrophe of the crisis-ridden capitalist system. To meet this end, religion and the religious establishment has been a critical tool for the bourgeois ruling class. They have used religion as a weapon to defend their predatory system.

In countries like ours, even the Constitution has given religion the foremost place. This is a legal weapon used by the ruling class to divide the oppressed masses along racial and religious lines and defend capitalist rule. The ruling class is consciously cultivating lies, social and cultural backwardness and reaction against the masses. So, the attacks on journalist Julian Assange, who is being hunted due to his exposure of the crimes of US imperialism, and on yourself and myself are essentially political.

State attacks on artists and journalists have been stepped up following Sathkumaras persecution. On the eve of the recent presidential election, film director and playwright Malaka Devapriya was questioned by the Criminal Investigation Department over alleged violations of the ICCPR Act.

On November 25, following his appointment as Sri Lankan prime minister, Mahinda Rajapakse referred to Article 9 of the constitution, which gives the formost place to Buddhism, and declared, We will take legal action against those who defame Buddhism or any other religion.

Mahinda Rajapakse is also Sri Lankas minister of Buddha Sasana, which exists to protect and guarantee the dominance of Buddhism and the Buddhist religious establishment in Sri Lanka.

The judicial verdicts on the fraudulent defamation allegations against Sathkumara and Devapriya are being made in an increasingly communalist atmosphere. Sri Lankas ruling elite is whipping up religious divisions to counter the development of unified strike action and mass demonstrations of workers, youth and the rural poor against government austerity policies and attacks on democratic rights.

The Action Committee for the Defence of Freedom of Art and Expression, which was organised by the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), has issued statements and launched a Solidarity Petition campaign in defence of Sathkumara and Devapriya. Its defence of democratic rights is an integral part of the SEPs political struggle for the independent mobilisation of the working class for a workers and peasants government based on a socialist and internationalist program.

2019 has been a year of mass social upheaval. We need you to help the WSWS and ICFI make 2020 the year of international socialist revival. We must expand our work and our influence in the international working class. If you agree, donate today. Thank you.

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Sri Lankan authorities delay on whether to prosecute award-winning writer Shakthika Sathkumara - World Socialist Web Site

The symbol of India in Indian passports and Indian currency notes has been a lion and a spoked-wheel or chakra, both from the Ashoka pillar. Now the government has introduced the lotus on the passport, as part of security measures, we are told, to be replaced by other national symbols in subsequent months. But many see this as a political move, yet another path of saffronisation, as the lotus is the political symbol of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party which values the Hindutva ideology-based Hindu Rashtra over the more secular Idea of India. This draws our attention to symbols, and how politicians have reduced it to signs.

A sign has a singular meaning. A symbol has multiple meanings, shifting with context. For example, the red colour is a stop sign in traffic, but a fertility symbol in Hinduism, and in China, while being indicative of the devil, scarlet women or Santa Claus in Christianity. Was the lion and the chakra chosen as a sign of India, or symbol? Does it have a specific meaning or a contextual one? One is constantly reminded it is not just any lion, or any chakra, it is that of Ashoka, which connects it with the first historical empire of India, the Mauryan, and to a king who found peace in Buddhism after years of violence. Did Ashoka see his symbols the same way as Indians did during the freedom struggle?

Ashokas India was very different from India under the British Raj. He lived in times when Buddhas body was never shown in art, but was represented as a lion (Sakyasimha or lion of sakya clan), or even as a wheel (Dhammachakka, or wheel of doctrine). Was the image on Ashokas pillar then that of the Buddha itself? Could the symbol then be construed as religious? Or was it imperial? Either way, why was it suitable for a secular republic?

Two hundred years ago, historians did not know anything about Ashoka or Buddha. Ashoka tales were found in folktales and legends. And Buddha was at best the ninth avatar of Vishnu as per some Hindu texts, but certainly not a popular sage or god at least not to European imperialists and colonisers who were slowly dominating the world with their new technologies. It was the rise of the subjects such as archaeology and philology, that led a great interest in ancient history and the discovery of Ashokas inscriptions and Buddhist manuscripts, that told the world of a revolutionary philosopher who lived five centuries before Jesus Christ and an emperor who lived shortly after Alexander the Great, who spoke of his subjects as his children, and expressed remorse over past violence.

This was when Edwin Arnold wrote the book The Light of Asia and The Song Celestial that introduced the world, and many Indians studying abroad, including Ambedkar, Gandhi and Nehru, to both Buddha and Krishna. The non-violent Buddha was found to be more appealing than the complex theology of Krishna that seemed to valorise war. This was the time when Indians were rediscovering India, and Hinduism, which appeared grand in its polytheism to 18th century Orientalists, but was seeming rather vile, barbaric and brutally hierarchical with its adherence to caste system to 19th century advocates of liberty and equality. Knowledge was being discovered, and framed, by European colonisers who were arguing the case for British colonialism as being the White Mans Burden of civilising.

