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Tag: dailyprompt
How do I plan my goals?
I write them down on a piece of paper. I don’t always have a plan of action, but I think what helps is writing down my goals and then chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo about them. When I chant I usually gain the wisdom to know which action to take. So for this writing career I want, I don’t have a fully fleshed out plan yet, but one action I have been trying to do is just write every day. A lot of days, I will make excuses for not writing, but I think that’s why attending a writing group online this week was helpful because it gave me the space to just focus on writing and not distract myself with other stuff. I also worry about whether my writing sounds good or grammatically correct, but I think if I worry too much about that then I don’t always get the draft done. I have made it a goal to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and recite gongyo (it’s part of the chanting practice) every morning and evening, and to also study this book called The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (it’s a Buddhist text) every day. I also have a goal of saving more money, so I have started tracking my budget in a spreadsheet and learning what I can afford at the moment and what I need to save up for so that I can do it in the future. It’s amazing how even little stuff like getting coffee at Starbucks and eating out each week can add up (or even renting movies and TV episodes on YouTube and Google Play, which is my guilty pleasure.) So yes, long story short, I try to write down my goals and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to take the best course of action. It’s not always easy, and there are times I don’t feel motivated to achieve the goals, but when I remember it’s all for my personal growth I feel more motivated to do it. Even just wanting to write today was something I struggled with. I thought, Oh, I don’t have anything cool to write about, so I’ll just skip, but then I found these WordPress prompts and I think they are helping me get my creative juices flowing.
What brings me peace?
I think my Buddhist practice brings me peace. Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo makes me feel good and even when I am in a stressful situation I will sometimes chant softly and I usually feel better.
Random Act of Kindness
In ninth grade in my world geography class my teacher had us all do a random act of kindness for someone at the school. I decided to knit dishcloths for the school nurse. I felt really good about doing it and I think it was even better without her knowing it was me who did it. I think the random acts of kindness project we did for school taught me that kindness is something that the world can never have too much of. I also really love to knit, so that was really fun for me to do. I got to chill out with my music while knitting these dishcloths and it felt very therapeutic.
Writing Prompt
Daily writing prompt
If you could host a dinner and anyone you invite was sure to come, who would you invite?
If I hosted a dinner and anyone I invited was sure to come, I would invite Brene Brown. I really love her books about vulnerability and they have changed my life, and so I would love her and also Susan Cain, the author of Quiet, to be at the table. We would talk about introversion and vulnerability, and it would be such an engaging discussion. I would also invite one of my friends from college to dinner because he is a cool guy and we have a great friendship. We would probably talk about philosophy and movies together. Honestly it was hard for me to choose one person to invite. I would also love to invite Daisaku Ikeda; he is a philosopher, a peacebuilder and has had lots of dialogues with people around the world to foster friendship and create peace. If they was still alive, I would invite Aretha Franklin and also Tina Turner to dinner. We would have great conversations about music, and Tina and I would talk about Buddhism together. Honestly I would also love Michael McDonald there because he is one of my favorite singers. I would have to probably cater food for at least 100 people because I have so many people I would have loved to invite to dinner. Aretha would perform “Something He Can Feel” and “Call Me” and I would probably be sitting there with tears running down my face because I am finally getting to see my idol up front and close singing music for me. Tina would perform and I also would tear up because I would have finally seen her perform live (sadly in reality, I never got to go to one of her concerts.)
How important is spirituality in your life?
Spirituality is the foundation and center of my life. It is air, water and food to me. I am a Buddhist and the particular Buddhism I practice, Nichiren Buddhism, we chant a phrase called Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which helps us bring out what we call our Buddhahood, which is a life state characterized by wisdom, courage, compassion and life force. Chanting enables me to face my challenges head-on no matter what challenge I am going through, and I honestly love it because I love the sound of chanting. I participate in activities at my local Buddhist center every week and find so much joy in doing these activities. When I was in college I joined an interfaith council group and really loved engaging in dialogues about religion and spirituality with people, and when I was in college I loved going to the chapel because it was such a spiritual place. As I’ve reflected on my own spirituality I have seen spirituality in so many aspects of my life. When I was in college we had an evening service called Vespers, and individuals would read passages from The Bible and we would play music for the audience. Every time I heard the chorus sing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Stille Nacht” I got goosebumps and always had tears in my eyes. I really loved playing in the orchestra during Vespers, and growing up and playing in orchestras we always played at churches (the churches had great acoustics).
