We take life for granted, sleepwalking until a shattering event knocks us awake. Zen says, don't wait until the car accident, the cancer diagnosis, or the death of a loved one to get your priorities straight. Do it now.

Each moment is new. We have never lived it before and will never live it again. It is familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

always thinks of the other; ego thinks only of oneself. Love is always considerate; ego is absolutely inconsiderate. Ego has only one language and that is of self. Ego always uses the other; love is ready to be used, love is ready to serve.

When in doubt, initiate. Say yes—to love, to life, to joining in with others. That is how we stay on the right path and, at the same time, elevate humanity.

Put in an honest day's work. It is the building block of a spiritual life.

Zen teaches that our approach to today determines our whole approach to life.

When we put our keys down, we should be conscious of putting them down. When we pick them up, we should be conscious of picking them up. That's all there is to zen.