4 ways to Keeping a High Life Condition While on Vacation

I just got back from a whirlwind of activities and travels. Aaron graduated medical school. This weekend  is Ben's Memorial Mile at Downers Grove North High School (in Illinois, USA)  ~ Check out BensMemorialMile.com if you want to donate to the exceptional cause of finding a cure for schizophrenia. It looks like we'll have at least 400 runners and walkers gathering in the name of my sweet son, Benjamin Lee Silver. Many of you are part of his story!

During my my travels my schedule has been crazy. And we all know that keeping a high life-condition is especially important while on vacation. How can we do that while still "vacating?"

(As always, these are my personal reflections as a 31 year practicing Buddhist. I don't represent the SGI, although I am a devoted member.)  

SO how can we do it? 
How can we keep the our life conditions high when we are traveling? 
Here are my

1. We can give ourselves a little room for variance, and not be too worried about it. I think we need to realize not everyone we are traveling with chants, and know that being a little off our normal schedule is not the worst thing in the world. In other words - we can relax and enjoy our vacation. 

2. Chant whenever possible.
While I was on my travels, I visited the Phoenix SGI center with my son Aaron who will be doing his medical residency in Phoenix. We chanted in the center's Gohonzon room, and I bought him a beautiful new bell. We shopped for a new altar/table for him....and found the perfect thing. Whenever we could, we chanted sincere daimoku and did gongyo...but we also slept a little later, and ran out to the golf course really early. 

3. We can make every daimoku count. When we chanted, we kept our cell phones far, far away. It is so EASY to be distracted. But while on vacation every single Nam-myoho-renge-kyo matters more than ever! Concentration counts. 

4. We can do shakubuku! We can keep our Nam-myoho-renge-kyo cards close, and give them out often. On this last plane ride I sat next to the mom of an olympic skater and she was really interested in hearing about chanting. I always bring a huge stack and see how many I can give out. believe me, it makes travel go smoothly! And planting seeds is how we make our garden grow. One of the people I visited is a person who finally started chanting after knowing me for over 20 years. She recently bought a large tract of land in California to form an intentional cohousing community. 

Daimoku works, and can make all our dreams come true!