4.29.24

Thought

There is a word in Buddhism that means “wishlessness” or “aimlessness.” The idea is that you do not put something in front of you and run after it, because everything is already here, in yourself. While we practice walking meditation, we do not try to arrive anywhere. We only make peaceful, happy steps. If we keep thinking of the future, of what we want to realize, we will lose our steps. The same is true with sitting meditation. We sit just to enjoy our sitting; we do not sit in order to attain any goal. This is quite important. Each moment of sitting meditation brings us back to life, and we should sit in a way that we enjoy our sitting for the entire time we do it. Whether we are eating a tangerine, drinking a cup of tea, or walking in meditation, we should do it in a way that is “aimless.” 

—Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step

Quote

Philosopher Seneca on evolution: 

“All things greatly outgrow their beginnings.”

Intention of the Day

My intention is to release the effort and live in the present moment. 

What’s your intention today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

4.22.24

Thought

As you gain more and more access to your true nature, you will also spontaneously receive creative thoughts, because the field of pure potentiality is also the field of infinite creativity and pure knowledge. Franz Kafka, the Austrian philosopher and poet, once said, “You need not leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need not even listen, simply wait. You need not even wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”

—Deepak Chopra, The Seven Laws of Spiritual Success

Quote

Writer Robert Pirsig on searching externally:

“The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.” 

Moment of Gratitude

I’m grateful that I got to spend time with old friends and family last week.

What are you grateful for?

Happy Monday,

Val

4.15.24

Thought

When vacuuming pay attention to moving the vacuum cleaner over each area of the carpet without thinking about what you will do next or what you would rather be doing. When driving attend to the road in front of you, the traffic, and your hold on the steering wheel. Don’t be daydreaming with your mind somewhere else and arrive not knowing how you got there. When doing paperwork, attend to writing checks, typing memos, and filing receipts. Don’t be fragmented, preoccupied, or separate from each activity of your life. When you are fully present and aware you wake up to the wonder of your ordinary mind.

—Ellen Birx, Healing Zen

Quote 

Philosopher Alan Watts:

“What I am really saying is that you don’t need to do anything, because if you see yourself in the correct way, you are all as much extraordinary phenomenon of nature as trees, clouds, the patterns in running water, the flickering of fire, the arrangement of the stars, and the form of a galaxy. You are all just like that, and there is nothing wrong with you at all.”

Moment of Gratitude

 I’m grateful I got to witness the totality of the solar eclipse last week and got to share the moment with my mother. 

What are you grateful for today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

4.8.24

Thought

No matter what tools you use to create,

the true instrument is you.

And through you,

the universe that surrounds us

all comes into focus.

—Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

Quote

Essayist John Burroughs on action:

“Leap and the net will appear.”

Intention of the Day 

Today I intend to live a life of powerful gratitude with every step and breath that I take.  

What’s your intention today?

Happy Monday,

Val

4.1.24

Thought

So what is the reason why Tao is inexpressible and yet at the same time the basis for a philosophy? The reason is that we cannot have any system of thought — whether it be philosophical, or logical, or mathematical, or physical — which defines its own basis. This is an extremely important principle to understand. In other words, I can pick up a paint brush with my right hand, but I can’t pick up my right hand. My right hand picks itself up. If I try to pick up my hand, what would I pick it up with? There always has to be something, as it were, that isn’t picked up, that picks itself up, that works itself and is not worked upon.

—Alan Watts, What is Tao? 

Quote 

Japanese philosopher Musashi on meditation:

“In the depths of stillness, where the mind is calm and undisturbed, lies the wellspring of true strength. It is through the practice of meditation, the cultivation of inner peace and the ability to remain centered amidst chaos that one discovers the power within.”

Intention of the Day

My intention is to give and receive love freely today.

What’s your intention today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

3.25.24

Thought

The part, the whole, the volume, the values, the composition, the emotional quiver, everything, is there... Shut your eyes, wait, think of nothing. One sees nothing but a great coloured undulation. What then? An irradiation and glory of colour. That is what a picture gives us, a warm harmony, an abyss in which the eye is lost, a secret germination, a coloured state of grace. All these tones circulate in the blood, don’t they? One is revivified, born into the real world, one finds oneself, one becomes the painting. To love a painting, one must first have drunk deeply of it in long draughts. Lose consciousness. Descend with the painter into the dim tangled roots of things, and rise again from them in colours, be steeped in the light of them.

(J. Gasquet, Cézanne) 

— Marion Milner. The Plunge Into Colour – Creators on Creating.

Quote 

Writer Howard Thurman on purpose in life:

Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Gratitude Practice 

Gratitude Rock: I’ve done this one for a few years now. Find a small rock that you really like and carry it around with you. Whenever you feel or see the rock, use it as a reminder to think of something that you’re grateful for.   

Happy Monday,

Val

3.18.24

Thought

Like two golden birds perched on the self-same tree, intimate friends, the ego and the Self dwell in the same body. The former eats the sweet and sour fruits of the tree of life, while the latter looks on in detachment. 

—The Mundaka Upanishad

Quote 

Writer Joseph Campbell on direction in life:

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.

Intention of the Day

My intention is to stay calm and centered as I make conscious choices today.

What’s your intention today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

3.11.24

Thought

There is a Zen story about how a single breath can free us from the confines of our intellectualizing and unite us with all creation. Tokusan was a brilliant scripture scholar who went to study with Zen Master Ryutan. One night as Tokusan was leaving to go home to bed after a long evening of discussion, he noticed that it was pitch black outside. Zen Master Ryutan lit a lantern and handed it to Tokusan. Just as Tokusan reached for the lantern, Ryutan blew it out. In that moment, Tokusan experienced enlightenment and bowed in gratitude. Tokusan realized that he was not dependent upon words and teachings to light the way for him. Even in times of darkness, he could experience his essential nature directly and be a lamp unto himself.

With a single puff of air from the Zen master’s mouth, Tokusan saw what he had not been able to see up until then. All of his scripture study and discussion had not communicated what a single breath of air communicated to him. Tokusan directly experienced that awakening is not dependent on intellectual grasping. The next day Tokusan gathered all of his commentaries on the scriptures into a huge pile and burned them. He told the group assembled there that intellectual speculation is like gasping at straws and can't compare to the vastness of direct experience. The direct experience of a single breath unites us with all creation.

— Ellen Birx. Healing Zen.

Quote 

Author and naturalist John Muir on the majesty of existence:

When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.

Moment of Gratitude 

I’m grateful for the opportunity to connect with you and contemplate new ideas every week.  

What are you grateful for?

Happy Monday,

Val