Zen Wisdom for Your Everyday Life

Send us Fan Mail 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 o...

Send us Fan Mail 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 th...

Send us Fan Mail 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 t...

Send us Fan Mail So much of the time we are rocked back and forth by disappointment and confusion. We may blame others, or life itself, but in truth distress takes over because of where we have placed our trust. We are trained to put our faith and trust in authorities of all kinds, teachings, teachers, newspapers, and so called experts in every area. And all the time the true expert, the real basi...

Send us Fan Mail So many resist change, as if the only way to stay steady and strong is for everything to be stable. Then we'll know who we are and how to behave. We live inside  the illusion that security comes with being in an unchanging, familiar world. However, this illusion is disrupted all the time, as our lives consist of nothing but change. And, the great art of remaining, steady and...

Send us Fan Mail We all feel we have so many burdens, one thing to do after the next. And it never ends.  Day by day, hour by hour, we search around for what's next. How can we improve things, what needs to be done now? Zazen practice comes to tell us to  sit down quietly, breathe, realize that it's all done. Our racing minds and hearts have been playing with us, throwing us here and the...

Send us Fan Mail This is a holiday season of freedom from bondage of all kinds, a time to step  bravely into The Unknown .  Many cannot make that step, as they feel safer with that which is familiar, even if it is  hurtful to them.  It is a question of which messages we listen to. Do we listen to the call of our spirit, the deep inner knowing of where we belong? Or do we listen to the voices that...

Send us Fan Mail We all  want to be Unshakeable, to be able to weather any storm that comes. Most of us think that the way to do so is to  resist difficulties, remove ourselves, focus on something else. When we do so, that which is troubling us doesn't disappear. It simply goes underground and gives fuel to  underlying anxiety and fear that  can hit at any time. The true way to be Unshakeable...

Send us Fan Mail There's a sure way to make your life Unshakeable, enjoyable and positive no matter what's going on. Just learn the simple and powerful art of looking through the eyes of love. Usually we start the day with concern, hoping this or that will work out well. At the same time, we drink in the endless difficult and negative message sent to us by the world. And then we search w...

Send us Fan Mail There's an incredible secret of zazen practice, and of living our everyday lives. Don't Sit To Get Something. Just Sit To Sit. Sit to discover what sitting really is, what you are, and what this amazing world that we're part of it. Usually, we live, or practice to achieve an end. We want to be better, smarter, more in control.  We want to hold onto which we love and...

Send us Fan Mail We all wear masks, costumes and cling to the identity we are creating as if it's who we actually are.  What we do not realize is that these masks not only close the world out, but also imprison us behind them. Then we wonder why we feel so alone, or disconnected. But as soon as we begin to take the mask and costumes off, realize it's not who's really living inside,...

Send us Fan Mail The answer to being free of suffering is right in front of our face. It's so easy to do, and is really all that is needed. The answer arises from our endless need to always have something else, something different. What we have or receive in life, moment by moment is never quite right. It's not enough. Has to be fixed. We spend most of our precious time looking for somet...

Send us Fan Mail Most of us feel that our life is like a fragile boat floating on the wild ocean. All kinds of unexpected currents arise, threatening our stability. From out of nowhere high tide comes, or perhaps a rip tide. A sunny sky turns cloudy in a moment and thunder storms can be right behind. It is difficult to experience a sense of stability and safety when we imagine our lives to be like...

Send us Fan Mail Many feel that love is scarce, and it must be sought, earned or fought for. Not only that, it can be lost in the blink of an eye.. They may hide from love, feeling it is painful, and the price is too high to pay. However, this has nothing to do with love at all. If it hurts, or is scarce, it is not real love. What you are up against then,  is Counterfeit Love,  It's crucial t...

Send us Fan Mail Most of us are driven by the confusion we live in. It causes us to take actions, enter relationships, and go on journeys that often lead us astray. This stream is driven by automatic rseponses, old beliefs, painful emotions and what may seem uncontrollable. It is also fueled by strong yearnings and needs.  However, as often as are lives are activated by this stream, the rewards, s...

Send us Fan Mail We all think a moment will come in our lives when things will fall into place - our relationships will work out,  the day will be beautiful, we'll get just what we've worked for and a sense of success and belonging will come. It's all about to come, one day. We wait for the future to bring this about, to taste the results of our efforts... This attitude itself, keep...

Send us Fan Mail We spend most of our time  on one road or another hoping to arrive at a destination. So much of our lives hoping, travelling, waiting, looking. And yet, the great wisdom of Zen practice shows us that there is nowhere to go. You can't find it that way. All is here, waiting for us.  It is available, open and plentiful. It is our endless searching somewhere else  that leads us a...

Send us Fan Mail So much of the time we are searching here and there for what belongs to us. We have no idea that right in the midst of our lives is our very own treasure house.. It's there, waiting to be opened, enjoyed and depended upon. And yet, most feel they have no idea how to find the nourishment and guidance they long for. Instead of turning to their own treasure house, they live off...

Send us Fan Mail It is so easy to get caught up in the scenery of life and be distracted from the journey we are on. All kinds of different scenery appears as we go along, beautiful days, thunder clouds, intoxicating moments, and sometimes passengers on our trip we can't stand to  be around. Many of us give up the journey, or get off at the next stop because of the passing scenery. Either we...

Send us Fan Mail As we approach a New Year, in order to make it new, it is necessary to approach it differently, or we get the same old thing again and again... When one asks what is Zen and how can it be helpful, an important part may be left out of the answer. That part is the need for "practice" or what we call zazen. To many Zen is just being fully present and allowing things to be f...

Send us Fan Mail Is there something we can depend upon whole heartedly that will never let us down? It seems as if that's impossible in this ever changing world. Throughout our lives we try everything, hoping to receive what we are needing this time. And to keep it at our side.  As the years go by, most would say it is difficult to find that precious jewel. That what we need is not available,...

Send us Fan Mail It might seem that it is impossible to be planted, centered and unshakeable amidst the many storms and shocks life brings our way. Being tossed around by the winds of change and by unexpected events may seem like the norm. Many of us do not realize that beneath the turbulence all around an Unshakeable Life lies waiting for us. There is a road we can travel along  and a different w...

Send us Fan Mail Most of the time we are dissatisfied with what's going on. Nothing is as we wanted it to be, or just right.  The gifts we receive, the people we meet,  the results of our efforts seldom hit the spot.  We may re-double our efforts, look for new friends, change the course of our work, or just throw up our hands in despair. Something we do not realize though, is that Dissatisfac...

Send us Fan Mail Most of the time we cling tightly to whatever we have, and consider the clinging to be love. But clinging leads to sorrow. Attachment leads to grasping and fear and is not healthy.  Also, attachment is not what any of us truly want. We all want freedom in life and in our relationships. The freedom to be who we are, to be loved for ourselves, the freedom be known, and to be real wi...

Send us Fan Mail Zen practice is actually the opposite of many practices.  Here, we stop seeking anything and develop the ability to  be with everything just as it is. And relish it. In most practices and in our life itself, we are constantly seeking something else. When we find what we like we cling tight, but of course, as each moment is different, and nothing can be repeated exactly as it was. ...