RUN4ACAUSE

Media Release Contact: Sarah Jamieson

RUN4ACAUSE

Tel: 604 789 0203 / Email: sarahjams604@gmail.com.

VANCOUVER – July 21, 2014

WONDER WOMEN RUN4MOM VIRTUAL EVENT

Vancouver’s Sarah Jamieson, founder of RUN4ACAUSE joins forces once again with North Shore CMHA & Battered Women’s Support Services for the annual RUN4MOM campaign. An annual run event, that aims to break the silence and stigma associated with domestic violence, mental illness and addiction.

What is RUN4MOM?

Wonder Women RUN4MOM is a memorial run in memory of Nora Lynn Donnelly, a real life SuperMom, to honor the life and struggles of Sarah’s mom. It is also a movement to honor all the exceptional women in our lives who struggle with significant life challenges; like mental illness, addiction and domestic violence.

We aim to build an inclusive society where people can learn, live, work, share, and be active to help them realize the power of their resiliency without their experience of mental illness or history of domestic violence being a barrier to pursuing their lives.

What is a Virtual Event?

RUN4ACAUSE & RUN4MOM have partnered with FitCause to act as a conduit between these great charities and participants. Using fitness applications and activity trackers, like Nike Plus, Moves app or FitBits participants contribute their activity (miles, steps, exercises, etc.) to campaigns to raise awareness for non-profit organizations, as well as raise donations as they achieve milestones. All you need is wearable technology and a fitness activity tracker and your will to act. Choose to #move4good at any time on July 26^th and then sync your activity to add to our community mileage.

When is this event?

Join us on Saturday July 26th and help us break the silence. This charity challenge coincides with the #RUN4MOM Vancouver event 15.7km, supporting Battered Women’s Services and Canadian Mental Health Association.

Who are we raising funds for?

North Shore CMHA – STEPS Youth Program: The goal of STEPS Program is for youth experiencing anxiety and depression to improve their mental health through physical fitness activities as well as through connecting and relating to others with similar struggles.

Battered Women’s Support Services: We contribute to the freedom and liberation of girls and women from violence and to empower our community through training and education programs.

How Can You Get Involved?

1. Join our virtual event here: http://www.fitcause.com/missions/wonder-women-run4mom
2. Consider donating here: https://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=37980
3. Come out to our PEP RALLY on Thursday July 24, held at My Sister’s Closet, the social enterprise of Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) at 1092 Seymour street from 6pm – 8pm. Enjoy nibbles, meet the people behind the scenes and SHOP mens and women’s fashion. All proceeds to BWSS.

For more information please contact Sarah Jamieson directly.

“ A new journey to be started.
A new promise to be fulfilled.
A new page to be written.
Go forth unto this waiting world with pen in hand, all you young scribes,
the open book awaits.
Be creative.
Be adventurous.
Be original.
And above all else, be young.
For youth is your greatest weapon, your greatest tool.
Use it wisely.” – Wonder Woman

This was my opening quote at the TEDxKidsBC Ted Talks and it would prove to be, a serendipitous coincidence of things to come. Wonder Woman would become a symbol of the evolution of my mother’s annual run. Every year around July 31^st I organize a small gathering of committed, passionate people to join me in honoring women everywhere – wonder women – who have endured, who have prevailed, who have overcome great adversity. These are women of resilience.

On July 31^st, 2008 my mother, Nora Lynne Donnelley would pass peacefully from a battle that ranged for nearly 20 years. A survivor of domestic violence; she was diagnosed with bi polar disease and battled the villains of substance abuse. A deep, dark path and on this day we lost a great woman to suicide. This year I chose to call #RUN4MOM “Wonder Women” because that is what we are. That is how we will be remembered. The legacy we leave will not include the labels of stigma of a disease.

Tell Your Story

We live in the stories we tell ourselves. Superhero stories speak loudly and boldly to our greatest fears, deepest longings, and highest aspirations. Superheroes are not afraid to be hopeful, not embarrassed to be optimistic, nor are they afraid to go into those dark places, where most fear to go. Yet, they give rise to those human experiences that we all year for – to be everything we can be.

