Welcome to a new era of Zen Wisdom for Your Everyday Life. As the new year comes, In the next podcasts we will explore what it means to truly live, a life with value, fulfillment, connection and joy. The question of what it means to live is explored as we would explore a koan. We'll also look at the ways in which, unknowingly, we sabotage the great goodness that is right here before us.

The deepest truth is that it is easy and joyous to find out way, that Life is always beckoning to us, and all we need to do, is fully stop, pay real attention and connect with what is right in front of our eyes.

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We all have the power of decision. We can decide to turn onto a new road and Choose Life, choose strength, aliveness, compassion and the way of healing for all. This choice needs to be made over and over includes many new steps, which we will cover week by week. In the process we will learn how to give up our attachment to anger, revenge, and other ways of destruction, and other ways of feeling strong. This new choice can seem unfamiliar and uncomfortable, but step by step as we embark upon it, as our well being and happiness grow, it becomes clear where we are going, as we find wonderful companions along the way.

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When the New Year comes, we all wish each other a Happy New Year, or a happy new day or happy new relationship. But how do we truly make the New Year new?

Most of the time we live in the past, comparing each event with another in our memory. We can live our lives this way as well. But it isn't difficult to allow our lives to be fresh and new eachmoment. There's actually nothing we need to do. It's already fresh and new each moment. It's just a matter of leaving the past in the past. Staying with what and who we are now.. allowing people and events to transform and enjoy the change that takes place, rather than fighting it.

The joy of a new day, a new breath and new moment is truy exhilirating. Allow it to wash over you and allow your life to become a wonderful adventure.

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As we return to the root of our lives we embrace all aspects, the present, the past, our time alone and precious relationships with others. This episode includes teachings from both Zen and Jewish practice to explore the ways in which they uplift and enhance one another and help us to be whole.

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Many of us fear change, because we experience it as loss. We do all we can to keep our world stable, secure, and as we want it to be. Most of our time is guarding against change, fighting and refusing it. But the truth is that life itself is constant change. It is growth, discovery, and the precious unfolding of who we are. Change is the way we learn and ripen. To fight change, to judge ourselves as failures if things don't go our way is a cause of great suffering. A better way is to say Yes to change, to see each moment as a "wonder", and to enter the flow of what is going on.

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We are driven by the need to be right, not wrong. And many of the conflicts in our relationships are caused by this, as well. When a difference of any kind arises, we immediately insist that we are right, the other is wrong.
These labels cover the larger truth of the matter, as we enter into conflict, anger and often loss. There is another way to handle this. Realize that we are all both right and wrong all the time. And that both can also be right at the same time. Give up these labels and learn to truly listen to the person you are with. And to yourself as well. As we give space to ourselves, listen to all that is going on, a larger point of view arises, along with compassion. We also see the real person who is in front of us, what they need and are trying to say.
So: Let The Other Be Right. You can always be right later. Make space for the other to express themselves without opposition. And make space for you to do that as well. This is the basis of all true relationships and of a friendship that can only grow and grow.

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So much of our lives are filled with questions that have no answer. We go around and around in our mind trying to figure everything out. These questions about ourselves, others, what will happen, and what's the best road to take, plague us endlessly. They prevent us from being present for what's going on and fully experiencing our lives. In fact the questions create so much confusion, they actually lead us in the wrong direction. Without doubt, there is another way to receive the clarity and insight so many of us are longing for. To begin it's always with us, waiting to be revealed. It is so important to stop trying to figure everything out rationally, and to open our minds and hearts so that our deeper truths can come to the surface and guide us all by themselves.

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No matter what's going on, how we see the event or person, determines what they becomes to us. We can find that which is devastating about them and ties us in knots. Or, we can let go of opposing and rejecting what's going on, and experience each moment fully, just as it is. When we do that we make room for things to change and flow. As we let go, so do others we're in contact with. As we open our minds and hearts to what is happening, we gain a different perspective as well. Suddenly, we are able to see the beauty, the fun and all possibilities that each moment and person holds. This new insight comes from letting go of clinging to our demands, beliefs and expectations about how everything is "supposed" to be. As things then change and flow, they naturally reveal all the goodness and beauty within.

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