Overcome Bullying NOW!

Have you ever been bullied? 
Do you know anyone who is? 
Would you like to help them 
with this one simple realization and practice? 

Practical Buddhism is PRACTICAL. When we chant we solve our real world problems. No matter what the problem is, if we keep chanting we can change it. 

I HATE bullying. I have hated bullying ever since I was a young child and stepped in time and time again to stop bullying. And I also suffered from emotional and mental bullying. Because of asthma I was heavier than other girls, and sometimes it seemed like every boy at my High School just had to tell me how unacceptable I was. I KNEW there had to be a solution to this pain and it fueled my search for Buddhism.

Very early in my practice I learned I could stop bullying with one easy (yet difficult) technique. 
Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for the bully's happiness can STOP all kinds of bullying now. How can this be possible? 

First - a little background. As many of you know, Buddhist practice is based on each person awakening to the Mystic Law within them. The Mystic Law is the energy, the rhythm, the chord that runs through all of life, all sentient, all insentient beings, all rocks and all trees...all people. It is the law that binds us all together...and it has a name: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. It means: "I fuse my life with the mystic law of cause and effect through sound vibration."

Anyone can gain benefit by intoning this name...Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Anyone can chant. No one has to convert to Buddhism, change their way of thinking, change what they eat, how they act, who they are. Not in this practice. All we have to do is chant. The best way to chant and see the proof of practical Buddhism is to chant twice a day, every day, to join with fellow practitioners in the Soka Gakkai, the group of lay believers who are NOT run by any priesthood, and who help and support each other, and to study the works of Nichiren Daishonin and Daisaku Ikeda. 

(I write many posts about how to chant, and I can send you information about chanting if you email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com. You can find out about the Soka Gakkai by clicking on the SGI portal to the right.) 

How do we get rid of bullies? Simple. We chant for their happiness. Truth. That is what we do. That is it. The secret formula. And at the beginning we don't even have to mean it. We just have to do it. And, because of the interconnectivity of all of life, what Buddhism calls "dependent origination", our prayers for people's happiness is also a prayer for our happiness. 

In my experience when we chant for people's happiness one of two things will happen: 

1. They will leave your environment...OR 
2. You and that person will become friends

This happens EVERY TIME. Don't take my word for it. You just have to experience it. 

You may ask "How can I chant for a person I don't even like?" You may also wonder "How can I chant for their happiness if I really don't desire their happiness?" 

These are valid questions. 

Here are the answers:

Even though these people seem totally separate from us, they are part of the web of life and we are all interconnected. The only reason they are bullies is that they are unhappy. Chanting for them changes US and changes THEM. We start out not wanting their happiness. That is fine. We can train ourselves to picture them with big smiles on their faces...huge smiles...and chant that way...day after day. Soon, we usually notice we actually do desire their happiness. We actually do. 

It doesn't matter if we have to fake it at the beginning. 
The result is the same. 

The first time I chanted for a bully's happiness was difficult for me too, at first. But I could see the connection. If she was happy, maybe she wouldn't be so mean to me all the time. (This was a person who worked in production department at the newspaper I sold advertising for) 
My results blew me away. 

I chanted for her happiness every day for a few weeks and she fell in love and moved away. 

I was thrilled! Since then I have used this technique every time I had someone in my life who was oppresing me or driving me crazy.  Each time they have either left my life, or we have become friends. 

My son changed a bully in third grade into a friend by chanting for him. 

My young member erased three bullies from her life by chanting for their happiness. All three of them moved away. Boom. Boom. Boom. At first she found it hard to chant for their happiness. but she did it. And now she has a story to tell. 

We are one with all of life. 

EVERYONE's unhappiness is our unhappiness. 

Everyone's Happiness is OUR Happiness! 

When you chant for a bully's happiness it WORKS!

Try it!

Email me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com

Great Family Revolution Experience ~

Ricky Ng and his family - Ricky is on the far left

This is Ricky Ng's experience from Canada - from the Soka Gakkai International Facebook Page:



My early life saw many struggles and, when I was at university, I started to wonder if I would ever be happy or have a sense of what life was really about. The few religions I had tried had not answered my questions. In the end, I was always left dealing with the limitations on my life--my pessimism and a constant yearning for everything. The difference between happiness and unhappiness was plain to me, but I was unable to find a way out of my unhappiness.