Disease is not an identity. This run symbolizes a call to action to break the silence of stigma and to understand the complex spectrum of mental illness and the effects long-term domestic abuse can have on a person and their family. The more we share, learn, ask questions, offer answers the more we rise above and create our own resiliency. That is what this run symbolizes.

Go Inward

Bestselling author Deepak Chopra along with his son Gotham Chopra delineate the wisdom that is available to us in the words and deeds of today’s superheroes. Moreover, that superhero’s can be our greatest teachers when it comes to igniting our compassion, courage, strength and creativity from within.

“Here are ten principles to observe in your daily life that will also help shape your brain by modifying your perception and your behaviour:

For every challenge, the superhero’s solution is to go inward.

Exercise: When faced with a challenge, do not react. Stop, go within, and ask what your creative opportunity is. Live the question until you move into the answer.

For everything that exists, its opposite also exists.

Exercise: When faced with a crisis, identify the factors or qualities contributing to it. Focus on the opposite.

The superhero’s perception scans the whole range of existence from smallest of the smallest to the biggest of the biggest.

Exercise: Look at every object in its wholeness. Know that it is the whole universe localized.

The superhero is independent of the good and bad opinions of others.

Exercise: Realize that only the ego thinks in terms of superior or inferior. At the level of being, you are above or beneath no one.

The superhero never gives in to self-importance.

Exercise: Do not be offended by people’s behavior.

The superhero takes on the problems of the world.

Exercise: Ask yourself how you can help, how you can serve.

The superhero is always aligned with the evolutionary impulse.

Exercise: In every situation, ask what the greater good is.

The superhero executes action with impeccability, but is detached from the result.

Exercise: Focus on the process, not the outcome.

The superhero is the exquisite combination of dynamic action and stillness of mind.

Exercise: Even in the midst of chaos and turbulence, be an alert witness to your own actions and reactions.

The superhero is the best listener in the world.

Exercise: Listen with your body. Listen with your heart. Listen with your mind. Listen with your soul. Never judge while listening.”

07.26.14

In 5 days join us and choose to #move4good. You can walk, step, run or just move – and contribute to the community of those who are standing up against violence and stigma. All it takes is your will to act.

To find out more please visit www.fitcause.com and join our mission “”Wonder Women RUN4MOM.”

To consider donating please follow this link. All proceeds raised will go towards Battered Women’s Support Services and the STEPS Youth Program of the North Shore CMHA.

To be the change…. Starts here.

“If it means interfering in an ensconced, outdated system, to help just one woman, man or child…I’m willing to accept the consequences.” -Wonder Woman

“I WILL NEVER STOP RUNNING…”

Was one of the lines I was recently asked to read for an upcoming inspirational video with the company FitCause; an amazing company using the innovation behind wearable technology and the power of #moveforgood in the community.

It’s a question I have never sat down and really asked myself. Would I ever consider stopping running?

RUN4ACAUSE had a very unique start, and a long incubation period, because it started merely as a hobby, an idea that turned into a 10 year passion project. It was never meant to be a non profit, or an organization, hell, I never anticipated I would have stand in front of a Tedx audience, on a treadmill in compression gear, using Superhero ideology as a means of inspiration. RUN4ACAUSE was born out of a time and need to find my way, my purpose. In it’s infancy, running was something I was never really good at. I never stood out in sports, frankly, I was always released from teams for having a border line skills. I was told I had a big heart, but I just didn’t have the height, or the speed. So I turned my attention to sports I could perform solo, and it became my daily practice. As I conquered running one block, I ran 2, then a mile, than 26.2 and so on, and started entering races; and as it turned out I found a voice. That voice began to tell my story, and it began to advocate for those who didn’t quite yet have a voice.

Over the years, and with the extra push of my TEDxKids@BC talk, RUN4ACAUSE came out of the shadows of quietly assisting the community and into the light with the sole vision and mission to empower people, no matter what their level of activity was and to use their beloved sport as a vehicle for change, to give back to the community. RUN4ACAUSE has never been about fundraising, yes I have had a monetary goal, but the foundation has been built upon connecting people to causes, or businesses to community projects. It has been about awareness and showcasing to the world – that no matter what you go through, you are never alone. Creativity and connection is my main currency.

So to go back to the line in our video I WIL NEVER STOP RUNNING; is a true fact.

