Paul asks…
How do you remain consistent in the things you do in your daily life?
I started practicing Zen Buddhism and it has made me notice my surroundings and such more but I am lacking the consistent effort to do things I plan at certain hours. Any advice?
Simple things like eating, sleeping, waking, showering, etc.
I’m sure you have these same bad habits to some extent. How do you remain disciplinary?
cjbarnaby answers:
What makes you believe that habits are a good thing? If you do everything in the same way, at the same time, in the same place, there is no mystery to life, just my opinion….if you always know where and where the rabbit is going to appear, it is easier to catch.
You can be disciplined without routines
Mary asks…
Has Your Mp3 Player Changed Your Listening Habits?
iPods, Zunes, Zens..whatever one you own. What were your listening habits like *before* you had it & has it changed since getting one?
I am a proud, new owner of a 16 gb Zen. My very 1st mp3 player. 
Feel like I’ve entered the 21st century a 3rd time. (1st time on Jan. 1st 2000, 2nd time when I got a laptop 2.5 years ago & again now w/ the Zen)
As for me, I’ve *always* loved my music on the go. Be it on foot or by car or bus, train etc…ever since the 80s for the Sony Walkmans! lol Then I graduated to the portable cd players.
Both of those were great, but annoying cause y’hadda GUESS which tapes or cds you MIGHT wanna hear later on.
With this, man, I got ALL my music & w/ no moving parts.
It doesn’t get any better…
Alex-
No- but I always thought the Roger Dean owl logo was Very cool!
Olde Sch’-
I’m still figuring out all the features on this thing. I’m not even sure if the feature you mentioned is on my model or not. It’s just a …Zen. lol No “V’.
cjbarnaby answers:
If I couldn’t listen to any music in a day, I’d feel like something was sorely missing. I’ve always been a huge music listener, from having a record player when I was a kid (no, I’m not THAT old!) to moving on to a tape player and eventual Walkman when I got older. And when any of my players, either portable or not, didn’t play my music the way I liked it, I immediately replaced it . I HAD to – or else I’d go crazy!
When I got my iPod, I was ecstatic. First of all, I loved the fact I could download music from artists all over the world, people I knew I would never be able to ever buy an album from in the US. But, most of all, I loved the convenience of being able to take my entire music library anywhere I go! And I’m making sure the next car I get is going to have an mp3 jack in it.
Too bad they haven’t invented continual music chips to implant into your skull, like a bio-iPod for your brain. It could run off your body’s electrical energy, so you’d never have to worry about replacing batteries. Then you could really listen to your music and anywhere and everywhere. The only trick might be the volume control….
Oh – I noticed your picture up above. Were you a fan of Psygnosis games? Please tell me you were a Lemmings freak like me!
Carol asks…
What is your favorite blog ?
Lately I love reading blogs. I got some great advices from many of them. And at least for me personally at least I gain something by reading blogs instead of watching reality tv or spending hours on facebook !
I recently discovers
http://www.calnewport.com/blog/ —-> for students !
http://zenhabits.net/2008/07/the-beginners-guide-to-zen-habits-a-guided-tour/ —> life advice
Can you please tell me what blogs are you reading?
I’m searching for a good fashion blog as well as a movie blog. Any recommendation is welcomed
cjbarnaby answers:
Http://omghorror.blogfaction.com/legacy/ <— horror movies, books, and so on.
????
Helen asks…
Zen/Physcology experts: HELP! I judge people ):?
The way of Zen is improve one’s well-being / happiness / life by letting improvement within one’s self flow, not be forced. As in, when you have a destructive thought or procrastinate or do something that’s just not helping you become a better you, you don’t scold yourself for it, you say “okay. I did that. Moving on…”
This is because when you scold yourself for something like procrastinating in typing up a report , just as an example, your mentally establishing this idea that you aren’t good enough; you were built with faults you MUST fix; you must reinvent yourself.
But with Zen, when one catches themselves procrastinating , back to that example , one takes a second to address themselves, “I’m procrastinating because I had a habit of doing this when I was younger but now I can’t get away with it; Now it’s catching up to me.” <- here, you realize that you’re not built wrong; the way you procrastinate is because of the way you live, and essentially, the idea of Zen is that all things can be explained, and that we’re all “perfect” (by the ability to explain one’s actions with reasoning) .
But here is my problem:
I want to take people for who they are, without judging them.
But how can I do this. How can I change myself that much. Naturally, I don’t think about it until after the conversation, to realize that I just judged someone’s actions, or narrowed in on someone’s shortcomings (and not looked at them as a whole.), and it’s really a bother.
