This election cycle has heightened the rhetoric of those speaking out against different ethnic groups and women. In the 10 days after Donald Trump became the official president-elect, 867 hate incidents were documented nationwide by the South Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama. The affects of racial hate are in front and center our own Portland metro backyard. In West Linn High School, students walked out in mid-November to protest students who called a fellow Muslim student a terrorist and a Latino student "illegal." At Lake Oswego High School, a racist comment was posted for several weeks on the student-run Facebook page and an anti-Semitic photo was posted in the school cafeteria.
 
Over the past few months, Dr. Larry Sherman, Professor of Neuroscience at the Oregon Health & Science University, gave several public talks on You and Your Racist Brain: The Neuroscience of Prejudice. He was also invited to speak to at Lake Oswego High School in early December in response to the post-election hate incidents on campus. In Dr. Sherman’s view, racism exists when one group dominates, excludes or seeks to eliminate another group on the basis of differences that it believes are inherent, hereditary and unalterable. He further explains that racism, in large part, involves learned behaviors that stem from the human brain’s tendency to engage in prejudice, a process where our brains make judgments that are not based on experience or reason.
 
I agree with Dr. Sherman’s definition of racism and his linkage between the brain, conditioning and prejudice. Moreover, when we look at racism from the perspective of Mindfulness as a form of unwholesome judging, we can gain more insight about its direct affect upon us.
 
From a Mindfulness perspective, racism falls into the category of judging, which includes comparing. Judging is a normal part of our human makeup that is shared by all beings as a way to navigate life. Our ability to judge helps us to discern, for example, the differences between:

• survival versus demise,
• hunger versus being satiated,
• right versus wrong,
• big versus small,
• us versus them,
• superior versus inferior,
• rich versus poor,
• acceptable versus deplorable.

 
This ability to discern through judging and comparing can be beneficial in Mindfulness practice to distinguish between the concepts of wholesome versus unwholesome and happiness versus suffering. So it is not the act of judging or comparing that may cause us to suffer, but its applications and how we relate to them.
 
With wisdom as our guide, we can discern what kind of judging can cause stress and what kind of comparing can help us to eliminate suffering. Judgments or comparisons that cause friction, a breakdown in harmony, compromise peacefulness, threaten happiness, promote greed, hate and delusion (the latter three, known as the Three Roots of Suffering, according to the Buddha) are clearly unwholesome.
 
As we tune into our awareness of body, mind and feelings through Mindfulness Meditation, we can really sense how unwholesome conduct feels very different compared to wholesome conduct. When we turn our awareness mindfully to racism, we may experience the sensations of tightness, heaviness, constriction, uneasiness. Our heart may feel queasy and racy. We may feel an impulse to strike or run away. Our mind may become muddled or obsessed. We may feel unsafe. We may feel ill will, hate or fear arising. We may also experience that our sleep quality — and our health — are adversely affected. Indeed, Dr. Sherman views racism as “a public health problem” due to the high cortisol effects of stress on our bodies — both for victims and perpetrators.
 
The opposite of racism is tolerance. The experience of tolerance through Mindfulness practice may give us a bodily-felt sense of ease, release, warmth, lightness, groundedness, composure, contentment, and confidence. When we practice tolerance, we more likely experience a stronger impulse towards kindness, generosity, compassion, tranquility, happiness, and better health.
 
In our practice, we can overcome unwholesome judging by bringing awareness to our minds and noticing what arises. Our detached inner dialogue may include phrases such as:

• “Ooh … this is intolerance.”
• “This is unwholesome judging.”
• “The mind feels this way.”
• “The emotion feels like this.”
• “The body is stressed out.”

This internal feedback loop is our direct, authentic, experiential response to what is unwholesome.
 
Our practice of Mindfulness is enough to allow what is unwholesome to lose its grip and power over us. Take some time to contemplate which option is more beneficial for your well-being — tolerance or intolerance. As we deepen our awareness of cognition and bodily-felt experiences through meditation, we gain an insight that nurtures our wisdom in pursuit of a life free from suffering. We may reclaim, once again, our inner peace, and stay on the path to cultivate our happiness.