My desire to find something I could depend on was so pressing that I was led like a magnet to Buddhism. A young woman invited me to a Buddhist meeting at the SGI Toronto Culture Centre. I peppered some of the men there with my questions about life. Their answers struck me with their honesty and insight. One answer detailed a daily Buddhist practice that would strengthen my shaky inner life state. I dropped any skepticism and tried it.

The simple chant of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo allowed any negative feelings I had been harboring to climb into a hopeful joy. I felt "right with the world," able to appreciate other people and life as they were. While many people want a complete scientific explanation for the working of this practice, the fact that it worked was all the proof that I needed at the time. Although I was chanting for only 10 minutes, twice a day, I kept it up steadily, attended small group meetings in my local area and could feel myself starting to change at the very core.

Yet for the first two years after encountering the practice in 2003, I was cautious about committing to the practice and didn't receive the Gohonzon. By this time, I was in a relationship with Carina, the young woman who had invited me to the first meeting, and I wanted to be absolutely sure it was not just something I was doing for her.

One day, I was really struck by what one of the men's group leaders said to me. He said that since I was chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, I was also the only one who could lead my family to the "shore of happiness." His words really struck me. My family had always struggled with misery. If anyone was going to help my parents and brother to become absolutely happy, it had to be me. I ended up committing to both the practice and Carina, and we were married in 2010.

My family's dynamics had never been the greatest. My parents argued frequently and my own exchanges with them were cold and brief. So, with the idea of transforming my family karma, I decided to receive my Gohonzon in 2005, just a few months before an SGI youth culture festival. I made a serious commitment to help my parents and my brother realize the power of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in their lives, just as I had. My older brother Donny soon took to the practice and joined the youth band for the culture festival. With the support and encouragement of one of the youth members, Donny became less introverted and more sociable and happy. I was so happy to see my brother unconcerned about what others thought of him, so relaxed and at ease.

When my mother noticed how sociable and confident her older son was becoming, she started chanting as well and, through the friendship of a Cantonese-speaking women's group leader, she also grew more optimistic and cheerful. In 2009, my mother and brother received their Gohonzons at the same time. However, my father had not yet shown any interest in the practice.

Ricky with his father

The biggest obstacle in helping my father understand how this Buddhist practice could make a difference to his life was his hearing impairment. When he was younger, an extremely bad ear infection left him with no hearing in his right ear and only 10 per cent hearing in the left. Though he had started wearing hearing aids some 30 years previously, his hearing had deteriorated and he was almost totally deaf. He was completely reliant on lip reading for what he could understand in Cantonese. I really wanted to tell him about the practice but his lack of hearing and my lack of Cantonese made that impossible. Since we were unable to communicate even on paper, our relationship felt nonexistent. I didn't know how it could ever be possible for my father to hear Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, but I continued to chant with hope.

After a routine checkup, my father's doctor referred him to a new audiologist who informed my father that he might be a suitable candidate for new cochlear implants that could help him to hear again. Previous doctors had assumed that his ability to hear had been completely destroyed. My father booked an appointment with a specialist to see what remained of his cochlear nerves. My mother, brother and I were excited for him and chanted with other SGI members for a good result. The tests found that despite his complete hearing loss, the nerves in his left ear were still intact and the specialist recommended that he proceed with the surgery. Despite the usual one year waiting list for this procedure my father only had to wait six months.

Many SGI members of the Chinese group in our area chanted for the success of my father's surgery at regular chanting sessions. I was deeply moved when my father sat silently among them, prayer beads in hand. By now, I was chanting powerfully for the success of his surgery, and immersed myself in studying SGI President Daisaku Ikeda's guidance and the writings of Nichiren. As Nichiren says, I chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo "as surely as an arrow aimed at the earth cannot miss its target." My target was for my father to regain his hearing.

A month after the operation, the audiologist fitted my father with a hearing device and turned it on. For the first time in over 15 years he was able to hear. His face broke into a smile of pure joy. In exact accordance with my mother's prayers, his recovery was quick and painless without the need of medication. When he arrived home, with my mother's encouragement and to my surprise, my father knelt down and chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo several times, in appreciation for all the support he had received from the local SGI members. These days, he is more cheerful. This experience has planted a seed of enlightenment in his life and it has deepened my family's faith.