It is important to see Ashokas pillar in this light: indicative of a lost good India. Buddhism was glamorous in the mid-20th century. Nehru and Gandhi admired the Buddha. Ambedkar converted to Buddhism finding it more egalitarian, rational and revolutionary. Even Savarkar admired the Buddha, though he did feel that Buddhist pacifism caused the downfall of India, as it led to invasions and incursions, that could only partly be resisted by the rise of Rajputs. It is only now that academicians are pointing out to the deeply misogynist and homophobic nature of the Buddhist doctrine, and to its role in legitimising kingship, which played a key role in its rivalry with Brahmins.

No one 70 years ago saw the lion or the wheel as a symbol of imperial power, the lion being the alpha predator, and the wheel indicating the sun, with the kings power located in the centre and the kings authority stretching out like spokes of the wheel to the boundaries. Was that subliminal messaging to establish Delhi as the seat of power in the new Indian order? Is this excessive centralisation being taken to the next level by the Modi government, angering people in Kashmir, and Northeast India?

The lion is also a Jain symbol of Mahavira, a contemporary of Buddha, and last of 24 Tirthankaras of this era. The wheel is also a Jain symbol of time and space as well as kingship, found atop every Jain mandir. Ashokas grandfather, Chandragupta Maurya, mentioned in Greek chronicles, converted to Jainism, as per Jain legends. Mauryan rock cut caves show great value placed on monks and naked ascetics, who could belong to numerous sects, including Ajivikas, not just Buddhist or Jain. These shramanas, or strivers in Sanskrit, known as sammana in Prakrit, travelled to south, which is why across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra and Odisha we find mountains and caves associated with Jain and Buddhist ideas, overshadowed by later Puranic and Vedantic themes. Despite so much value placed on monasticism in Mauryan times, great value was also placed on Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and her symbol lotus. Lakshmi is one of the earliest goddesses to be carved in India, first in Buddhist shrines, also appearing in dreams of Jain mothers and being invoked in Vedic mantras.

That makes the lotus not just a BJP symbol, just as the lion and the wheel are not just Buddhist symbols. The palm is also not just a Congress symbol; it is a gesture indicating protection (abhaya mudra) common to Buddhists, Jains and Hindus, and a common emoji indicating stop, or face-palm, i.e. a slap.

Devdutt Pattanaik writes and lectures on mythology in modern times

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Spot the difference between sign and symbol - The Hindu

(Editors note: This article is reprinted here from MIT News.)

Independence movements are complicated. Consider Burma (now Myanmar), which was governed as a province of British India until 1937, when it was separated from India. Burma then attained self-rule in 1948. Amid some straightforward demands for autonomy from India, one Burmese nationalist, a Buddhist monk named U Ottama, had a different vision: He wanted his country to break free of Britain but remain part of India, until Burma could become independent.

Why would a Burmese Buddhist want independence from one country, only to seek a union with a much bigger and majority Hindu neighbor to achieve this?

At the heart of Ottamas politics lay a spiritual and civilizational geography that framed his argument for Burmas unity with India, says MIT historian Sana Aiyar, who is working on a book about Burma and India at the time of the independence movement. As Burmese nationalists increasingly defined their nationhood in religious terms to demand the separation of Burma from India, U Ottama insisted that since India was the birthplace of Buddhism, Burma was inextricably linked with India.

That this vision found an audience hints at the extensive connections between Burma and India. From 1830 through 1930, an estimated 13 million Indians passed through Burma the majority of whom were migrant or seasonal laborers making the city of Rangoon a cosmopolitan capital. Many stayed and married Burmese women which helped spark an anti-immigrant, anti-Indian backlash that became one driver of Burmas independence movement.

The complexity of the political fault lines of Burmese self-rule makes the topic a natural for Aiyar. A historian of the Indian diaspora, she generally examines how migration, nationalism, and religion have fed into 20th-century anticolonial politics.

Aiyars work has another distinctive motif. She specializes in illuminating figures like U Ottama, who were once influential but are little-known now.

The core interest that I have is in political history, says Aiyar, who was awarded tenure earlier this year. But Im interested less in the big event, the obvious narrative, and the big leaders. What has always fascinated me are the alternatives, the possibilities that did not get a chance to see complete fruition the person who didnt become Gandhi, didnt quite get the same following, but seems to have really mattered in the moment.

In Aiyars 2015 book Indians in Kenya: The Politics of Diaspora, for instance, a key figure is Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee, a trader who, in another complex scenario, became a leader for Indian rights in British-occupied Kenya, even as many Indians never became fully aligned with the British or other Kenyans. But even people strolling through Jeevanjee Gardens, a park in central Nairobi, are unlikely to know much about its namesake.

In all of my research, Ive been following those kinds of elusive figures whose long, shadowy presence emerges in fragments in colonial and national archives, Aiyar says. They allow me to ask questions about the dilemmas and dynamics of the moment.

Old and new in Delhi

Aiyar grew up in Delhi, in an intellectually minded family; her mother was a journalist, and her father a diplomat and politician.

Even around the dining table, history and politics were always there. It was just part of growing up, Aiyar says.

History and politics were always there in Delhi, too.

Growing up in a city like Delhi youre surrounded by history, Aiyar notes. Its almost impossible to look out of the window when youre driving anywhere in Delhi without seeing historical sites and the outcomes of historical processes in peoples everyday lives.

