Frank Brown

We'll See - A Zen Story

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.

"Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.

"We'll see," the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses.

"How... See more

But of course calling oneself a monster can be a form of self-aggrandizement. The worst part of myself is my occasional feeling that I am a very, very special kind of monster. A dumb story I can get caught up in is this one: No one is as big a monster as me. The grandiosity of my self-loathing (and its attendant self-pity) could blot out the sun if... See more

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My drinking grew from fearing what the Universe had in store for me; Sobriety has been accepting what the Universe has in store for me.

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"I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it," he said. "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

That the small decisions add up—in both directions. I can decide to take daily actions that put my needs first, feel incrementally better, and be able to help others. Or, I can put something else first, quickly start to suffer, and become a burden to everyone around me. It’s all so infuriatingly simple.

Do the next right thing and the next right thing will happen.

The things that are supposed to happen, generally do happen

God’s will” for him is that he live a life filled with compassion, love and service.