Buddhist Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

12/17/2025

It’s important to have moments of peace during the day.

12/15/2025

Ten years ago, I lit the first candle of Chanukah. This evening, we lit candles, sang prayers, celebrated with family and mourned for the families of the murdered and injured in Australia on their first night of Chanukah.  

I’m also holding friends  in my heart at Brown University who have lost friends in the nightmare of another school shooting.

Each Chanukah candle shines the light of joy, peace, and courage into this world that needs our love.

12/12/2025

New research in psychoneuroimmunology shows that gentle self-talk, steady breathing, and focused awareness can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the body’s repair engine. When this system switches on, cortisol drops, inflammation eases, and immune activity becomes more efficient. These shifts support healing in ways that go beyond emotion and produce measurable physical changes.

What makes this especially powerful is how quickly the body responds. Studies from Harvard Medical School show that mental cues can lower heart rate, relax muscle tension, and reduce pain sensitivity almost instantly. Unlike supplements or medications, this process requires no delay, the body reacts to internal signals in real time.

By speaking to ourselves with calm intention, we help regulate stress biology and create conditions where healing is more likely. It’s a simple practice backed by growing science, reminding us that the mind plays an active role in supporting the body’s well-being.

Source: Harvard Health Publishing

Shared for informational/Educational purpose only

12/12/2025

12/06/2025

The monks were walking through Dayton, Texas, last month when a traffic collision hospitalized two, including Bhante Dam Phommasan. The Walk for Peace confirmed he had surgery to remove the leg on Wednesday.

12/05/2025

In Finland, where winters stretch long and unforgiving, the cold doesn’t just settle — it isolates. To counter this, cities have introduced “sunlight pods” beneath bridges and overpasses — dome-shaped shelters with glowing interiors that offer unhoused residents a place to gather, rest, and stay warm through the darkest months. These translucent structures resemble small igloos, but they harness light rather than ice.

Each pod is powered by solar energy collected during the sparse daylight hours, stored in insulated battery units, and released through radiant floor heating and soft internal lighting. Their design maximizes heat retention, using layered acrylic panels that trap warmth and diffuse sunlight into a soft ambient glow. From a distance, they appear like quiet lanterns tucked beneath the city — beacons of refuge in an otherwise frozen landscape.

Inside, the pods offer fold-down benches, hooks for coats, and thick mats for resting. They’re not monitored or gated — anyone can step inside for warmth, conversation, or silence. During heavy snow, maintenance crews clear paths to the pods, ensuring they remain reachable at all times. Some even include small shared bookshelves or tea flasks left by volunteers.

More than temporary shelters, these sunlight pods represent a philosophy: that warmth is not just a resource, but a right. In Finland, even the shadows beneath bridges now carry light — powered by the sun, and shaped by empathy.

12/04/2025

This dog was spotted politely waiting by a pizza truck. He doesn’t have to say what he wants. They already know his order. It is pizza. 13/10 (IG: lauren.bardini)

12/01/2025

If you can afford donations to reputable aid organizations like the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders please consider donating as an exercise in compassion and Dana. If money is tight as it is for many, remember those who are suffering the pain of loss in your loving-kindness practice. Thx.

The flooding and landslides killed at least 604 people in Indonesia, 366 in Sri Lanka and 176 in Thailand, authorities said.