There have definitely been times where I didn’t respect other people’s views on religion and even tried to argue with them, but I think reflecting on my own religious faith made me think about what kind of dialogue I wanted to conduct with people: a dialogue where we find common ground or a debate where I constantly shut down the other person’s beliefs just because they don’t align perfectly with mine? Going through this process of inner transformation, or human revolution, enabled me to deepen respect and find more common ground with others. One of my music instructors invited me to a service at their church because they were playing there, and had I still held onto my arrogance I would not have been able to enjoy a beautiful church service and be in the calm and stillness of that cathedral, listening to beautiful trio music that my instructor and other musicians were playing. I think reading the writings of my mentor, Daisaku Ikeda, helped me to approach interfaith dialogue with more respect. I’ve also had some pretty good discussions with one of my friends, who is Jewish, about Judaism and Buddhism and we ended up talking about the perspectives of life and death in these religions. It was a really meaningful conversation. As I’ve had these dialogues with others, I’ve thought about the deeper purpose of religion and spirituality and I’ve come to understand that religion and spirituality help us give meaning to life and help us navigate those tough issues, namely the issue of life and death. I have learned that no matter what religion or belief system we practice, we will all deal with grief and death at some point. I really started to delve deeper into my Buddhist practice around the COVID-19 pandemic because I was going through a serious crush on someone, dealing with loneliness, depression and anxiety, and other issues. The real issue that was causing me a lot of despair though was grief. So many people lost their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic in such a short time and I was asking myself: Why are so many people dying? Why did this happen? I started deepening my understanding of the Buddhist view of life and death around 2021 when I was facing this anxiety around my own mortality. I wondered if I was ever going to live a happy life, and frankly I was so miserable that I didn’t feel like a happy life even existed. But studying Daisaku Ikeda’s writings about life and death as well as The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (a collection of letters written by a reformer named Nichiren to his followers) I gradually started to gain a deeper appreciation for my life. I think practicing religion in a community is helpful because when I am sad, I can always count on my fellow SGI Buddhist community members to encourage me to not give up, and by taking on leadership roles in the organization I have grown so much from encouraging other people. I also have continued to share about my Buddhist practice with people when I go to the store or to get a coffee. Even if the person may or may not be interested, sharing about chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo brings me joy. It’s not always easy to share about my Buddhist practice but I always break through something deep in my life when I do.
My favorite restaurant
One of my favorite restaurants is Spiral Diner located in Fort Worth, Texas. They closed the Dallas location unfortunately, but I really enjoy taking a trip to the Fort Worth location on special occasions. It is a vegan diner and my favorite thing to get is the Spiral burger, which is a seitan patty (seitan is wheat gluten) topped with vegan cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, vegan mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard. I usually get it with a side of vegan potato salad or corn chips. Often when going there I would get a slice of cake or a cookie, and sometimes the vegan ice cream shakes would end up being my dessert if they were sold out of desserts. Last time I went and was adventurous and got tofu migas. As a kid I would always love to go to Eatzi’s, a European-style market, and order migas, which were scrambled eggs with tortilla strips. But I became vegan around 2009 and cut out dairy and eggs from my diet, so I ended up eating a lot more scrambled tofu. The tofu migas I think came with a vegan sausage patty.
Another great vegan place I loved was called Native Foods Café in Chicago. Before I developed a mini-intolerance to gluten (I had a breakfast burrito with a huge wheat spinach tortilla and I’m wondering if the weird nausea and stomach pains is because my body is becoming more sensitive to wheat) I would get any vegan burger on the menu. It was a seitan patty with lots of melted vegan cheese and seitan bacon strips, and I got it with French fries. No wonder I had to often take the food home because I could barely finish it, it was just that delicious. And then for dessert I had an oatmeal cream cookie sandwich, and I often had to resist the temptation to eat it all in one sitting, to no avail because it was absolutely sweet, creamy and delicious. I’m bummed that my body can’t really tolerate a lot of sugar anymore, but it’s probably a good thing because I would have probably had one of those oatmeal cookie cream sandwiches once a week. I have learned to enjoy sugar in moderation. Yesterday I had some Lotus Biscoff cookies with some tea, and I haven’t had them in a while, but then my stomach started hurting for some weird reason. I also had a couple of Oreos. Maybe it’s because I didn’t drink enough water during the day and my body was playing catch up. But I digress.