Running isn’t something I do, It’s not mere exercise; it’s what keeps me sane, and it’s what keeps me moving forward in life. Running is a part of who I am, it’s a part of my soul. It is woven into the very fabric of my being, not because I merely enjoy it, but because I have incorporated it into every aspect of what I love in my life.

A marathon takes perseverance, persistence and will power. A marathon takes courage and the ability to deeply accept and understand our deepest fears and we must accept who we are at that very moment, from start to finish line. A marathon, as well as in life, we are asked to dig deep, to honor both our strength and our vulnerability and to be honest in the face of that very fear. We are asked to sit with fear, and speak to it, to understand its cause and effect, rather than bury and repress it within us.

The Marathon teaches us the biggest life’s lessons. Every race we enter, we are innately asked to reflect on our purpose, and why are “here” in that very moment. What have we worked so hard for? The marathon can be our greatest teacher, our ally and our mentor, and the countless hours of training can be a great tool to process, accept and honor that journey.

In that moment of excitement and physical anguish, we start to accept who we are, where we come from, and who we still have yet to become. It is a journey of many feats, of peaks and valley’s. It is a journey not for the faint of heart, but for those who wish to challenge their limits, and for those who understand that opportunity and growth lies in the very space we hold so dear, and the very place where we most likely fear. We know that amongst the self-sabotaging bullsh*t those vast 26.2 miles of endless terrain, will, without a doubt alter the very fabric of our being. It is a testament to the our character, our dedication and our self compassion where there have been many failures along the way, but every time we fall we have the courage to get back up. That, in it’s own right is a success because with every step it got us to here – to that very start line. And on that start line, I stand beside hundreds of other people, who have worked hard to get here. And for those who cannot run with me, I carry all those names and face with me every step of the way.

The marathon is the single most amazing feat I have achieved in my life and every time it feels like the first time I stood at that start line. As I approach the finish line, I know that this is not the end, but it is a new beginning, a new chapter. I can feel my heart beat, my body pushing forward with every mile, the salty-sweet taste of my own sweat, as if each droplet were a little bit of what I thought I feared leaving my body. It is overwhelming that feeling of accomplishment. It’s the accumulation of everything I have worked for; everything I have chosen to let go of; the pain of my past, the pain of loss, and everything I have chosen to let in; the joy of loving, the serenity that comes with being okay with who I am and why I am here, all of this together makes the necessary space for growth and transformation. Where we take all that is our current experiences and we turn it into a tool to build up our future.

That’s why I will never stop running. And at that finish line, you too will realize that the marathon is merely the birthplace for greatness and what you chose to do with that greatness is up to you. There is no greater teacher of life – than the marathon.

ABOUT FITCAUSE:

Keep an eye out for my new website coming soon! As a newly appointed FitCause Ambassador, there are many great things in store for RUN4ACAUSE and fo YOU!

FitCause is a marketing tool that empowers consumers as participants in the corporate giving ecosystem. Our platform acts as a conduit between corporations and charitable organizations by developing campaigns that quantify fitness data in fitness apps, and linking these accomplishments to corporate donations.

Using fitness applications and activity trackers, participants contribute their activity (miles, steps, exercises, etc.) to campaigns and unlock corporate donations as they achieve milestones. These milestones are celebrated, prompting participants to share via social channels as they selflessly become brand ambassadors by engaging in already planned activities.

Next up on our list of featured projects for the Walk In Her Shoes 103km Relay Run is the “ABDISHE” project located in Ethiopia.

This particular project has a special place in my heart because it focuses on strengthening women’s livelihoods through economic empowerment and access to markets. Therefore, it should come to no surprise that this also happens to be Leg 1: Kits to Grouse Mountain to Ambleside – my leg!!!

The Abdishe project is designed to ensure women are able to take a greater role in the decision-making process at both the household and community level. Women will have a stronger say in areas concerning what food is planted, eaten and sold; and how land is used. This is coupled with work to support women to be more financially independent and recognized as entrepreneurs.

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by poverty and discrimination. Not everyone starts from the same place on the path out of poverty. Lack of education for girls contributes to early marriage, higher birth rates, and lower income. Discriminatory laws prohibit women from owning or inheriting property, holding bank accounts, or prosecuting abusers. 

