Personal Narrative: The Marrow Of Zen

The city always seemed to push the stars farther away from the world in the dead of night. Rain had begun to sprinkle downtown and it began to trickle across the top of the parked cars in the street. Vernon was sitting there silently listening to the drizzle outside that sounded like pebbles falling on a tin roof, still thinking about the dreams his been having. The Coffee Cup was like any other diner nestled between apartments and liquor stores. There was seven cut-up stools and behind them against the wall sat a cigarette machine and no smoking sign. The counter was worn from years of service. Two booths sat facing the storefront windows

Put the gun down! Put the gun down! Pow Pow Pow. The gun shots cracked into the air as loud as thunder. One after another. We live day by day not knowing our end. In the blink of an eye our lives can be changed forever. Its life, yet even in knowing this we never expect tragedy to find us. We never expect it to affect our lives and the people we know and love. I’m going to share with you the day tragedy found my life.

The stone was cold and I could feel the pain swelling up inside. I took a step towards the edge, I thought to myself, “One more step and the worries would end…” if only it was that easy.

Title: Have a gala time with cycle rides and long walks with your next Trip to Amsterdam

I think that is an excellent thought, Lindsey. When I first read this that is what I thought as well. Whenever Ada begins to let Susan love her, and whenever Susan starts to show more affection Ada lashes out. I think that Ada lashes out because she feels like she is not deserving of love, and she is not deserving of nice things. This just tears me up inside when a person does not feel like they are worth being loved. The amount of damage that Ada has suffered is almost irreversible now and I think Susan is starting to realize that this will not be an easy fix. I am honestly surprised at how normal Jamie is because even though he was not the one who was abused, he witnessed the abuse. I am glad that he has not lost his trust in people. This

It became normal. I started to believe these names. If somebody called out, Tree, I would look around. In the barn scene, Kunta was getting ready to escape, and Fiddler was helping him after he was singing that lullaby. Kunta had asked Fiddler his name, his real name, and I have to admit, that moment was really emotional. Fiddler seemed to come to an understanding of how unbreaking Kunta was. I feel Kunta wasn’t built for a slave, his roots, his mindset, and his resilience wouldn’t allow it. This leads to him escaping, or trying to escape, many times. The first time he was bought by Samson, and the other times, he was caught by dogs. A very disappointing moment for me, because my nerves had built up while he was running, so when he was caught, I was extremely disappointed. It seemed to me, when he was escaping the second time, he was doing it not only for himself, but to Fiddler, and his family. Maybe even Jinna. At the end, where he was losing contact with his parents, was absolutely heartbreaking to me, because he is giving up. He was giving into his new identity, losing his

She had grabbed her pink Cruiser, and like always, I had ended up riding her little brother’s bike. We made our way out of the garage, into the cul de sac, and ended up taking a left turn onto the narrow road, where only three houses resided. This road was always one of my favorite places in town. Though short, the road had a canopy of willows and a bright blue house on the left hand side. Once we passed the blue house, the bike path dipped down and suddenly, we were in the park. Today, Jacqueline and I decided to go the left side of the park. We passed a line of trees and proceeded the route. This part of the bike trail followed the fence of the blue house, leading to the swale, and then the garden. About every 50 feet, we passed a bench. What's the worst thing that could happen to two second grade girls on

While instinctively wanting to force them out, Suzuki instructs us to allow them their momentary existence. For after some time, they will eventually leave on their own. By trying to calm them, you will cause unnecessary pain upon yourself and lose the zazen posture. “If you try to calm your mind, you will be unable to sit.” (Suzuki, 33) This exercise trains us in the ability to see what is as what is. We allow life to progress, and we just observe its movements. Focusing on our breathing allows us to concentrate on maintaining our posture, thereby keeping ourselves straight in the movements of life. By relinquishing control, there’s one less thing that impedes our ability to experience the present

I hereby tender my request for my listener account to be deleted, immutably. Not deactivated, not put on hold, not suspended. I am well aware of my options, and trust me when I say that it is only after careful consideration and painstaking deliberation, that I arrive at this conclusion. Long, dreary nights spent agonising over which one is the right one ; which is the best possible outcome, under these set of circumstances? At this juncture in my life, what do I have to do, what do I need to do, what should I do? So many options, so many variables, so much room for error … a careless oversight, a lapse in judgement, a fatal miscalculation … that is all it would take to spell disaster. I would never forgive myself.

On June 4, I died. Well, metaphorically speaking. Let me rephrase that— I was reborn.

I am so humbled to have been a part of such a huge production and event this past weekend in West Palm Beach, FL. I Co Produced the first ever A Concert for Humanity benefit concert, benefiting the amazing charity Wells of Life. Did you know? every 21 seconds a child dies from drinking contaminated water. The Incredible team and I put together a concert to bring awareness to this and I have to say, we kicked ass. We got the Grammy Nominated NEEDTOBREATHE to fly out and put on the concert of a lifetime. 5 (short) weeks of hard work, planning, studying and preparing we were able to bring it all together. There were many highlights of my weekend, talking with the creators of Wells Of Life, meeting to many selfless people, hanging with the band,

There were racks for you to place your shoes and other belongings. As I looked around the room a saw this picture that said: “DANA” to give of yourself with no thought of return. I stood there for a moment thinking how I could apply this in my daily walk of life. The room seemed to have a certain type of silence; I could smell some type of incense being burned; the smell reminded me of a sandalwood fragrance. There was a large gold statue of Buddha on a table with a container of incense, and a small gold cup filled with water. I was greeted and escorted to a room for their Zazen meditation. I was informed to sit on a black mat with a small circle black pillow until I hear three rings to start the meditation, then I would hear three more rings then I should turn to face the

I had to learn this lesson all on my own. It was hard and difficult to finally get the idea of my personal belief system. I believe it is mind over body if you can believe it you can achieve it. Just like the little boy playing with his fire truck when he grows up he can be a firefighter or anything that he believes he can be. Just like I believed that I would walk during my graduation. I actually got this idea of walking during graduation when I saw my older brothers graduation and had preconceived notions during seventh grade. I never thought that this dream possible to accomplish. It was at my eighth grade graduation that I really began to believe that it was possible for me to walk at my high school graduation. I am not saying that it was easy; I had to put in hard work, sweat, and tears to accomplish this goal.

I don’t really have a religion. It’s crazy, I know. I’m surrounded by people who insist I should believe. But why? Why should I be forced into one singular religion where there are flaws? I’m not an atheist, though. I think there might possibly be a divine being (or beings)? I guess you can say i’m agnostic? My father was raised in a christian home but that didn’t stick. He’s been fascinated with different religions, so he’s not really “tied down” to just one. That’s why I’ve never been to a service until today. (Is it even called a service? See, I don’t know!) I’ve only ever been in churches for weddings and those events have happened to me a staggering three times. So, yeah. I’m not experienced with this at all. So obviously I thought, “Hey,

“Vous aimeriez prendre le voiture?” the shuttle driver asks my family as we stand impatiently in the spot where the hotel shuttle was supposed to pick us up a good half hour ago. My dad doesn’t speak any French, but he takes charge and nods at the driver as we are guided into the shuttle. It’s been a long day of looping through the ins and outs of “hidden” parts of Paris (my mom hates tourist attractions) and we sit quietly in the van, admiring the stunning European scenery that flicks past us as the driver recklessly zooms through the streets. Oddly, there are no other cars on the road, and the driver takes full advantage of it as he swerves and makes sharp turns, every sudden step on the brakes jolting us awake from our half-asleep countenances.