Zen Wisdom for Your Everyday Life Brenda Shoshanna, Phd

Many of us fear change, because we experience it as loss. We do all we can to keep our world stable, secure, and as we want it to be. Most of our time is guarding against change, fighting and refusing it. But the truth is that life itself is constant change. It is growth, discovery, and the precious unfolding of who we are. Change is the way we learn and ripen. To fight change, to judge ourselves as failures if things don't go our way is a cause of great suffering. A better way is to sa...

We are driven by the need to be right, not wrong. And many of the conflicts in our relationships are caused by this, as well. When a difference of any kind arises, we immediately insist that we are right, the other is wrong. These labels cover the larger truth of the matter, as we enter into conflict, anger and often loss. There is another way to handle this. Realize that we are all both right and wrong all the time. And that both can also be right at the same time. Give up these l...

So much of our lives are filled with questions that have no answer. We go around and around in our mind trying to figure everything out. These questions about ourselves, others, what will happen, and what's the best road to take, plague us endlessly. They prevent us from being present for what's going on and fully experiencing our lives. In fact the questions create so much confusion, they actually lead us in the wrong direction. Without doubt, there is another way to receive the clarity and ...

No matter what's going on, how we see the event or person, determines what they becomes to us. We can find that which is devastating about them and ties us in knots. Or, we can let go of opposing and rejecting what's going on, and experience each moment fully, just as it is. When we do that we make room for things to change and flow. As we let go, so do others we're in contact with. As we open our minds and hearts to what is happening, we gain a different p...

We're all looking for thrills and chills as we go through life. Our ordinary everyday life seems too simple, dull and repetetive. To make life special we feel we have to jazz things up, create dazzling goals, become someone special, receive all kinds of acclaim. Or else we've failed, missed our chance. Zen practice shows us just the opposite. Every day, just as it comes and as it goes, is extremely precious. As we attend to it, stop trying to twist it into something else, and honor the ...

We live most of our lives surrounded by Dire Predictions, a snowstorm is on the way, huge winds, dangerous conditiions. And, then, before we know it, the snow has turned to light rain and the sun begins breaking through. Dire predictions come from all directions regarding most aspects of our lives. When we focus upon them, believe them, guard against them all day long, our lives are tangled in fear and pain. When we stay with things as they are, feel them, enjoy them, become engaged wit...