So much fear, anger, anxiety and misery have been brushed away through this practice. By studying the experiences of President Ikeda, my mentor in life, I have learned to embrace all my struggles as an opportunity to develop a strong and invincible core. As he writes: "For what purpose do we struggle? To become happy. To build a strong self that can never be defeated. To carry out our human revolution. We also struggle for the sake of the happiness of others and for the peace and prosperity of society . . . The key to winning in any endeavor is to first win over oneself."

There are two things that drive me now: the desire to demonstrate my gratitude for finding Nichiren Buddhism and my desire to work for world peace and the happiness of others through the principles of Buddhism. President Ikeda says "Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism is a great philosophy of hope that empowers us to forge ahead in our lives bravely and vigorously with fresh courage and determination, always focused on the present and the future, moving forward from this day on." 

[Adapted from September 2012 issue of Soka, SGI-Canada; photos courtesy of SGI-Canada]

Inspiring Quotes from Daisaku Ikeda

These quotes are from Ikedaquotes.org, 

The Power of the Heart by Daisaku Ikeda:

When the doors of your heart are shut

and you feel dark and isolated, 

look up to the sky and greet the clouds. 

Let the blue expanse open wide 

the window to your heart 

and let in beauty and light. 

Climb upon the clouds and 

let your heart soar freely in the open air!

The human spirit is as expansive as the cosmos. This is why it is so tragic to belittle yourself or to question your worth. No matter what happens, continue to push back the boundaries of your inner life. The confidence to prevail over any problem, the strength to overcome adversity and unbounded hope—all reside within you.

My mentor would often tell me, “So much about a person can be learned from their voice.” Treasure your voice. It is a powerful force that can give courage and comfort to others. That is why we should strengthen and refine the inner core of our lives from which our voice emanates.

To lead a life in which we are inspired and can inspire others, our hearts have to be alive; they have to be filled with passion and enthusiasm. To achieve that, we need the courage to live true to ourselves. Rather than borrowing from or imitating others, we need the conviction to be able to think for ourselves and to take action out of our own sense of responsibility.

PowerPrayer to Boost Your Practice and Your Results

From the essay Buddhism is the Clear Mirror to Reflect Our Lives, in To My American Friends, by Daisaku Ikeda, Page 99.

"When people worship the Gohonzon, all Buddhas and bodhisattvas in the entire universe immediately respond to their prayers by lending their protection. If they slander the Gohonzon the affect will be exactly the opposite. 

For this reason one's mind of faith is extremely important. The mind of faith has a subtle and far-reaching influence. 

There may be times, for instance, when you feel reluctant to do gongyo or take part in activities. That state of mind is precisely reflected on the entire universe, as if on the surface of a clear mirror. The heavenly deities will then also feel reluctant to play their part, and they will naturally fail to exert their full power of protection. 

On the other hand, when you joyfully do gongyo and carry out activities with the determination to accumulate more good fortune in your life. the heavenly deities will be delighted and will valiantly perform their duty. If you must take some action anyway, it is to your advantage that you do so spontaneously and with a feeling of joy. If you practice reluctantly with a sense that it's a waste of time, disbelief and complaints will erode your good fortune. If you continue to practice in this way, you will not experience remarkable benefits, and this will only serve to convince you that your practice is in vain. This is a vicious circle. 
If you practice while doubting the effects, you will get results that are, at best, unsatisfactory. This is the reflection of your own weak faith on the mirror of the cosmos. 
On the other hand, when you stand up with strong confidence, you will receive limitless blessings. While controlling your mind, which is at once extremely subtle and solemnly profound, you should elevate your faith with freshness and vigor. When you do so both your life and surroundings will open wide before you, and every action you take will become a source of benefit. Understanding the subtle workings of one's mind is the key to faith and to attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime. 

PowerPrayer 
for Strengthening Your Mind of Faith. 
PowerPrayers are suggested ways to focus your mind while chanting. They are not to be chanted themselves. While chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo let your mind focus on some aspect of this PowerPrayer if you wish...for added strength and focus. If you like this PowerPrayer and want to share it, feel free to share it on Facebook or email a link using the links at the bottom. Thanks! 

Life! 

I love this practice! 

I love my life! 

I am determined to chant every morning and every evening no matter what. 

I  no longer allow anything to stop me! 

I establish an unshakable practice at the core of my life. 

And I see the results immediately! 