Aiyar received a BA in history at St. Stephens College of Delhi University and then a BA and MA in history at Jesus College in Cambridge, U.K. Aiyars stay in England was also the first time she had observed Indians abroad, which made a significant impression on her: I noticed the way the diaspora made itself visible in Britain, especially in a multicultural state, was not by presenting itself as secular, but through religion, she says.

At that time, politics within India had also taken a turn away from the secularism of the post-independence era, opening up, Aiyar says, the question of what defined Indian nationhood, who is Indian.

Aiyar attended Harvard University for her PhD in history, originally planning a dissertation about the rise of Hindu nationalism among the Indian diaspora in Britain. She started her research examining the first group in Britain to assert their right to belonging through religion Indians who had arrived in the U.K. from East Africa in the 1960s. Aiyar became fascinated by the migration of Indians to Kenya in the 19th and 20th centuries, a little-known history at the time, and the relationship they had to both sides of anticolonial politics. Visiting Kenyan archives made clear there was abundant material on hand involving Jeevanjee and many other figures.

Methodologically it always comes back to the archives, where I find a person or an event that calls into question what we think we know about the past, Aiyar says. I wonder what is this person doing there, and then I start digging up all the files I can find. I am really an archive rat and the thing about dealing with South Asian history in the colonial period is, theres just files and files and files of documents the Brits really liked their paperwork! If one likes the joy of discovery in the archives, theres so much to piece together.

After completing her dissertation, Aiyar took a postdoc position at Johns Hopkins University, then served on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin at Madison for three years. She joined MIT in 2013.

Partition project

At MIT, Aiyar appreciates her students They are curious, they are open-minded, and a lot of fun to teach and enjoys being part of a history faculty with global scope.

One of the things I absolutely love about being here is how international our world history section is, she says. For a small department, we really pack a punch. We have every region of the world represented with top-rate scholars.

While teaching, Aiyar is pursuing two long-term research efforts. One project is about the encounters between African soldiers and civilians during World War II, in Burma and India. The other, about Burmese independence and titled Indias First Partition: Recovering Burmas South Asian History, is her second book project.

The title is an indirect reference to the division of Pakistan from India in 1947, which almost exclusively holds claim to the world partition in South Asian history. But Aiyars contention is that this term applies to the separation of Burma from India in 1937.

It is a partition, Aiyar says. Its the very first time a carceral border is created in South Asia, and immigration laws are introduced that literally prevent the millions who moved in and out of Burma from crossing over without paperwork. The border creates a surveillance state. All of this takes place a full decade before Pakistan is created. I am arguing that 1937 was the first partition of India.

In writing the book, Aiyar is also digging into literature, diaries, and other documents to reconstruct daily life in Burma and show the many interconnections among people of Burmese and Indian heritage.

The history of the mundane, the everyday, I think will really complement the political history of conflict and tension, Aiyar says. Ive always been interested in how people live together with difference.

Or not live together, as the case may be. In South Asia or elsewhere, then and now, as Aiyar recognizes, separatist identity politics can also be a powerful animating force for individuals and political factions.

We can look to history to understand what these questions are about and why people are that invested, Aiyar says. Ive always found history is a really useful way to understand what is going on in the contemporary world.

Continue reading here:
MIT historian Sana Aiyar sheds new light on the complexities of independence movements and global migration - India New England

WHAT IS BURNOUT?

When we hear the mention of the term burnout we get a sensory experience of exactly what it means. But what is the larger picture?

Is burnout related to anxiety, depression, or is it something else entirely?

Burnout is not something that occurs overnight. We tend to go back and forth with it for a while before making the leap. Knowing this is helpful since you can get ahead of it before it takes you into deeper waters.

In our success-driven culture, we can often end up on the fast lane to burnout. We forget to get our regularly scheduled oil check and we attempt to reach our goals with one foot on the brake and one on the gas.

The oil change that I speak of here is self-care. You can literally burn out just like an engine. And like the little plastic sticker on our windshields that serve as a reminder to change our oil; receiving some guidance to help manage our stress can be helpful as well.

Without the proper tools and support, there can be serious consequences from living under constant stress and great mental burden. But feeling burned out is not something that is new to our modern culture.

Great thinkers have been proselytizing about this since ancient times. Maybe the one historical figure who spoke to this human condition most specifically was Siddhartha Gautama also known as The Buddha.

Buddhism reflects on a timeless inner conflict that is inherent to all living beings: the nature of suffering and impermanence. The Buddha understood the constant stress and dissatisfaction in life, regardless of place and time. He saw how the energy that we tirelessly spend on seeking relief is only a form of suffering. And too much suffering leads us to exhaustion. This then causes us to burnout.

The Buddha has mapped this situation so thoroughly, he has also offered a solution: The Four Noble Truths, aka the route from burned out to blissed-out

If you are feeling burned out or have ever experienced work-related exhaustion, you may recognize some of the symptoms:

At this point the only hope is just to make it through the day.

Some situations that contribute to burnout include:

But prolonged excessive workloads will eventually lead you towards burnout. We tip the scales too far in one direction and lose sight of ourselves.

This can rear its head in many different ways, all leading to burnout.

Those without a community, a partner, close friends, a counselor, or life coach to talk to are at greater risk of burnout than those with support.