CARE is promoting the role of women in economic activities. As we work with communities to strengthen the local economy, we are ensuring the meaningful participation of women. For example, meetings and training sessions educate women and men about gender roles in labour and raise the visibility of women’s unpaid work.

RUN4ACAUSE + WIHS 2014

The Walk IN Her Shoes 103km Relay Run supports International Women’s Day by showcasing our most powerful resource – women! The Leg 4 of our 103km supports economic leadership for women in Latin America.

Women in Bolivia face ongoing struggles in healthcare, maternal health and cultural change, living in a country that is traditionally misogynist, although the constitution guarantees equal rights for women and men. Economically and politically, women have recently garnered more influence in decision making. According to the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme, in Bolivia “men receive more and better education than women, receive increased and better health assistance than women, and have the possibility to generate greater income while working less. Our hope is that from providing support through our efforts of running and raising awareness we can reduce this burden for women.

FAST FACTS:

• Bolivia is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America.
• More than half of Bolivia’s population lives below the poverty line, living on less than $2 a day. (WHO, 2011)
•  Over 67 per cent of women have only primary school education or none at all. (WHO, 2011)
• Women in the project’s area are estimated to make 67 cents for every dollar a man earns.

FEATURED PROJECT: TUKUY YANAPANA PROJECT

PROJECT: Collaborating for Local Economic Development.

LOCATION: Bolivia– TUKUY YANAPANA PROJECT (2012-2016)

TOTAL IMPACT: 54,690 people.

CARE’s Tukuy Yanapana project works with local municipalities to boost the profitability of small businesses so families can enjoy better incomes for years to come.  

Farmers in the provinces of Chuquisaca experience poor productivity while local businesses lack strong links to markets for their products. Bolivia also has one of the highest levels of income inequality between women and men in Latin America. Barriers continue to prevent women from participating in and benefiting equally from small businesses.

GOALS:

• Improve the profitability and competiveness of small family farms and businesses in four municipalities of Chuquisaca. This will be done through improving municipal governance, education and training, and strengthening gender equality.
• Encourage the creation of municipal strategies that ensure sustainable and fair economic development through farmer and civil society participation.
• Work directly with more than 1,500 small-scale farmers and small business owners, both women and men, and indirectly benefit more than 53,000 community members.

Full link here: https://care.ca/our-work/what-we-do/food-security/tukuy

PROJECT DETAILS

Tukuy Yanapana means “We all collaborate” in Quechua, the language spoken by the people of the Chuquisaca region of Bolivia.  As part of this project, CARE will:

• Increase the participation of women and girls in the economy by giving them a voice in the decision-making process for the creation of new economic regulations and policies.
• Work with municipal governments to develop policies and regulations that support farmers and businesses and increase their competitiveness. CARE will help form partnerships between governments and local organizations that support fair and transparent local economic development initiatives.
• Promote the role of women in economic activities through awareness-raising initiatives such as teaching women about market competitiveness and training local government and private sector actors in gender equality.
• Educate women and men about gender roles in labour and raise the visibility of women’s unpaid work through a series of meetings and training sessions.
• Support small farms and businesses in improving production, management and commercialization.

HOW CAN YOU HELP? 

To Join: Walk In Her Shoes 103km Relay Run Leg 5: Team “Whizzle Whuzzle RUN4ACAUSE + WIHS”  – email Sarah@fittotrain.com 

To Support this project: http://careca.convio.net/site/TR/Events/General/1945593568?pg=team&fr_id=1110&team_id=2310

WALK IN HER SHOES 103KM RELAY CELEBRATING 103 YEARS OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 

Vancouver’s Sarah Jamieson, founder of RUN4ACAUSE joins forces once again with CARE Canada for the annual Walk In Her Shoes campaign. An annual run event, that aims to empower women and girls globally. 

Vancouver, January 31 2014 – To help break the cycle of poverty and in celebration of the 103 years of international women’s day (IWD), Sarah Jamieson  of RUN4ACAUSE & CARE Canada want to empower Vancouverites to join a Walk In Her Shoes 103km relay team.  

Who is CARE?

CARE focuses on global issues such as maternal and child health, education, economic empowerment, adaptation to climate change and emergency relief. The necessities to empowering women, children and whole communities through the ability to live, learn and earn.

