As a human being, one has been endowed with just enough intelligence to be able to see clearly how utterly inadequate that intelligence is when confronted with what exists. I sometimes say, when I meet a sharp younger person, “If I knew what I know now, at your age, by now I’d be king.

All of us have the desire to know more and have made so many mistakes. Taking ownership of failure builds the foundation for success. Use the experience to go forward having learned what not to do again.  Do not be disheartened by occasional blunders or failures. Turn the next similar situation around by not repeating the error. Do not dwell one moment on your past miscalculations. So why not learn from my faux pas and the errors of others. Or, you can live a few lifetimes and make all the mistakes yourself. Can you afford it?

All flowers need manure. Satoru

In these days’ innovation and change are critical to survival. You must not live in the past and dream of the future. Zen is about living in the now. The present is the most important aspect of your life. The past is gone and the future a theoretical concept. If your present is solid and positive, it is the best way to insure a good future since it is the basis for any plans you can make.

In life’s cycles, there are saturations and times of less intensity. Live the fast times consciously and reflect the experiences when the time has slowed down.

In the elegant language of the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, “He is a man of sense who does not grieve for what he has not, but rejoices in what he has.”

Satoru

The more successful you are the easier it is to lead. If you have success you can afford better advisors, food, health care, and most of all you have more energy. Seek out an older successful person and ask their advice. Consider the information they give you with a view toward change and having a vision. Stop everything and listen to the quiet to have contact with your intuition and creative thoughts. Forget about multitasking and focus on doing one thing with quality and excellence. Life is action, but do not confuse activity with progress. Satoru

You must not be a casualty of someone else’s dream.

At some point in your life, if you are not happy with your actuality, relationships, or health, you have to decide whether to continue your attitude and old ways, later have many regrets, or make the changes necessary to achieve your goals by starting now. Bear in mind that if you have a lot of excuses not to alter and improve your existence, that the justifications are probably well planned lies. You may just want a normal life and authenticity. Forget it. Normal left our times long ago and does not figure on returning anytime soon. Satoru

You are to be given a strange, unique, ability. You can choose one or the other. You cannot tell anyone, or even hint at, or profit from the capacity, or it is instantly revoked. Both faculties are dependent on touch. One is the gift of life, the other death. If you choose life then when you touch someone, in a few weeks they will become stronger, healthier and live years longer than they would have lived. If you choose death, when you touch someone in a few weeks they will die. Which do you choose? Why? Which choice will better the world? Why? Do you help your friends and some good or brilliant people live a longer more productive life, or do you clean up all the garbage and rid the world of dictators, corruption, the nefarious, and those who contribute nothing? Which is the more positive outcome?

Satoru