A bad day doesn't mean a bad practice. We all have them...days when we feel we really can't connect to our source of strength via chanting and using the ultimate tool, the Gohonzon. (Scroll which represents our highest life condition. See sgi-usa.org for more explanation.)
Do you ever sit down with clear intention to chant, but then get interrupted, or just not be able to really give it your all? This happens to the best of believers...to every single one of us. (If it NEVER happens to you, please write me and tell me your secret.)
And the important thing is not to think "oh, this really doesn't work...or I should just give up...what's the use anyway? I can't chant this morning, so I won't try tonight", and suddenly tomorrow comes and it's too hard to chant that day too?
Here's the slippery slope.
And the antidote, I believe, is to treat every gongyo as the sacred session with your own life that it truly is. If you can't do it in the morning, or you don't feel like you were able to feel that connection...well, in the evening, make another determination and don't fall off the bandwagon as they say. And if that doesn't work, make the determination to start the next day with a bright and fresh gongyo and daimoku.
Aahhhh, when you do this continually, and never concede defeat, your life will shine!
Daisaku Ikeda says, in Faith Into Action, page 146, under "Perseverance":
"No matter what the circumstances,
you should never concede defeat.
Never conclude that you've reached a dead end,
that everything is finished.
You possess a glorious future.
Precisely because of that,
you must persevere and study.
Life is eternal.
We need to focus on the two existences
of the present and the future,
and not get caught up in worry about the past.
We must always have the spirit to begin anew
"from this moment,"
to initiate a new struggle each day."