Differing from compassion fatigue; this type of burnout is caused by being overworked and underpaid (or appreciated). It happens to people who spend a lot of their energy only to see little in return. Also, not having enough time off, lacking resources, and support all play a role in compassion burnout.

Monotony isnt particularly stressful on its own, but it does cause people to check out and to become detached. You lose your creative spark and your work no longer brings you satisfaction. The continuation of this day after day ultimately leads to stress and burnout.

But its not all gloomy skies and stormy weather. You can always choose to remember that you do have control over your life. You can reach out for help from your support system. We can also choose to view burnout as serving to teach us something.

Burnout could be a call to re-evaluate what you are doing and the direction that you are headed.

Or it could be that you are headed in the right direction, but need to relax a little, loosen up your grip, and let life unfold with some faith and trust.

It could be a call to look after your health or well-being.

And it could be many numbers of things.

Through the Buddhist teachings of The Four Noble Truths we can examine this further

THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH

Life is suffering

This may be quite a big bite to chew on. You can rest assured in knowing that the translation of life is suffering, or life involves suffering may actually be incorrect. According to Buddhist scholars, a more accurate translation would be life is stressful or there is dissatisfaction, discontent, pain, sorrow, sadness, disappointment, etc. in life.

Burnout is one of the major ways that this is dealt with.

A factor that greatly contributes to burnout, aka suffering, is our tendency to want to control the uncontrollable (or impermanent). How often do you try to hold onto things in fear that they will slip awayjobs, relationships, money, status positions, your identity?

This is amplified in people who own their own business or work for themselves. In this position, it can seem that you are responsible for everything. There is a lot of work to do and so much is always riding on your success. We ruminate believing that we can somehow control the outcomes.

This can make your business fertile ground for suffering. For many, its their primary source of stress. Without tools and support, this is a sure way to burnout.

The first of the Four Noble Truths is an open invitation for you to be still and take a moment to reflect on your life and motivations. It calls you to examine what about your beliefs and actions that are causing you to do the things that make you feel burned out.

Here are some questions that you can ask yourself:

Finding shelter from the storm through meditation or quiet time, you can rest and relax. From this vantage point you can view your situation with clarity and wisdom. It gives you the energy to take action where needed.

THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH:

The cause of suffering is greed or desire

An alternate version of the Second Noble Truth is clinging, craving, attachment, and aversion. We rely on the external factors that we enjoy and avoid the ones that we dont.

Desire is both wonderful and natural. It is the attachment to it that causes suffering (and our burnouts). Think about it All that energy you are spending trying to attain your desire, all the anxiety, fear, shame, blame that arises on the journey. How helpful is it?

No amount of success (however you choose to define the term) can ever free you from this condition.

The Buddha taught The Middle-Way, which is the path to help you avoid any extremes. The Middle Way teaches balance. Its not to deny your needs and wants, but also not to become too wrapped up in them either.

Here you can ask yourself:

The Third Noble Truth

The Solution to Suffering is letting go of attachments

Complete enlightenment isnt expected of anybody, only that we may acknowledge what is causing suffering and work towards a shift.

There is a fair concern that you may become dull, boring, uncreative, and so forth in the process. This is an understandable fear. But its the complete opposite of what actually takes place when you begin to change.

A more helpful way to view this process is of letting go of the things that do not serve you. This includes thoughts, emotions, objects, goals, and people.

You can take a page from Marie Kondos book, Spark Joy, and literally let go of anything in your life that doesnt spark joy. This is an excellent gauge in determining what in your life is holding you down and keeping you from experiencing the happiness and productivity that you deserve.

You enter into a more empowered place when you let go of what isnt serving you. Youre left with a feeling of greater connection; which is more loving, more creative, more compassionate, more powerful, healthier, happier, and free.

An easy step is to ask yourself: Where am I holding on where I could be letting go?

The Fourth Noble Truth

The Eightfold Path; the road that frees us from suffering

The last of The Four Noble Truths is the path to end suffering by achieving nirvana (awakening, peace of mind, liberation).

This is called The Eight Fold Path. It is the action step of The Four Noble Truths and where the fruit of the practice is found.

Below we will take a look at The Eight Fold path through the scope of burning out.

The Eight Fold Path

This knowing can assist with taking lifeless serious and becoming less affected by its stress. You no longer put so much importance on outer things and spend more time on what really makes you really happy.

One of the best things that you can do in the workplace is to avoid taking part in gossip. That type of negativity will only drag you down and put your reputation on the line.

It is Right Action to set healthy boundaries.

Its important to look at, and really be honest about if your job is the right one for you.

It may not mean quitting your job exactly, but it could mean making some changes within it.

You are able to view yourself and the world from your true home of awareness; with greater love, strength, compassion, peace, and wisdom.

The Four Noble Truths gives us an excellent lens to examine our lives. It can bring new perspectives on burnout and exhaustion. It offers solutions to lessen lifes burdens and gives you the stress relief through its techniques allowing you to cope while reducing the effect that burnout and exhaustion can have.

If youre ready to include the four noble truths into your life to reduce burnout and exhaustion, along with navigating work and life struggles schedule your first $60-minute session for $1!