CARE Canada’s staff, many of whom are citizens of the countries in which CARE works, help strengthen communities through an array of programs that work to create lasting solutions to root causes of poverty. 

What is Walk In Her Shoes?

She needs to walk an average of 6km per day to gather the things she needs to keep her family alive. CARE & RUN4ACAUSE are challenging you to try and experience what this is like. On Sunday March 9^th, join thousands of Canadians in celebration of International Women’s Day to empower women and girls to fight global poverty – Join Walk In Her Shoes.

How Can You Help?

RUN4ACAUSE & CARE are challenging Vancouverites to participate in our 2014 Walk in Her Shoes campaign. This 103km relay is divided into 8 relay legs ranging from 10km – 12km in length and each supports a specific CARE project. You can join as part of a team and run or walk at your own pace or become a run ambassador. As a run ambassador, participant or volunteer you inspire your community to help CARE empower women and girls in the developing world.

Here’s how you can get involved:

• Sign up to be a Run Ambassador and build a team for your relay leg, supporting a specific CARE project.
• Join a relay team, walk or run at your own pace.
• Raise funds to help women and girls fight global poverty.

This is your chance to…

• Learn more about global issues.
• Become physically active.
• Inspire girls around the globe.

What Impact Can you Make:

Your support and donation is then leveraged at 3:1 ratios by our Canadian Government; thereby increasing the impact! All projects are instrumental towards empowering women and girls around the world.

What the numbers tell us:

• When women earn an income, they reinvest 90 percent of it in their families
• For every year a girl spends in school she raises her family income by up to 20 percent
• Educated girls grow into educated women, who have healthier babies and are more likely to educate their children
• When a girl in the developing world receives seven years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children
• Engaging men, boys, girls, and women can transform gender roles and increase gender equality.

Join today…

 To register contact Sarah Jamieson @ 604 789 0203 or Email: sarah@fittotrain.com.

Vulnerability.    Fear.    Anger.

These words are just a few of the “labels” we give the emotions, that no one really likes to talk about. Emotions like these we bury deep down inside of us, like a suit of armor, building resistance against the dark forces. Yet, it is here where most change has the potential to occur. In my last article I articulated that “vulnerability is at the heart of authenticity.” That vulnerability is just another word for fear; well so is anger. It all stems from the unknown, and as humans not being able to control an outcome and just go with the flow, can be debilitating and overwhelming.

In the movie “X-men First Class,” we see a young Charles Xavier (soon to be professor X) and a young Erik — the vengeful, angry and tormented young man who will eventually become his arch-rival, Magneto come together for a common ground.

In the movie Erik cannot unleash the full extent of his power except when he is swept away by emotion — specifically, anger and sorrow. Charles Xavier instructs him on how to control his mind and his emotions in order to control his power and to unleash it’s brilliance upon the world. Charles says “True focus lies somewhere between rage and serenity.

This line from the movie was a pivotal moment for me. Much like Erik, I have experienced a traumatic childhood where most of my beginning belief systems were built upon the emotions of pain, anger and sorrow and as a young adult strived to define my purpose, make the world right and safer place for all.

True focus lies somewhere between rage and serenity – it makes you think. Much like the duality of the world – good vs evil, within us we also have anger and joy, or rage and serenity. It is only in the understanding of both of these – this paradox – that we can tune into the depth of our potential.

It has been an excruciating journey to try to learn how to change these patterns that were once built upon the framework of anger, sorrow or fear. One of the lessons I have learned is that one must learn how to stay in the conversation longer, how to sit through the fear and discomfort of personal emotional openness, the shedding of one’s armor and standing in one’s nakedness (especially when it comes to expressing my own anger, which is the emotion that I least comprehend and most fear.)

This particular idea of accessing ones power potential in that between space is much like the view point of Buddhism, where the key to working skillfully with our emotions – both the pleasant ones and the painful ones – is to find a balance between, on the one hand, feeling the emotion and opening to its energy, and on the other hand, having enough space around the experience of the emotion that we do not get swept away by it or become too attached to it.

