CRUNCH October 2013

THE IN-HOUSE MAGAZINE FOR CHURCH RESOURCES

Volume 2, Issue 1 October 2013

CRUNCH ENJOYMENT What are Colleen and Michelle and Christine planning for Enjoyment October?

• Book Club • Special EOM drinks plans • Guess who • Special guest speaker • And Jessie will update us on her area of Product interest!

Giving—our core mission at Church Resources ‘Giving’ is an initiative that has been long considered an important aspect of the CR organisation.

Very early on, our key giving initiative was the creation of CathNews, funding up to $150,000 p.a supporting Mass For You At Home, then the Parish Bulletin and possibly even contribution towards the creation of Foxtel channel Aurora.

Our 2013-2016 CR Strategic Plan has an objective specifically set to return to giving, something we have let slide in the pursuit of other activities for the business.

The Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (CR&S) Program objective will take us back to giving, to the tune of more than $500,000 in this financial year and growing from there.

Our work to date has been to participate and help fundraise for the ‘Steptember’ program on behalf of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, provide sponsorship dollars towards Member golf days, in-kind giving with our time being donated toward sup-

porting some of our Member initiatives and our ongoing support and investment in CathNews.

This objective is not just about money, it is also about social and environmental outcomes through our business.

We need to re-visit our ‘Planeteers’ activity, having advocates across the business helping us reduce our carbon footprint and reduce waste.

We need to also look at opportunities where we can make a social contribution, possibly volunteering

our services to support people less fortunate in our community.

So please put your thinking caps on.

Inside this issue:

The Leadership Team would love to hear of new ways in which we can give back.

LDG meets again

2/3

Gold for CN!

4/5

It would be great if your idea can become a strategy we can incorporate and delivery under the Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Program.

Onni and Tony on 6/9 holidays

Skinny on Gen Y

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Enjoy October!

Welcome to Thriftober

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Psych health 101

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- Luke

Our new starters

10/ 11

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CRUNCH The Leadership Development Group meets again!

A gift… gruelling… challenging… they are just some of the views about the LDG all dayer down at Mary MacKillop Place in mid-September.

Moderator Mandy Holloway led the CR leaders and emerging leaders through the program for the day… and then at the end handed out the peer assessments for the LSI ii.

There were some shocks and at least one unhappy customer, but happily CR’s blue-est member, Shane, retained his crown as the most people-oriented!

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Caption describing picture or graphic.

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CRUNCH CathNews’ best ever ACPA/ARPA haul: 3 gold, one silver

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Busy time inm Melbourne for the annual Australasian Catholic press Association conference, and the Australasian Religious Press Association Conference.

At the conference dinners, CathNews was recognized with three gold and a silver award—our best effort since we were able to enter the awards for the first time just three years ago.

It was a busy five days‌ I Speaker Mick McGirr 2Tracey from Aurora and Hannah Beazley from Notre Dame 3 Bishop Vincent Long 4 One of the ARPA Awards 5 Pilgrims to the Holy Land meet and greet 6 Time out at Domaine Chandon in the Yarra Valley 7 ACPA Award

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CRUNCH What Onni did on her holidays She went to New York, NY! And took in the high lights and all the sights‌ Central Station, Central Park, Times Square, and the Rockefeller Centre!

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The site we chose for the daytime stage Friday 13th.

Note the post at the lower corner.

First car; death of the post.

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CRUNCH What Tony W did on his holidays (rev head alert!)

I’ve always considered rally driving as the epitome of car racing, closely followed by motorbikes in the MotoGP category.

In mid-September, the Worlds Rally Championship (WRC) came to Coffs Harbour and I was there with a mate.

Never done a rally before and from a spectator, as distinct from a follower, quickly learnt the following:

fun part of the experience; again, we had the best spot.

In summary, very pleased I did it, happy with what I saw, a good time enjoyed. Would I do it again, maybe, but I know a lot more now than I did then.

Should you want to go there—Paddock Bend Road. Dust marks the spot!

Below: My spectating neighbours (after the dust has passed – have a look at it still in the air!)