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Using The Four Noble Truths To Go from Burnout to Bliss - Thrive Global

My name is Danni Woessner (@ketowithdanni). I am 27, living in Massachusetts. For the past year I have been a stay-at-home mom but I recently went back to work as a behavior therapist. An embarrassing travel experience opened my eyes to the fact that I was nearly 400 pounds, so I experimented with various diets until I found (and fell in love with) keto.

I have been overweight since childhoodand I remember being made very aware of just how overweight I was at a very young age. I was active in high school as a swimmer but never really got my weight under control despite doing so much physical activity.

After high school, I lost a significant amount in a very unhealthy way but quickly regained it (and then some) after I had my first child several years ago. That's when my weight issues got really out of control.

I was a yo-yo dieter for years. I remember doing Atkins in 2015, after giving birth, and losing 60 pounds. But I slowly ate my way back up to almost 400 pounds. I suffered from binge eating and often hid how much food I was actually consuming throughout the day.

Three McDoubles for a quick snack? Sure. That was an average Tuesday for me. Vegetables were not a part of my diet and exercise felt impossible. I couldnt walk for more then a few minutes without being winded. I felt like food made me my worst self.

I was so excited for the trip. I knew I had been gaining weight but I was still going to enjoy my vacation. That was until I got on the plane and the seatbelt no longer fit. The belt had been snug for years for me, but I could still sit (albeit uncomfortably) without a seatbelt extender.

Asking for an extender crushed me. I had to find someone willing to change seats, because in the emergency aisle you cant wear a seatbelt extender. Having the whole plane stare at the overweight girl trying to make herself fit through the aisle was gut wrenching.

We enjoyed our honeymoon, but I was lazy on the trip. I didnt want to do much and moving was tough for me. And when I saw photos from our trip? It finally dawned on me on how big I was.

I tried Beachbody and lasted about 10 days. I looked into WW (formerly known as Weight Watchers) but only lasted a few days.

So, I started following a lot of people on Instagram that had similar stories and experiences to mine who had successfully lost a lot of weight on this so-called keto diet thing. I was intrigued. That's not to say those other diets didn't have great success stories too, but I personally felt like I really connected to the keto stories I read.

How To Count Macros To Lose Weight

At the end of July 2018, I took the plunge and started eating keto. It was hard to navigate at first as I learned how to count and track my macros and how to measure how much fat, overall calories, and carbs to take in each day.

But eventually I got the hang of it and have been successful ever since. My biggest success tool has been tracking my food intake and macros, as it has made me aware of what Im putting in my body and prevents me from overeating. Ive also started adding in intermittent fasting.

In the beginning of my weight-loss journey, I didnt work out. I currently still do not have a solid workout routine. But when I was losing the bulk of my weight, I was kickboxing a few days a week.

Everyone's weight-loss journey will go differently. You have to trust the process. The scale is not always your friend, and thats ok. Those three numbers are just numbers. If youre putting in the work, it will work. It didnt take one day to gain the weight, and it will take longer than one to lose it.

For me, once I figured out the basics of keto, it was so much easier than I could have ever imagined. It helps that there are so many keto-friendly recipes that are just incredible. Though sometimes I do indulge in non-keto foods, I dont feel compelled to that often because it is so easy to make anything keto-friendly...and *just* as delicious as non-keto versions, I swear.

I want other women to know that you can change. You are not stuck at your current weight. If you are unhappy and just fed up, do it! Do your research, come up with a plan, and start. You can completely change your life whenever you're ready.

More:
'When I Started Counting Macros On Keto, My Weight Loss Finally Stuck' - Women's Health

A study suggests that those who start racking up more minutes of exercise are also likely to post lower blood pressure readings, get more sleep and eat more fruits and vegetables. Bill Keay / Postmedia files

Theres no doubt exercise is good for you. If anything, the benefits of regular physical activity arent stated enough, with improved longevity, vitality and quality of life all positive outcomes of being active. Another benefit to exercise that hasnt received the attention it deserves is its ability to spark individuals to adopt healthier habits.

Eating well, sleeping well, maintaining a healthy weight, refraining from smoking, drinking in moderation and reducing sedentary time are all habits worth embracing. When combined with regular exercise, the health benefits are even greater, including slowing down the physical and mental decline often associated with aging. Yet too few Canadians exercise regularly, and even fewer can lay claim to an impressive list of healthy lifestyle behaviours.

The idea that exercise is a gateway to positive lifestyle changes isnt new. Common sense suggests the fitter you are, the more likely you are to choose healthier foods, sleep better, move more and shed some of those unwanted pounds. This has been proved time and time again by novice exercisers who suddenly cant stop talking about the success of their new diet, the number of steps they take daily and the sleep stats logged on their new smartwatch.

But up until now, there has been very little hard data supporting the theory exercise is a catalyst for healthier behaviours, which is why an article posted in the BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine open-access journal is sparking interest. The articles authors reviewed the lifestyle stats accumulated by 34,061 individuals who participated in the Vitality program, an interactive online wellness platform that incentivizes healthy choices like exercise, medical checkups, sleep, healthy food choices and stress-reducing activities. The more healthy choices members make, the more points they accumulate, which they can trade for discount coupons to participating retail outlets (grocery stores, fitness clubs) or add to the point total of their corporate team vying to outperform colleagues on other teams.

