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Dien

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The Celestine Prophecy (Celestine Prophecy, #1)

by James Redfield

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Oct 15, 2018 12:03AM

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Zen Miracles: Finding Peace in an Insane World

by Brenda Shoshanna (Goodreads Author)

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Dien said: " I accidentally pick up this book at the library why searchig for The Art of Happiness. I have read some books about mediation but I am not quite sure what Zen is all about. Flipping through the first few pages of this book caught my attention right a I accidentally pick up this book at the library why searchig for The Art of Happiness. I have read some books about mediation but I am not quite sure what Zen is all about. Flipping through the first few pages of this book caught my attention right away. I am not going to summarize this book because I don't want to spoil it for you. This book is a must read for those who are searching for a balanced life and a simple daily living life. However,I gave this book 3 stars is because she does present the problems, the emotions, the internal conflict that we at some time in our life encounter but she doesn't explain enough in detail of how we can solve these problems. It is a little bit ambiguous for me. Her style of writing is neat and simple but sometimes, it is a little bit hard for me to follow. When I read the book, I can understand what she was talking about but when I put it down, I will forget what I just read. This is a good book though but I think it can be written better. Nevertheles, I learn some valuable lessons and gaining some new insight from this book.

As I read along the book, I can relate myself to the stories of the Zen students that she mentioned. I also ask myself the same questions that she presented in the content. For example, what to do when I feel so bored and why I need to constantly have entertainment and activities to be able to feel completed. Before reading this book, I was under the false assumption that in order to live a full life and to live a life with purpose, one need to have a lot of things going on and have many friends in life. She stated that when you feel bored, just sit and do nothing, experience the moment and the emptiness because that is where your trueself resides. This strucks me and make me wonder. It has been so long that I was searching for myself, to know who I am and why I am here. I tried to go out, to put myself in social events hoping that I will define myself through interacting with people because I think that those external forces will open me up and can help me to see through myself. So what did I find out from that experience? I found myself busy looking for the external forces in the outside world that I sometimes feel lost and blended with the crowd rather fathoming my inner self. I found myself often compromised to other people's needs and opinions that I forget about what the self of me think and want. At the end, I still can't find the answer that I am looking for. So now, I will try her method of looking from the inside first before I look at the outside.

Overall, a Zen life is not easy. Although it looks very simple, you don't need to spend more money, buy a new house or a new car, don't need to travel, don't need read a bunch of books or finding the right master. All it takes is self discipline, to be content with the being and be happy with simple things. You need to learn how to live through the bad and good of life and to accept both faces of it. There is good in bad and there is bad in good. With the way our society structured, there are so many peer pressure and materials we need and want. We believe that they are the souces for our happiness instead of our basic need for survival such as a roof to live, clothes to wear and food to eat. I found myself buy a lot of stuff that I don't need too so now I will practice to consider whether it is necessary for me, would I be happiner if I buy this or that. Like she said in the book, Zen life is a process, a daily practice that we can't just expect to be enlightened over night. ...more "

Nov 26, 2012 03:14PM · see review