- Unlike a circuit race, the participants pass you once, and that is it for that day; unless you want to scurry around to the next stage for a similar “one pass” view.

- When there has been no rain for months, the Australian bush is a very dusty place.

- As the ”best spot” is a very restricted point on each viewing stage, be early, take chairs and a book.

- Similar to the rally teams, know where you want to be before race day. Reconnoitre the actual site before hand.

Despite the above, my friend and I enjoyed the experience.

At the night oval/street course, we had great seats and view During the day stage (photos) we were in the right spot, can’t say we revelled in the dust, but it was a

Sebastian Ogier arrives (He eventually won the rally.)

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The site we chose for the daytime stage Friday 13th.

Note the post at the lower corner.

First car; death of the post.

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CRUNCH Iain—sports addict—joins Strat Partnerships What is your job at Church Resources?

Food Services Coordinator Previous job? Group Manager, Sales and Operations at Connect Hearing. Prior to that Retail Sales with a number of iconic fashion businesses – Sportscraft, Saba, David Lawrence.

Reading? Mainly news, but I like classic fiction and adventure novels.

Last film? The Hobbit On your iPod? Elton John and Right Said Fred!

What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten? Frogs legs – not particularly impressed with them – much prefer snails!

What’s one of the scariest or strangest things you’ve ever done? I get vertigo, so climbing the Harbour Bridge was both exhilarating and really scary at the same time.

Married? Yes, and I get reminded every day!

Children? Yes, 2 beautiful girls! Caitlin is in Year 8 at OLSH Kensington, and Emma is in 3rd year of Nursing at Notre Dame University.

got? That I have a beautiful family!

Do you have a nickname? Not really

Born and bred? Born Hampstead, London, England, lived in England, Belgium, Scotland, and now Australia.

Where would you like to travel and why? Russia, never been but have heard that it is a great place. Would love to take a train trip through the country.

Hobbies or Passions? Sports, active squash player, and family

What is the best compliment you have ever

What are your proudest of in your life? My family, my dad jokes, and playing hockey for Scotland.

What is the one thing you would like to do before you die?

Would love to do a parachute jump – just need to get over the vertigo first!

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Volume 2, Issue 1 Meg and Kevin welcome Jamie-Lee to Publishing as Ad Sales Manager What is the best compliment you have ever got?

High level of integrity What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten?

Oysters (love them) What’s one of the scariest or strangest things you’ve ever done?

What isn’t strange?

Do you have a nickname?

What is your job at Church Resources?

Last film?

Advertising Sales Manager

French Kiss (abave

Previous job?

On your iPod?

What are your proudest of in your life?

Mortgage Broker

Dance & lounge

Noah

Married?

Where would you like to travel and why?

What is the one thing you would like to do before you die?

Divorced Children?

Noah is 6 Born and bred?

In Manly Hobbies or Passions?

Walking, Music, Fun, Summer, Dancing, Food, Wine Reading?

Recommended books, Self improvement, Cookbooks

Disneyland next July with Noah and my sister

JL

Hang on I’ll get my list out

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Some wonders of nature, and the built world

It was a "close call for a young cub who fell into a stream," says National Geographic Explorer Beverly Joubert.

Inside Story Headline

It was a "close call for a young cub who fell int a stream," says National Geographic Explorer Beverly

Inside Story Headline

This story can fit 75-125 words.

Selecting pictures or graphics is an important part of adding content to your newsletter.

Think about your article and ask yourself if the picture supports or enhances the message you’re trying to convey. Avoid selecting images that appear to be out of context.

Microsoft Publisher includes

A pride of lions rests on a kopje in the Serengeti in one thousands of clip art images of from the most popular Photo of which you can choose and imDay images from July. port into your newsletter.the There are also several tools you(Photo can

by Michael Nichols, use to draw shapes and symbols.

Once you have chosen an image, place it close to the article. Be sure to place the caption of the image near the image.