I keep this promise 

to myself 

first and foremost 

and the rest of my life flows effortlessly!

With every Daimoku I chant - 

I love my life more and more. 

Every Nam-myoho-renge-kyo strengthens my life! 

With every Nam-myoho-renge-kyo I feel Buddhahood Rising! 

I am overflowing with wisdom, compassion and love for mySELF and others! 

The more I chant, the more I want to chant. 

I look forward to my chanting time 

dialoguing with my own life

and discovering who I really am. 

I feel the connection more deeply every time I chant. 

Every day I see positive changes! 

I feel myself becoming stronger in these ways: 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I am determined to enjoy my time chanting and being with my fellow Gakkai members. I chant to bring my full self to every meeting, and to participate with joy. 

If there is something I don’t like about my meetings, I make a fresh determination to do my Human Revolution so I can cheerfully make a difference in my own district! 

I am chanting specifically for these people and these results: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I am deepening my understanding of what I study with every Daimoku I chant. 

My eyes are opening. 

My depth of understanding is growing! 

I love to study! 

I read the Gosho and President Ikeda’s Guidance every day, and chant to understand it with my life! 

Whenever I study I see the inner working of my life, and my prayer becomes deeper, and deeper and deeper! 

I am Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!

It's the Holiday Season Here!

It has been a busy last few days! 

Here's a picture from the 5K race Aaron ran yesterday. He came in second - Aaron is on the right. The whole town of Downers Grove, Illinois turns out for this. Over 6,200 people walked or ran. The money for registration in the race is collected in the name of a great teacher who died too soon, and it's distributed to selected High School Seniors in the form of $1,000 scholarship checks for college. We have participated in this race since it began 10 years ago, and Aaron was a Bonfield scholarship recipient when he was a High School senior. 

In America the "Holiday Season" has officially begun. 

It is a time that starts around Thanksgiving and goes through the first of the year. For many of us the highlight is Christmas on December 25th. Even though it is a Christian holiday, many Americans celebrate culturally with Christmas trees, presents, and family get togethers. We also watch cherished Christmas movies and sing Christmas Carols. Many help the needy. It is a time of year that we can bear the cold, and twinkling lights are everywhere... wrapped around outdoor trees, and strung from buildings. 

I love being in the Midwest during this time of year. I lived in California for 15 years and returned home to the Midwest every Christmas season so we could experience a good snow...a warm fire...and that unmistakable holiday feeling. 

I am interested in holidays all over the world. Can you help me learn about your holidays?  Diwali recently happened and I wasn't prepared for it at all! I would love to celebrate alongside all my friends in the world, (YOU!) and I need some advance notice, some education about the holiday, and some holiday preparation. By the time Diwali came it was too late for me to find specialty stores and get lanterns! If you want to send me holiday traditions from your country I would love that! 

My address is 
Jamie Silver 
17W702 Butterfield #104, 
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181. 

I love real mail and packages! I want to celebrate with you. Several years ago I became a celebrant so I could learn how to perform weddings, funerals and celebrations of all sorts. I believe it is important for us to take time to honor important moments! 

So I am writing this to say that I haven't written a blog post in two days because I've been so busy shopping, cooking and hanging out with my two boys, Aaron and Ben. Aaron is, as many of you know, in his second year of Medical School at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine, about 20 minutes from me. Long time readers of this blog know that his choice of school is an example of real Buddhist FORTUNE in my life, and his. Of ALL the medical schools all over the country he chose the closest school to me, and it has been perfect for him. THAT is fortune. Money cannot buy that! 
As you can imagine, he's a busy guy, so when he is available I spring into action! Ben lives back at home for a while and we get to see each other more often. It's so great having him close! I have soooo much fortune in my life! So.....Aaron, Ben and I spent Wednesday at the Mall shopping for blue jeans for them. What else? So much fun! 

And yesterday was a holiday called Thanksgiving in America.  Thanksgiving is a time to cook traditional foods, turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes and pies. Most people go into a bit of a sleepy stupor after the meal...happily! For some families watching American football is a tradition. Others may play games. And yesterday, Jewish families they got to celebrate Hannakuh and Thanksgiving at the same time. 

I have been smiling and laughing for two days straight! I am so grateful for this practice for keeping me in such a high life condition. Some people get sad around the holidays, whistfully thinking about holidays past when all their loved ones were alive. Keeping a high life-condition allows me to lovingly remember them, but still be happy. 