A student recently suggested that I view psychiatrist Robert Waldinger’s 13-minute TED Talk on the longitudinal Harvard study of adult development that has tracked 700 men over a period of 75 years. Dr. Waldinger, the study’s fourth director, summarized the findings as follows:

1. Good relationships keep us happier and healthier.
2. Social relationships are good for us, and loneliness kills.
3. Good relationships don’t just protect our bodies; they protect our brains.

 
While the presentation is well-done, I have a few bones to pick about setting up the notion of happiness to rely chiefly on our outside relationships.
 
So often it is said that “relationships are the key to happiness,” and we begin to reflect upon our relations to others (friends, family, community, etc.). However, as we look deeper into the true nature of relationships, the connection between relationships and happiness is not that simple and may even be misleading. It is disingenuous to say that our suffering is caused by lack of availability or not having a relationship. A person may express self-pity and say that s/he is an only child and that both parents are dead. On the other hand, a person may have many siblings and living parents but chooses to be in touch with them rarely. Toxic relationships, such with as abusive parents or a spouse, may actually cause suffering instead of happiness. A person’s misconstrued sense of being unwanted by others, may even lead to violent acts such as in the case of the infamous Columbine High School massacre.
 
Mindfulness practice emphasizes a person's internal capacity for and cultivation of well-being. When a person succeeds in improving his/her relationship with himself/herself, such as removal of destructive emotions or attitudes, then his or her relationship with others will naturally improve with ease.
 
Suppose you know a person who has a tendency to be impatient, an example of a destructive emotion. Notice how this quality plays out to affect that person's well-being as well as its impact on others. Impatience breeds a lack of tolerance, an agitated mind, and an energy that is not peaceful in nature. The impatient person is usually high-strung, easily agitated, and hot-headed. Inside the person’s body, the heart pounds and there is tension whenever temper flares up. People around this person often feel unsafe, disrespected, not heard, and offended. As a response to the disturbance they feel, others guard against attack and prepare for possible retaliation by the impatient one. Thus a tendency toward impatience causes unproductive and even harmful relationships all around and inside.
 
But positive change is possible. We have the potential to rewire ourselves for better, happier relationships. The impatient person may eradicate impatience by realizing its unproductive nature. A person’s commitment to understanding the benefits of being patient, then consciously cultivating the practice of being patient, can shift the entire nexus of relationships (with self and others) to be peaceful and more productive.
 
In addition, through Mindfulness practice, we can develop inner strength and peace to the point of self-sufficiency with regard to our ability to cultivate inner happiness. We learn to rely less on what or how other people treat us and enjoy going inside to find solace.
 
No doubt, peaceful, supportive, loving relationships bring us joy. However, our true happiness relies more on our cultivation of inner skills than outer relationships.

What would you do if you were to die today? Death is certain, although most of the time we do not know when. Certainly, Michael Jackson, John Lennon and Portland grocery owner, John Zupan, did not expect to die on the day they died.  Knowing that life will end, why not resolve to be happy NOW instead of later? As a hospital chaplain I have the privilege of being with the dying and learned that the foremost topic on their minds is a review of their relationships (with self and others). They express a wish to have led a happier life, to affirm love for someone, or to seek forgiveness from someone even though these earnest desires cannot now be realized.In his book, Tuesdays With Morrie, author Mitch Albom recounts the last days of Morrie Schwartz, his 78 year-old sociology professor at Brandeis University who is terminally ill with Lou Gehrig's disease. Schwartz affirms that people should express love, joy, and other positive affections to those they care for while they are still alive, not just at their memorial services. And so Morrie stages his own farewell party while he is still able to enjoy his family and friends.

Why don’t we prioritize developing positive relationships with ourselves and with others while we are still alive and have plenty of time to do so? When we are deluded that death is not imminent and we have a long life ahead of us, we forget that happiness is the primary goal of life. Instead, we get caught in the means (more wealth, status, etc.) to be happy, thinking that the means are the ends in themselves.

In our self-sufficient pride, we are deluded into thinking that we are independent and ignorant of the fact that we are indeed interdependent. We forget about our need to nurture positive relationships, to offer forgiveness, to be generous, to express our appreciation, and to be tolerant of others.On the other hand, we feel responsible for all the unfortunate things that happen in our lives. We take them personally, judge ourselves harshly, and develop negative relationship with ourselves. With this mindset, we are deluded into thinking that we can control things that we cannot.Mindfulness meditation practice not only promotes your physical and mental health but it also offers insight on how to be happy where you are at in the moment.