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upcoming events or a special ‘’Sharks? What sharks?" says

This story can fit 150-200 words.

offer that promotes a new prodNational photogOne benefit ofGeographic using your newsuct. letter as a promotional tool is of this rapher David Doubilet that you can reuse content from You can also research articles or photo he took whilesuch on as- find “filler” articles by accessing other marketing materials, as press releases, market studies, the World Wide Web. You can signment. and reports. write about a variety of topics but try to keep your articles While your main goal of distribshort. uting a newsletter might be to Much of the content you put in sell your product or service, the key to a successful newsletter is your newsletter can also be used for your Web site. Microsoft making it useful to your readers.

Publisher offers a simple way to A great way to add useful conconvert your newsletter to a tent to your newsletter is to Web publication. So, when develop and write your own you’re finished writing your articles, or include a calendar of

newsletter, convert it to a Web site and post it.

Inside Story Headline

A reindeer sprints along a highway in Lebesby, Norway, in this image submitted to the Great Nature Project.

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CRUNCH Right: The Mosaic cupola in San Marco, Venice Opposite: Detail from The Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican Opposite below: Galleria delle Carte Geografiche, XVI century, Pontifical Palazzo , Musei Vaticani

Inside Story Headline

This story can fit 100-150 words.

The subject matter that appears in newsletters is virtually endless.

You can include stories that focus on current technologies or innovations in your field.

If the newsletter is distributed internally, you might comment upon new procedures or improvements to the business.

Sales figures or earnings will show how your business is growing.

You may also want to note business or economic trends, or make predictions for your customers or clients.

Some newsletters include a column that is updated every issue, for instance, an advice column, a book review, a letter from the

president, or an editorial. You can also profile new employees or top customers or vendors.

Inside Story Headline

This story can fit 75-125 words.

Selecting pictures or graphics is an important part of adding content to your newsletter.

Think about your article and ask yourself if the picture supports or enhances the message you’re trying to convey. Avoid selecting images that appear to be out of context.

Microsoft Publisher includes

thousands of clip art images from which you can choose and import into your newsletter. There are also several tools you can use to draw shapes and symbols.

A canal in Venice reflects the sky in Once you have chosen an image, this autochrome image from 1927. place it close to the article. Be (Photo by Hans Hildenbrand, Nasure to place the caption of the tional Geographic) image near the image.

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Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy - From http:www.waitbutwhy.com/2013/ 09/why-generation-y-yuppies-are -unhappy.html

when the reality of someone's life is better than they had expected, they're happy. When reality turns out to be worse than the expectations, they're unhappy.

To provide some context, let's start by bringing Lucy's parents into the discussion:

Say hi to Lucy.

Lucy is part of Generation Y, the generation born between the late 1970s and the mid 1990s.

She's also part of a yuppie culture that makes up a large portion of Gen Y. I have a term for yuppies in the Gen Y age group—I call them Gen Y Protagonists & Special Yuppies, or GYPSYs. A GYPSY is a unique brand of yuppie, one who thinks they are the main character of a very special story.

So Lucy's enjoying her GYPSY life, and she's very pleased to be Lucy. Only issue is this one thing: Lucy's kind of unhappy.

To get to the bottom of why, we

need to define what makes someone happy or unhappy in the first place. It comes down to the simple formula above: It's pretty straightforward—

Lucy's parents were born in the 50s—they're Baby Boomers.

They were raised by Lucy's grandparents, members of the G.I. Generation, or "the Greatest Generation," who grew up during the Great Depression and fought in World War II, and were most definitely not GYPSYs. Lucy's Depression Era grandparents were obsessed with economic security and raised her parents to build practical, secure careers. They wanted her parents' careers to have greener grass than their own, and Lucy's parents were brought up to envision a prosperous and stable career for themselves.

They were taught that there was nothing stopping them from getting to that lush, green lawn of a career, but that they'd need to put in years of hard work to make it happen.

After graduating from being insufferable hippies, Lucy's parents embarked on their careers. As the 70s, 80s, and 90s rolled along, the world entered a time of unprecedented economic

prosperity. Lucy's parents did even better than they expected to. This left them feeling gratified and optimistic.

