The Zen of Positivity
True positivity is Zen.
Many, many years ago, I was introduced to the idea of Zen when my best friend handed me the book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryū Suzuki. FYI, if you have not read this book, I highly recommend it.
Why? Because Zen is an ultimate state of calm, peace, and being present in the here and now.
It’s often joked about and even made fun of. But it’s a very good place to be because it’s ultimately present and now.
The present, this moment, of course, is the only time that’s real. The past is colored by bias, opinion, the imperfection of memory, prejudice, and our personal values and beliefs. Meanwhile, the future is always in motion, as yet unwritten, and subject to more unknowns and uncertainties.
Right now, the present, this moment in time is the only true, real, legit measure of time. Only in the here-and-now can we truly BE, complete and whole. This is a choice, of course, and doable via mindfulness.
Finding and/or creating positivity is a Zen action. Why? Because negativity destroys, neutrality is seldom true, while positivity builds. Thus, I believe that positivity is Zen.
Presently, I am reading a book about Zen practice called Mind Full to Mindful: Zen Wisdom From a Monk’s Bowl by Om Swami. It has been reminding me of how empowering employing Zen has always been to me. And this is why I postulate that positivity is Zen.
Please allow me to elaborate this thought.
What is Zen?
Most often, Zen is associated with meditation practice. While that’s an intricate part of the Zen philosophy, it’s just a part of it.
Zen is grounded in Buddhist tradition, but in my experience, that doesn’t need to be strictly part of the philosophy. Through the centuries, Zen has come to represent a calming of the mind, and with that the body and spirit, too. Its focus is on being present and mindful in the here and now – and just being.
You can find a lot of different definitions of Zen out there. This is one I prefer: Zen is both the moment-to-moment expression of ourselves (within and without) and a practice of realizing the simple joy of being.
What does that mean? It means that this experience, being human, with all our capacity for growth and learning, is amazing. And there is tremendous joy to be found in that truth. Zen is how we exist here, now, in the present, and experience our reality.
Remember, as Einstein said,
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
My reality and your reality might be quite similar. There are probably a lot of aspects and elements of both that are identical. But they are not the same because we are not the same. And that’s the illusion Einstein refers to.
Zen is the embracing of our reality, our life, and doing what we can to truly experience it.
This ties right to positivity
You have a choice every single day. It tends to be one of these three things:
- Go into your day expecting the worst, planning on reacting to negative things and putting out fires and the like.
- Just go with it. Whatever happens, happens. Make no conscious choice, expect nothing, and just let it happen.
- Go into the day with hope, anticipation, and even excitement. Plan for positive things and great new experiences.
Yes, we can and will experience each of these on any given day. We can also experience ALL of these on any given day. But the initial choice, after you wake up, is yours.
Consciousness creates reality. Expect the worst, you’ll most likely get that and the associated negativity. Expect the best and though it might not come to pass, you won’t be positioning yourself to be additionally hurt by it.
It all comes down to choice. And so long as you are alive and drawing breath, you have choices. Yes, they might be poor choices, between the lesser of two evils, or otherwise imperfect – but they still are. So long as you have the choices you can make them as you see fit.
When you are mindful you are consciously aware. That means you can recognize what you are thinking, what and how you’re feeling, the intentions you have, and the actions you do or do not take tying it all together.
Conscious awareness is Zen. You know yourself, in the now. That’s the definition of Zen.
And it ties to positivity because the direction you choose to face on the spectrum between positive and negative is part of Zen.
Remember it’s not a coin
Positivity and negativity are not two sides of a coin. They’re two sides of a flexible cylinder. All of us exist on the cylinder between the positive and negative extremes.
Hence, with some things, we move more towards positivity, with other things more towards negativity. Often, we stand somewhere near the center of the cylinder and choose a direction to face – positive or negative.
This is the realistic approach to both positivity and negativity. Because it recognizes not only that both exist – but that they are counterbalanced from one another. And both are necessary to our lives.
Why? Do certain negative things spur you to desire to make positive changes? If you didn’t know the negative, you’d not know the positive to change, would you?
We exist between the extremes. And we frequently choose positives and negatives. Or we choose nothing at all and just let life live us.
Is that what we’re here to do? Just to survive, to just exist, grow old and die? No. We are here to experience things. To live. To learn.
Yes, we’re going to grow old and die – but in the meantime, shouldn’t we live?
This is why Zen can be incredibly empowering.
It’s also why positivity is Zen. Because when you practice active positivity, you are choosing to live, to be, to experience. And that is the ultimate way to experience a Zen mind.
Finally, please remember this – Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion. It can be tied to and even merged with other religions. But it’s a powerfully empowering philosophy that can help us all lead better, more content, more present, fuller lives. Hence, we can find and/or create the Zen of positivity therein.
Recognizing the Zen of positivity isn’t hard
It’s all about working with mindfulness of our thoughts, feelings, and intentions to direct our actions.
When we work to be mindfully aware of ourselves and where we are on the cylinder between positivity and negativity, we open ourselves to seeing how positivity builds all kinds of things in and for our lives – while negativity destroys. Knowing that we can make choices and decisions to be mindful, and thus Zen, we can use this to face towards positivity. And all that can help us build as we live and be to the fullest we can.
This empowers us – and in turn, our empowerment can empower others around us. That can expand to change the bigger picture matters.
Choosing for ourselves generally leans positively.
Taking an approach to positivity and negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts the concept in a way to open more dialogue. In that form, we can explore and share where we are between those extremes and how that impacts us here and now.
Lastly, I believe the better aware we are of ourselves in the now, the more we can do to choose and decide how our life experiences will be. If that empowers us, it can also open those around us to their own empowerment. And that is, to me, a worthwhile endeavor to explore and share.
Thank you for coming along on this ride with me.
This is the four hundred and forty-first entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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