On Pebbles and Boulders

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

Many of you have privately asked about me, both in person, and via email. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and your sensitivity. I am well. Of course, life has offered both its typical and atypical stones-to-boulder's in the road, but that is to be expected. My Little Honey and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary yesterday. My son Jacob is in treatment for both emotional and chemical issues, the dream of a family restaurant collapsed and laid bare. We are struggling to keep the pieces and values of family together. Bronchitis and allergies haven't helped. Still, I say I am well.

Our lives are what they are: a gift to us. This gift is perfect regardless of what we think or feel about it. Every facet is a teacher, every turn, a lesson. Our challenge is to be open and present each moment.When we are willing to see this way, everything is an opportunity

This is difficult. Life can wear us down. I often want to withdraw to my Zendo or bedroom. I turn on a television show and drift away.I feel such limited energy, yet I have the experience to know that down under the stinking thinking is a vast reservoir of vitality, love, and compassion. This energy is the stuff of the universe and it is everywhere. I tapped it at mile 22 of a 26.2 mile race. I tapped it in the jungle in the middle of a firefight. I tapped it in graduate school and a thousand other places and moments during my life.

The Zen of Living is the Zen of each moment: taste life in all its flavors. Embrace life in all its forms and stages. And in each space and each step embrace peace.

May you each be a blessing in the universe.