‘the color inside’ is the eighty-fourth skyspace created by james turrell, a series which sees the renowned american artist using light and space as the mediums in experiential and continuously changing artworks. the new installation situated on the roof of the student activity center at the university of texas at austin  — the latest project fromlandmarks — invites the public into the luminous and ethereal environment turrell has created. for the 25 viewers that can situate comfortably inside the white-plaster walls of the elliptical volume, a shifting sequence of sky, sun, and chromatic saturation becomes visible through a gaping void at the structure’s crown. the black basalt bench lining the reclining walls seat those who gaze upwards, where a morphing arrangement of pink, purple, white, green and yellow LED lights are unleashed onto the ceiling. as the sun sets and rises, the ever-transitioning display of hues seen through the circular aperture both dramatically contrast, and strikingly match the projected colors. the celestial and dynamic performance embodies turrell’s creative vision, as he has said, ‘I’ve always wanted to make a light that looks like the light you see in your dream’.

Images via Landmarks/Text via Designboom

Originally published on the yoga blog. 

Matthieu Ricard has been a Buddhist monk for some 40 years since he left his life as a molecular geneticist in the 1960′s.

He left it all behind to live a life of renunciation in the Himalayas.

It was during this time, he says, that he learned how to be truly happy.

via Life Lessons of the World’s Happiest Man:

“If you can learn how to ride a bike you can learn how to be happy,”

At the last count he’d clocked up more than 10,000 hours (of meditation). Highly complex MRI scans by cognitive scientists at the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience in Wisconsin have shown extraordinarily high levels of upbeat activity (-0.45 on a range where -0.3 is described as “beatific”) and almost invisible levels of negative emotions. “I don’t see everything as rosy,” he says, “but the ups and downs of life don’t unsettle me in the usual way.”

Interesting that something that most of us (myself included) believe that happiness should just kind of “flow”.

But is that really true?

via Happiest Man on Earth is a Buddhist:

“Our life can be greatly transformed by even a minimal change in how we manage our thoughts and perceive and interpret the world. Happiness is a skill. It requires effort and time.”

The idea Ricard puts forth is that we can practice happiness whenever we’d like…and that it’s a choice. Something to think about, I suppose, when we’d like to give the bird to the crazy driver on the road 

Matthieu gets quite a lot of attention from those that study the brain, but more importantly, he gets more from his audience. He has published a number of books- to great success- and donates the proceeds to charity.

In the video below he talks about his new label, and how he came to be known as the happiest guy around.

Tapas is a practice of balanced austerity, sacrifice, discipline. Tapas means “heat” or “fire.” Go through the heat and accept it – invite it in. The fire brings transformation. If you are not in stillness, you are craving or having aversion. Transformation happens through the fire – burn off some layers and emerge as something new – a Phoenix.

Give yourself fully to your dharma (your life’s mission).

Develop courage, strength and simplicity. Staying in a challenging yoga practice and sitting in a long meditation are both examples of  disciplined practices – physical heat is generated, which “burns” the ego away to reveal the true inner spirit.

Via gaiaflowyoga.com

I beg of you, my Lord,
to remove anything which separates
me from you, and you from me.

Remove anything that makes me unworthy
of your sight, your control, your reprehension;
of your speech and conversation,
of your benevolence and love.

Cast from me every evil
that stands in the way of my seeing you,
hearing, tasting, savoring, and touching you;
fearing and being mindful of you;
knowing, trusting, loving, and possessing you;
being conscious of your presence

and, as far as may be, enjoying you.
This is what I ask for myself
and earnestly desire from you. Amen.

–St Peter Faber, SJ

~ Anatole France