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	<title>Aging As a Spiritual Practice</title>
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		<title>Aging As a Spiritual Practice</title>
		<link>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com</link>
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		<title>Five Great Fears &#8211; Summing Up</title>
		<link>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/03/10/five-great-fears-summing-up/</link>
		<comments>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/03/10/five-great-fears-summing-up/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:55:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lewrich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aging and Buddhism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging and zen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Death and Dying]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/?p=539</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I’ve spent the last several posts exploring the topic of Buddhism’s five great fears—fear of dying, fear of illness, fear of dementia, fear of loss of livelihood, and fear of public speaking.  These are ancient teachings that reflect the universality of these fear states, even for lifelong monastics, who developed these teachings.  Fear is the [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=agingasaspiritualpractice.com&blog=6400559&post=539&subd=lewrich&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/03/10/five-great-fears-summing-up/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">lewrich</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Canoeing</media:title>
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		<title>Fear of Public Speaking</title>
		<link>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/03/02/fear-of-public-speaking/</link>
		<comments>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/03/02/fear-of-public-speaking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:29:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lewrich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging and worry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fear of public speaking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[five great fears]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/?p=535</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The fifth “great fear” of Buddhism is, strangely enough, the “fear of public speaking.”  The other four—fear of death, fear of illness, fear of dementia, and fear of loss of livelihood—are so obviously great fears that it is curious that fear of public speaking is included with them.  Certainly those who have this fear can [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=agingasaspiritualpractice.com&blog=6400559&post=535&subd=lewrich&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/03/02/fear-of-public-speaking/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">lewrich</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">shattered mind</media:title>
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		<title>Fear of Loss of Livelihood 2</title>
		<link>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/02/19/fear-of-loss-of-livelihood-2/</link>
		<comments>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/02/19/fear-of-loss-of-livelihood-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:39:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lewrich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Worry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging and livelihood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging and worry]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/?p=532</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ 
I ended my last post with the teaching “every breath, new chances.”  This is something that one of my early Zen teachers liked to say.  As I said before, this is the “upside” of the fact that everything changes.  One of the hallmarks of negative mind-states such as sadness, grief, or depression is the [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=agingasaspiritualpractice.com&blog=6400559&post=532&subd=lewrich&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/02/19/fear-of-loss-of-livelihood-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">lewrich</media:title>
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		<title>Loss of Livelihood I</title>
		<link>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/02/04/loss-of-livelihood-i/</link>
		<comments>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/02/04/loss-of-livelihood-i/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:05:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lewrich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aging and Buddhism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging and money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging and worry]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/?p=528</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The fourth “great fear” of Buddhist teaching is “fear of loss of livelihood.”  It is interesting that this doctrine was formulated by monastics living a life of mendicancy and voluntary poverty.  One would think that the vow of poverty would liberate monks from the ordinary anxieties of earning a livelihood, but of course the monks [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=agingasaspiritualpractice.com&blog=6400559&post=528&subd=lewrich&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/02/04/loss-of-livelihood-i/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">lewrich</media:title>
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		<title>It&#8217;s All About Emotion</title>
		<link>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/01/18/its-all-about-emotion/</link>
		<comments>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/01/18/its-all-about-emotion/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:02:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lewrich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Aging and Meditation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aging and Buddhism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unconditional love]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/?p=524</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Buddhist transformation is all about emotion.  Actually, that’s not literally true; a lot of meditation, especially for Westerners, is about de-constructing and seeing through the illusory world of self that thinking creates.  But neuroscience has now demonstrated what Buddhist meditators have long known: that as meditation matures, the discursive thinking aspect of mental activity subsides, [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=agingasaspiritualpractice.com&blog=6400559&post=524&subd=lewrich&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/01/18/its-all-about-emotion/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">lewrich</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">hands</media:title>
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		<title>Thinking Is Overrated</title>
		<link>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/01/10/thinking-is-overrated/</link>
		<comments>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/01/10/thinking-is-overrated/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:17:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lewrich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Aging and Buddhism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aging and Meditation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging and karma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thought of Enlightenment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[training the mind]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/?p=522</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The comedienne Lily Tomlin, in her persona as the bag lady, once said, “I tried reality once, and found it highly overrated.”  From a Buddhist standpoint, the same could be said for thinking.  The various schools of Buddhism all have a highly technical literature, whose collected works fill a good-sized room.  That being said, the [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=agingasaspiritualpractice.com&blog=6400559&post=522&subd=lewrich&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2010/01/10/thinking-is-overrated/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>12</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">lewrich</media:title>
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		<title>Fear of Dementia</title>
		<link>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/27/fear-of-dementia/</link>
		<comments>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/27/fear-of-dementia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:22:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lewrich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Aging and Buddhism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging and worry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[buddhism and dementia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Death and Dying]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[loss]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/?p=517</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What a downer of a topic! Who wants to think or talk about dementia, Alzheimer’s, losing one’s mind? Yet it is the “third great fear” in Buddhist teaching, so clearly the ancient Buddhists wanted to talk about it. They knew that the best way to transform and dissolve fear is to face it.  Well, today [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=agingasaspiritualpractice.com&blog=6400559&post=517&subd=lewrich&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/27/fear-of-dementia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>20</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">lewrich</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">migraine headache man</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>The Gift of Human Birth</title>
		<link>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/19/the-gift-of-human-birth/</link>
		<comments>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/19/the-gift-of-human-birth/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:54:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lewrich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gratitude]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aging and Buddhism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging and gratitude]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human birth]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/?p=510</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My theme the last few posts has been the “five great fears”—fear of death, fear of illness, fear of dementia, fear of loss of livelihood, and fear of public speaking.  This week I’d like to take a break from talking about fears, and talk instead about gifts—in particular, the gift of human birth.
It is a [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=agingasaspiritualpractice.com&blog=6400559&post=510&subd=lewrich&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/19/the-gift-of-human-birth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">lewrich</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">turtle1</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Why Illness Happens</title>
		<link>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/12/why-illness-happens/</link>
		<comments>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/12/why-illness-happens/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:13:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lewrich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Illness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging and gratitude]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Illness as gift]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zen and gratitude]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/?p=505</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I had cancer, and again when I was recovering from encephalitis, people would ask, “Do they know what caused it?”  I found this rather interesting, that people were so concerned to find a reason.  I wasn’t concerned about the reason at all, I was concerned about getting well.  But people wanted to know.  I [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=agingasaspiritualpractice.com&blog=6400559&post=505&subd=lewrich&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/12/why-illness-happens/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">lewrich</media:title>
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		<title>The Gifts of Illness</title>
		<link>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/06/the-gifts-of-illness/</link>
		<comments>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/06/the-gifts-of-illness/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:14:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lewrich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gratitude]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Illness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aging and Buddhism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aging and gratitude]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Illness as gift]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/?p=500</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ 
Fear of illness is universal, even more so as we age and wonder about heart attack, stroke, cancer.  Even an annual physical or a blood test can make the heart pound.  I don’t know if we are more or less fearful now that we have the miracles of medicine to help us.  In earlier [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=agingasaspiritualpractice.com&blog=6400559&post=500&subd=lewrich&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://agingasaspiritualpractice.com/2009/12/06/the-gifts-of-illness/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
	
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