With a smoother, more positive life experience than that of their own parents, Lucy's parents raised Lucy with a sense of optimism and unbounded possibility.

And they weren't alone. Baby Boomers all around the country and world told their Gen Y kids that they could be whatever they wanted to be, instilling the special protagonist identity deep within their psyches.

This left GYPSYs feeling tremendously hopeful about their careers, to the point where their parents' goals of a green lawn of secure prosperity didn't really do it for them. A GYPSY-worthy lawn has flowers.

This leads to our first fact about GYPSYs: GYPSYs Are Wildly Ambitious

The GYPSY needs a lot more from a career than a nice green lawn of prosperity and security.

The fact is, a green lawn isn't quite exceptional or unique enough for a GYPSY. Where the Baby Boomers wanted to live The American Dream, GYPSYs want to live Their Own Personal Dream.

Cal Newport points out that "follow your passion" is a catch-

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phrase that has only gotten going in the last 20 years, according to Google's Ngram viewer, a tool that shows how prominently a given phrase appears in English print over any period of time.

The same Ngram viewer shows that the phrase "a secure career" has gone out of style, just as the phrase "a fulfilling career" has gotten hot.

To be clear, GYPSYs want economic prosperity just like their parents did—they just also want to be fulfilled by their career in a way their parents didn't think about as much.

But something else is happening too. While the career goals of Gen Y as a whole have become much more particular and ambi-

tious, Lucy has been given a second message throughout her childhood as well: This would probably be a good time to bring in our second fact about GYPSYs: GYPSYs Are Delusional "Sure," Lucy has been taught, "everyone will go and get themselves some fulfilling career, but I am unusually wonderful and as such, my career and life path will stand out amongst the crowd."

So on top of the generation as a whole having the bold goal of a flowery career lawn, each individual GYPSY thinks that he or she is destined for something even better— A shiny unicorn on top of the

flowery lawn.

So why is this delusional? Because this is what all GYPSYs think, which defies the definition of special: spe-cial | 'speSHel | adjective better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual.

According to this definition, most people are not special— otherwise "special" wouldn't mean anything.

Even right now, the GYPSYs reading this are thinking, "Good point...but I actually am one of the few special ones"—and this is the problem.

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CRUNCH A second GYPSY delusion comes into play once the GYPSY enters the job market. While Lucy's parents' expectation was that many years of hard work would eventually lead to a great career, Lucy considers a great career an obvious given for someone as exceptional as she, and for her it's just a matter of time and choosing which way to go. Her pre-workforce expectations look something like this: Unfortunately, the funny thing about the world is that it turns out to not be that easy of a place, and the weird thing about careers is that they're actually quite hard. Great careers take years of blood, sweat and tears to build—even the ones with no flowers or unicorns on them— and even the most successful people are rarely doing anything that great in their early or mid20s.

But GYPSYs aren't about to just accept that.

Paul Harvey, a University of New Hampshire professor and GYPSY expert, has researched this, finding that Gen Y has "unrealistic expectations and a strong resistance toward accepting negative feedback," and "an inflated view of oneself." He says that "a great source of frustration for people with a strong sense of entitlement is unmet expectations.

They often feel entitled to a level of respect and rewards that aren’t in line with their actual ability and effort levels, and so they might not get the level of respect and rewards they are expecting."

For those hiring members of Gen Y, Harvey suggests asking the interview question, “Do you feel you are generally superior to

your coworkers/classmates/etc., and if so, why?” He says that “if the candidate answers yes to the first part but struggles with the ‘why,’ there may be an entitlement issue. This is because entitlement perceptions are often based on an unfounded sense of superiority and deservingness.

They’ve been led to believe, perhaps through overzealous self -esteem building exercises in their youth, that they are somehow special but often lack any real justification for this belief."

And since the real world has the nerve to consider merit a factor, a few years out of college Lucy finds herself here: Lucy's extreme ambition, coupled with the arrogance that comes along with being a bit deluded about one's own selfworth, has left her with huge expectations for even the early years out of college. And her reality pales in comparison to those expectations, leaving her "reality - expectations" happy score coming out at a negative.

