When we lived in San Francisco this was our favorite place to take a day excursion. I always longed to stay the night and wake up here on the beach. And now, with my two sons, we are waking up with this view this morning! (It will look like this in a few hours after the fog has burned off- right now I have a moment to write a blog!)
It has been a magical, music-filled vacation so far. We stayed with our friends Amy and Ian and their son Andrew for the first part of the trip in beautiful San Anselmo in Marin County. There is only one Marin County in the world...land of hot tubs and hybrid cars at the base of Mt. Tamalpais!
We spent Saturday up on the mountain playing music with our friends. We were there celebrating Julia and Cliff's thirteen years of marriage. This very event was a benefit of Julia's two-year practice of chanting! Ben sang some of his original songs, I sang John Denver songs, everyone played guitar and sang, then we came down the mountain...taking the Bolinas Fairfax road (! what a wild ride !) and Amy and Ian hosted a party for us in their redwood-decked home nestled on the mountain side. At one point in the party almost everyone there joined us for a few minutes of chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo! And Danielle, and Julia and I did Gongyo together for the first time!
Every morning the boys and I have done a rousing gongyo and chanted daimoku. It is incredible to chant with their low voices!
On Sunday we headed to Donna, Peppino and Aleza's house in Benicia. We went to a benefit concert for Voena, the world-renowned children's choir out of Benicia. I wish I could go back in time and join this choir. Their costumes were colorful, flowy scarves and they moved freely in a joyous dance of life! They are headed to the London to sing for the Olympics this summer! Then Peppino played and Aleza sang. I wish everyone reading this blog could have been there!
The next morning we all chanted together and will reconnect for another of Peppino and Aleza's concerts in the LA area on Friday.
There is nothing like friendship, is there? We have been friends with all these people since we lived in California from 1984-1998. And seeing them again it feels like no time has passed - except we don't have babies ~ we have grown children bursting with potential! We have raised young men and women who are poised to make their mark on the world!
I received an email from a reader today who feels hopeless...she wonders how I made it through the times when I felt hopeless myself. And there were plenty of those times.
And I say to my reader and to all of you ~ please don't give up. I look at my joyous life now...at my sons who love spending time with me as much as I love spending time with them...we are traipsing though California laughing and joking and loving life! We are free to enjoy every moment as it passes! We are safe, we are happy, we are healthy. And every morning our voices rise in harmony as we fill our lives with the rhythm of the universe and chant Daimoku together.
And I say...all of our happiness was BORN in those dark times when I did not give up. We've met with several of my Buddhist mentors so far this trip. One of them remembered me crying. A lot. But I kept chanting and didn't give up. I forged a new life through my tears.
My prayer has always been ~ I am determined to BE the BUDDHA OF ABSOLUTE HAPPINESS! I am determined to be happy and enjoy my life so that I can be an inspiration to those who are still suffering...and I can inspire them with my own life! I am determined that MY LIFE is an example that ANYONE can be happy! Let me use every moment, every chant, every word out of my mouth to make a cause for my happiness, and the happiness of others.
This has worked for me! Look at me taking my wonderful boys on their victory lap! They are happy and successful and we are appreciating life together! Don't give up! happiness is yours to claim.
Claim it THROUGH your tears, not despite them! Claim your happiness NOW!!! You are a Buddha!!!
