Zen practice has taught me to throw myself into life. Each moment's activity is the whole of my life and worthy of complete attention and participation. Wholehearted living means opening to whatever greets me throughout the day. Of course, as a mortal there are gaps in my ability to participate with all of myself and in my undivided receptivity to others and events. This is the realm of practice, the place where the inconsistencies of my presence can be refined by zazen and tilling the soil of my character.
We often fear and think of death as a finite event, yet with some insight it is clear that death is much greater than that, for there is a living death that far outweighs the demise of our corporeal existence. We die each second that we fail to participate in the vital moment, in the breath of our being, in the presence of all reality as it meets our senses. We die by not being fully alive and responsive to the miracle of our own existence, an existence that is connected to all other existences throughout time and space, and our presence that is of the moment and linked to all other moments of past, present, and future.
Wholehearted living is living with an indiscriminate loving kindness. It is a readiness to receive what life has to offer, regardless of our proclivities toward judgment, preferences, expectations, and emotionality. It is waking up in the morning with a song in your heart and the willingness to say YES! A smidgen of street wisdom: Life is short, don't waste time!
I welcome
morning shadows
with a warm smile
Wholehearted Living
