Zen is Within

Zen is Within: Balancing a happy and ambitious life in a culture of never enough

In today’s world of extremes it seems like an impossible task that one could be both ambitious and contented simultaneously.

If you’ve ever been on the ruthless pursuit of something you are probably all too aware of how all the other components of life seem to fall to the wayside at the expense of that effort. Maybe you had an inner dialogue or even an audiobook that played over and over every morning, revving you up to do “whatever it takes” and achieve “success” at all cost. And maybe, just maybe, after the 10th or 15th time you reached one of these grandiose accomplishments only to feel a pitting feeling in your stomach and the faint thought “was that IT?” you wondered what the hell all that effort and sacrifice was for. If you’re like most people who become hard wired to be in overdrive, you don’t dwell on the reason behind that feeling long, you simply set your sights on the next goal, the bigger goal and get right to work to drown out any voices telling you “that’s not it, none of these things will ever be IT”. You’ve been conditioned to view that voice as the weaker version of yourself who cannot be entertained and slowly the voices turn to whispers even though they are always there.

So what is “IT”?

Well, it can be as individual as every person reading the word but in brief summation it can be described as something truly satisfying and fulfilling. Often times it’s Something seemingly mundane or trivial. It only appears that way because of our over stimulated culture of more more more that tells us everything has to be more extreme, more shocking, more sexual, more violent, more dramatic, more crazy, more expensive and so on. From the minute we open our eyes to the minute they close at night we are inundated with messages telling us what we need to make us happy, and bombarded with things scientifically and commercially engineered to make us addicted to wanting (and needing) more. In short, American culture is designed to make us unhappy, unhealthy, unsatisfied and over aroused in every single capacity. Even the well meaning self help industry plays a huge part of telling us we’re not going to be happy until we dramatically overhaul our lives. When you take a moment to stop and look around at all the ways we are told to not be happy, can anyone really wonder why our average lives seem so unappealing or why sitting on a porch with someone having real conversation isn’t the popular thing to do anymore?

There are endless varieties of what someone will seek in relentless pursuit. We will use a simple example of money for this explanation. The cycle goes like this; unhappy mind, body and soul is told through various books, media and sources that more money equals more happiness and success. Strives to excel for more money through career and outside investments. Reads book that hardwired him to believe happiness = goal attainment and sets goal after goal only to be discontent with their attainment. Gets the next book on how to achieve more money, the hunger and drive builds. The anxiety driven ambition monster becomes all consuming and 20 years later in a heap of money with no friends, a tormented mind that won’t stop turning, a wrecked neglected body and destitute spiritual life the reality sets in….”this isn’t IT”. You hear it all the time really. There are songs written about it, movies, books. We hear about celebrities who had it all dying of overdoses, and the most seemingly happy and successful people on earth (the ones who really go out of their way to show you their happiness and success) are the ones whose suicides leave us speechless and confused.

The thing is we are all subject to a degree of this whether the visible part of our life reflects it or not. The consequences of what we surround ourselves with and how we think runs deeper than most realize. Tv and movies used to be our main comparison but we knew it wasn’t real life and even though the fantasy impacted us on a deeper level, it didn’t damage our self esteem directly. However, now Social media has created this bullshit illusion of perfection in everything real life from pregnancy, marriage, fitness, to birthday parties and scrapbooking. We’re trying desperately to keep up with every freaking body if only on a subconscious level! And here’s where all this “connection” becomes not only exhausting, but detrimental.

You can get off the rollercoaster.

You can break away from that nagging, insatiable feeling of “be more, do more, have more, get more” and more has a million different faces! But more is not and never will be IT. Do you want to know the beautiful thing? You already have IT, and this book was written to show you how to shift through all the clouds and chaos of what you’ve been taught to get back to the truest, more sincere form of yourself and of life. Zen means good, and it’s not something you chase, get, buy, or achieve. Zen is within, but you have to be committed to reprogramming your brain and its default operating systems if you want to actually enjoy the life you work so hard for and bring that good to the surface.

Lastly, let me be clear. I’m not writing this advising you to sell every possession and go live on a mountain. That goes back to my opening line of our world is one of extremes and it doesn’t have to be that way. I like nice things as much as the next girl, but I’ve also been wrongfully consumed by the pursuit of them and many other things and I can tell you there is a BALANCE to makes those possessions rewarding and satisfying or an imbalance that makes them just another item with a pricetag that adds to your discontent. There is a way to balance being driven, striving for success and yes even material things, but it takes being intentional about every aspect of your life and living on YOUR terms not just being a hamster on a wheel with no end in sight. If you want to have nice stuff, do cool things, have fulfillment in what you do and not feel out of control of your life or happiness, read on. One core mission of mine is connect people to the idea that their Zen is within.