The researchers wanted to use the copious data collected by Vitality to determine whether earning physical activity points was followed by improvements in engagement with other health-promoting behaviour and health markers. They also wanted to see if there were differences in healthy uptakes between those who accumulated the greatest number of exercise minutes (150 or more) per week and those who accumulated the fewest (less than 59 minutes) over the same time period.

Turns out all but the already active exercisers in the Vitality program increased the number of minutes per week they were active. And while they were racking up all those exercise minutes, they were also eating more fruits and vegetables, getting more sleep, spending less time being sedentary, cutting back on alcohol, experiencing less stress and posting better health markers (such as lower blood pressure readings).

The improvements were greatest in those with the most to gain, those with low baseline physical activity levels, said the researchers.

One of the unique aspects of the data collected by Vitality is activity monitors were worn by participants, resulting in a more accurate representation of exercise minutes than self-reported stats. Also worth noting is all lifestyle changes occurred in real-world conditions, not in a lab, which makes them more relatable to the average Joe and Jill.

Our study extends previous findings that health behaviours such as physical activity, healthy eating and abstaining from alcohol and smoking tend to co-occur in individuals and the presence of one healthy behaviour is followed by other healthy behaviours, reported the research team.

Why does establishing an exercise routine result in other lifestyle improvements? No one knows for sure, but successfully introducing an exercise habit builds confidence, especially among those who have struggled to maintain a regular workout schedule. Mastery in one domain often reinforces the ability to master another, so once someone has achieved a previously elusive fitness goal, theyre motivated to take on another challenge, like cutting down on high-calorie foods.

The message to remember in these results is change begets change. Its also notable were capable of pursuing and achieving more than one goal at a time. Taking this new information into account, monitor several lifestyle markers as you boost your activity levels. Take note of your diet, sleeping habits, blood pressure, heart rate and time spent with your feet up. Chances are if you make a commitment to boost your exercise minutes, youll be motivated to complement your efforts by making other healthy changes. Use an activity monitor to keep track of your stats and an old-fashioned notebook to chart your progress, with the end goal being an improvement in the most important health marker of all: feeling better every day.

Read more:
Fitness: How much does exercise inspire other healthy habits? - Montreal Gazette

SYLVANIA, Ohio (WTVG) - It can be hard to find the right diet for yourself, let alone stick to your New Year's resolution to work out past January. A study by UK researchers suggests that directly labeling foods with the amount of exercise needed to "burn off" calories will lead to healthier choices in the long term.

A number of things work against the study itself -- small sample size being one of them -- but there are also concerns that a focus on calories, rather than nutrients, could lead to different health issues.

Amy Good, a registered dietitian with the Toledo Center for Eating Disorders, cautions against looking at labels as a be-all-end-all guide to match calorie for calorie.

"There's this really obsessive thinking around the numbers part of it. It kind of takes away the enjoyment of food, and the enjoyment of physical activity," Good said.

Diet and exercise are important in tandem, of course, but people with eating disorders can sometimes overexert themselves to work off each meal, or limit themselves to familiar though less nutritious foods.

"Something we see here often is that people's variety of food choices becomes pretty narrow, eating just a small selection of foods," Good says. "This [re-labeling] could potentially exacerbate that."

Current labels carry some degree of information overload and can end up doing little to curb one's eating habits regardless if the exercise label idea were to be brought stateside.

"What we're seeing is that as we're putting more of this diet information out and readily available to see," Good suggests, "we're not seeing rates of obesity, diabetes or heart disease improving."

As with most things in life, balance and motivation are the keys to success here.

"We need that balance of both, being able to move your body because it feels good and you're enjoying it, rather than feeling like you're punishing yourself and have to move because you ate," Good said. "When we take care of our bodies that way, our weight will figure itself out."

For the record, the Loughborough University study suggests an average of 200 calories could be saved per day with the proposed re-labeling -- still less than your average chocolate bar. Time will tell if the idea ever makes the jump across the pond.

Originally posted here:
Exercise times on food labels? Benefits and drawbacks found in new study - 13abc Action News

If youve ever tried to lose weight, youve likely heard that a calorie deficit is required.

Yet, you may wonder what exactly it involves or why its necessary for weight loss.

This article explains everything you need to know about a calorie deficit, including what it is, how it affects weight loss, and how to achieve it in a healthy, sustainable way.

Calories are the units of energy you get from foods and beverages, and when you consume fewer calories than you burn, you achieve a calorie deficit.

The calories you burn or expend each day also known as calorie expenditure include the following three components (1):

If you provide your body fewer calories than it needs to support these three components of calorie expenditure, you put your body into a calorie deficit. Doing so consistently for long periods results in weight loss (1).

Conversely, you will gain weight if you regularly provide your body more calories than it needs to support these functions. This is called a calorie surplus.

A calorie deficit occurs when you consistently provide your body with fewer calories than it needs to support calorie expenditure.

For most people, a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day is sufficient for weight loss and unlikely to significantly affect your hunger or energy levels (2).