In the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition, and particularly in the view of “formless” meditation practices and whatever arises in the mind — even powerful, afflictive emotions such as anger, jealousy, or rage — is regarded as the path of awakening. All emotions are thought to serve a purpose, as long as we are not attached to them long term. Every experience is the play of mind’s natural luminosity and emptiness. This approach can be further explained through the central doctrine of the Four Noble Truths, a conceptual framework for all of Buddhist thought where they explain the nature of suffering, anxiety, un-satisfaction, their origins and the cessation of these emotions through introspection and careful thought.

• The obvious physical and mental suffering associated with birth, growing old, illness and dying.
• The anxiety or stress of trying to hold onto things that are constantly changing.
• A basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all forms of existence, due to the fact that all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance.

That space of true focus, I believe is in the letting go of the second bullet point above; “The anxiety or stress of trying to hold onto things that are constantly changing.” It is here where we struggle to let go, to let in, to move on etc.

Here’s what I think, if we allow ourselves to “feel”… like really feel fear, what happens? When we face our fears, they aren’t so fearful anymore. Why? Because we begin to understand why it exists and we begin to contemplate whether it’s productive in our lives. Fear, anger and rage can be productive when used to add value or perspective to ones life. It can be used as a catalyst towards change. It can dispel what hinders us, and can create space for creativity, love and compassion.

Exercise #1: Talk to Fear

Moving into the New Year I have decided that part of my own growth needs exercise, not just for my body, but for my mind.  Every day I will sit with fear and in doing so I will have the self- compassion and grace to know that in transformation I need to accept that Fear will always come with it. I will talk with Fear, speak to it, and acknowledge it not with anger or sorrow, but with love and respect. I will say to it; hey I know you are afraid, that’s your job, and be being afraid you show me how not to be.

You show me that when I choose serenity, grace and transformation I am making the right choice and am no longer afraid. You may join me on my journey, but you must know that you cannot stop me from succeeding with grace and self – compassion.

Exercise #2: What value inspires you to show up even when you’re fearful and/or uncertain?

I love this one, and have to give the credit to Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love and her latest novel The Signature of All Things  which Brene Brown said “is a sprawling tale of 19th century botanical exploration.”

“When I am experiencing emotional/interpersonal vulnerability, the best I can do sometimes ask myself what the alternative is to my entering the scary arena — to live a hard-hearted, locked-down, resentful and unforgiving life? Is that really who I want to be? Have I ever met a hard-hearted, locked-down, resentful and unforgiving person whom I truly admired?”

Bhahaha … ya no. And when you put it that way… how can you have true focus amongst that? Understanding your values helps you determine your driving force, it keeps you on your path and aligned with what is integral to your soul, your being. My number one value is “empowerment,” when I feel empowered; I am inspired to take on the world, to try new things, to have adventures, to climb peaks and mountains and change the world.

True Focus: the Untapped Resource:

The key to understanding your purpose is that you can never really understand it. I know, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Here’s the thing – all we have is our experiences and out emotional attachments to them. We know our past, and we unveil our future in this very moment. This means that our purpose is in the here and now and unlocking your true focus and potential is in the understanding of this very moment. If you have fear, or are angry – feel it, own that emotion and use it to better yourself in the here and now. If you are joyous, content and happy – feel it, own that emotion and use it to better yourself in the here and now. The most important thing you can do is give equal attention to both and to build your resilience to fear by appreciating its impact on your life. I guarantee, you too can move things with your mind (metaphorically speaking of course)!

What’s your most important goal/s?

What is the legacy you wish to leave behind?

Why does it matter so deeply?

Are you living your purpose?

How will you overcome the obstacles?

How can we answer these questions with sincerity, mindfulness and compassion and proceed with integrity?  While at the same time setting in motion the steps towards personal transformation?

It all starts with letting go of the fear and establishing a greater connection with ourselves, our values and our beliefs towards personal change.  In my own personal journey this is a two pronged path – one deeply rooted in the wisdom of ancient energy healing and meditation/movement practices and the one deeply engrained in the nature of the science and my obsession with Darwinian Theory. They both hold powerful portals to better understanding my own internal GPS, my position in the world, and my relationship to time and purpose. In my own process of what Brene Brown called “Gremlin, Ninja, Warrior Training” my personal resilience to suffering, (dis)ease, (heal)th, and stressful life challenges all stems from a greater understanding of my brain (even though pea like in mass), my relationship to time and my ability to always put compassion as the underlining foundation of my overall value system.

