Health

Today I attended a presentation of four entrepreneurs who each overcame a monumental challenge in their lives before achieving success. Those challenges individually were sexual abuse, alcoholism, drug addiction and attempted suicide. The lesson here is that we get to choose how we process extreme trauma. We can either lay down and let it steamroll us or we can use the experience as fuel and further our personal development. – Dad

I’d spend everything I have to get my kids the care and medicine they need should they get sick, but not for myself. The rationale is I can always make more if I’m alive. It’s a lot harder to do so when I’m gone. – Dad

When we think the greatest dangers lie outside us we become trapped. FEAR is the force we must overcome. With fear comes the instinct to fight or flee. It’s like those Chinese finger traps. Let go of fear. Relax into the problem. Be mindful. Wisdom, creativity and patience will free us. Fighting gives fear more power, keeping us imprisoned longer. – Tao & Zen

Comparison is the death of joy. – Mark Twain

Ikigai (生き甲斐) is a Japanese concept meaning “a reason for being.” Everyone, according to the Japanese, has an ikigai. Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search of self-discovery and reflection. – Dad

A monk decides to meditate alone. Away from his monastery, he takes a boat and goes to the middle of the lake, closes his eyes, and begins to meditate.
After a few hours of unperturbed silence, he suddenly feels the blow of another boat hitting his.
With his eyes still closed, he feels his anger rising and when he opens his eyes, he is ready to shout at the boatman who dared to disturb his meditation.
But when he opens his eyes he saw that it was an empty boat, not tied up, floating in the middle of the lake…
At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization and understands that anger is within him; it simply needs to hit an external object to provoke it.
After that, whenever he meets someone who irritates or provokes his anger he remembers: “The other person is just an empty boat. Anger is inside me.” – Thich Nhat Hanh