I visited a friend this afternoon. We sat in his backyard and enjoyed the simple and healthy fare I brought over. Salad, and guacamole and hummus with carrot sticks and cauliflower florets. All organic. (Of course!) We enjoyed a pleasant couple of hours together.

When I returned home I sat down to chant for him. When I finished, and rose from the chair to occupy myself with long-overdue household chores, I heard my inner voice say calmly and quietly:

“Confronting myself is what I least like to do. So it’s what I most need to do.”

I grabbed the nearest piece of paper to write the message down in order not to lose it among the plethora of thoughts about quotidian affairs. A few more words came forth as I scribbled:

So how did this message from my inner Universe come about?

I send out WhatsApp texts of inspiring Buddhist quotes to a bunch of people on a daily basis. Recently all the quotes have been about a central tenet of the Soka Gakkai Buddhist organisation – human revolution. To quote Daisaku Ikeda, the president of SGI:

Life is about expressing and developing our individuality as fully as possible – it is about self-realisation.
This process is what I call “human revolution.”

Yesterday I texted:

This morning’s quote read:

Add to this that yesterday, I “happened” to focus in on another Ikeda quote that has sat, unnoticed, on top of one of my sound system speakers for months:

“Our future self does not exist in some far-off place; it exists in the heart and mind of our present self. That is why we must face and tackle the realities that confront us.”

This guidance did not please me. I experienced one of those difficult days yesterday. My mind felt amorphous and like anything but facing and tackling reality. That seemed far too multi-faceted and overwhelming. But I still carried out my Buddhist practice, aware that it made me feel less lost.

Then this morning I attended a fantastic SGI Canada Buddhist meeting organised by and featuring young adults and teens. I came away feeling inspired, especially by the heartwarming clarity they gave me that chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo sets the Mystic Law in motion. I felt so encouraged!

Especially when one of the senior youth leaders spoke. I’ve known this young man since he was a little kid. I recalled that when he finally decided what he wanted to do with his life he chanted for it, despite believing it was absolutely impossible for him to achieve. It took years and much struggle and effort, but he made his dream come true, and grew beautifully in the process.

He set the Mystic Law in motion, confronted himself, took repeated action, and created a new self.

This weekend, faced with the prospect of writing another piece for my blog, I didn’t want to. My resistance reared its ugly head with a hauntingly familiar story: “It’s too difficult.” It’s too much hard work.” “You won’t do it well enough.” Blah, blah, blah…

But, here I sit, armed with my laptop and the Universe’s repeated messages to me that actually, confronting and challenging my negativity and weakness makes me capable of achieving so much more than I have before.

As my mentor says: “the effort is worthwhile in the end.” 🙂

Photo by Benjamin Wedemeyer on Unsplash