Negativity

This world is a great place. We have been given a great opportunity in this thing called life to really enjoy ourselves. However, there are times when life seems less than grand. As I have said before, these are the times when you really have to show your ‘stuff,’ and just be happy. One of the hindrances to that happiness is negativity.

Whenever your take a negative outlook on a situation, it is guaranteed to end in a negative way. For instance, if you are buying a car and you go into the experience thinking, “I’m gonna end up with a lemon, I just know it,” then you are most likely going to be so preoccupied with this thought that you are actually going to make a really poor choice and end up with a lemon. If you do luck out and buy a nice vehicle at a nice price, you will be so afraid that it is a Lemon that you will not enjoy the car and not value having it. Let me break it down into an equation:

Negative Thought+Negative Situation=Negative Experience
Negative Thought+Positive Situation=Negative Experience

I know that it is possible that even with a positive outlook on a situation, you can still end up with a less than desirable outcome. However I am reminded of the great words of Lama Yeshe, "It is never too late. Even if you are going to die tomorrow, Keep yourself straight and clear and be a happy human being today. If you keep your situation happy day by day, you will eventually reach the greatest happiness of Enlightenment." With a positive outlook, you may find that the poor situations become less so. You start to see the good and pure in almost anything. It is a proven fact that humans have a tendency to see in something mainly what they are looking to find in it. This tendency is called subjective perception. This means that if you try and see a good and/or positive outcome in a situation, then chances are, you will end up not noticing any negative things that may have happened.

I know that you may be thinking, “even though I did not notice the bad things, it does not mean it did not happen.” To this I say that you are right, but if you do not notice them, then they really didn’t matter did they? Thus, what matters is your perception not the reality (seeing as perception is reality). The reason that this works so well with the buddhist belief of unreasonable happiness (or for all buddhist

Meditation

Many people do not understand the art of meditation. I have had people tell me that “just siting around and sleeping” is not going to help the world. They do not see any good that can arrive from doing nothing. The reason that these people are blind to the concept of meditation is because they do not understand the true meaning of nothingness.

The idea is that if there is complete silence, truth has nothing to hide behind. By silence, I do not mean the area in which you are meditating, but instead one must silence the noise in your mind. All of those little voices that you hear telling you that you cannot live without something or telling you that you should do something, but you do not know why. When you have reached a state of pure nothingness, you will see the correct path.

This reminds me of a quote from Morihei Ueshiba, the great O-Sensai of Aikido, “Always keep your mind as bright and clear as the vast sky, the great ocean, and the highest peak, empty of all thoughts.” I know that this may seem like a very difficult task to accomplish, but it seems less so if you liken yourself to an ocean of water. The water in the ocean has no shape unto itself. If the wind is blowing the water will be rough, but if the sky is calm the you may be able to see your own reflection. This is how our mind should be, we can think about the task at hand, but as soon as the weather changes we should be able to see our face reflecting back at us. Meditation helps us achieve this.

To meditate is to look to ones self and silence everything so we may see our true essence. This is a skill and as with all skills it takes practice. We can get good enough at it that we can meditate at anytime, anywhere. Eventually, you might be able to live life in a state of meditation. This might be liked to enlightenment or nirvana. For some people this may never happen, and for others, it happens right away. This just depends on how free your ind is now.

Once you embrace the idea that meditation is “just sitting around and doing nothing,” then you will realize how powerful it is. So, ready . . . set . . . DO NOTHING!

Change

Today, I want to discuss the constant of change. It's ok, you can come out from under that table, there's really nothing to fear. It seems to be that it is part of the human condition to avoid change. It seems not to matter what the change is, everyone still tends to be leery of it. Why is this?

A man named Harold Wilson once said that, "He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery." Do we really progress with change? When we move to a new town, are we not progressing into a new culture? What about something as simple as changing our cloths? Is a new pair of pants progress or just a new pair of pants? Change is all around us, but you choose how deeply you wish to look for it. If you are having a bad day as you go home to change your pants (say you spilt something on your old ones), and after putting on the new pair you feel a lot better, isn't that a change? Every change in life is a chance to try something new. For some people that is the freedom to start over, and avoid mistakes. For others, an opportunity to make them. Change gives us a creative license to make the most out of life, and not be tied down by the past.

