In Edward Espe Brown’s wonderful book, No Recipe–Cooking as Spiritual Practice, he writes:
“We could do well to study how we do what we are doing—what is the most important point?—because as Suzuki Roshi mentioned, “If I tell you something, you will stick to it, but it is not always so. When you stick to something that I say, you will abandon your capacity to study and investigate for yourself (page 63).”
So, if you really want a more fulfilling life you need to discover what that means for you. Try things out, practice, evaluate, and learn, and then decide if you want to stick to it or not. I’ll bet it hasn’t been long since someone told you what to do and how to do it and maybe even when and why to do it. I can see you shaking your head right now, I can hear you saying, “Yes, just 5 minutes ago!” Like he or she knows how to do it better than you do!?
Edward does not want us to get caught in what he calls, “the realm of thinking” rather than observing for yourself how things happen in your experience and using that information to possibly make better choices for yourself. I hear the little cogs in your brain turning around and around right now thinking of that last conversation you had with your boss, significant other, or coworker telling you how to do something. You listen and begin to think it could be faster, quicker, more accurate and much more effective, or fun—if you didn’t do it that way!
I love what Edward says next, “When you observe closely how things happen in your experience, change comes from you, out of your experience, rather than being implemented top down from your thinking. ‘Don’t put another head over your head,’ is a Zen saying (page 64).”
Or are you like Bartholomew in Dr. Seuss’ book The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins creating the same old hat over and over! Are you sitting in the same old chair with the same old ideas one on top of the other over and over?
I can see myself right now in the mirror with a giant pile of hats from large to small, from fancy to plain filled with my own creations, thoughts, ideas, and plans. I don’t want to be like Bartholomew with the same old hat over and over 499 times! Once I “observe myself closely” I see myself doing the same old worn out thing over and over again. Only then can I throw away that plain old hat and create something new, innovative, exciting, and adventurous!
Maybe at onetime in the past “it was always so” but now—not so much! Now I might need to make a better or different choice for myself. What hat are you wearing today? What hat do you wish you were wearing today?
prayer will help keep you alive through the night—great what can you lose! If not eating meat is how you desire to live your life wonderful, go for it. If eating meat but not pork or crustaceans (lobster, crabs, shrimp, etc.) is your choice that’s great too. In ancient times you might have been better off not eating pork because it caused an infection we know as trichinosis, but so did lots of other foods. Just a few more reasons “not to believe” everything found in your ancient texts.
In Jan Chozen Bay’s book Mindfulness on the Go, she has a great little exercise you can use with your classes she calls it “Say Yes.” Find every opportunity to say “yes” to people. She invites us to put stickers up with the word “YES” in spots where you’ll notice them in your home and workplace. She even encourages us to write “YES” on the back of our hand so we can see it frequently. She writes, “This task helps us see how often we take a stance that is negative or oppositional. If we are able to watch our mind when someone is talking to us, particularly if they are asking us to do something, we can see our thoughts forming defenses and counterarguments (page 127).”
together at Lynn to create a world where our religious differences are not simply tolerated but celebrated. This event is precisely that; where religious leaders from the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and Atheist traditions will come together in celebration of our diverse faith traditions. Come and be amazed!
Many of us bear the wound of invisibility, believing, not without reason, that no matter how hard or how well we work, no one really sees us. When we invite each other to tell our stories, we have a chance to create community in the simple act of saying “I see you.”
Here is another great tidbit for you from Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness A Guide for Anyone Who Teaches Anything by Deborah Schoeberlein (with Suki Sheth, PH.D.). This exercise gives the students time to discover the artistic talents that they have hidden away in the recesses of their minds. She calls this exercise “Drawing the Mind: Enhancement for Take 1 (For Students) (pages 93-94).
Susan Kaiser Greenland in her book “Mindful Games” shares with her readers an exercise that I think you might like. It is called “Drop the Monkeys (page80-81).”
The Secret to a More Fulfilling Life! Part 1: Introduction Thoughts are Things!
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I saw a wonderful book on my bookshelf by Kazuaki Tanahashi e
ntitled Zen Chants, Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary. It made me think of all the affirmations, vows, and chants that I use on a regular basis and how powerful and fulfilling my life has become by using them. Thus, the theme of the new blog series and workbook!
Each chapter will provide you with all you need to know about affirmations, vows, and chants and how– when used consistently and persistently– they can change your life for the better. We will work with some created by others and learn how to create our own.
Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich wrote: Truly, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that…(page 19).[1] Thoughts and things have weight and measure. That’s crazy you say! Yet true it is. Much research has been done on the mind and the affect that our thoughts have on our body.
One of the initial simple studies done was to place some college students (all men at the time) on a seesaw. The participant balanced himself on it, so his body was flat and stable. Then they asked him to think of a very difficult math problem and try to work it out in his mind. Oddly enough the seesaw began to move lower and lower on the end where his head was. Next, they asked him to see himself running in a race with a friend and guess what? The seesaw began to move lower and lower at the end by his feet!
Thus, thoughts have weight and measure! So, when you affirm that you can not do something for sure you can’t! But with time, effort, and persistence and these techniques you will be able to do most anything! I’m not saying you can jump over a mountain or a hill in one leap like Superman and Superwoman, but you can hike to the top that’s for sure.
And so, people have written chants, poems, prayers, affirmations, and songs to help lift us up, to help us think positive, and to help us create a more fulfilling life.
Here are some words of wisdom to start off on our adventure from Yongjia Xuanjiao’s Song of Realizing the Way (page 78).
Thus, with your mind you can encounter the infinite world and create a reality filled with all the good you desire for yourself and others! As Captain Jean-Luc Picard said in Star Trek: Make it so!
[1] Hill, N. (1960) Think and Grow Rich. Fawcett World Library: Greenwich, Conn
[2] Tanahashi, K. (2015) Zen Chants Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary. Shambhala: Boston and London
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