Train Your Brain:

Our understanding of the incredible power of the human brain and what it is capable is at an all-time high, in both the fields of science, as well as movement mechanics and energy healing. These new emerging fields of neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and psychophysiology are opening new possibilities for greater health, happiness, and freedom from suffering, as well as a deeper understanding of our connection to the world, to technology and  the ever evolving fields of innovation.

This connection to the organ that is responsible for taking a third of our caloric daily intake; is even opening up connections to our brain’s biochemical and biological make-up with the current research in compassion and empathy.  A few months ago I wrote on the topic of “compassion” and how our brain is wired to be empathetic towards others – humans and the world around us. We see this not only in the homosapein sphere, but in our animals as well.

The vagus nerve (or wandering nerve) is one of the most important nerves in our body. This nerve carries axons of type GVE, general visceral efferent, which provides parasympathetic innervation to glands of mucous membranes of the pharynx, larynx, organs in the neck, thorax, and abdomen, and all our skeletal muscle, as well as our aortic body and arch (known as our heart). The Vagus nerve is the biological building block of human compassion, because it’s connected to everything in our structure.

Since the dawn of time, we have been led to believe that humans are selfish, greed is good because it brings power and power rules the world. Altruism is an illusion and cannot be attained in our lifespan. Cooperation is for suckers and kumbaya singing hippies. Competition is natural, survival of the fittest.  War is inevitable. The bad in human nature is stronger than the good. And so on.

These kinds of claims have reflected age-old assumptions about emotion and who we are as a species. For over millennia, we have regarded emotions as the fount of irrationality, baseness, weakness and at times sin. Nothing good can come from being over emotional.  Hell, the idea of the seven deadly sins takes our destructive passions for granted and splays them out for all to witness.

Yet, biology tells us something different and it begs us to look at another age old question; which is are we a buy product o f“Nature or Nurture.” Usually it’s a little of both.

What if we have been looking through the wrong lens? What if perhaps, we have just led our brains down the wrong path, trained them wrong.

What if we chose to look at it this way: we were born into this world with pure love and joy and through the struggles of our ages, we “dis”evolved to believe that we are all alone, we have to fend for ourselves, etc. What if we accepted that this all crap propaganda and in fact –  This is “nurture” NOT “nature.”  These “beliefs” are learned skills, and thoughts, not our actual biological blueprint and thus – a new door opens.

FACT: The brain has neuro-plasticity and can be re wired to think and act in ways that benefit humanity and personal power. Ways that align with a more compassionate way of living. This is nature AND nurture.

The brain, as we know from research seems wired up to respond to others’ suffering—indeed, it makes us feel good when we can alleviate that suffering, dispelling the so called ideology that “all humans are selfish.”

At Princeton University a study was done on children and victims of violence – and what they found was astonishing. Take these two very different subject demographics and we find they are united by the similar neurological reactions they provoke when asked to contemplate harm to others. This consistency strongly suggests that compassion isn’t simply a fickle or irrational emotion, but rather an innate human response embedded into the folds of our brains – this is “nature.”

In a recent Ted Talk called “How to Make Stress Your Friend” McGonigal urges us to see stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others. Dr. McGonigal reveals these startling findings—including the clinically supported methods for training the mind away from default states and negativity that no longer serve us and establishing behaviors and attitudes aligned with our highest values and aspirations.

As the world’s wisdom traditions teach and science is now verifying, our lives are in fact defined by constant change, when we can understand our biological and biochemical make up are rooted in connection, and compassion and that when we reach out to others we improve our health. Now, doesn’t that make you feel a bit better about your health?

How about TIME?

Are we there yet? How often have each of us asked this in our lifetime.

I recently taught at a workshop in Salinas California called “The Evolution Power Pack” held at Wolf Fitness Systems;  a movement based smorgasbord of modules designed to use the power behind movement sophistication and physical challenges designed to evoke connecting with our personal power and introspectively ask ourselves the above questions we are now pondering in this article.

In the first module; Shane Heins, founder and owner of “Dare to Evolve,” opened with a profound statement that set the tone for the rest of the weekend. His booming voice asked the participants; “this weekend I ask you to deeply reflect upon the idea of time, we know that we cannot change time, but we can choose to change our relationship to it.”

