Modern life is on the fast drive. The sad thing is, it’s not really more efficient just because of that. Everybody’s running, running, running. It’s like those rodents on a wheel. You’re just endlessly scrambling, scrambling, scrambling, until you fall off, completely exhausted or dead, and you haven’t gotten anywhere. Not really. This is why big organizations like Google and so forth sponsor mindfulness retreats for their employees. It’s not for the sake of the liberation of those poor employees – it’s to keep them from burning out and reduce their stress levels while they’re still on the wheel. We should think about this.During the day, just step back, relax, take a few deep breaths and bring yourself back into the present moment. For each one of us, only we can bring more awareness and clarity into our lives. It’s up to us. No one can do it for us. This doesn’t take time. It just takes attention, awareness, and being more conscious. When we do this, things get done just the same. Yet at the end of it all, you feel that sense of spaciousness, instead of feeling claustrophobic and exhausted. This is the training. We have to train the mind.
As the Buddha said, “Let the wise man tame his mind. A well-tamed mind brings happiness.” So why not have a happy mind?
Our society is very result-oriented, that’s why we are so competitive. That’s why we are always stressed, because we are always looking at something in the distance. If you are always looking at the top of the mountain you are climbing, you cannot be aware of the grass and flowers growing at your feet. We are always looking ahead, aren’t we? And then the actual thing, the actual living, passes us by. We are locked inside our brains, cut off from the present moment, always centered on something beyond our reach. We are imagining this mirage of happiness, satisfaction and fulfillment which will magically appear once this and this and this happens. But what’s happening right now is “it” and it’s the only “it” we have. The rest is just fabrication.
– Tenzin Palmo
from the book “Reflections On A Mountain Lake: Teachings On Practical Buddhism”
“No matter what is happening around us, we do not have to react impulsively, but can learn to respond. Giving into automatic negative reactions can become addictive and it’s important to learn how to diffuse them. Learning how to remain calm in times of stress will not only make things go more smoothly immediately, it can also, over time, help you lead a healthier, happier life.”
Stress that is not properly managed and resolved leads to tension, stiffness, detectable pain, or emptiness, and ensuing:
Contraction of the affected energy meridians, with consequent expansion in others through compensation.
Deranged circulation (excessive, deficient, or unsuitable) of vital force to the main energy centers.
Derangement of the power of transformation.
Derangement of the power of resistance and resiliency.
Functional and structural disorders.
Please observe all your activities, with special attention to sensory input (thinking, hearing, touching, seeing, tasting, and smelling), and consider which can be:
AVOIDED – stressors that can be eliminated entirely
ALTERED – stressors that can be adjusted in frequency, duration, volume, location, etc
ADAPTED – stressors to which we can oppose strategies to increase resilience
ACCEPTED – stressors which cannot be avoided, altered, or adapted, but toward which we can change our attitude, thus reducing ensuing stress
Stress that is not properly managed and resolved leads to tension, stiffness, detectable pain, or emptiness, and ensuing:
Zen Flash 
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