And it gets even worse. On top of all this, GYPSYs have an extra problem that applies to their whole generation: GYPSYs Are Taunted Sure, some people from Lucy's parents' high school or college classes ended up more successful than her parents did. And while they may have heard about some of it from time to time through the grapevine, for the most part they didn't really know what was going on in too many other peoples' careers.

Lucy, on the other hand, finds herself constantly taunted by a modern phenomenon: Facebook

Image Crafting.

Social media creates a world for Lucy where A) what everyone else is doing is very out in the open, B) most people present an inflated version of their own existence, and C) the people who chime in the most about their careers are usually those whose careers (or relationships) are going the best, while struggling people tend not to broadcast their situation. This leaves Lucy feeling, incorrectly, like everyone else is doing really well, only adding to her misery: So that's why Lucy is unhappy, or at the least, feeling a bit frustrated and inadequate.

In fact, she's probably started off her career perfectly well, but to her, it feels very disappointing.

Here's my advice for Lucy: 1) Stay wildly ambitious. The current world is bubbling with opportunity for an ambitious person to find flowery, fulfilling success. The specific direction may be unclear, but it'll work itself out—just dive in somewhere.

2) Stop thinking that you're special. The fact is, right now, you're not. You're another completely inexperienced young person who doesn't have all that much to offer yet. You can become special by working really hard for a long time.

3) Ignore everyone else. Other people's grass seeming greener is no new concept, but in today's image crafting world but the truth is that everyone else is just as indecisive, self-doubting, and frustrated as you are, and if you just do your thing, you'll never have any reason to envy others.

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Volume 2, Issue 1 Workout Essentials: Getting Ready for Summer - Carolyn Richardson Summer is almost upon us. It's ok to revamp your workout with something new. As the weather heats up, and the wear and tear of fall and winter shows, it may be time to replace or renew your commitment to staying active.

worth in comfort-ability. If you feel getting new insoles will do the trick, try getting some custom fitted. There are varying levels of support: soft, rigid, and semi-rigid. Depending on your preference, you may like one over the other. You might also get a couple different pair of insoles for different workouts.

Workout Apparel It's a little warmer, and you're a little thinner. Invest in some breathable workout wear. Whether you go the way of mesh, bamboo, soy, or cotton jersey material, getting clothes that feel good on your skin will help you stay comfortable as you sweat. You might also want to consider getting tanks to replace those bulky t-shirts or shorts in place of pants.

They'll hang better during aerobic classes and are less restrictive in certain positions. Also go for color.

Black and gray don't go well with sun and fun. Pinks, greens, turquoise, and reds give a little pop to your eye and mood.

Shoes Depending on how often you exercise and how hard you are on your feet, it may be time to replace your workout shoes. If you workout the recommended 30 minutes a day, fall and winter may have taken a toll on your running shoes. If you're not sure if your shoes are ready to be replaced, test the cushion and stability of your shoes with new ones. Bring your old ones to the store with you to make sure you're getting your money's

well or buy some new ones specifically for working out. Investing in a different pair for outdoor workouts is worth it. While drowning out noise in the gym is a good thing, having ear buds that don't allow you to hear traffic, or other sounds around you are no good. Find some that are sturdy enough to allow for an intense workout, but light enough to be removed quickly. If you feel the need, purchase a simple mp3 player specifically for working out. Not everyone wants to carry their Iphone on a run. Your workout is your time to escape, use music to do so.

Your Attitude

For example, you'll need less cushion during group kickboxing class than you would jogging on the street.

Music Unless you workout with the radio, you probably could use some new tunes to improve your motivation during a workout.

Create new playlists or search for new offerings from some of your favorite artists. Energetic music has been proven to help you maintain a certain level of intensity during exercise, so go for uptempo songs. Also, you may want to clean your ear buds

Buying all the right things will go in vain if you don't renew your mind about working out. If you have to channel Patti LaBelle to do so, Oo oo oo oo ooo - get a new attitude! Exercise can be much less complicated if you look at it for what it really is: me time. Use your workouts to be selfish. Get in tune with your body and how you feel.