The ultimate ideology behind Shane’s module “Clubbell Hero Evolution” outlined immense room for each of us to embody transformation through goal setting and in his follow up blog to the attendees he showcased the importance of what it means to “Participate or Contribute.” Here is a short excerpt from his blog:

There is a fine line between Participate and Contribute. That difference resides in the choice you make.

When we participate:

• we are there, but it does not necessitate that we be “present”.
• we need only take part, not take whole
• we are in a position to receive without having to give.
• we can do so without commitment

When we contribute:

• we invest wholeheartedly in what lies before us
• we give of ourselves honestly to exploring the process
• we step forward with the courage to share the best part of ourselves with each other
• we value all present
• we are grateful for all involved

The physical realm has always been a vehicle for me to process, transform, change, shift and evolve by challenging the very fabric that makes up my innate value structure. When I excel physically at my sport, when I become stronger, faster, more nimble – all spheres of my life flourish. I feel more balanced.

Personally, it brought up the question of patterns for me. What patterns do I accept and acknowledge in my own life that require change? What lessons am I learning or repressing, or more importantly what patterns am I repeating that no longer serve me? Am I holding onto fear, and if so why? What is my relationship to time?

You see, when we move, we release tension, we feel energized, we feel free and science shows that the biochemical response to movement increase the good chemicals and hormones like serotonin, endorphins; both of which reduce our automatic stress response.  This makes us feel good, thus what we do physically (you can call it exercise, a movement meditation), is a metaphor for life.

Therefore, if we honor our emotions and train our brain to see that the science that nature has designed for us, we will see we are wired to be compassionate – that good will always prevail over evil, greed and power.

Yet, feeling compassion is one thing; acting on it is another. We can see and now understand the human propensity for compassion and science has shown us the effects compassion can have on behavior and to the relationship to the world around us, but can we actually cultivate compassion, or is it all determined by our genes?

At Berkeley, Dacher Keltner  wrote in his article called “the Compassion Instinct;” “Recent neuroscience studies suggest that positive emotions are less heritable—that is, less determined by our DNA—than the negative emotions. Other studies indicate that the brain structures involved in positive emotions like compassion are more “plastic”—subject to changes brought about by environmental input. So we might think about compassion as a biologically based skill or virtue, but not one that we either have or don’t have. Instead, it’s a trait that we can develop in an appropriate context. What might that context look like? It is based on our values, ethics, and belief systems.”

The Positive and Negative of Stress:

And what about stress? In the hustle and bustle of city life, stress has become a way of life. If you aren’t stressed, you must not be working hard enough, right? You can’t possibly succeed if your knuckles are bleeding, or sporting the external or internal wounds of a great battle….right?  Wrong! If you are stressed, you are one day closer to death. How about that for a bold statement – and it’s true.

In the Ted Talk “How To Make Stress Your Friend;” one study “tracked 1000adults in the US ranging in ages form 34 to 93. They were asked two questions? How much stress have you experienced in the last year? They also asked how much time have you spent helping out neighbors, family, friends, and people in your community?  And then they used public records to find out who died.

Now for the bad news:  for every major stressful experience you have (like really stressful) this increases the risk of dying by 30%.  BUT, that wasn’t true for everyone; people who spent time caring for others showed no increase in stress related dying in bio markers. The catalyst – caring created resilience. How we think, and how we act transform how we use stress. When we choose to view our stress response as helpful, we create the biology of courage and when we choose to connect with others under stress, we create resilience.

Stress gives us access to our hearts – a compassionate heart, one of joy, love and appreciation for others. This gives us strength and energy. And thus, we make a pretty profound statement – we say to ourselves that we CAN face life’s challenges and that we do not have to do it alone.

Recently, I met someone who has had a growing impact on my life and my ability to create greater resiliency to stress and he reminded of this amazing poem called the invitation, and now in closing, I leave it with you.

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘Yes.’

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Sources:

• Dr. Kelly McGonigal Ted Talk” How to Make Stress your Friend:” http://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend.html
• Dacher Keltner: The Compassion Instinct: http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_compassionate_instinct
• The Invitation: http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/
• Inspiration for this article came from James Boileau at James The Coach: http://www.jamesthecoach.com/