The Darker the Night the Nearer the Dawn

"When facing adversity, 
we may think we've reached our limit, 
but actually 
the more trying the circumstances, 
the closer we are to making a breakthrough. The darker the night 
the nearer the dawn. 
Victory in life is decided 
by that last concentrated burst of energy filled with the resolve to win."
Daisaku Ikeda

Happy New Year. I am ready to break through. How about you? Let's all bring out that concentrated burst of energy and resolve. I'm going to chant about this quote and write a power prayer based on it later today. Happy 2015!

PowerPrayer for a PowerFULL New Year 2015

PowerPrayer for a PowerFULL 2015

By Jamie Lee Silver of Chantforhappiness.com
(I developed PowerPrayers to read before chanting as a tool to maintain strong determination, focus and inspiration while chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Feel free to adapt and change any PowerPrayer to make it yours! I start my PowerPrayers with the word LIFE! because when we chant we are addressing our own lives. If you wish to share this, please share the blog chantforhappiness.com. Thanks!)

Life! 

Last year is last year. 
I now let it go...

I release all of 2014 and my entire past.  
I choose to recognize that I am always doing my best, no matter what!

I release 2014 and welcome in the Dynamic New Year of Happiness, Security and Flow! 
I now forgive myself for any imperfections and chant for the wisdom to be WISER and take inspired action in 2015!

This year, 2015 - I am determined to continue growing my own love for my own self. 
I am determined to keep learning...keep exploring...
and create victory 
every single moment of every single day...
Not just to create victory -- also to FEEL and see VICTORY in each moment. (Even when it feels like defeat) 

I chant to recognize my own brilliance, 
my own passion, 
my own love. 
I chant to love and appreciate myself more than ever, and express appreciation to others even more than ever. 

No Matter what ~ I now focus on the POSITIVE and do NOT COMPLAIN! 

I vow to deepen my relationships. I will be more attentive to others. I will LISTEN even better than ever before. I am determined to deepen my compassion and ability to care for friends and family. 

I am determined to foster youth and adults in the SGI and give out Nam-myoho-renge-kyo cards every day. 
I am determined, and I WILL, help my shakubukus learn gongyo,  study and build lives of rock-solid absolute happiness! 

I am determined and I demand of my own life a deeper understanding of the law of cause and effect...a deeper understanding of this practice...a deeper understanding of the mentor/disciple relationship. I will study everyday!

I determine to feel with Sensei's heart, see through Sensei's eyes, learn with Sensei's mind. 

I determine to build rock-solid understanding of my financial affairs and be independent and informed. I'm determined to create a financial plan for my life that is concrete and attainable, and to develop the financial habits to make it happen. 

I'm determined to listen to my body every day, and to continue creating the healthiest body I have ever had. 

I'm determined to excel at my work, be trusted and develop even more capabilities. I am determined to be a contribution every day. 

Life! 
I feel, see, know and ACCESS the power in my own life. 
I have Daimoku. 
I have the Gohonzon. 
I now pull the lid off 
what I thought I was capable of achieving. 
I now blow my own mind 
with the power of the life force I tap into every day through chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. 
I am determined to respect my own life and see that respect echoed all around me in my environment. 

I chant for the DYNAMIC growth of the SGI. 
I chant for the happiness and peace of the planet!
I chant to transform my own life so that the world can be transformed! 

Welcome 2015!

New Year's Day at the Chicago SGI Center

Kathy and my guest Bella

With Kendall and LaShelle

What a great new year...
so many great causes to start the year.
First thing this morning I chanted my hour of Daimoku for the new year. I went out and visited Ben, and visited my friend Mary to chant with her for New Year's Day. Then I picked up Kathy and Bella, and had my new friend Padma also meet us at the Center. I bought Bella a bell...she is starting her practice!

This year is going to be solid.

Ben will find his way. We will find the best place for him and he will begin to live his life of value.
I am going to do a ton of shakubuku
because I LOVE to do shakubuku.
I love seeing people's lives change when they chant.
I love seeing people's dreams come true!

And I will, after all publish my book. It will be a compilation of all the best PowerPrayers and blog postings. It will be born easily and it will flow.

Speaking of flow -I will live in a state of feeling the flow of the universe and the rightness of my place in it. I'm going to stop trying so hard and just enjoy life more.

I'm determined to be a source of inspiration through my own life experiences. I just survived one of the most challenging years...no THE most challenging year. My son almost lost his life twice in the last two months. He is okay now and a new year has started. I feel the power of my own life through chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Feel the power of your own life and demand your results!

New Year's Day 2015 

at the 

Chicago Culture Center with my 

         Gakkai Family!

Happy New Year!

I'm off to visit Ben in the hospital, 
then pick up my guests and head for New Year's Day at the Chicago SGI Center! I hope all of you are celebrating this day with your Gakkai friends! Sending love!

7 Questions to Start the New Year Powerfully!

I always begin a new year by evaluating the last year...
I ask myself the following questions: 

1. What am I proud of - 
what are my main accomplishments from 2014? 
2. What COULD I be proud of? 
3. What did I read?
4. What did I learn? 
5. What new idea/modality/practice did I experience? 
6. What will I write down in my journal for the end of 2014? 
7. Who's lives did I impact? 

And I write out a list of positive accomplishments in all areas of my life, mind-body-spirit. 

And I also take a look at the not-so-positive aspects of last year. 

1. What can I do better? 
2. What behavior will I commit to changing? 
3. What behavior will I commit to doing consistently? 


