New Beginnings - Next Post is from Florida!

The sky welcoming us to Georgia

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Almost there! Today I am arriving at my new home after a fantastic send-off from my best friends and family, and a long fun 1200 mile ride with Tracy. 

Mystically, on the day we began the journey, Neha, my friend from India, delivered my package to Sensei at the Great Hall of the Vow of Kosen Rufu. It contains the experience about Ben and our book "Our Forever Ben," along with newspaper clippings and promotional materials for Ben's Memorial Mile which just raised $22,000 for schizophrenia research (less expenses). My determination to turn poison into medicine is contained in this package! Thank you Neha! 

Several times we encountered traffic and I started chanting and boom, the traffic began moving. We drove about 700 miles yesterday. Today we will arrive at the the Starlight Tower in St. Pete Beach. I'll stay there for at least a few months as I navigate my future. 

This is the week....the week Ben "died" last year...and a great week to start my new life. I arrive with just what I can fit into "Champagne", my lovely "new" 2000 Lexus RX I got this spring. We have a roof bag, and all my clothes and belongings in it. I gave everything else away...

I chant today in appreciation for this practice, for you, and for having enough faith in the power of my own life to make this momentous change through chanting the name of the Mystic Law. Everything is possible...for me and for you!  

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo! 

4 Ways to Strengthen our Muscle of Gratitude - the Real Key to Happiness!

Daisaku Ikeda writes in Faith into Action, page 7 (under Appreciation)
"To "enjoy what there is to enjoy" means to cause the "mystic lotus of the heart" to blossom brightly with a sense of appreciation and joy. Someone who can find joy, who can feel appreciation, experiences a snowballing exhilaration and joy in life. Such is the heart's function."

How can we do this? Try this!  

4 Tips for More Appreciation in Our Lives! 

Gratitude is attitude. It starts with US. It is a muscle we can build. And once we build it....ahhh the benefits that begin to flow! 

Tip #1
List Ten Things
Before we get out of bed think about ten things we are grateful for that very day. They can be ANYTHING. We can be grateful for sight, hearing, feeling. We can be grateful to be alive...grateful to have woken up! I've mentioned before that when my Mom was feeling depressed I gave her this tip, and her depression lifted. She told me it was this one action that changed her life. 

Tip #2
SMILE! 
Smiling is a cause not an affect. 
The more we smile, 
the more reasons we will have to smile!
Make your smile light your day. 

I like to think of the song by Carol King:

You've got to get up every morning

And show the world

All the love in your heart!

When we smile, we physically create happiness hormones. There have been studies done recently about this. Also, when we smile at another person, they automatically feel better...their brain registers happiness even if they do not smile back at us. Isn't that cool? Smile! 

Tip #3
Write a Rampage of Appreciation
Take a notebook and put titles as the top of each page. Titles could be:
My body
My work
My relationship with _______
My parents
My children
My home
My car
My self
My practice
My________
...and on and on...you get the idea. 

Then list all the things you are grateful for under each heading...or all the things you COULD BE grateful for. 


Tip #4 
Chant in Gratitude
While chanting  ~ generate these feelings of gratitude and happiness. Our gratitude will amplify and spread.

What do you do to build the muscle of appreciation into your life? Write me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com