Each Day

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

Today is very busy: Talmud class, Shabbat services, Havdalah after dinner. I have moved Saturday streetZen to Friday morning. We are approaching Yom Kippur. This day we stand before the Infinite. All month we have been preparing for this: examining ourselves, our relationships, our words and deeds. On Yom Kippur the book closes.

There is something very wonderful about this process. Examination is followed by an attempt to reconcile, to forgive and be forgiven, and to close the story's chapter in order to take the next step.

These are moment to moment dramas.

We notice. We act. We move on.

Zen teaches us to be present in each moment and notice. Seung Sahn says then 'only go straight.'

We recite the prayer of atonement each morning "All my past and harmful karma, born from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion,
through my body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow."
We might wash our hands three times or once, we might recite prayers or blessings after each step of the morning or not, and mark the passing of each portion of the day with some sort of blessing or gatha...or not. All of life's processes are on a continuum. Each of us steps up differently and in our own time.

The thing is, is to notice and allow ourselves to be grateful...even for the challenging stuff.

So, while we might close the chapter, we retain the lesson by recognizing its value and integrating it into our lives.

Be well.