What is a High Life-Condition, and Why is it Important?

Today we had World Peace Prayer for April at the Chicago SGI Center. I'd arranged a meeting between one of the senior leaders and a youth member from my district. And I'd lined up lunch with the other young women in my district after the meeting. We were all looking forward to a great day. 

We set off in high spirits with plenty of time to spare from somewhere close to where this picture is taken, to head east and into the city. When we got there we found that the Shamrock Shuffle race was going on and all the streets leading to the SGI center were blocked from where we were. Here's where having a "high life condition" comes in. 
Click "read more" below to see the rest of this post.

Keeping a High Life Condition

 What is a high life condition? 

When we can look down at your challenges and problems from above, we have a high life condition. Our challenges seem insignificant and we KNOW the power in our life will keep us advancing. We greet the Gohonzon with a smile and full of appreciation. We are cheerful and full of life.

When our problems loom large, and hover above us feeling like we will be crushed, we have a low life condition. But we are still so lucky, because we know just what to do. 

When we feel our life condition sinking we can head to the Gohonzon and chant. We can also call a mentor in faith. I have many people I respect and love, and who can give me that extra added insight I need to fire up my chanting. We can study. I read the Gosho and President' Ikeda's guidance. I pick up the World Tribune or Living Buddhism. I look at my own encouragement on this blog, and read people's inspiring stories. Calling a friend and encouraging THEM also raises our life condition. Chanting Daimoku is the greatest tool. Sometimes we need encouragement to be able to chant more effectively.  

A Power Prayer to Raise your Life Condition:

"I am determined to experience each moment as the powerful Buddha I am. I vow to feel the power of Daimoku surging through me. I know that when I am at my best, I can do more to encourage others. I am bringing the best out of my life so that I can be my best and make this world a better place. 
I chant to raise my life condition and to experience each moment as the Buddha I am." 

Raising our life condition is like this: 

We have a challenge or a problem, and it shows up in front of us like a tall wall. At first we may back away and say "That wall is way too tall, I will never get over it!" But when we chant we can feel ourselves raising higher than the wall...lifting up into the air...and we can look down at that wall and suddenly it is a tiny insignificant bump in the road. We have raised our life condition. And we have the power to do this every single day. 

As practicing Buddhists we know that all our problems don't really amount to a hill of beans compared to Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. We have confidence in our own lives. And when we feel that confidence waning we can chant and tell our lives: "I am determined to feel the deepest confidence in my life" and become more confident. 

Yesterday I spent the afternoon learning about this outplacement company that my company hired to help all of us through the lay off. It's incredible. I can meet with a career counselor as many times as I like. I can use some of the tools I am learning to spread the reach of this blog.  Today I am going to a lecture on facebook and twitter. Cool. 

I hope you can take a few moments to send the link to this blog to your friends. It may be just the encouragement they need to raise their life conditions. 

Have a great full moon Wednesday. 

have a great day in the highest of life conditions! 

On the Beach!

Miami Beach this weekend....What an interesting place...
And I'll you one thing I had to relearn this weekend...that if you take a "vacation" from chanting WHILE you're one vacation...well...you might be in for a few surprises! 


I really didn't want to do much chanting on this trip for various reasons. And it was a pretty great trip...only I nearly missed my flight on the way back. And that wasn't really the worst part. It was my emotional reaction to almost missing the flight that was the really hard part...and that proved to me yet again that the greatest fortune is having a high life condition. If you have a high life condition it really doesn't matter what happens. A high life condition comes from chanting enough daimoku! With a high life  condition everything is a snap. No problem really gets you down. If I'd had a higher life condition I would have been less emotional at the airport!


May you always chant enough daimoku that YOU have a high life condition!


Just  a few words of wisdom for a sunny day in March in Chicago. 

Happiness is Possible at every moment!

I just want you to know that the most satisfying, and fulfilling happiness is possible now...and now...and now...and all the nows to come. 


This is how I live every single day. Really. Yes!!! 


I go from one lovely moment to another...and it all starts with morning Gongyo. President Ikeda says: "Win in the morning and you win in life" and he's right! 


Each day I go from one delicious moment to another. 
Here's a typical day for me. 
I wake up before the alarm. 
I lie in bed and list things in my life that I appreciate.
I get up, get dressed and go ride the exercise bike for 30 minutes, then do some weight machines if I have time. 
I come home, bathe and make some decaf coffee. 


Then I have my date with my life! 

Every morning I begin my day with an hour of Daimoku in front of my Gohonzon.. My goal during my prayers is to connect deeply with my life and encourage myself. I aim for the prayers that make me feel most energized and connected, and I am constantly writing new determinations and goals. 

I like to write these in narrative form and really feel how much I desire them and why. 

I sit comfortably in front of my Gohonzon and I pour out all the feelings, longings, happiness and sadness in my heart. I know that I am joining an ongoing ceremony by chanting in front of the Gohonzon.  I feel the pulse of my life. I say what I want to say. Sometimes I write insights into my journal. If I think of things on my to-do list, I jot them down so I can get them out of my brain. And I focus on what I want for myself and for others and for America and for the world. I chant for the mundane, and for the sublime. I VOW that each one of these prayers will come true. My prayers are a vow! The hour just flies by! 

