Real Life with Jennifer Till

I know that many of you want to contribute what you can to support the relief efforts in Haiti. I found these tips from the American Institute of Philanthropy’s (AIP) website, CharityWatch.org, that will help to ensure that the money you donate actually gets to Haiti.

1. Know your charity.  Read the mission, make sure that there is a clear description of program accomplishments, and a listing of the Board of Directors. You should know that a .org in the website does not necessarily mean it’s a nonprofit organization. Also, some questionable charities use a name that closely resembles a well respected charity name. If you have any doubts about the organization, check the entity on Internal Revenue Services website and CharityWatch.com or other watchdogs.

2. Make sure that you know where your dollars will go. Ask what percentage of every dollar goes directly to program services. It should be at least 60%, which the AIP rates as a “C” organization. “A” rated organizations are spending 75% of every dollar directly on programs. Building Goodness Foundation, I found out today, spends 88 cents of every dollar on direct program services! A+++ I’d say!

Some AIP A-Rated organizations are: Action Against Hunger, American Red Cross, CARE, Doctors without Borders, Save the Children and Salvation Army. See more on CharityWatch.com.

3. Be certain that you can obtain contact information. email, phone, snail mail address. Make sure that the organization has a physical address within the US.

4. Don’t be enticed by the pathetic sob story.

5. Give safely. Only donate to charity sites that use encryption technology to scramble your personal and credit card info. You can tell it’s secure if there is an “s” after the “http” (https) that precedes the internet address.

6. Give directly. Or if the charity you want to give to does not offer online giving, go to Network for Good or JustGive. Building Goodness Foundation uses Network for Good.

7. Keep paper records. For gifts over $250, the IRS requires you obtain a receipt from the charity for tax purposes.

8. Don’t respond to spam solicitation or pressure to contribute on the spot.

9. Consider giving generously.

http://www.BuildingGoodness.org

http://www.CharityWatch.org

http://www.irs.gov/charities/

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: http://www.wina.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=4328165

As I hope you know, the reason I do Real Life is to help we women with the ongoing challenge of finding balance in our lives, making sure that we’re in alignment with our values and what is most important for us, and experiencing joy. I believe that by increasing our capacity for compassion– first for ourselves, then for those close to us, and ultimately expanding out to those we may not even know personally–as well as being in service to those who need support, love, and caring, our ability to experience joy increases.

At times, events happen in the world that are so large, and unfortunately in this case, so catastrophic, that they simply cannot be excluded from our conversation. I know that many of you want to do something to help the thousands, and now it’s sounding like millions, of people who are so utterly decimated and suffering physically, emotionally and spiritually. I found myself feeling very emotional during my interview with Louise Finger and Kelly Eplee. Perhaps you hear it in my voice…

The immensity of suffering that the devastation in Haiti has unleashed also waters the seed of what it is to be human. As Rumi, the thirteenth century Persian poet wrote,  “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

My experience informs me that our divine job description is: To Be Love enfleshed.To breathe Love. Live Love. Hear with the ears of Love. See with the eyes of Love. And it gets hard. Really hard. Earthquakes destroy life as we know it. Our children stumble. Our parents’ health fails. Not enough money to pay this month’s bills. “It just shouldn’t be this way.” Our challenges, mundane and catastrophic, can, if we allow, serve as the windows through which we can see our barriers. Our resistance to what is happening in this moment is one of our greatest sources of suffering.

I again invite you to take a breath. A single breath. This breath. And as you exhale, send Love and Compassion inward to yourself. And now, with this breath and this exhalation, Love and Compassion to those who are dear to you. And now with this breath, Love and Compassion to those who challenge you. And with this breath, Love and Compassion to those who are terrified and suffering in Haiti.

And thank you for doing such great work with your job description!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: The focus on the creation of Peace begins within. — Caverly Morgan

I actually have spent 10 days at a silent zen monastery. Wake up at 7:00 a.m. Walk to the meditation hall. Oh, by the way, when I’ m walking, I must keep my gaze downcast in front of me, lest I catch someone else’s eye. Every moment of every day, including when I’m walking, is structured for me turn my attention inward—to, literally and figuratively, look only at me. I promise you, it got ugly! When the quiet is turned up, so is the mind chatter in my head. And some of those voices get vicious–what I say about myself–what I say about other people. But mostly, I was hearing how utterly relentless I am on myself. I’m not good enough, smart enough, and most the most pervasive and ultimately destructive story is that I’m not worthy—not worthy to be loved.

Now, I’m sitting in meditation, facing the wall. Eating breakfast in silence, again, facing the wall. I actually became aware of the food in my mouth and what it tasted like. I also became aware of the stories that I was making up about the other retreatants as they were eating while facing the wall. People with whom I’ve literally had no contact, eye or otherwise, and here I am inventing what they are thinking, mostly about me, where they came from and what they do, or their biases, opinions…you get the idea.