Aaron and Ben are here this morning. Aaron is studying, and Ben will awaken shortly and I will make a special breakfast of French Toast. I dip thick bread into a mixture of eggs, vanilla and cinnamon, heat some real butter, brown it on both sides, and they eat it with maple syrup on top. 

Okay that's enough food for now. Thanks for writing me to wonder if I'm okay! 

You are all a treasure to me! Write me anytime at chantforhappiness@gmail.com and remember 
Winter ALWAYS turns to Spring! No matter what you are facing - it will pass and you will win...as long as you don't give up! Sending love ~

3 Powerful Questions to Ask While Chanting

Many of us have read Daisaku Ikeda's essay "Buddhism is the Clear Mirror that Reflects our Lives."

Here is the link to the "Clear Mirror Guidance" that asserts "The Gohonzon (scroll we face while chanting) is the clearest of all mirrors that reflects the entire universe exactly as it is. When you chant to the Gohonzon, you can perceive the true aspect of your life and tap the inexhaustible life force of Buddhahood." 

Read the entire guidance through this link:

http://www.sgi-usa.org/memberresources/womensdivision/docs/2010/WT_Clear%20Mirror.pdf

I've been doing some soul-searching lately. Maybe you have too. November 18th has come and gone. We have achieved some of our goals, and some of them we are still working on. 

We know that we have to maintain hope and we know we will succeed, and we turn to the words of Daisaku Ikeda and Nichiren Daishonin for encouragement.  It is a great time for some self-reflection. We know that change in our environment and achieving our goals comes from Human Revolution ~  inner change in the core of our lives triggering corresponding change in our environment.  We know this intellectually, but how can we deepen our understanding and leveraging of this great truth?  

Sensei has said that our ability to bring our own wisdom to the surface through chanting is the key. How can we expand our ability to do exactly that? 

3 Important Questions to ask our lives while Chanting:

1. Life! Illuminate what I need to change...what I need to see and how I can improve. 
2. Life! What can I reveal to myself about the inner workings of my mind, my life, my actions and words that will free me from the blocks that still exist for me? 
3. Life! What actions do I need to take so that I can affect real, lasting, positive change in my life?

See what these questions reveal for you. This kind of inquiry takes concentration and courage. 

I get many emails from readers who are living in situations where they have difficulty expressing themselves and are experiencing hopelessness. My goal is to explore and challenge true and respectful expression in my own life, so that I can deepen my wisdom to help others. I am dialoguing in prayer. For today, I slowed the speed of my Daimoku. I put my phone in the other room for this hour of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. 

Putting the phone away is key...the world is always calling isn't it? Emails...texting...calls...it goes on and on. As Buddhas we must be able to put the world aside and focus, and that, for some of us, involves putting the phone in another room. 

As I sat down to write for you today I opened "My Dear American Friends" and turned to the essay "The Age of Soft Power" that Daisaku Ikeda delivered at Harvard University on September 26th of 1991. In it he states: 

"One of the important Buddhist concepts, dependent origination holds that all beings and phenomena exist or occur in relation to other beings or phenomena.  All things are linked in an intricate web of causation and connection, and nothing, whether in the realm of human affairs or natural phenomenon, can exist or occur solely of its own accord. 
...It is the fusion of the self and others. At the same time it is the expansion of the limited, ego-shackled self toward a greater self whose scale is as limitless and unbounded as the universe...In practical terms, the most important question for us as individuals is how to activate the inner sources sof energy and wisdom existing within our lives...
...Our society today urgently needs the kind of inwardly directed spirituality to strengthen self-control and restraint. It is a quality that deepens our respect for the dignity of life. In a world where interpersonal relationships are becoming increasingly tenuous, greater self-control and discipline would also help restore and rejuvenate endangered feelings, including friendship, trust, and love, for without them there can be no meaningful bonds between people."

We have the capacity to use our Buddhist practice to gain self-control, express ourselves clearly, with composure, forethought, and mutual respect to strengthen our relationships, and build our environments into worlds of absolute happiness and fulfillment. 

This is a worthwhile endeavor, don't you think?

I offer you some additional quotes from
"For Today Onward" by Daisaku Ikeda:

"Why is it that sometimes our prayer seems not to be answered? This is a manifestation of the Buddha's wisdom - so that we can deepen our prayers, become stronger people, live more profound lives and secure deeper, more lasting good fortune. If our slightest prayer were answered immediately, we'd become lazy and degenerate. And we couldn't hope to build a life of great dignity and substance."  Page 89. 

