In this talk, Zach emphasizes that life is a gift and each moment is a miracle. Our spiritual task is to awaken to all the joys and wonders of life around us. The life of the Buddha teaches us that every step and every breath we take is a miracle.
Intro Poem: part of the 108 Savasana Poems collection, click here to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/108-Savasana-Poems-Blissful-Words/dp/1092978712/
Learn more at www.zachbeach.com
“I wish you the ability to breathe
after pain, to begin again, though
nothing else seems possible.
I wish you resilience: to part like
the ocean and accept like the sky.
I wish you survival: to take in life
like a trapped miner finding an
airhole and praising it as God.
I wish you courage: to ask of
everything you meet, “What
bridge are we?”
I wish that the kindness-that-you-
are can brighten your way,
like orange leaves falling
about the face of a doe.
I wish you endless journey
that seldom appears
as we imagine.
I wish you curiosity: to make
a boat of wonder and an
oar of gratitude.”
– Mark Nepo, Be a Circle
“Take a moment from time to time to remember that you are alive. I know this sounds a trifle obvious, but it is amazing how little time we take to remark upon this singular and gratifying fact. By the most astounding stroke of luck an infinitesimal portion of all the matter in the universe came together to create you and for the tiniest moment in the great span of eternity you have the incomparable privilege to exist.”
– Bill Bryson
“Where you are is the perfect place to awaken. This moment is the exact place to practice compassion and loving awareness. You have all the ingredients to breathe and find freedom just where you are.”
– Jack Kornfield.
“Forget about enlightenment. Sit down wherever you are
and listen to the wind that is singing in your veins. Feel the
love, the longing, and the fear in your bones.
Open your heart to who you are, right now, not who you
would like to be. Not the saint you’re striving to become.
But the being right here before you, inside you, around
you. All of you is holy. You’re already more and less than
whatever you can know.
Breathe out, look in, let go.”
—John Welwood
“To study the way is to study the self
To study the self is to forget the ego-self
To forget the ego self is to be enlightened by all things.”
– Dogen
“Don’t go off sightseeing.
The real journey is right here.
The great excursion starts
from exactly where you are.
You are the world.
You have everything you need.
You are the secret.
You are the wide-open.
Don’t look for the remedy for your troubles
outside yourself.
You are the medicine.
You are the cure for your own sorrow.”
– Jalaluddin Rumi
“Where you stumble and fall, there you will find gold.”
– Joseph Campbell