Think about what you like and don't like about your current routine and make changes where needed. Consider what activities you'll be able to do easier as you get more fit. Reassess your commitment to exercise and find a strategy that will keep your progress going. Can you stand an extra 15 minutes of walking, do a couple more pushups, lift an extra 5 pounds? Where appropriate, give yourself a little challenge to keep your game face on.

As summer approaches, get ready in mind, body, and spirit for the sunshine.

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Thriftober: Curb your spending for a month?

So you have a spending habit?

Can’t get your outgoings under control? You could apply for help to the members of staff who know about these things… the team in Finance, for instance.

But maybe you don't have that much of a problem but just want to give yourself a fiscal cleanse?

Writer Melissa Browne has applied her skills and expertise to the question… and here are her best tips….

S

ix weeks ago I wrote a column recommending a 30-day financial cleanse.

It obviously resonated because people contacted me to find out what the rules were - could you still buy beer, was coffee an essential and so on. People I met told me how long they had lasted without spending, and what they discovered about their spending habits.

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So if you missed the article, the concept is the same as a food cleanse. With summer approaching, many people are looking for ways to kick-start healthy eating habits to remove a few unwanted kilograms. The same is true for your spending.

For those who want the challenge of 31 days with no spending, you'll be spending on essentials only. It's like the Tough Mudder of financial cleanses but will save you money and reset your unconscious spending patterns.

If your spending has become a little out of control or turned into unconscious spending and by the end of the weekend you can't work out where your money went, then this financial cleanse is for you.

For everyone else, try the half-marathon version. This means consciously choosing what you will spend money on for the 31 days and sticking to it. For example, your list might include the essentials, two cafe coffees a week; only going out once a week, with a spending limit of $50; and that's it. Everything else is off-limits for the full 31 days.

I undergo a month-long cleanse from chocolate and a month-long cleanse from spending every year. I'm not sure which is tougher but I find both reset my unconscious habits and I finish the month feeling lighter, healthier and a little less stressed. So if your finances need a boost, join me this October for a 31-day financial cleanse. Here are your options:

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Essentials really are just that … groceries, fuel, school costs, bills and your rent or mortgage. My suggestion would be to set a budget for your groceries, and if you can include a bottle of wine or a cheap takeaway meal in that budget each week, that's great. I am the world's worst cook and so having takeaway options in my grocery essentials is necessary.

Just don't make the budget too high.

Here are some hints for how to see out the entire 31 days.

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Include your family doing it together will be much easier than doing it alone. If you have kids it can help them to understand that the plastic card you whip out regularly is not an unlimited magic wand.

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. Invite your friends to take part - often it is your social circle that will put your nonspending month in jeopardy.

Take your credit card out of your wallet if you suspect you'll be tempted on a day or a night out and simply take the amount in cash that you've budgeted for.

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Be creative - you don't need to sit home in the dark. Invite friends round for a retro night of board games, where everyone brings a plate; go for a walk to the park

plate; go for a walk to the park instead of around the shops. make sure you're prepared to take your lunch to work each day by planning your shopping in advance.

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If you suspect you'll slip up, consider a system of fines. If your friends and family are included, it can be even more fun.

If it's a shared house, the fine might be doing the washing up, cooking dinner or giving foot rubs to everyone.

Or you might create a shirt or hat to wear for the person who slipped up that day.

The most important thing is to have fun with it.

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. Be aware during the 31 days of what you usually spend money on or the times you are tempted so you recognise your spending habits and can set up lifechanging behaviour after the 31 days.

I hope you'll join me this October for 31 days of no spending.

You have two days to prepare, so work out what you're going to choose to spend money on, and let others know you're doing it so you're going to be held accountable. And then on Tuesday, it's game on.

I'd love to know how you're going over the 31 days, so join the conversation on Twitter with me using #iquitspending.

— Melissa Browne is an accountant, adviser, author and shoe addict.

