STEP 1 Decision / Willingness / Courage
The Duck ...
Decision
As the caption says..
The first step to getting anywhere is deciding
you’re no longer willing to stay where you are!
I love the wisdom embedded in this statement.
The key to the wisdom of the statement lies in two vital words: deciding and willing.
It is important to notice what the duck decided to do and what the duck did not do. The duck did not dive into the boardwalk, or a sidewalk, or a street. The duck decided to dive straight into the water, which is a part of his natural habitat. I think the water, in a way, called to him to jump in, just as I believe our true nature calls us to jump in and take a swim in the lake of spiritual truth.
Willingness
We have to be willing to make the same kind of decision. Making a commitment to change for the sake of change will not take us to the destination we seek; we want to make a commitment to a change that makes sense and a change that brings the truth of who we are to the surface of our lives.
Courage
The duck made a courageous, committed decision to go forward, with no detours, no stop signs, and full speed ahead. The Zen master in the parable below had the courage to live with peace, joy, love, and freedom regardless of the circumstances the river of life washed upon his shore.
Ah, so* – A Zen Parable
The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him.
Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.
This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin
In great anger the parents went to the master and charged him.
“Ah, so?” was all he would say.
After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had
lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care
of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the little one needed.
Two years later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth—that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.
The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.
Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was, “Ah, so.”
* This parable is also known as: Is That So?
Reps, Paul. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection Of Zen And Pre-Zen Writings (p. 27). Pickle Partners Publishing. Kindle Edition.
An Important Detour
Let me introduce you to our Park Benches – a wonderful place to ponder great questions and enjoy insightful stories and parables.
The button below takes you directly to my story about the life-changing insights I experienced during my first reading of the parable, Ah, so.
Or you can go to Park Benches: Stories and Parables and look for: Jeanne’s Ah, so Life-changing Experience.
Then come back to this page to continue STEP 1.
Continue STEP 1 here...
Two Key Questions
The two questions to answer honestly for yourself if you want to experience LOVE, PEACE, JOY, and FREEDOM in your life are:
- Have you consciously, completely, and deliberately decided that you no longer
want to feel lost, afraid, angry, sad, and lonely? - Are you sincerely willing, committed, and determined to do whatever it takes to
find a new way of life that is filled with peace, joy, love and freedom?
If the answer to those two questions is a resounding, confident, resolute YES, then I know
without question that you will succeed in experiencing what you seek.
There are some important, fundamental concepts to understand in order to make the changes necessary to achieve the goals you seek; they are:
- Are you willing to pursue a spiritual path? The goals of peace, joy, love and freedom are spiritual in nature.
The path to these goals is a spiritual one, not a practical or logical or a clinically psychological one, though the
spiritual path incorporates some practical, logical and psychological elements along the way. - Love and freedom are who you are. Are you willing to accept that statement as truth? Love and freedom are
not goals to achieve; they are the essence of the true self to be uncovered, unveiled, revealed.
- The way to unveil the truth of who we are is to discover how to achieve peace of mind and how to have a joyful
heart. The goal is to achieve the peace that passes all understanding and to be the joy that is boundless.
- Once these goals are achieved, you will experience the love and freedom that you already are – yes, you are love
and freedom at your core; the purpose of this website is to provide some tools to help people achieve peace of mind
and to have a joyful heart, and I sincerely believe we can do that together.
Are you ready?
CALL TO ACTION
Questions?
Ask Jeanne
The purpose of this website is to help create positive, life-changing experiences. The best way to experience something is to do it.
After each of the Seven Steps, a “CALL TO ACTION” is provided which recommends an activity, or activities, to perform in order to experience the concept presented in the step.
The recommended activity for STEP 1 is:
This activity is not a formal meditation exercise.
The purpose of this activity is to experience a complete sense of safety.
- Deliberately schedule 12 minutes of alone time.
- Find a place that is:
a. Physically comfortable for sitting
b. Quiet and without the chance of interruption
c. Has peaceful lighting - Get into a physically comfortable position
- Take a deep breath and allow your body to slowly, totally relax.
- The goal is to experience feeling completely safe for 2 minutes. You will not have to worry about the time since you have given yourself 12 minutes. You will have time to settle into the activity, time to experience the sense of safety, and time to get ready to move on after the activity.
a. You are to feel physically safe: the goal is to know that you can sit here without concern for your physical safetyb. You are to feel emotionally safe: the goal is to know that nothing from the past can bother you at this time in this place. Whatever has happened in the past cannot touch you right now. Let all concerns, sorrows, pain, guilt and anger go. There is no need for them here and now; they serve no valuable purpose here and now.
c. You are to feel psychologically safe: the goal is to release all concern about the future; you can face the future after the 12 minutes you have allowed yourself for this activity. Right now, in these few minutes, there is nothing in the past or the future or the present that is a threat to your sense of safety.
d. Be willing to deliberately decide to let everything go; there is no other place you need to be; there is nothing else you need to be doing; you scheduled this time to be here doing this activity. You are exactly where you are to be, doing exactly what you are to be doing.
e. Relax into complete safety. Allow yourself to fully experience that complete safety for
two minutes. Stay there longer only if you want to. - When you are ready, leave this spot and continue with your day or evening. If you can take the sense of safety with you, great; if you cannot, that is fine too. This activity is designed to allow not only the cells in your body but also your psyche to begin to experience a sense of safety, which is the first inkling of peace.
- STEP 2 provides a formula that has the possibility to create the peace and joy you seek. Go there when you are ready to concentrate on the content of STEP 2.