Throughout my practice, I have struggled to have faith like flowing water. Initially when I first started practicing, I was very inconsistent and had faith more like fire. My faith would flare up passionately and then go out, flare up passionately and then go out again. That was my mode of operation in the early years. Luckily, I always had someone supporting me. I don’t know how I got to be so fortunate. I guess people saw my potential even when I didn’t believe in myself.
I love to chant. It’s something that I look forward to. I enjoy chanting a lot in the morning, especially before I must leave for work. My sweet spot seems to be about an hour. I have noticed that when I am able to chant for at least an hour in the morning, I have a wonderful day. Chanting does make all the difference. When I don’t chant a lot in the morning, I notice the difference right away. I guess that’s a good trait to have because it immediately encourages me to change my course.
Buddhism is all about cause and effect. If you want to have a tremendous effect, then you must put in tremendous effort. You can’t expect to get amazing results with little input. This is something that another member had shared with me and I have never forgotten it.
Even though, I am 56 years old, I don’t feel my age. Inside, I still feel youthful and feel like I am in the beginning of my journey. Although I am in the later stages of my life. How I feel, doesn’t seem to align with my age. There is still so much I want to do. I am still figuring things out. What do I want to focus on for a career? I do love doing outreach. I love connecting with all kinds of people and I will literally talk to anyone. I did make an attempt at trying a management position, something which I thought I wanted, and it didn’t work out. Does that mean I should never try again? I don’t think that it does. I don’t regret it and would do it again if given the chance, even knowing the outcome. I don’t live a life full of regrets. I would have regretted more never trying, than trying and having it not work out.
I am going to the Spanish Language Conference at the Florida Nature and Culture Center (FNCC) in September. I am very much looking forward to it. I have made some friends going to that conference over the years. My friend Polly and I are going to be roommates. Which reminds me that I need to reach out to FNCC about that. We both must ask to be each other’s roommate, otherwise we won’t be assigned to the same room.
It feels like forever, since I have been to FNCC. The last time I was there was in May of 2024. That feels like a long time ago. I generally try to go twice a year. I always feel great after spending a long weekend there. I get to meet a lot of SGI-USA members from all over the United States. Sometimes people visit from Hawaii, which I think might be the farthest away. Well, Alaska would be far away too. I have met members from Hawaii before. There is a big community of Buddhists there. But, I have yet to meet a member from Alaska.
There are a lot of Spanish Speakers who come from Chicago. I have made a good friend Tammy from that city. We support each other in our practice and often text each other in Spanish. She will be at the conference this year. I am so happy that Tammy and Polly are going. This will be Polly’s third conference this year! She thought she wasn’t going to go, but she changed her mind and wanted to make the cause to attend.
Time is counting down for me. I have about a month and a half to go before the conference. I am excited about going. I need to be sure to keep up my practice and study, so that I have a high life condition when I go. Going to this conference is one of the highlights of my year. And I know that when I return, I will feel absolutely fabulous and eager and ready to tackle any obstacle that comes my way!