Four Zen meditation students who were friends decided to spend seven days together, promising to observe complete silence. Everything went well during the first day, and their meditation was deep, but as night came along and the oil lamps were getting dim, one of them couldn’t help exclaiming to a servant, “Fix those lamps!” Surprised to hear his friend, a…
Tag: self-empowerment
Main Astrology & Numerology For 2020
Happy New Year and new decade! This year is another one we’ll remember for a while. The transits of 2020 will not be easy, but they hold a necessary force for transformation, to help you assert the roles you want to play in what’s to come. In other words, the challenges you may face this year will help you cultivate…
The Path To Spiritual Freedom Is Not a Highway
I love this Zen story. A famous Japanese swordsman disowned his son Matajuro because he considered him too mediocre and undisciplined to ever reach the level of proficiency required to inherit his school. Bent on redeeming himself, the young man headed to Mount Futara to find renowned master Banzo, in the hopes to study with him. When he arrived and…
It’s Time To Grow Emotionally & Spiritually!
When the Sun moves from the Tropic of Capricorn (representing the father) to the Tropic of Cancer (the mother), in mid-January, it marks the beginning of the harvest season on the Lunar Calendar. In India, it is known as Makar Sankranti (see Are You Ready To Hit the Ground Running?). It’s when Mother Nature begins to wake up and things…
Do you Know Where You Belong?
I navigated most of my life feeling like a stranger in a strange land. No matter where I lived or who I was with, I often had the inner sense of not belonging, of not quite fitting anywhere. It was not just the usual self-perception of being ‘wrong’ that this dysfunctional world instills in all of us while growing up;…
The Art of Discovering a Sense of Purpose
I love young children’s illustrated books (that’s the section you’ll find me at a bookstore); they’re beautiful reminders of the simple, innocent, and loving perception most of us felt forced to leave behind while growing up. They’re creatively fun and they speak to our inner child, prompting us to reclaim a more natural approach to life by restoring our inherent…
