iamom | Words of My Perfect Teacher

Not much on her site about it, but there is a blurb on the film here. It played at the Atlantic Film Festival here in Halifax tonight, and it was really excellent. The director and filmmaker, Lesley Ann Patten, followed a particular Tibetan buddhist lama named Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche to several locations around the world, showing his relationship with herself as a student and a handful of others who accompanied her. Great film, and she was also very cool -- she spoke at the screening. She also has some interesting things to say about the film and TV industry on this page. The music was also very, very good. I sent her an e-mail asking about that music and also to tell her how much I enjoyed the film.

Interesting point raised about eating from the film. One of the students was talking about practicing mindfulness as you open the fridge door. Said, "Why are we really opening that door at ten o'clock at night, anyway? Are we really hungry? Do we need that food? Or instead, are we just trying to make ourselves feel happy for a moment?"

I thought about that as I worked my way steadily through a big bag of popcorn. Thought to myself, "I don't need some crazy meal plan or anything to finish losing the rest of my weight, I just need to be more mindful of what I'm eating and when I'm eating it." A different student observed that Rinpoche never ate more than he needed and never said more than he needed. Focusing on eating what the body actually requires given its activity level each day would also be helpful, I think.