"There may be times when life seems gloomy and dull. When we feel stuck in some situation or other, when we are negative toward everything, when we feel lost and bewildered, not sure which way to turn ~ at such times we must transform our passive mind-set and determine "I will proceed along this path," "I will pursue my mission today." When we do so a genuine springtime arrives in our hearts, and flowers start to blossom."
Page 88. 

And:
"Viewing events and situations in a positive light is important. The strength, wisdom and cheerfulness that accompany such an attitude lead to happiness. To regard everything in a positive light or with a spirit of goodwill, however, does not mean being foolishly gullible and allowing people to take advantage of our good nature. It means having the wisdom and perception to actually move things in a positive direction by seeing things in their best light, while all the time keeping our eyes firmly focused on reality."
Page 29.

As always, thank you so much for passing along the url to this blog to others, and for sending me your comments, questions and victories at chantforhappiness@gmail.com. I answer every email.

The Great Buddha Is Reading this Blog Right Now!

The great Buddha is now reading this blog - YOU!  

Did you read the long essay from Dr. Obo I posted a few days ago?  It suggested to think to yourself "The Great Buddha just drank her coffee"...or "The Great Buddha just wrote an email"...you get the picture ~  you are the Great Buddha as you are going about your day. 

You are the Great Buddha, we are all the Great Buddha. Try this if you want. And let me know what you think. 

It is simple after all. This practice just makes so much sense. We chant the name of the rhythm of life itself..."Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" (meaning "I fuse (devote) my life to the Mystic Law of Cause and Effect through sound vibration, or teaching) while we infuse our thoughts with our prayers for our lives and the lives of others...for the happiness of all living beings. 

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is a law. It doesn't matter if we believe it will work or not. It is the law of cause and effect.

We ARE Buddhas; we are absolutely Buddhas...we are awakened ones to the law of the universe. We are the mocrocosm of the universe. We know this. But how do we live this? 

Sometimes it is hard for us to realize this truth. Our daily practice of chanting washes away our ignorance, and helps us to realize our true selves as Buddhas. It sounds simple, but we all know it is difficult to chant every single day, twice a day and to continue chanting, especially when some changes take a long time coming. That's why we have each other. That is why we practice in the SGI alongside our good friends in faith. (Click on the SGI portal to find a local meeting by you - there is never a cost to chant)

In America we have our study exam coming up. Studying is exactly what we need to "hone our saw" to get more benefits. Our understanding of this Buddhism helps us create real results when we chant. We call this Practical Buddhism because we see results in our lives. And the more we study, the more we see results. That's just the way it works!
I wholeheartedly encourage you to take the test, and study for it with others even if you've already taken it. 

Today the Great Buddha is watching it snow here in Chicago. We are having a deep freeze. A "cold front" as they call it. It is the Monday before our national holiday called Thanksgiving where most people eat Turkey and gather with their loved ones. I am hosting the holiday this year. 

Do you have some holiday traditions you would like to share? 

This year is a special ones for my Jewish friends. Hannakuh and Thanskgiving are coinciding. One of my friends is calling it Thanksgivingkah. I guess it's okay to be snowing this early, but I am really looking forward to be traveling in sunny and warm places this time of year in the future. 

During this week of Thanksgiving here are a few quotes to help light your way:

From Ikedaquotes.org, by Daisaku Ikeda:

None of us can exist in isolation. Our lives and existence are supported by others in seen and unseen ways, be it by parents, mentors or society at large. To be aware of these connections, to feel appreciation for them, and to strive to give something back to society in a spirit of gratitude is the proper way for human beings to live.

Those who always have a sense of appreciation and gratitude never reach an impasse in life.

People whose hearts are full of gratitude and appreciation are truly beautiful. A humble heart is the wellspring of great growth and development.

The ungrateful feel that it is below them to show any kind of appreciation. They are under the delusion that showing gratitude to others diminishes their own worth. But it is this sense of appreciation that elevates, enriches and expands the human spirit. A lack of gratitude is actually a sign of arrogance.

Have a great day. Write me at chantforhappiness@gmail.com and I will do my best to answer you. Send your victories, your questions, anything you wish.