To create this calorie deficit, you need to know what your maintenance calories are. Maintenance calories are precisely the number of calories your body needs to support energy expenditure.

You can use calorie calculators like the Body Weight Planner from the National Institute of Health. Such calculators estimate your maintenance calories based on your weight, sex, age, height, and physical activity level (3).

Though calorie calculators provide a good idea of your maintenance calorie needs, you can get a more precise number by tracking your calorie intake and weight for 10 days (4).

While maintaining the same level of daily activity, use a calorie tracking app to track your calories and weigh yourself daily. For an accurate result, use the same scale, at the same time of day, and wearing the same clothes (or nothing at all).

Your weight may fluctuate day to day, but if your weight has otherwise remained stable over the 10 days, the average number of calories you consumed per day is a better representation of your maintenance calories.

Divide the total number of calories you consumed for 10 days by 10 to find your average daily calorie intake. Then, subtract 500 calories from this number to determine your new daily intake goal for weight loss.

For example, if you find your maintenance calories to be 2,000 per day, your new daily calorie goal would be 1,500.

As you lose weight, your maintenance calories will decrease over time, and you will need to adjust your calorie intake based on your weight loss goals (1).

Still, to ensure healthy weight loss and adequate nutrient intake, women should not consume fewer than 1,200 calories per day, and men no fewer than 1,500 calories (5).

You can estimate your maintenance calories by using an online calculator. Alternatively, for a more accurate number, monitor your calorie intake and weight for 10 days.

You can achieve a calorie deficit by consuming fewer calories or increasing your physical activity levels or both.

That said, it may be easier and more sustainable to create a calorie deficit through diet rather than exercise alone, as you may not have the time, energy, or motivation to exercise daily. Plus, exercise doesnt burn as many calories as many people believe (6, 7, 8, 9, 10).

In other words, it may be easier to eat 500 fewer calories each day than to burn this number of calories through exercise. Nonetheless, its still recommended to engage in muscle-strengthening and aerobic exercises for their beneficial effects on overall health (11).

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans from the Department of Health and Human Services recommend that adults do 150300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, or 75150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise, weekly (12).

Moderate-intensity exercise includes brisk walking and light bicycling, whereas examples of vigorous-intensity exercise are jogging and fast bicycling.

The guidelines also recommend that adults do muscle-strengthening activities involving their major muscle groups including the back, shoulders, chest, arms, and legs at least two days every week (12).

Engaging in muscle-strengthening activities will help your body prioritize the loss of body fat rather than muscle mass (13, 14, 15).

Its likely more sustainable to create a calorie deficit through diet rather than exercise alone. However, physical activity is important for many aspects of health.

Cutting calories from your diet to create a calorie deficit doesnt necessarily require drastic changes.

In fact, several strategies can help you reduce your calorie intake to lose weight and maintain it and they dont even require calorie counting.

You may be able to eliminate several hundred calories from your diet simply by reducing or eliminating your intake of sugary beverages like soda, fruit juices, and specialty coffee drinks.

Alcoholic beverages can also pack a significant number of calories.

The calories from these beverages dont provide fullness, and in excess, they can lead to weight gain, heart disease, and diabetes (16, 17, 18, 19).

The sugar, fat, and salt in highly processed foods, including sugary beverages, fast foods, desserts, and breakfast cereals, make these high calorie foods highly palatable and encourage excess consumption (20, 21).

In fact, one study showed that people who were allowed to eat as much or as little as they wanted ate 500 more calories per day on a diet containing highly processed foods, compared with a diet containing minimally proceeded ones (22).

Minimally proceeded foods are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber and include foods like lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes. A diet rich in minimally processed foods will help prevent you from overeating and ensure you get the nutrients your body needs.

If your current diet consists of many highly processed foods, slowly begin to replace those items with minimally processed ones. For example, swap sugary cereals with oatmeal topped with fruit, or swap chips with lightly salted almonds.

Preparing and eating your meals at home allows you to control the ingredients and your portion sizes and therefore, your calorie intake.

One study showed that people who cooked dinner at home 67 times per week consumed 137 fewer calories per day, on average, than people who cooked dinner at home 01 time per week (23).

Eating home-cooked meals is also associated with better diet quality, an increased intake of fruits and vegetables, lower body fat levels, and reduced risks of heart disease and diabetes (24).

Whats more, frequently cooking at home can save you money (25).

Reducing your consumption of sugary beverages, consuming a diet containing mostly minimally processed food, and eating at home can help you reduce your calorie intake.

A calorie deficit occurs when you consume fewer calories than your body expends.

A calorie deficit of 500 calories per day is effective for healthy and sustainable weight loss.

Eliminating sugary beverages, consuming mostly minimally processed foods like fruits and vegetables, and eating home-cooked meals can help you reach a calorie deficit without calorie counting.

Here is the original post:
What Is a Calorie Deficit, and How Much of One Is Healthy? - Healthline

Lets get into it.

When you google weight loss, the challenge to sort fact from fiction begins. These five supplements claim to speed up weight loss, but lets see what the evidence says.

Raspberry ketones, sold as weight loss tablets, are chemicals found in red raspberries responsible for that distinct raspberry flavor and smell. You can also make raspberry ketones in a lab.