Onto our morning group meeting, doing awareness practices. Lunch at 1:00. Eat facing the wall again. Time alone to walk, journal, nap. Back to an afternoon group meeting. 5:00 p.m. sitting meditation, facing the wall. Dinner, again, you got it, facing the wall. (And I’m paying for this?!?) Then onto the evening dharma talk (which means I’m listening to someone else, the zen teacher in this case, talk). How many more days do I have to go? I still have the scrap of paper on which I was counting the days, like an exotic island castaway, deriving great satisfaction with each hatch mark moving me closer to my emanicipation…

WHAT STORIES DO YOU TELL ABOUT YOURSELF?

Practice: Be aware of 5 breaths today. Feel what it is to take an in breath…what it is to take an out breath. Feel the unique rhythm of your own breath. Simply feel what it’s like to be in the body, and not have to believe what the mind is doing.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: http://podcast.wina.com/wina/1835375.mp3

One House of Peace Website: onehouseofpeace.org

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Some pursue happiness. Others create it. — Unknown

After we finish, my Executive Producer and I talk about the show we just did, what we liked, what I wish I had included, and then the ubiquitous random conversation… After this show, David commented that it’s all well and good to be invited in, but what do you do about the crystal ball concept?

Crystal ball concept? Maybe this sounds familiar: If you loved me you would know. Yes, you would know what I’m thinking, what I want, what I need, and precisely how I want you to perform in order to make me happy.  Yikes! There is a whole level of dynamic that happens between couples, between people, based on projection and subsequent unspoken expectation. I suspect that this is probably the major source of human suffering!

Downsides to the crystal ball dynamic are probably too numerous to name, but I’ll give it a go. If you are the holder of the crystal ball, it keeps you in the victim role, keeps you small, undeveloped, at the mercy of the other person’s ability and desire to keep your best interest paramount and perform up to your standard (good luck). If targeted as the crystal ball gazer, you are set up to fail, because after all, who else but Karnak the Magnificent is going to win this game?

How do you use the crystal ball for a good game of ninepins rather than a proving ground? Through the courage to know yourself, and I mean really know yourself–the good, the “bad” and the ugly–and indeed this DOES take courage. Sometimes the courage comes into play when I’m looking at parts of myself that I’m ashamed of, I’ve deemed too needy, and certainly don’t want others to know about. Sometimes courage comes into play when it’s time to own the magnificent parts of myself–is it OK to actually be spectacular? After all, aren’t we supposed to be humble and unassuming?

Courage, coupled with the light of self awareness and the willingness to communicate what you uncover about your magnificent self, move you closer to your own happiness, to creating a life of joy! And please remember, that just because you communicate a particular want or need (and just how many needs do we REALLY have) does not inherently imply a positive response on the receiver’s end. Come on ladies. This is where we get to pull our big girl panties up!

PRACTICE:  In rank order, write down the top 5 priorities in your life.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: http://tinyurl.com/mn4h29

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Fall down seven times. Get up eight. –Chinese proverb

After my interview with Beth, I was reminded again of how people in the public eye have a need to maintain boundaries between their private and public lives. My significant other was, earlier in his life, a very high profile rock and roller and has told me stories of how complete strangers, and even more challenging, people he knew slightly, could be incredibly intrusive. But upon reflection, I began to realize that almost everyone I know, regardless of their status or occupation, has “public” and “private” lives; the “person” they will readily share with others and the “person” they keep to themselves. I know that, for our well being and our safety we need to identify and maintain boundaries, AND I wonder, what is behind what we share and what we don’t.

In the early days of my spiritual training, my teacher gave me an assignment–every day I had to tell a secret about myself. It was frightening. But little by little I came to understand that much of what I had been keeping “private”–those things that I didn’t like about myself, or my fears, or the remnants of negative messaging that I’d taken on as truth–once shared, stopped having the power over me they once had. I came to understand that the boundaries I had set that were founded in negative energy could be removed and I could still maintain my safety while engaging so much more fully with the world around me. 

I asked myself, “Who can you think of whose private and public lives seem to be the most integrated?” and I thought of Ghandi; a man who, without position or wealth or authority literally changed the world for hundreds of millions of people. I wonder if those two things are somehow connected…

TIP OF THE WEEK: After you identify what your vision or passion is, GO FOR IT!

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: http://www.wina.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=3799650

Sasha Farmer and Rebecca Hettig will be talking with me at 8:30 this Saturday morning about their challenges with finding balance, when they lose balance, how being out of balance affects them, and what they do to return to their balance. Tune in, WINA 1070, Saturday morning to hear all about it…