Another restaurant I enjoy is any restaurant with Indian food. A few years ago, I used to go to a South Indian buffet that was delicious. They had lentil donuts, sambar, naan, rice, and so many other vegetarian dishes. As a vegan I really loved this place, and especially the dosas with potatoes and peas was delicious. I The little lentil donuts were one of my favorites because they were so crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and I often dipped them in my sambar. Back then I enjoyed eating large portion sizes, so I would often go back to eat seconds or thirds, but then my stomach’s threshold for lots of food decreased, and today I would probably be able to eat a plate of food and call it a day. Eating too much now and especially eating too quickly often gives me indigestion. I was really sad when the restaurant closed down because I used to go there a lot when I was in high school and during summer breaks from college. When I was in college, we had two really delicious Indian restaurants, and one of them was near my dorm. I would often go down the street to this place called India Palace to grab some vegetable biryani and samosas, and in my senior year of college when I permitted myself to loosen up and drink a little wine I would order a glass of red wine at the restaurant. Wine has an interesting and strong taste but somehow it went really well with the food. I learned though that I’m not super accustomed to drinking a lot of alcohol, and the few times I did have alcohol were when I was on a cruise ship in 2019 and had some Caribbean beer and some of the red wine in the mini fridge in my room. I think I just stopped drinking so much because I thought I needed alcohol to be social, but realized later I didn’t. I still enjoy the taste of wine and beer though, even though I haven’t had it in a few years. Again, I keep digressing.
I also really love any great restaurant with pho. There was a delicious banh mi place during my time in college and they had an epic tofu pho and tofu banh mi sandwich. I loved the taste of the breaded tofu swimming around amongst the noodles, carrot rounds, and scallions, and the hot steam rising from the pho in that large porcelain white bowl. Since moving back I have continued to enjoy tofu pho and banh mi. For the banh mi, I love the crispy toasted-ness of the sub sandwich bread, and the sauce and sriracha as they blend in with the breaded tofu. Delicious.
5 everyday things that bring me happiness
5 everyday things that bring me happiness:
- Food. I love food. I can’t eat meat or dairy but I love anything vegan. I just made myself a scrambled tofu this weekend that was really good. Well Your World has a great recipe. I used to make tofu scramble on the stove, and it was good but there is always the issue with cleaning out the pan afterwards. This one is delicious, and for a while I was putting the potatoes in with the rest of the ingredients when I put them in with the oven, but someone taught me a good tip and that is to boil the potatoes in an Insta-pot first so that when I combine them with the tofu, vegetables and other ingredients the potatoes aren’t super hard. I would bake the tofu scramble for twenty minutes, but would always have to put it in longer since the diced potatoes were still pretty hard to chew. Boiling the potatoes made them softer, but of course, I made sure to dice the potatoes before putting them in the Insta-pot.
2. Spending time outside. Before the COVID-19 pandemic I would often take my outside time for granted, but when I spent a lot of time in quarantine my attitude towards going outside changed. I think I gained a deeper appreciation for spending time walking in the park and around the neighborhood, and I burned some calories and got my body moving. Yesterday I didn’t walk too long but I spent some time walking around the park and around the neighborhood and I saw the neighborhood cat walking around outside. The other day I saw a woodpecker and it was just really beautiful to watch. And a couple of weeks ago I went to someone’s garden to admire their beautiful abundant display of freshly budding irises. And of course, the bluebonnets are in season and I love walking in the field of bluebonnets. I also love seeing the chickens in a farm located across the street. And the squirrels racing each other around the thick tree trunks.
3. Reading books. I love going to the library and have loved libraries and bookstores since I was small. Something about the smell of the pages, the feel of the pages, and how the writing of each word blends so well together entices me about books. Every time I go to the library I end up checking out loads and loads of books, and sometimes I don’t get to finish them all. I mostly enjoy fiction but have read some good non fiction lately.
4. Spending time with loved ones. I enjoy spending time with the people in my life I love and connecting with others. I took a lot of my friendships with others for granted but when I went into quarantine I started to appreciate the connections I made with people.
5. Honestly, life. It may sound cheesy but life itself is an everyday thing that makes me feel appreciation. It’s easy for me to take a lot of things for granted, but it wasn’t until I faced a lot of my own inner struggles that I started to gain more perspective on life. It’s still a challenge sometimes to see the larger picture but I have seen over time how practicing gratitude has helped me become happier and more fulfilled. Of course, I still have big dreams I want to strive towards, but this past decade of facing all these challenges and victories has taught me to appreciate the journey instead of only focusing on the outcome of the situation. Even just something as simple as waking up out of bed I have started to appreciate more.
Something fun I did yesterday: reading for fun
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
(I have no idea why the text in this paragraph is so frigging tiny. It just happened. Hopefully you can still read it.)
Yesterday what I did for fun was read a book for pleasure. I usually try to make time to read for fun, especially since I spend a lot of time at home. Even when I get busy, I want to make sure I reserve some time to read for fun. When I was working as a barista, I often found myself feeling exhausted after work shifts and when I would get home I would collapse on my bed and crack open my novel and just read. Immediately the stress would leave my body and I would feel better. Even if I have a successful music career I want to be able to make time to read for fun. Not only do I love recommending books to people, but also reading helps me understand what it means to be a human in the world. No one is free from problems, and so whenever I read about a character dealing with some problem I feel I can empathize with them some way even if I can’t directly relate to the problem or haven’t gone through the suffering the character has. I mostly read fiction but lately I have been incorporating nonfiction.