Emotions are just excessively more complex than I feel like I take them for, like when I’m flustered in public, it’s a lot harder to just take the mental time to dwell on my Zen strategies of how to address and accept why I’m upset, and flow with it, and move on.
In such cases as being aggravated in public, and by public, I mean school or work or an office or a party; place where people are talking to you and things are going on that you should be putting your mental thoughts into, not Zen.
Should I just practice meditating? Yoga? How can I bring up my confidence, and accepting of my flaws (which will then hopefully help me channel my acceptance into a natural change -> improvement!) ? Anything you guys have to say, thank you. (:
cjbarnaby answers:
Hi iCan,
In his book, “Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life,” Thich Nhat Hanh wrote: “When I was in Vietnam, so many of our villages were being bombed. Along with my monastic brothers and sisters, I had to decide what to do. Should we continue to practice in our monasteries, or should we leave the meditation halls in order to help the people who were suffering under the bombs? After careful reflection, we decided to do both- to go out and help people and to do so in mindfulness. We called it engaged Buddhism. Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?
We must be aware of the real problems of the world. Then, with mindfulness, we will know what to do and what not to do to be of help. If we maintain awareness of our breathing and continue to practice smiling, even in difficult situations, many people, animals, and plants will benefit from our way of doing things. Are you massaging our Mother Earth every time your foot touches her? Are you planting seeds of joy and peace? I try to do exactly that with every step, and I know our Mother Earth is most appreciative. Peace is every step.” Best wishes.
Ken asks…
Passing judgment on to others? Need Zen/Psychological advice.?
The way of Zen is improve one’s well-being / happiness / life by letting improvement within one’s self flow, not be forced. As in, when you have a destructive thought or procrastinate or do something that’s just not helping you become a better you, you don’t scold yourself for it, you say “okay. I did that. Moving on…”
This is because when you scold yourself for something like procrastinating in typing up a report , just as an example, your mentally establishing this idea that you aren’t good enough; you were built with faults you MUST fix; you must reinvent yourself.
But with Zen, when one catches themselves procrastinating , back to that example , one takes a second to address themselves, “I’m procrastinating because I had a habit of doing this when I was younger but now I can’t get away with it; Now it’s catching up to me.” <- here, you realize that you’re not built wrong; the way you procrastinate is because of the way you live, and essentially, the idea of Zen is that all things can be explained, and that we’re all “perfect” (by the ability to explain one’s actions with reasoning) .
But here is my problem:
I want to take people for who they are, without judging them.
But how can I do this. How can I change myself that much. Naturally, I don’t think about it until after the conversation, to realize that I just judged someone’s actions, or narrowed in on someone’s shortcomings (and not looked at them as a whole.), and it’s really a bother.
Emotions are just excessively more complex than I feel like I take them for, like when I’m flustered in public, it’s a lot harder to just take the mental time to dwell on my Zen strategies of how to address and accept why I’m upset, and flow with it, and move on.
In such cases as being aggravated in public, and by public, I mean school or work or an office or a party; place where people are talking to you and things are going on that you should be putting your mental thoughts into, not Zen.
Should I just practice meditating? Yoga? How can I bring up my confidence, and accepting of my flaws (which will then hopefully help me channel my acceptance into a natural change -> improvement!) ? Anything you guys have to say, thank you. (
cjbarnaby answers:
My goal is to be as aware of myself as I can be under all conditions
and circumstances. Life is sleep inducing. When I am engaged in life
I am in one of the most powerful influences that separate me from
myself. The medium through which I can remain awake is slow
to develop and difficult to manage. I have to be sly if I am to stay awake.
The most effective means I have found in which to remain aware is
to break my habits. If, for example, I wake up to my judgmentalism
in the midst of being judgmental, I can be judgmental on purpose.
This requires that I have something within that can observe me,
and that can change the ground rules, so to speak. To struggle
against judgement only puts me in a deeper sleep. I have to accept that
I am judgmental in order to have it change. Its a catch 22 situation.
Seeing that I am judgmental and having a desire to be otherwise is
a judgement unto itself.
Meditation can be an effective means by which to wake up.
I was taught early on that if I can remain awake in the most
difficult of circumstances I can be awake in all
circumstances. There is a drawback to eliminating habitual
behavior. Every thing I do degrades to habit. I have to keep
abreast of my habits and change them when they develop.
This means constant ongoing vigilance as to what is
beginning to be habit and the replacement of sleep
inducing behavior with new approaches that are fresh and
new and can keep the attention of my minds eye.
One word of caution. To impose expectations on a means
of self development is to attach to the idea of a reward
and lose sight of what we seek. Awareness. Awareness
techniques are only that. What comes from awareness
is not predictable. We my seek an answer and we may receive
one that has nothing to do with our question.
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