I also like to write out a vision of what I want my life to be. I do that every year. I write it in present tense and put in all the elements I want. Then I read it often. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking back on last year is a humbling experience for me. Last year was rough. It was easy to get caught up in the drama of what was happening in my life. And as a Buddhist, I know enough not to be swayed by the eight winds, but sometimes they blow me over anyway. 

So the new year is a great time say: 

"Hon Nim Myo! From this moment forth!" 

Here is what I resolve:

No matter what - no matter WHAT, I will chant a solid hour of Daimoku every morning with my phone in the other room. I will put my full concentration, love, passion and focus into my wonderful hour in dialogue with my one and only precious life! 

I will BE Kosen Rufu in action. Through my thoughts, words and deeds I will inspire others! 

I will spend deepen my faith every day through study. Every day. No matter what. Even if I only read a few lines from the Gosho!

I will be vigilant with myself and not complain - not blame, and never, ever feel sorry for myself! No matter what is happening in my life, complaint does not help anything! The more we complain - the more we have to complain about! The more we express gratitude - the more we have to be grateful for! 

I will encourage at least one person every single day - whether by phone or email, or in person. 

I will listen to my body - do my body meditations, do my tapping exercises and really focus on eating the very best things for my health. 

I will set concrete goals for all areas of my life - financial, health, social. 

I wish you all a wonderful, productive and happy New Year! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Time to Write New Year's Determinations!

Hi, I'm so sorry I haven't written lately. I've been ill. I think all of the tension of the past few months just caught up with me. Now I am on the mend!

My son Ben is good right now. 

He is still in the hospital. And we are looking for a place for him ~ where he can be happy and continue getting better. At the moment, he is much more himself, but he still has a lot of fear. The illness he is suffering from is schizophrenia...an illness that seems like an epidemic among young men in America right now. He is better after treatment, but we want him to somehow get over the fear he feels. I chant about it every day. 

He has returned to himself in so many ways. He is smiling. Yesterday he asked me if it was too late to apply to Soka University! I know your Daimoku, our Daimoku, is working! It is great to hear him thinking about a future. I want him to have hope for his life. 

In the future, I picture him in front of young people, telling his story, inspiring THEM. But we still have a way to go. He turned 22 while in the hospital. He's been there since November 9th. 

And NOW is the time for me to prepare the groundwork for the New year. 

I plan on writing out my goals in several ways. 

I will write concrete goals. 
I will write feeling goals. - How do I want to feel about things? 

Then I will chant about them on New Year's Eve, and join my fellow members at the Chicago SGI Center on New Year's Day. 

I hope you are all well and are joining your friends to chant in the New year. Throughout my Buddhist practice, no matter where I was in the World, New York, Chicago, LA, San Francisco...I ALWAYS chanted a solid hour of heartfelt Daimoku on New Year's Day. This year I will chant more than an hour, but that is always my bottom line. 

I am praying for you all - my treasured friends! 

Practicing Buddhism = Banishing Fear

Embracing Nichiren Buddhism 
gives us access to living a fearless life. 
I can personally say that chanting the name of the mystic law - Nam-myoho-renge-kyo has been my key to tapping into the vital life resources that has moved me from a life of depression and unhappiness into a life of never-ending wonder and happiness. 

As Daisaku Ikeda writes in Faith into Action, page 110:(available through the SGI website - see the link to the right) 

People who have strong faith are fearless,
they can overcome anything. 
There is no obstacle or adversity 
that they cannot surmount. 
In the very depths of their lives, 
no matter what happens 
they lead lives of "the greatest of all joys." (6/10/96) 

When I first started this blog - 5 1/2 years ago, I was frequently crushingly depressed. There were days I had to just put one foot in front of the other and struggle not to cry all day. 
I began writing this blog with the determination to practice harder than I ever had before, chant at least 2 hours a day, and to prove through my efforts and results - through my life itself that ANYTHING was possible. 

If I could free myself from the depression I'd had my whole life, and that my mother also experienced...I would show that the impossible is possible, and be able to inspire countless others. Now the depression is gone and close to 35,000 people see this blog every month! 

Thank you so much for passing the chantforhappiness.com link to your friends. Countless people have joined or reconnected to the SGI through this humble portal! chantforhappiness.com
Many have accessed the SGI thorough the SGI link to the right: sgi-usa.org

And now, I have entered my 30th year of practice and I see this fearlessness blooming in my life like never before. 

We talk about conspicuous and inconspicuous benefits. We can SEE conspicuous benefits. They are all around us. We get the job, we make the money, we fall in love etc. But inconspicuous benefits are the treasures of the heart we build day after day after day as we sit in front of the Gohonzon (the scroll that is the mirror of our lives) and chant to bring forth our Buddha nature, chant to do our human revolution, chant to strengthen our lives. 

THAT is where the true fortune lies. For what is a new house, a new car, a new job or a new relationship when we are cowering in fear...we are afraid it is ephemeral...we're afraid we'll lose it, we're afraid of death, of life, of rejection etc. 

This practice gives us the keys to the inner kingdom where the real treasure lies. 
Strength
Security
Faith
Fresh Determination

Whatever is troubling you, 
whatever you are desiring, 
whatever you do 
KEEP CHANTING every day twice a day, 
KEEP STUDYING Daisaku Ikeda and the Gosho 
with your life!
KEEP CONNECTED TO YOUR SGI FRIENDS IN FAITH
and ATTENDING SGI MEETINGS 
KEEP ENCOURAGING OTHERS and
DOING SHAKUBUKU 
and your life will unfold 
into a beautiful chapter you have written...
with every tear...with every smile...and with every effort you've made to sit down, face your life and chant!