Zen Wisdom for Your Everyday Life

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The big joke of practice, is that the simpler it is, the harder for us to grasp and live it. We yearn for difficulty, challenge, obstacles to prove how smart and strong we are..Zen practice, which is the plainest and simplest practice of all, makes this dilemma apparent. It returns us to the simple moments and facts of our lives. Rather than follow the mad mind within, we turn ourselves to what is here now, and to the one within who always knows the way. You have all your answers and all the direction you need right now. Just stop looking for it elsewhere.Say no, to the lies that hound you and return to the precious life you are living right now. 

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How do we find the balance, harmony, health and love we are all seeking. Usually, we struggle, scramble and feel it is up to us to make everything right. Yet to find a state of true love and oneness, that kind of doing is not necessary. All that is necessary is to deeply center ourselves and say No, to the waves of panic, anger and obstacles we usually get swept into. It is a state of trust and inner strength, where everything works well, we become strong and healing happens most readily.

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Our entire lives are organized around avoiding suffering. We grab moments of happiness and demand more. When things don't go our way we declare ourselves failures, and are in pain. As if we were in charge of how things go. Yet, it is entirely possible to live a life of happiness and enjoyment, even in the midst of pain. It is not what happens to us that hurts so much, but the way we respond to it. Come learn new ways of being with difficulty that will open up your life and heart.

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From the time we are born we want stimulation, enjoyment, distractions of all kinds. Our whole life becomes about playing with toys, winning at the game of life. As we get older our toys change and we throw away the broken ones. Our games also grow more complicated and dangerous. Soon, we live in anguish, struggling not to be a loser, trapped in the game we ourselves have chosen to play. But Life is not a game. When we stop seeing and using others as toys, and hunger only for distraction, not only will our problems unravel, but the true joy of being will be here for all.

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Here we are at Valentine's Day, many wondering who their Valentine is, if they are loved, wanted or special in anyway? Or will they ever be? And all the time love is all around us, just waiting to be welcomed into our lives, to have the opportunity to come alive. What is it that keeps this love away? How do we get caught going around and around on a merry go round of relationships that never takes us where we want to go?

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We come to life and relationships hoping all will be well, beautiful, just as we want it. When, despite all our efforts, things do not go as we wish, it's so easy to lapse into disappointment, anger, blaming of ourselves and others or the craving for temporary comfort. Instead of doing this, it is fascinating to realize that we've simply been handed a bitter pill. A pill is medicine to cure illness. What is the illness this bitter experience has come to heal? How can it benefit all?

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We all want to be powerful, strong, in charge. Life often seems to overpower us, and in response we fight it off, try to change, control, or dominate it. We want things to go as planned, are frightened of unexpected events, or change. This kind of power is Self Power, exerted by the will. Although we can get our way at times, the price we pay for a life like this is great. The battle does not end. It takes a large toll.
However, there is a larger power that  guides, provides and laughs with us. Let us taste this power of no power, and see how to allow it in our lives.

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It's so simple to be drawn in to the voices, demands and excitement of the world. We turn to others for so much, for comfort, clarity, and help. Yet, there is a deeper source of wisdom and well being, just waiting for us to be with it. As we leave the tangled mass of voices that call us, and learn to listen to the voice within, we cannot be deceived any longer or lose our way home. 

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Most of our lives we grapple with problems, going back and forth, hitting our heads against one obstacle or another. It is as though we were locked in situation with no way out. Why can't we stop a moment to go to the door and realize it is open. We can walk right through. The way to see the larger picture, the way to a life giving solution is waiting for us right where we are. 

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In our world of confusion and holding on, we long for things to stay stable. We need to know what we can count on, what is real and dependable. Yet Zen practice tells us to look beneath the appearance of things if we want to find what we can truly count on. That which comes must go, that which appears, changes. Constant change is inevitable and as we accept it and live as change itself, our life opens us, eases and a deeper reality appears.

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