Here's My Spin

I certainly hope that you use the information presented in this class to create a much improved life for yourself. I want to take these last few paragraphs and tell you what Zen means to me.

Zen can be a program like the ones I talked about earlier, but for me it goes beyond any program. Being Zen and living well is a philosophy and attitude that I try to live by every day. Zen is exercising regularly, eating the right nutritious foods, taking responsibility for my financial condition, and meditation. It is also about how I interact and treat others.

Zen is about creating balance and harmony between my body, mind, and spirit. It’s about how to control my emotions and to think clearly before taking action. Zen is learning how to overcome the negative forces like fear, depression, anger, and anxiety.

It is a philosophy deeply rooted in Spirituality and those components consist of giving of my time and money to help someone out less fortunate than myself. I try to give without any thought of being paid back, that’s why I give a buck or two to homeless people on the street begging for something to eat. Maybe I’m just a big sucker and maybe it’s a scam. I try not to judge and I’m not gullible, but I like to think that I am helping those people out.

Honor is the second highest attribute that any one person can develop. It is second only to God. My Zen philosophy in a nut shell states that “with God and Honor, I may find Zen, and the happiness to fulfill my life.” I will not compromise my values, my belief system, and my honor for any reason. An honorable person has no price.

Another component to my Zen philosophy is forgiveness. I mean forgiveness on all levels and not harboring any ill feelings towards someone who has harmed me in the past. I have found that by being forgiving, and as much as it annoys me when someone does something really stupid and the natural reaction is to verbally rip into them, and by not doing so I actually have less stress and bother throughout my day.

Being thankful is another strong part of my Zen philosophy and it is a very powerful component. Being thankful plays a large and necessary part in the Law of Attraction. Being grateful for what I have in my life for me is a giant step toward happiness and self actualization or enlightenment.

I mentioned before that Zen philosophy is deeply rooted in spirituality to that end you must realize that there is only spirituality, so if you say that one thing is more spiritual than another thing, then it is false and a non-existent reality. In the philosophy of Zen it is a contradiction in terms, because every experience is all that there is and each experience is spiritual.

Gautama Buddha sums it up in the following story, “a man was traveling through a field when he came across a tiger. He fled and the tiger chased after him. He came upon a precipice and caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger watched him from above. The man in his trembled state looked down below where he thought he might escape only to find another tiger waiting to eat him and the only thing that was saving him was the vine he was hanging onto. There were two mice at the base of the vine and they began gnawing away. Within reach the man saw a big red luscious strawberry. Holding on with one hand, he plucked the strawberry, and ate it. It was the sweetest strawberry he ever tasted.”