To pass the word, or to wait....The Zen of decisions.

This morning I was greeted with a DM on Twitter from someone claiming to be a literary agent. This person suggested that MACHO ZEN would make a great memoir/non-fiction/spiritual help book.

Flattery aroused my first reaction which was all ego driven. Then I sat with it and decided that step one would be to check out this person and see if they were on the up and up.

Sure enough, this person appears to be an actual agent. Now, we will note that even though they suggested that my blog would make a good book, at no point did they offer to represent me or any potential book, so I am not sure what the DM actually means.

My next inclination is to just allow the river to flow and see what happens. The Universe will always send you signs and put things in your path. 90% of us fail to recognize these signs--or we talk ourselves out of them. And my teacher, DID just send me a message to "share the wisdom"---As MLH would say, "All the signs are pointing you in that direction."

However, if you have read all of the postings, you will note that this is the 2nd time that I have been "approached" with this idea. Nothing came of that time because I didn't pursue it properly--therefore we reach our moment of Zen--our QUESTION.

How much effort is required for us to continue to follow the flow of the river? How much would be "forcing the issue?" What constitutes the act of allowing something to happen and what does it mean to manipulate the situation to your advantage? DO we step in and move the flow in a specific direction, are we messing up the way the Universe wants it to go?

The answer of course is:

No.

WE are the Universe and the Universe is us. There is a difference between fighting AGAINST the signs and RECOGNIZING the signs and taking the steps that the Universe is placing in front of  us. Being in the flow of the river, being in the current does not mean that we let go and sink to the bottom. There is still effort required. We stay with the flow, but as a rudder, we have to move back and forth, maneuvering through the rocks.

Too many times, we can confuse a simple effort to make things happen, with interference. Remember we are going WITH the flow, not turning upstream.

So will I pursue this avenue? If the signs keep leading me there, then I will have no choice.

Only what CAN happen, WILL happen....

Be nice to each other

PEACE!

Kit

Back...and better than ever?

Before I begin to get into the meat of the blog again, please allow me to explain my 7 month absence.

I never wanted to be one of those bloggers who gained a bunch of followers and then disappeared but when my life flipped so drastically in January, I needed to step away, be grateful and see how my mind and soul changed. Would getting some success change my mind? Would I forget where I came from and what I had accomplished? Would I forget the suffering and the hardships that lead me to start the blog in the first place?

After 7 months away, a few things became clearer. I have had more contact with my teacher, I have had more success with work and more success with interpersonal relationships. I have re-connected with a love from long ago and I have learned who my friends are and were.

I have also realized that some people are posers and fakers when it comes to what I THOUGHT they were bring into my life. Some people were hurt by my decision to follow my path and accept my journey--and some were let down. It has been a tough lesson for me to learn that we each have our own Karma and if my decisions affect someone else like that, it is likely because that person put expectations on me that I wasn't aware of or I failed to communicate my own expectations of myself.

In connecting with my teacher, Zhou on such an ethereal level, I have been both humbled, surprised and even a tad disbelieving - but I have finally accepted his presence and my ability to transport myself to his plane and allow his teachings to continue.

The main message that I get from him all the time is that I am a student of his, but I still must be a teacher myself. I MUST continue the blog and I MUST continue to be an example of the Dharma and what comes with that.

"Even though I learn, so shall I continue to teach."

I thank you for the many emails I received and the outpouring of love and hope that you gave me last winter. But that is the past and we must not live there. I am grateful, but I am in the present. I am in the moment. I am where I am supposed to be. If I wasn't meant to be here, I wouldn't be.

Be nice to each other and thank you for coming back to see me!

PEACE TO YOU!
Kit