Yesterday I started reading Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love. In the book she talks about the ups and downs of being a writer and what it takes to navigate those ups and downs. I’m really glad I read this book because it helped me put success in a healthier perspective. Gilbert talks about how you don’t need to quit your day job to pursue your art or craft, and debunks the Tortured Artist stereotype. I love how she touched on the latter because I have struggled with perfectionism in my cello practice sessions and it made it hard for me to take feedback well because I thought every mistake I made while playing was a failure, and so when my teachers would give me feedback I would resort to all-or-nothing thinking, such as “They think my playing is bad” or “I’m not cut out to be a musician.” It got to the point when I would be so fearful of making a mistake that I would play small when the passage called for a more expressive feeling or needed to be loud. I think I remember when I was in my senior year of high school and we were rehearsing this piece by composer Jean Sibelius called Finlandia, and there is a part where the cellos play fff, which is the loudest sound you can produce on the cello (basically it’s forte on steroids.) I took this marking quite literally and pressed so hard on the bow and the minute I ground the bow across the string, I heard a snap and saw that all the bow hair had snapped off of my bow because I pressed so hard. I can’t remember whether I had an extra bow in my cello case or not. All I can remember was freaking out internally, wondering how I would live down this embarrassment in the middle of a rehearsal, especially because the concert was the next day and we didn’t have long to rehearse the music. I don’t remember whether the bow ever got repaired or not, but I ended up getting a new bow in time for the concert but being more careful to not press too hard on the string. I think this event stayed so embedded in my conscience that throughout college I kept thinking if I played fortissimo or even forte I would relive that same bow-hair-snapping nightmare I lived through that fated rehearsal night. My teachers always had to tell me to play louder and I wouldn’t listen to them because I was always fearful of breaking my bow.
But I digress from the subject at hand. But yes, yesterday I read for fun and it was amazing. I also read Please Don’t Sit On My Bed In Your Outside Clothes by Phoebe Robinson this week and it was also a really good book. I haven’t listened to the 2 Dope Queens podcast yet and this is my first time reading one of Phoebe’s books but I love her writing! And I love all of the cultural references she makes; I found myself rolling around in laughter until my ribs hurt, but she also discusses serious topics as well that really made me sit and reflect, such as the social stigma around 4C hairstyles and the topic of hair in the Black community, as well as the challenges of quarantining in 2020 and the trauma of George Floyd’s murder. It kind of reminded me of another book I read by a comedian and actress named Retta from Parks and Recreation; I read her memoir So Close to Being the Sh*t Y’all Don’t Even Know, and like with Phoebe’s book it tickled my ribs but also was so real and raw and beautiful. As someone with an aspiring creative career, both of these books encouraged me to keep making art and living my life.
Wishing everyone a happy holiday season!
My favorite physical activities or exercises
“Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands.”
Elle Woods, Legally Blonde
I really love dancing. I’m not a professional dancer or anything. I just love jamming out to dance tunes while flailing my arms or doing whatever I consider dance. I also love to take nature walks. I took one today and it was really nice to be around in nature. I thought about buying something from the store, like candy or something, but I am trying to save money and I eat enough sugar as it is, so I just kept walking. It was so nice to see the fall colors outside, even though it was kind of lonely walking past people’s homes and not seeing many people outside. A lot of people were at work so it was understandable. I watched as squirrels climbed up trees and felt the orange maple leaves crunch under my feet. The mud squished under my shoes after the morning thunderstorm. I went to the park and swung on the swing set. It was really relaxing.
I also love to dance because it provides me another creative outlet through which I can express myself. I honestly need to make a daily schedule to fit exercise in because I noticed I feel a lot better when I move my body. Exercising helps me manage my mental health, and I’m realizing as I get older how connected my mental health is to my physical health. It also helps me handle stress when I work out. I don’t go to the gym much anymore, but I used to work out on the elliptical a lot and listen to music on my headphones or watch stand-up comedy. Today a friend shared with me a workout video from YouTube. I thought, I don’t need to work out, but honestly I needed that video because I felt a lot better after I exercised. A lot of times I think I don’t need to move my body, but then I end up enjoying it. A couple of weeks ago I watched an amazing choreography to Beyonce’s “ENERGY” from her recent album Renaissance, and I danced to it several times and just felt so much joy while moving my body. It releases a lot of pent-up tension in my body. I also love doing squats, and in 2020 while staying at home for long periods of time and working from home throughout the day, I took breaks to do squats. Normally I sit and read my book a lot, which I still do because I love reading for fun, but doing these squats was a great way to get some exercise in since I wasn’t going to the gym during this time.
If I ever need a reminder, I just need to remember the wise words of Elle Woods:
The Arts Are Life 