Nothing left to do? Laugh!

My Zen calendar today, "Nothing is left to you at this moment but to have a good laugh!"

Good advice. Grouch Marx was known to have said, "A clown is like an aspirin, only he works twice as fast."

So...A man went to his doctor complaining of painful headaches. After concluding his tests, the doctor said, "There's only one solution, but it's extreme: castration." The patient said he could never resort to that and he walked out.

As the weeks went on, his headaches go so painful he couldn't take it any longer. He went back to the doctor and agreed to the castration. The operation was a big success, and the patient couldn't believe that his headaches were finally gone. He felt like a new man. He was so excited about his new life that he went to a tailor and bought a whole new set of clothes---suits, socks, shirts, even underwear.

In jotting down all the appropriate information, the tailor finally asked, "What size underwear do you wear?"
"Forty" replied the man.
"Oh, no," said the tailor. "You're a 44 if I ever saw one. If you wear underwear that tight, you'll get terrible headaches!"

Oh, well...nothing left to do but laugh.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Celebrate

C.Om posted on facebook a few day ago about celebrating life.  So true. I love this photo of this child. Wow.

I have noticed that at times I have been way too serious about life...playing it safe. I can use the excuse that I have been raising a family (and still am) and that I need to make sure their safety and security is intact. I accept this as the role of Dad...but I am also to show my family how to truly live!

Sometimes, playing it safe is just too dull. I want to make sure my kids now it is okay to laugh, roll in the mud and just have a good time without having to worry about what others think.  Now, I am not advocating anarchy or a total free for all, but a time of pure jubiliation about being alive.  That life is a celebration of just being here...and it goes by in a flash, like lightening in the sky. You gotta live it up.

So...the next time you feel like playing it safe, mostly because you are worried about what the neighbors might think...stop...remember what it was like when you were 8 or 10 or 13. Then smile, fart, and let out a laugh that will make your neighbors think you have gone insane.  Mine already know I am.  I play in the backyard with swords, nunchakus, bokken and at times just do my kata....I must truly look nuts to them.  I also yell a bit...just enough to feel good...and not enough for the cops to show up. (One of neighbors is a bit nuts and calls the cops if you look at her wrong.)

My neighborhood is full of little kids now, with my kids being the older ones.  When I watch them play they play with abandon!  Now that's fun. That's a celebration. 

On a parting note: As Martial Artists we should do our kata as a celebration. A celebration of our art...let it rip!

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Just This

Make this moment's purpose more magical and beautiful than any hoped-for-future or wished-for-dreams.

It just might make you laugh your ass off!




Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen