Daily Zen - Friday, June 30

The real question is not whether life exists after death.

The real question is whether you are alive before death.

~ Osho

Daily Zen - Thursday, June 29

Awake. Be the witness of your thoughts.

You are what observes, not what you observe.

~ Buddha

Daily Zen - Wednesday, June 28

Life is the art of drawing

without an eraser.

~ John W. Gardener

Daily Zen - Tuesday, June 27

I seek to learn about the world around me. 

I seek to learn about what I actually am.

I seek to learn how to be a proper human being.

~ Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

Daily Zen - Monday, June 26

True life lies in laughter,

love, and work.

~ Elbert Hubbard

Weekend Zen, June 24-25

Most humans are never fully present in the now,

because unconsciously they believe that the next

moment must be more important than this one. But 

then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.

~ Eckhart Tolle

Daily Zen - Friday, June 23

Getting what you want is not nearly 

as important as giving what you have.

~ Tom Krause

Daily Zen - Thursday, June 22

Pure love is a willingness to give without 

a thought of receiving anything in return.

~ Peace Pilgrim

Daily Zen - Wednesday, June 21

Do whatever it takes — meditate, exercise, pray, 

read, write, listen to music, whatever you find that 

works — to ignite your awareness daily. You will create and contribute to life as you have never contributed before.

~ Neale Donald Walsch

Daily Zen - Tuesday, June 20

It is a simple matter of what you will do when the chips

are down, my friend. When the fat lady is singing. When 

the walls are falling in, and the sky is dark, and the ground

is rumbling. In that moment our actions will define us.

~ Zadie Smith

Daily Zen - Monday, June 19

The person who makes a success of living

is the one who sees his goal steadily and

aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.

~ Cecil B. DeMille

Weekend Zen, June 17-18

I've learned that people 

will forget what you said, 

people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget

how you made them feel.

~ Maya Angelou

Daily Zen - Friday, June 16

Desire is half of life,

indifference is half of death.

~ Kahlil Gibran

Daily Zen - Thursday, June 15

Put your ear down close to 

your soul and listen hard.

~ Anne Sexton

Daily Zen - Wednesday, June 14

Grief and loss and suffering, even depression 

and spiritual crisis, the dark nights of the soul 

only worsen when we try to ignore or deny 

or avoid them. The healing journey begins when we 

turn toward them and learn how to work with them.

~ Jack Kornfield

Daily Zen - Tuesday, June 13

Remember you don't meditate to 

"get" anything, but to get "rid" of things. 

We do it not with desire but with letting go.

If you "want" anything, you won't find it. 

~ Ajahn Chah

Pulse - We Will Not Let Hate Win

Today marks the one year anniversary of the deadliest mass shooting in American history. In the early morning hours of Sunday, June 12, 2016, a man walked into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando and unleashed a barrage of gunfire from a SIG Sauer semi-automatic rifle and a Glock semi-automatic pistol. Forty-nine people were murdered, as they hid and ran and fell to the floor.

For the last year, I have wanted to write about that unthinkably tragic night at Pulse, but I have never known what it was I really wanted to say. All these months later, just this morning in fact, I finally realized what's behind my lingering compulsion to in some way document the events of that night --- I simply need to make sense of it. Upon further reflection, I also recognized the ongoing impossibility of that task. No matter how badly we need to, we simply cannot make sense of the inherently senseless. And so I can say only this: one year later I think often about those who were killed and injured, I still imagine the horror they endured and the courage they showed, I still regret the unimaginable pain their friends and families must feel, and like so many others, whenever I think of Pulse, I still sting and burn and rage. 

I hope you will take a moment today to look at the faces and read the names of those who were killed that night. We will not let hate win.

Courtesy of http://www.wftv.com/news/photos-victims-of-pulse-nightclub/339403857

Courtesy of http://bnonews.com/news/index.php/news/id4565

Daily Zen - Monday, June 12

Finding your passion isn't just about careers

and money. It's about finding your authentic self.

The one you've buried beneath other people's needs.

~ Kristin Hannah

Weekend Zen, June 10-11

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly

and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your 

inner peace for anything whatsoever, 

even if your whole world seems upset.

~ Saint Francis de Sales

Daily Zen - Friday, June 9

Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high.

Then life seems almost enchanted after all.

~ Vincent Van Gogh

Daily Zen - Thursday, June 8

Don't despair if your heart has been through

 a lot of trauma. Sometimes, that's how

 beautiful hearts are remade:

they are shattered first.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

Daily Zen - Wednesday, June 7

For me, living is the same thing as dying,

and loving is the same thing as losing, and this

does not make me a madwoman; I believe it can

make me better at living, and better at loving,

and, just possibly, better at seeing.

~ Sally Mann

Daily Zen - Tuesday, June 6

If wrinkles must be written on our brows,

let them not be written upon the heart. 

The spirit should never grow old.

~ James A. Garfield

Daily Zen - Monday, June 5

Kindness is the sunshine

in which virtue grows.

~ Robert G. Ingersoll

Weekend Zen, June 3-4

This moment is not life waiting to happen, 

goals waiting to be achieved, words waiting to be spoken,

connections waiting to be made, regrets waiting

to evaporate, aliveness waiting to be felt,

enlightenment waiting to be gained. No. 

Nothing is waiting. This is it. This moment is life.

~ Jeff Foster

Daily Zen - Friday, June 2

Only those who will risk going too far

can possibly find out how far one can go.

~ T.S. Eliot

Daily Zen - Thursday, June 1

Clouds come from time to time — and bring

 a chance to rest from looking at the moon.

~ Bashō