2013 was my best year yet for learning and overcoming; I hope yours was equally positive!
In this year I look forward to completing my studies in behavioral finance. And equally important, I wish to increase my meditation practice. Here are a couple of Zen concepts to contemplate:
To foster life everything must be killed; once all is destroyed, you can dwell as ease. If you understand this meaning, an iron boat will float across the water. ~Layman P’ang
Something must act as no-thing, no-thing must act as something; shatter both ends and drop off the middle. ~Rinzui
Bliss belongs to one who knows that things are empty, and that man too is no-thing. ~Bukko Kokushi
Cut off dualism and keep a single sword against the cold sky. ~Gokushun
Lovely snowflakes falling one by one nowhere else. ~Tesshu
If Zen does not interest you, cool. Work on simply remembering to think about your breath as many times during the day as you can. Just remember to stop and think about breathing. Return to this moment as often as you can.
Do just this for one year. And if you get bored, try out one of my favorite Latin translations, worthy of all our attention:
“only when the words outperform silence.”
KAIZEN-DO-KA 