𝘾 𝙖 𝙡 𝙢 🌼 A Pocket Guide To Breathe Easy

things are going so badly for me right now

the problem.

There's so much going on in my life right now, and little of it good, even none of it. I can't concentrate and I'm depressed. Things are going so badly for me right now.

the Zen understanding.

Life is suffering, but it is not without hope. A Zen Buddhist does not hope for a better day, a better future, or a better future life. A Zen Buddhist is hopeful about this moment.

A Zen Buddhist's goal is to practice love. This is the most reasonable practice, and why? Because if our foundation is co-existence, then co-existence is what we practice. And to co-exist fully, others have to understand co-existence as well. So a Zen Buddhist teaches co-existence, which is love. Love is teaching to love.

And we always have the opportunity to love, in each moment. The late great Thich Nhat Hanh saw hell in Vietnam, yet in every moment he saw the potential for love and peace.

You may ask: why would we help others, when it is we ourselves in pain? Just think about your life, and a time you've helped someone. Did that not bring you happiness? Think about the feel-good stories about people helping people. Did that not bring you happiness? There's a reason we are drawn to selflessness, bravery, compassion. It is because helping others is more profound than helping ourselves. 

When we help someone else, both of us become happier. This is practicing co-existence, love.

the Zen application.

Take a moment to love something: an animal, a friend, the sky, a flower, a part of yourself that you've scolded or have been ashamed of. When you love something, everything is bettered for it. Life is suffering, but life is also happiness, because, like a particle is not without not-nothingness, suffering and happiness are not without each other and everything else. A Zen Buddhist does not focus on the self and its past, its future. We focus on practicing compassion in the present moment.