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Love Your Enemies: How to Break the Anger Habit & Be a Whole Lot Happier

by Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman gives practical strategies for spiritual transformation.

The new book was inspired by HH Dalai Lama and is a result of the workshops that Bob and Sharon have been teaching the past 7 years.

Tenzin Robert Thurman (Uma’s dad!) is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia Uni-

versity, holding the first endowed chair of Buddhist Studies in the United States. He serves as cofounder and president of Tibet House US, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the endangered culture of Tibet.

Victory Over The Inner Enemy There are too many times in life when we just cannot

avoid losing our temper.

Someone attacks or provokes us, we feel that excitement is the only way to avoid being crippled by fear in a tough situation, we just can't stand something that is happening to us or to others and we blow our top.

Sometimes our heated action seems to help; we get the immediate result we want. But even then, usually we feel bad afterward, we realize that our overreaction will cause more problems down the line,

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Volume 2, Issue 1 Love your enemies—how to be happy about it we become exhausted, we lose a potential friend, and we have populated our universe with an even more dangerous potential enemy. As we mature, and gain more experience with the negative results and side effects of the anger habit, we shift our priorities, and we resolve to improve our mastery of our emotional reactions. We tire of being whipped about by uncontrollable inner impulses, and we decide we really have to be the master of our forceful energies, and not be mastered by them. We then are ready to face our inner enemies.

There are all too many of them, a host of powerful forces within our minds, obsessive desire, burning anger, haunting jealousy, stressful competitiveness, foolish pride, stubborn delusion and self-righteous conviction. They are addictive energies, in that they take hold of us from within by seeming to enhance our energy and expand our being, only to let us down all too soon and leave us in an even more vulnerable situation. The Buddhist

word for them (Sanskrit klesha, Pali, kilesa) comes from the verb root klish-, which means "twist," "torment." They harm us without fail, and so definitely qualify as enemies.

Of all of them, anger is the ultimate inner enemy. It is unimaginably destructive.

One of my Buddhist teachers, Tara Tulku, used to say that the most important component of a nuclear bomb is anger fueled by hatred. What impels a human being to press the button, turn the key, pull the trigger on unimaginable physical destruction, is the mind of hatred rising into anger. It is important to recognize that in a full evaluation of consequential action, thought is action. It not only motivates physical action, it is physical action, however subtle. It has consequences in the physical world, and it shapes the positive or negative evolutionary changes in the lives of the thinker who acts in the mind. Indeed, based on the insight that thought is the most powerful act of all, spiritual and psychological traditions worldwide rely on mental sciences to

decrease the influence of negative thoughts and to shape thoughts in positive ways.

Anger is the wish to obliterate the target. It is the hot flash of destructive momentum that makes people lash out and, in too many cases, recklessly destroy lives, destroy the environment, destroy the very way of life of those perceived to be the enemy.

In the Buddhist teachings, it is said that one moment of hatred against an enlightened being produces eons of negative effects, leading the hating person into a season in hell.

Anger is like a powerful addiction. We're addicted to anger as a state of being and a way of acting in the world. But if we are to have any peace, we must recognize hatred and anger as potentially lethal compulsions that we have to kick. Like any addict, we have to realize the full power of these mental impulses in order to truly resolve to free ourselves from them.

We must not be confused by the thought that sometimes anger has a positive

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CRUNCH Victory Over The Inner Enemy (continued) use, such as impelling us to take action against injustice. In fact, critical judgment and ethical commitment is what impels us to act to correct injustice, and if anger goes along with them, it tends to make that action ineffective. But such kinds of rationalization are how addictive substances keep their hold on us. It would be like saying that because heroin is sometimes used for end-of-life palliative care, addiction to heroin is not all that bad. We must decide that anger and hatred serve no useful purpose and that for all intents and purposes they are categorically destructive, even though sometimes their harmful effects do not appear immediately.

