If your life were your own to live,
how would it be different
from the way it is now?

What can you do now,
to begin moving in that direction?

What symbolic act can you make
in your life
as a gesture declaring
your intention
to live into living your life
as you know it needs to be lived?

How might you add to 
those symbolic gestures
in building/creating
a "side life"
that is yours alone
alongside the life you are living?

So that you walk two paths at the same time--
one to satisfy the demands you must serve
and the other to serve
as your secret life
just for yourself 
that no one knows of but you.

Become a double-agent!
Work you into your life
in clandestine ways!
Be the you no one knows of!
Listen to music they don't know about!
Read books they don't see you reading!
Take walks they don't go on with you!
Develop your private side!
Bring you to life on the sly!
All as practice
for when the kids leave home,
or you can retire,
or your mother-in-law
finally kicks the bucket.

–0–

Our choices determine,
or strongly influence,
our choices.

In any situation,
we are where we are
by virtue of the choice we made
to lead to this point.

We can't keep making
the same choices 
and have a different life.

What are the themes 
running through our choosing?

In what ways are we predictable?

In what situations
are we likely to do what?

In what situations do we make 
the same choices time after time?

In order to change things,
we start with our choices.

From the movies we watch,
to the things we eat,
to the books we read,
to the places we go,
to the people we admire,
to the activities we engage in...

Different choices
call for different ways of living.
When we find ways that click for us,
we have found a different way of life,
by living differently.

–0–

The Eternal Moment is any moment
that connects us with eternity,
and we know "This is IT!"
in terms of THIS being the microcosm 
of the macrocosm.

The Eternal Now is the representative
encounter with the experience of wonder
characteristic of eternity.

Where the transcendent and the imminent
are one,
and the world is seen in a grain of sand
(William Blake).

And, sometimes, a camera is there to capture it.

The seasons come and go.
Our place is to let come what's coming
and to let go what's going,
without attachment
or affiliation.
Without preference
or partnership.

No expectation.
No agenda.
No plans.
No opinion.

Or, better, perhaps,
to love each one 
for what it is,
as one might love 
their children,
without thinking that one
is better than another
or favoring one over another.
But honoring all
for what they bring forth
in their life,
in all of life
as a grace
and a wonder
upon all who come their way.

And if they are not
a grace and a wonder?
What then?

Then meet their deficit
with compensation for their
inability to be compassionate and kind
by extending compassion and kindness
to them beyond their due,
and drawing lines on their behavior
and demeanor in ways appropriate to the occasion.

There are mental and emotional illnesses and symptoms,
just as there are physical illnesses and symptoms.
All are to be recognized for what they are
and treated accordingly.

We will do well to recognize
the need we are dealing with
and respond to the need
as best we can.

Anne Sullivan was able to do that 
with Helen Keller,
and made all the difference.

Studying the lives and methods
of caregivers
and adopting them as we are able
in our own life
and in our response to our environment
will provide us with skills 
far beyond our natural equipment
as a blessing upon all who come our way.

–0–

If you want to feel better
on every level
stop what you are doing
10 times a day
and do nothing but breathe
for 5 minutes,
or, you could stop 5 times a day
and breathe for 10 minutes.

Just breathe,
and be conscious of your breathing.
And pause for a count of 5 
between out and in breaths.

And there is nothing magical
about the 5 and 10.
Just stop and breathe 
throughout the day.

Take three breaths in and out,
pausing for a count of 5 between
each breath
throughout the day.

Waiting in line,
waiting to order lunch,
waiting to pay for lunch...

Going to the loo,
riding to work,
riding home from work...

Force yourself to be conscious
by saying to yourself,
"I'm breathing in...
I'm breathing out...
One, Two, Three, Four, Five,
I'm breathing in...
I'm breathing out...

Stop and breathe.
Your life will improve immeasurably
in surprising ways,
and your body will thank you.

Stopping is the cure for many ills.

Look around.
Nobody ever stops.
That's why things are as they are.
Worldwide.

Start stopping.
Start the revolution.

–0–

Everybody wants to be happy.
What does wanting know?
Without wanting,
everybody would be happy like that
(Snaps fingers).
Wanting is the source of our problems.

Suffering is a perspective.
It is the result of the way
we see things.
Sift the perspective,
and POOF! goes the problem.

The art of perspective shifting
is the solution to all of our problems.

Most of the time,
we aren't even aware 
of our perspective.
"This isn't how I see things!"
we think,
"This is how things ARE!"

It can be snowing,
but snowing isn't the problem.
It is what we think about the snowing
that makes the problem.
It is what the snowing means.
And what anything means
is what we say/think it means.

Nothing means anything as it is.
Snowing is just snowing.
It is what snow means 
that is the problem.
What it means to us.

Thinking is the source of all of our problems.
And wanting.
But then, wanting is a way of thinking.
Get rid of thinking
and we get rid of problems.

How we think is where perspective comes in.
How we think about what is happening,
or failing to happen,
IS our perspective.
To change how we see something
is to change how we think about it.
Is to change our relationship with it.

Become interested in your dominant perspective.
What is it?
Where does it come from?
Who in your life is responsible
for the way you see things,
think about things?
Who controls your thinking?
How free are you to think differently
about things than you think?
Who would be most unhappy with you
if you changed the way you think about things? 

Become curious about your perspective.
Go where that leads.
Be brave.
Be aware.
Be bold.
See what you discover along the way.

–0–

Our primary obligation is to our life.
To live it as fully as possible,
as well as possible,
as long as possible,
toward the end of expressing,
exhibiting,
knowing
ourselves as completely as possible.

We are here to discover
and incarnate who we are
in the here/now of our living.

Our life is the medium through which
we express ourselves
and see/know who we are.

An accurate self-expression,
genuine,
authentic,
true to our heart/soul
within the circumstances of our living
is the essence of a life well-lived.

We live to know
and be
who we are.

To do that,
we need an environment
which encourages and celebrates that.

The self-development of people--
all people everywhere--
ourselves included,
is what we are to be about,
in every way,
on every level.

Everything else falls into place
around that.

This is the work of being human.

How are you coming along with it?
What do you need in order to do it?
What will it take to have what you need?

–0–

Zen is what happened when Buddhism met Taoism, 
and the more accurate term
would be "Zen-Taoism,"
not "Zen-Buddhism,"
because Zen is more Taoist than Buddhist.

If you are interested,
check out "The Tao of Zen" by Ray Grigg,
hardback or Kindle at Amazon.

With both Taoism and Zen
you get the doctrine:
"It doesn't matter 
what you believe or think.
It matters what you do.
Believe anything you like.
Think anything you want.
As long as it enables you
to do what needs to be done,
when, where and how it needs to be done,
in each situation as it arises,
with nothing in it for you,
all your life long."

See what needs doing and do it,
when, where and how it needs to be done,"
is all it takes to transform the world
(If applied).

And we spend all our time talking about 
the 10,000 things
without doing what needs doing.

If you see something that needs doing, 
do it.

That's all the Zen/Taoism you need.

–0–