difficulties only become problems when we separate ourselves from them instead of dealing with them directly and wholeheartedly.

Our task is to accept each moment and move on from there, continuing to do our level best.

Taigen Dan Leighton has lovingly illumined still another dimension of the human condition.

In studying ourselves, we find the harmony that is our total existence. We do not make harmony. We do not achieve it or gain it. It is there all the time. Here we are, in the midst of this perfect way, and our practice is simply to realize it and then to actualize it in our everyday life.

Feelings and thoughts do not define who we are; they are just part of the weather of our inner world.

To practice Zen means to realize one's existence in the beauty and clarity of this present moment, rather than letting life unravel in useless daydreaming of the past and future.

Letting yourself simply experience your difficulties without getting caught up in thoughts about how much you dislike them and in wishes that you didn't have to deal with them in the first place will change your experience of difficulties.