You Can Make the Impossible Possible...and Help Others to do the Same!

That's me in the middle with my aunt and my Mom. This was taken right after I moved back to the Chicago area to help my Mom take care of my blind aunt. I do believe weight is genetic, yes? But that doesn't mean you can't make the impossible possible! (I still equate losing weight as the hardest thing I have ever done - and only those of us who have experienced this personally would know what I mean) 

Me with my sister around 2003

Here's a more recent picture of me. I am loving my life! 

The reason I write this blog is very simple. 

I have accomplished the impossible in my life, and I live every moment to help you see that you can accomplish the impossible in your life too. 

What is impossible? I think "the impossible" is different for every person according to their karma. And the beautiful thing about this practice is that you can change that impossible karma, no matter what it is, and make the impossible possible. 

What was impossible for me? Two things come immediately to mind. Depression and Weight. That's right. I suffered from depression and hopelessness my entire life. And fear. As far as I can tell, I was just born with these tendencies. I may have even chosen, before I came into this lifetime, to have these exact problems, so that once I overcame them I could help others overcome them too. I've often felt that way about the weight too. Being an overweight woman in America is a type of prison sentence. And I was overweight all my life until a few years ago.

I searched for many years for the spiritual solution to these problems. And I kept coming up with dead ends until I found THIS Buddhism. 
I mean I searched with my whole life. During High School and College I was on this spiritual search. All I wanted to study were religions, philosophies, spiritual studies. You name a spiritual study and I probably have spent some time researching it. And I did get some good information that I still use and helped to create the concept of PowerPrayers. My appreciation is immense to Catherine Ponder of the Unity School and the wise and wonderful Louise Hay. Tony Robbins' work was invaluable to me, and for quite some time Werner Erhard also had an impact in my ability to live life fully. 

But I really wanted a spiritual PRACTICE that would work for me CONSISTENTLY. Meaning, I wanted a practice that could enable me to make the impossible possible - help me lose the weight and end the depression. 
All the spiritual practices I found told me something I disagreed with: 

I just could not accept the concept that my own desires were the cause of my suffering.
I had to move to San Francisco to find this wonderful SGI Buddhism that said my desires were enlightenment and that through chanting for them them I could be happy. YES. That worked for me! Chant for what you WANT? Exactly! 

So I've spent the rest of my life helping others who are also searching for their personal guide to happiness. That's why I started this blog and am writing my book. We have so much more technology today to help people. 

I know there are people sitting at their computes all over the world and thinking: "I KNOW the key to happiness must be in here somewhere!" And it IS! 
Please help us all to spread the word about chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo by forwarding this blog's url to your friends and "liking" the Facebook page Chant for Happiness, and sharing your favorite posts. 
There are still so many who are sad, or abused, or unhappy! We can help them together. You, and me and our wonderful SGI family are ready to show others the way out of misery. It is our greatest joy and the fastest way to change our karma. Isn't that great? We do both at the same time! 

And, I can tell you my weight problems are gone. And, after being depressed and on anti-depressants for years I know longer take any medications and am truly, truly happy. 

And there are a few impossible things I am chanting for right now, true love and my work spreading the word about this practice to increase. Including having the book I'm writing with Julia Landis be an overwhelming success so that we can help more people learn about Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. I am absolutely confident that I will make the impossible possible in those areas too! Absolutely confident. 

Please be confident in your own ability to make the impossible possible! 

Have Hope ~ Hope Changes Everything

Those of us who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and tap into our highest life condition every single day live lives of HOPE. 

As long as we keep practicing we will never be defeated. With every Nam-myoho-renge-kyo we chant, the sun of hope rises in our lives. 

If, even for a moment we lose hope, we know exactly where to go. We can call a fellow SGI member, we can open the writings of Nichiren Daishonin and be reminded that "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a lion, what sickness can therefore be an obstacle?" (WND). 

We can read the writings of Daisaku Ikeda, and we can, once again, sit down to chant with a refreshed mind and renew our spirit of hope. We are never deadlocked. We are never caught in a storm whose winds will never cease...we will never be alone in an eternal winter. 

Remember that there is no problem bigger than Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and you have the power within you to change any suffering. 

At last night's Gosho Lecture someone asked "What is the world of heaven in the world of Hell? How can the world of hell be imbued with the ten worlds?" And the answer is this: In the world of Hell you can give rise to a FIERCE DETERMINATION to change your life. You can say "This is it life! Time for me to change this life! I know I can do it!" and then set yourself a plan. 

There is no change without action. How much will you devote to changing your life? How much can you chant...

An important key is this:

The more you chant the easier it is to chant. It's like revving the engine of your life, and once it gets going it wants to keep going. Once you get on a roll you'll be thinking "Oh. I can't WAIT to get back in front of my Gohonzon! I can't WAIT to chant about this and change it!" 

You are so powerful.  There is nothing you can't do if you have hope and put that hope into action. 

Another Awesome Benefit!

I remembered to get a shot of the sun to show you on Saturday!


This is the second time in my life I have influenced the weather.


I know, I know, it sounds impossible, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway.


The first time was on my wedding day.
December 20th 1987.
We woke up in Oakbrook Illinois and it was so overcast that the clouds were hanging so low that we felt we could touch them. It was a cold, cloudy and ugly day.
My good friend Etjen, who was in my wedding,  joined me and Paul and we chanted for an hour and a half and the sun came out and every single cloud went away. I even had a friend say "Jamie, I KNEW you couldn't be married on a cloudy day!"


Well, this Saturday, the day of Aaron's graduation from the University of illinois,  I looked up the weather for the weekend. Rainy...thunderstorms...not very many clouds...they didn't cover a wide expanse, but there was no wind to blow them away. They were predicted to make things awful all weekend. At least that's what it said on the weather app on my iphone. 


Well, I thought...just the challenge for this votary of the Lotus Sutra!


I chanted sincerely with full concentration for an hour and 15 minutes for the wind to blow the clouds away. I chanted by all the power vested in me as an honorable votary of the Lotus Sutra, just like Nichiren Daishonin, just like YOU. And I could feel my prayer working. I mean it!


And we had two beautiful days. No rain, perfect weather. We spent most of the weekend outside, walking around U of I's quad with Aaron and Ben and every other beautifully dressed family and graduate. It just would not have been the same in the rain!


Remember, Daimoku is for the impossible!! Make it happen!