A study in obese rats found raspberry ketones reduced their total body fat content. In one study, 70 adults with obesity were put on a weight loss diet and exercise program, and randomized to take a supplement containing either raspberry ketones or other supplements such as caffeine or garlic, or a placebo.

Only 45 participants completed the study. The 27 who took a supplement lost about 1.9 kilos (4.18 pounds), compared to 400 grams (0.88 pounds) in the 18 in the placebo group. The drop-out rate was so high that these results need to be interpreted with a lot of caution.

A small pilot study of five adults found no effect on weight when the participants were told to maintain their current eating and exercise patterns and just took supplements of 200mg/day of raspberry ketones.

Concerns have been raised about potential toxic effects of raspberry ketones on the heart and for reproduction.

Verdict: Fiction! Leave the raspberry ketone supplements on the shelf. Spend your money on foods that contain them, including fresh berries, kiwi, peaches, grapes, apples, and rhubarb.

Matcha is a green tea made from leaves of the Camellia sinensis, or tea plant, but its processed into a green powder and can be mixed into liquids or food. Before the leaves are harvested, the tea plant is put in the shade for a few weeks, which increases the content of theanine and caffeine.

No studies have tested the effect of matcha on weight loss. A review of six studies using green tea preparations for weight loss over 12 weeks found a difference based on the country. In studies conducted outside of Japan, people consuming green tea did not lose more weight than controls. In the eight studies conducted within Japan, the mean weight loss ranged from 200 grams (.44 pounds) to 3.5 kilos (7.7 pounds) in favor of green tea preparations.

Verdict: Fiction! There are currently no studies testing whether matcha tea accelerates weight loss.

Garcinia cambogia is a tropical fruit that contains a large amount of Hydroxycitric Acid (HCA), claimed to aid weight loss.

In animal studies, HCA interferes with the usual production of fatty acids. If this was transferred to humans, it could theoretically make it harder to metabolize fat and speed up weight loss. Research studies in humans show this is not the case.

While one 12-week trial in overweight women randomized them to a low kilojoule diet, with or without HCA, and found the HCA group lost significantly more weight (3.7 kilos (8.1 pounds) compared to 2.4 kilos (5.29 pounds) for placebo), two other trials found no difference in weight loss.

A 12-week trial in 135 men and women found no difference in weight loss between the HCA group (3.2 kilos, or 7 pounds) and the placebo group (4.1 kilos, or 9 pounds). A 10-week trial in 86 men and women who were overweight and randomized to take either Garcinia cambogia extract or placebo, but were not also put on a weight-loss diet, found minimal weight loss of 650 grams (1.4 pounds) versus 680 grams (1.5 pounds), with no difference between groups.

Verdict: Fiction! Garcinia cambogia does not accelerate weight loss.

Caffeine is claimed to increase your metabolic rate and therefore speed up weight loss. Research studies in volunteers of a healthy weight found an increase in metabolic rate, but it depended on the dose. The more caffeine supplements consumed, the more the metabolic rate went up.

The lowest caffeine dose of 100mg, the amount in one instant coffee, increased the average metabolic rate by nine calories per hour, while the 400mg dose, which is roughly equivalent to the caffeine found in two to three cups of barista-made coffee, increased metabolic rate by about 34 calories per hour over three hours.

When adults with obesity were given caffeine supplements at a dose of 8mg per kilo of body weight, there was an increase in metabolic rate of about 16 percent for up to three hours.

In a study in which adults with obesity were asked to follow a weight-loss diet, then randomized to receive either 200mg caffeine supplements three times a day for 24 weeks or a placebo supplement, there was no difference in weight change between groups. For the first eight weeks, the group taking caffeine supplements experienced side effects of insomnia, tremors, and dizziness.

Verdict: Fiction! While caffeine does speed up the bodys metabolic rate in the short-term, it does not speed up weight loss.

Alkalizing products are promoted widely. These include alkaline water, alkalizing powders, and alkaline diets. Youre supposed to measure the acidity of your urine and/or saliva to assess body acidity level. Urine usually has a slightly acidic pH (average is about pH6) vegetables and fruit make it more alkaline, while eating meat makes it less so.

Saliva has a neutral pH of 7. Alkaline diets recommend you modify what you eat based on your urine or saliva pH, claiming a more alkaline pH helps digestion, weight loss, and well-being.

But your stomach is highly acidic at a pH less than 3.5, with this acid helping break down food. It then moves into the small bowel for digestion and absorption where the pH increases to 4.5-5.0, which is still acidic.

Your body has finely controlled pH balancing mechanisms to make sure your blood pH stays between 7.35-7.45. If it did not, you would die.

On the positive side, alkaline diets encourage healthier eating by promoting plant-based foods such as fruit and vegetables. There is some evidence lower intakes of foods of animal origin that contribute to acid load are associated with better long-term health.

Verdict: Fiction! There is no scientific evidence to support alkaline water or powders speeding up weight loss.

This article was originally published on The Conversation by Clare Collins, Lee Ashton, and Rebecca Williams. Read the original article here.

See the rest here:
5 supplements that claim to speed up weight loss, and what the science says - Inverse