So let's assume for a moment that change is a good thing. Let us also assume there is a human that does not innately reject change, what would that lend it self to? I believe that one whom accepts change (dare I say looks forward to it) leads a more fulfilling life. This person does not fear the unknown because they know that they can handle whatever may come there way. They have found the 'flow' of life. These type of people usually look like they "just have it together," because they usually do.

Then you see the people that always look like a chicken with their head cut off. They never know which way is up, down, left, or right. People like this seem to do ok as long as everything stays the same, but as soon as change happens, their world comes crashing down and their life grinds to a halt. These people do not have it together, they do not try to flow with their surroundings.

With that in mind, I challenge you. I challenge you to observe all of the stress in your life and find ways that you can flow with it. It might be in the work place. If your boss is asking a lot of you recently and you do not feel that you are getting enough in return, try to remember that the journey is not yet over. This could be your chance to really show your metal and make a lasting impression. Today I ask you, please do not support decay. Instead I urge you to flow with this change, and emerge a beautiful butterfly.

Be Happy

Today I would like to reveal the secret to life; be happy. That is all there is to it. If you want to live a worry free life, all you have to do is be happy. Now, I know that this sounds easier to do than it really is, but I know that it can be achieved.

Buddhism has had a very large impact on my life, and this is one of the lessons that I have learned from it. I am not going to run through every Buddhist sutra, word-for-word, but I would like to give you an idea of what he had to say. A Buddhist believes that everything is created by the mind. When I mean everything, I do not just mean sensations (like being cold, or hot, or hungry). I mean EVERYTHING from the things you feel, right down to the computer that you are looking at. Anything can be created or destroyed with the mind. If you assume this is true, then it really should not be too hard to make yourself happy. I know that happiness does not just come about for most people just like that, but it is a choice; a choice that requires effort at times. We do not need to view happiness as something that needs to be acquired, instead, we should listen to the great words of Burton Hills, "Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."

Here you sit, thinking, "Yes, Dave, that does sound easy. From now on I will be happy!" Before you run around for the rest of the day with a fake smile painted on your face you have to realize that this choice will be one of the hardest choices of your life. It is easy to smile when things are going really well. If you have great job that you enjoy, are in a great relationship with someone that you love, and all of the bills are paid, there is no reason not to smile. But, what if you are in a go nowhere job, you are single (or in a relationship with constant fighting), and you are drowning in a sea of endless debt? Which way will your lips be curved then? It is when we are being pushed to our limit, when the weight of the world feels on your shoulders that your true resolve will be tested. This is when you truly need to be happy with the little things in life. As Thich Nhat Hanh put it, "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." If you can look around in a bad situation and just laugh, then you will see more and more happiness in your everyday life. This is a very handy tool to carry in your pack while wandering . . .

Wander With Me

Welcome to Blind Wanderings. My name is Dave Macias and I am blind. Don't worry, I do not mean that in the literal sense, my eyesight is perfectly fine. Instead, I mean blind in the metaphorical sense. I am sightlessly walking about this life just trying to make it all click. During my journeys I have run into my fair share of walls; whether in the form of people, problems, or actual walls! But, I have found that no matter the obstacle that is placed in front of me, I seem to deal with it and move on to hit the next.

This constant struggle has left me asking questions that, at times, I feel have no answers. Questions like "Why? (my personal favorite), and "When?", or "What?", and"How?" The kind of question that men have gone mad trying to answer. Now, I do not know about you, but going mad does not seem like wall that I am willing to climb. Thus, we find ourselves here.

The purpose of Blind Wanderings is to join people together and try to answer the seemingly overbearing questions in this wonderful thing called life. Do not get me wrong, I am no expert on the subject. In fact, if I tried to lead someone through life it would, quite literally, be "the blind leading the blind." But I do feel that by putting my ideas out there, someone might be able to make there life just a hair better, which I guess is all I could ever hope. So I invite you, please, come wander with me . . . .