Z is for Zen

Textures by Kim Klassen: Reveire and Little Things

Man is the product of his thoughts.
What he thinks, he becomes.
~Mahatma Gandhi

Well, we started ABC Wednesday, Round 10 with Attitude, so maybe it’s fit­ting we end it with a Zen moment. After all, Zen is the art of con­cen­trating on the true self, and visu­al­izing that true self in daily life. In Zen, no words or nec­es­sary. It’s har­mo­nizing the body and mind and men­tally let­ting go of the things that dis­turb our inner peace.

Of course offi­cial Zen Buddhism is way more com­pli­cated than this expla­na­tion, but it sounds an awfully lot like deciding to have an atti­tude adjustment.

Change the atti­tude, change the out­come. Or at least, change the per­cep­tion. Self-examination and self-reflection is nec­es­sary in helping us figure out why we do what we do…even when we don’t want to do what we end up doing! Clear as mud and def­i­nitely not very Zen-like, right?

 I do not under­stand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. (Romans 7:15–19)

It’s only when we can admit respon­si­bility for what we’ve pre­vi­ously thought, felt and done that we can we begin to make our­selves better people. When we humble our­selves and be open about our thoughts, we really dis­cover who we really are. And, if we don’t like that person…well, an atti­tude adjust­ment is necessary.

So, here’s a recipe for self exam­i­na­tion and discovery:

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become char­acter.
Watch your char­acter, for it becomes your des­tiny.
–Unknown

How very Zen.

Linking up with ABC Wednesday

PS: Some­thing is amiss with my com­ment box. If you are having prob­lems posting, please refresh the page and your com­ments may mag­i­cally appear. I’m working on it, but a little bit of knowl­edge is dan­gerous and I’m not a techie. I do so look for­ward to your com­ments and hope you’ll be patient while I cuss rant scream bitch figure out the problem. Please let me know if you had issues posting a comment.

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