Zen Wisdom for Your Everyday Life

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On Independence Day, a celebration of freedom, it is crucial to see that we are all intrinsically free. We are alive, awake, breathing.  We come to this life with all we need to sing,  love, give, thrive in everyway. And yet we suffer greatly, ruled by the idea that we are bound, enslaved, harmed and victimized wherever we go. We believe that we must go through life suffering, rejecting one another, and rejectng our own freedom. However, Zen practice, shows us that it is not so. Each moment of life, is a celebration of freedom itself. It is only necessary to stop running, and pay attention to simple moments, to our breath, the feel of our feet on the floor when walking, the sound of the rain. As we become radically present for what's happening, experience our life fully we take our attention  away what's truly binding us, our own negativity.  Then it's easy to see that freedom is right within. We have the power to reclaim our joy in life, our strength and gidance through the simple  moments as they come and go. Nothing is binding us. What a thrill to stop and see.

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We often long for wisdom to get through our lives. It seems as if there is something missing in ourselves and we must find the answer somehow. This feeling drives us to search all over, in books, people, news. We constantly compare ourselves to others, and find outselves lacking. Or we idealize others, and feel deeply hurt and betrayed when they do not live up to our images of who they should be. Then we start searching for someone else, or some other solution, more frantically this time. 
We may find some solutions, or relationships temporarily, but circumstances change and they don't really hold up.  Whatever we do, it  doesn't fill the emptiness within.   
But there is a simple solution. Stop Searching. Nothing is missing! All you need to live a beautiful life is right here within.  It is waiting to be recognized,  paid attention to and respected. Each moment that arises has guidance for you, if you will only  truly receive and honor it.

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We all believe that we are bound by external forces, relationships, circumstances and situations of all kinds.  However, the truth is that we are only in bondage to our confusion, our lack of understanding of the simple laws of love. Once we discover the difference between real and counterfeit love, we can easily see that all our pain comes from living in Counterfeit Love. Living in Counterfeit Love we live in opposition to what inevitably brings harmony, well being and benefit to all.  We cannot thrive when we live in opposition to the Simple Laws of Love. Once we learn and live these laws of love, nothing can enslave us. Love frees all. Love nourishes, heals and opens doors and endless opportunities. Zen practice is truly the practice of love, which changes the ways we perceive one another, ourselves, and life itself.

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We're all so busy trying to accomplish this and that, and figure out what must be done next. Seems it's never enough.  Swept up in the rush of activities and and demands of our conditioned mind, it's rare to pause and notice what's the most important thing. where are we headed.  We rarely wonder why the rush, or why we must listen to the mad mind within that endless pushes us to and fro.  This is the mind that tries to figure things out, control the future, and criticizes whatever we do. It tosses us into mazes and circles that never end. Zen practice is the great pause. It enables us to stop, to listen to the silence and a deeper part of ourselves that experiences life differently. It touches a different kind of knowing that is always availble, and can naturally point us to the Most Important Thing! 

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So many of us become distraught, thinking that life is brief and that we must hold onto what we have strongly. The fear of loss and change, along with a sense of failure can haunt our entire lives. It seems as if we've missed the mark, as life keeps turning around and aruond and we cannot control any of it. What we do not realize is that everything is already here. Everything comes and everything goes, and at the same time, nothing leaves at all. When we depend upon appearances, we are confused and saddened. It looks one way, and we react to that, rather than go deeper and find the place within ourselves and others where we are all together forever.  Whether we see the person or not, where can they go? What we see is only the outer display, a set of clothes. What we feel, what we know intuitively is where our true connection lay. As we sit, we learn to receive all of life fully, not depending upon anything that seems external, but finding our root within.

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Our lives are often a frantic search to find and reach our destination. We take one road after another in search of where we want to go and where we think we belong. We also demand that our relationships lead to our destination, to what we want to receive and to be. When one road or relationship fails us, we quickly search for the next.  And then the next. It is often impossible to see, or realize, that our true destination is right here now, in front of our eyes. We do not have to go anywhere to find it. And we cannot stray from it. The only reason we can’t see it is because we believe that our destination is somewhere else. When that idea fades away, when we stop going from one road t the next, it's a true wonder to realize that we are just where we belong.

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An epidemic of isolation and loneliness is sprouting up all over the world. A sense of separation, along with division and fear has taken hold. It certainly seems as if this is understandable. And yet what is not so obvious, is that fundamentally, it is impossible to be truly alone. We are all incredible united, connected and living in one another's hearts. And what is crucial to understand, is how to go beyond the feelings of loneliness and experience the oneness, and presence of love. The solution is so simple. It is the very heart of zazen practice, and when we embark upon this, truly it is impossible to be lonely or alone.

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Most of our lives we struggle with problems of all kinds. Our energy, focus and days are revolved around, what's wrong and how we can fix it.  All day long we are protecting ourselves from danger. However, the true solution of all our problems is far too easy for us to believe. We long for complication, difficulties and to be stronger than life itself.  However, when a life of struggle grows futile and tiresome, a brand new door opens up. This is the door to ease and delight, a new way of living based upon simple truths . And, as we proceede along the way it is easy to Taste and See That Life is Good.

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Most of us battle time, try to make it go slower, go backwards or forwards. We try to hold time in our grasp. Time seems dangerous even, as it flows inexorably onwards and  we are unable to stop the flow, always wondering where we are headed, and what will happen when we arrive. As we constantly weave back and forth between the past and future, time plays tricks with us. Rather than being thoroughly present in what's happening now, we focus upon remembering, comparing and hoping things will work out as we like.  I's fascinating to finally see that all of the anguish time creates is simply  the mind playing tricks on us.. Time is our dearest friend, our very life, and how we enter and relate to time, will dictate the very quality of our lives. One minute can seem to last for hours, or it can slip away unlived. Let's explore time  and see that we can always be at ease with its  flow we are a natural part of.

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When disturbed we search here and there for all kinds of cures and medicines, not realizing what is medicine and what is poison.. What creates more confusion and upset, and what truly heals. It is amazing to see that true healing is simple, easy, available all the time.. Zen practice returns us to the basic, natural, rhythms and gifts of life. We take our attention back from all the ways in which it has been scattered and misapplied.  We see how life itself, when thoroughly attended to, has gifts and healings abundantly available. Let us quiet down, turn around, and explore the healing that has always been right in front of our eyes. 

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