One of my constant prayers is for YOUR happiness. you know I wasn't always happy, right? Oh Man, how I used to suffer from depression, and hopelessness...and a feeling of being unloved! And I was searching for a solution in life. Well, I found it, and I want as many people to find it and experience what I have as possible. I WANT people who are suffering to find my blog and feel hope. Then I want MORE people to find my blog and feel hope!!! And it is my deep desire to have each one of you connect with President Ikeda through the SGI, find your own SGI Tribe close to you, and carve a life of happiness. I want to reach people who are suffering through as many types of media as possible. My goal is to publish many books....books on parenting as a Buddhist, having a successful career, generating love in your life....and on and on. I welcome calls from publishers. I also love being on the radio. I was just on the radio this week (talking about Nam Myoho Renge Kyo of course!) and my friends who listened said I should be on the radio all the time. Wouldn't that be wonderful!!! I could reach even more people. Maybe I'd have "Jamie's Chanting Hour"! How's that sound? We could chant together and I could encourage everyone through various words of Nichiren Daishonin's and Daisaku Ikeda's and fellow members all over the world. If you're a person who knows how to make these things happen I invite your emails!

Then I get dressed and drive the five minutes to my work. What I do is so much fun that it doesn't feel like work at all. I greet all my friends and I set about creating wonderful things for my students to do through my connections in the community. Sometimes I call people I don't know and make them into new friends. And I make more connections and create more events. Last week I had thirty students attend a senior fair and do blood pressure checks, glucose testing and educate people on various health related topics. I helped them network and introduce themselves to other professionals. I took pictures of their smiling faces. It was a blast. 
During the day I usually have other networking meetings with people in person, to see if there are more ways we can work together. My life is this delicious flow of encouraging people and making new friends and cultivating old ones. I truly enjoy every moment in the day. 
After work I have friends to play with, or a date with a man, or I come home to my lovely apartment and am so happy here! I love reading your emails, and writing my blog posts. 
Every Wednesday night I host a rocking Buddhist meeting in my apartment.


....and each day....I begin anew...with happiness overflowing...and so can you!! 

Most Exciting News

I just don't think there is anything more exciting than having a really deep impact in someone's life. For me, that is the crux of life...the reason I chose to be born at this time...the juice that makes life worth living.

You should just see what is happening in the lives of my friends from California who are about to receive the Gohonzon...and the thing is...the beautiful thing is...I shakubukued them with my life...and THAT is the anwer to my prayers.

I've known Julia for 12 years, ever since a friend fell deeply in love with her when we were all living together in San Francisco. We always had friends living with us there...it was truly a gift for ourselves and our kids. We gave our kids "chosen" family!

Once we met Julia, we could see why he had fallen so deeply for her...she is a beautiful woman with a beautiful soul. It took him many moons to win her over, and when they got married it was in a grove on the side of Mt. Tamalpais...and the four of us flew back to San Francisco for the wedding. It was an unforgettable experience...watching Julia walk barefoot down to us through the knee high grasses...hearing all the blessings each person bestowed upon them as part of the ceremony...watching my little boys play catch while we drank Champagne and basked in the glow of their love...

Then over the course of life, Julia had some setbacks and got ill...she got Lyme disease and a deep sadness from some events she went through.

When Paul turned 50 I flew Cliff and Julia here to surprise Paul...and we had a great time...only I was so heavy and so sad. Julia believed in me. She believed I could win over my heavy body and become healthy and happy. She turned me on to Goji juice...and I redetermined...and redetermined to achieve victory. I would not give up. She and I would talk frequently about life and affairs of the heart. As you know...I've lost the weight!

When Paul and Ben and I drove to Port Clinton, Ohio to see Julia and Cliff this summer, Julia was in no mood to talk about religion. She had spent a week with Cliff's wonderful...evangelical ...Mennonite family...so I said nothing about chanting, and my life itself did the talking.

She was floored by how I looked...but not just how I looked...she is intuitive and spiritual and she could FEEL the strength of my life. She saw how Paul and I, even though we are divorcing, we are enjoying each other's company and raising our wonderful and happy Buddha boy! She has known Ben since before he was born and she and Cliff and Ben jammed on guitar and talked and laughed together. One afternoon in the park she said "Let's Chant". And Ben and I just started chanting outdoors with her...and she has not stopped since!!!

She and I talk every day...you should hear her! The power of life...the excitement of reclaiming her health, her vitality, her energy...it's palpable!!! She KNOWS she has tapped into the source of the UNIVERSE within her...she's chanting every day, twice a day and preparing to receive her Gohonzon. Every time I talk to her I get a surge of "Anything is possible! ANYTHING!" and we give each other energy. I know I am in the process of making my dreams come true. And I'm sharing this process with the people I love and watching their lives blossom too! Truly...what could be better?