Even if we do decide that anger is bad for us, like any addiction, to reach the point of resolving definitely to eliminate it, we need to know precisely what we're dealing with. Anger arises when mounting irritation, annoyance, and frustration burst into an irresistible impulse to respond in a harmful manner to the perceived source of those feelings. In the grip of an-

ger, we are no longer the master of our thoughts, speech, or actions. Once this happens, we are not "expressing our anger," as is often said to justify a supposedly healthy release; rather, we have become the involuntary instrument of our rage. No longer in control of it, we have become its effect. Who would choose to be angry in that manner if they could stay in control of their feelings and act skillfully even when the target is annoying? Wouldn't we prefer that our judgment remain clear, while we still maintain free choice in our actions? Our anger or hatred only results in violent outbursts when we're inflamed with rage and our good sense has gone out the window. This kind of anger, being "mad," that is, insane in its fury, destroys all in its path, not least our own emotional balance.

If the first step toward release from our addiction to anger is deciding that we must break the cycle, there is nobody better to help us go cold turkey than the great 8th-century Indian sage Shantideva, a Buddhist mind scientist at the re-

nowned Nalanda University. He is best known as the author of the Bodhicharyavatara (Introduction to the Bodhisattva Conduct), a practical text originally written in Sanskrit verse that has become so popular in the West, it has already appeared in several translations into English and other European languages.

His teaching of tolerance and compassion is considered to contain the supreme Buddhist methodology of developing love and compassion for all beings.

In the Tibetan tradition, the teaching is thought to have come down through a lineage of living masters that has continued unbroken from the Buddha's time until today, with Shantideva having been perhaps the most eloquent author in that lineage. The present Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet is generally considered to be the main living holder of that teaching lineage, and anyone who has ever been moved

by His Holiness' discourses on compassion has met that living tradition. Shantideva helps motivate us by convincing us that being

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Volume 2, Issue 1

angry is like biting the hand that feeds us: for example, he likens the madness of fury to venting our anger on a bodhisattva, a being who has only our best interest at heart. This is patently self-destructive--why would we revile someone who wants only to benefit us? It is like being angry with Jesus or Mary or Moses or Muhammad, or even God-in other words, being angry with a being that one considers to be the source of all goodness.

it is clear that such evil is rooted in anger and hatred; they are the source of all evil acts. In the Buddhist biological theory of karma, addiction to anger and hatred leads eventually to rebirth in one of the thirty-two hells, which are described in the literature

Anger and hatred connect to what many consider to be the supreme of all evils.

In all cultural imaginations, the devil--the very embodiment of evil--thrives on inflicting pain and torture by means of malevolent actions. And since his motivation to harm others consists of the mental impulses of anger and hatred,

Anger and hatred want their victim to feel pain and suffering, while love and compassion want their beloved to feel joy and happiness. The ultimate opposite of anger is love, the fervent wish for others to be happy. But at the innerenemy stage, when we're still learning to manage our addiction to anger, aiming

in the most terrifyingly lurid detail.

for love pushes us too far.

It is unrealistic to expect to immediately switch from anger and hate to compassion and love. Patience is the middle ground, the place of tolerance, forbearance, and in time, forgiveness. We might still be irritated when we are harmed (or think we are harmed), but we will not lose ourselves to anger so long as we can tolerate the irritation, be patient with the harm and the harmer, refrain from reacting vengefully, and maybe even forgive the injury.

Patience is the antidote to anger, and love can freely arise on the basis of patience as the ultimate opposite of hate. So, to deal with the inner enemy, our positive resolve is to cultivate patience.

Follow Robert Thurman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ BobThurman

See you next month for more CRUNCH action from CR

The joy of kitchen duty!

The GM member Services was very keen to see this image in CRUNCH. Why, asked the Editor.

‘It this news or unusual?”

Turns out it is not. Everyone pitches in to take care of the kitchen… and that means washing up, drying up, putting away.

Constant challenges remain though.

There are still some staffers who dump their drty plates in the sink, despite being asked to take care of them themselves; and by the end of the month, the fridge is full fo exotic bacteria masquerading as lunch… Good thing that the Cleaning Fairy gives lessons in tough love in the galley!