life is in itself 🆙

Life means living. Life is not itself a noun, but a verb. Nothing is fixed. Nothing is permanent. Life is itself a constant impermanence. Watch and you will realize that life is constantly shaping, gearing, changing. Nothing is static.

These days I went with my boyfriend, Guilherme, to visit the Zu Lai Temple, in Cotia, São Paulo. My boyfriend often goes to the temple, but I, despite being a Buddhist, was my first visit.

Although I am a Buddhist, I was very delighted with the amount of learning I experienced in a single day. I felt a mix of energy as soon as I entered the temple, I can't measure such a sensation in words only. The energy in contact with mother nature. Reception and education of people. The sounds of mantras. The sounds of birds and the sounds of mother earth, our nostalgic nature. The water. The lake. Meditation together (and also internally). The smell of nature when walking through the grass and feeling the vibration of the trees along with the breeze of the wind. The smell of incense. The smell of food. BE present. TO LIVE. Genuinely.

In Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism (which I am a practitioner of), we learn that life is our most precious treasure. And thinking about it I ask: when was the last time we felt the preciousness of life? When was the last time and that in fact there was a feeling much more than trying to understand the eventualities of life? When was the last time we stopped for a second and felt like ourselves, huh?! Sometimes – on a daily basis I correct myself – we look for answers to something that we don't even know that we were looking for and that it's not our responsibility to understand. We get confused and waste a lot of time in this fierce search for something that doesn't even exist, except and only in our head. We race against time, which is also our most precious possession after life. In fact, time is life.

How are you managing your time? Have you been very fruitful or exhausting with things that are not your responsibility to solve? Have you been enjoying the opportunities that life offers you or have you run out of time? Always very fast, isn't it? Yeah, I understand.

Time is also the excuse of many people, have you noticed? Nobody ever takes the time to enjoy themselves for a second. Who will say stop for a moment and contemplate nature or life.

I'm sorry to say, but it's clear that it's better to despise time and go aimlessly, following the script: “just one more day, one less day”. That is, we only exist, not live. After all, we were taught from an early age that “time is short”. "We don't have time for anything." "Do this, but don't do that." Okay, so what?! Life goes much further and don't forget that time, like life, is also impermanence. If life is our most precious possession and being present is in itself – living life – if we are never present, then tell me what's the point? If not that of appreciating the simplicity of time?

Forget that story that someday you were told that there is no time. Know that time is now, and now will not be the same in a minute. Did you know how to take advantage of the second ago? And now?!

It is customary for us to stagnate and be winged and in “rest” mode throughout the course of our existence. In conclusion, although time is short, there is always the “let’s leave it for tomorrow, right?” And as I mentioned earlier, it's nothing new that we're always aloof, never present.

I know life is full of curves and we go through millions of situations. Although I am a Buddhist, I am also a human being and I fail a lot, even with time. I usually say that I am an eternal apprentice and as an apprentice, the day I had the opportunity to go to the Zu Lai Temple, together with my boyfriend, I allowed myself to be present in the experience and enjoy great emotions, which I cannot describe in words . I consented from the moment I set foot until the moment I left the temple and even after the experience and such reflection that I had about life and also about time, I realized that that same way of “rest” that we so insisted on squeeze for our pilgrimages in life, never even existed. Heavy, no? Nobody expected that, right? But that's right, there is nothing at rest and even when we press the button of the moment of rest, you can see that we are flustered and worried between yesterday and tomorrow. Never present. Never resting. Never in the present moment.

We are on the move. Similar to life - which is neither fixed nor permanent. Similar to time, which is neither fixed nor permanent. So, forget once and for all those clichés that time is short. You can also forget that tomorrow you do this or that, who is sure of tomorrow? And now doesn't matter? There's no reason to worry about something that doesn't exist, beyond our heads. Life is to SEE. BE present. It's simple, but we make it complicated. So I hope with all my heart that you on the other side forget all this blah blah blah about the weather and everything you've been told so far.

May you stop infinite times throughout your day and your life and feel. Inhale and exhale calmly and with the soul. Allow yourself and feel the life pulsate in your BEING. Be present. Feel yourself, even if only for a moment, that you own yourself. LIVE.

I wish that in this new opening that is beginning you will constantly renew your presence and never forget that life and time are the most precious goods we have. Know how to appreciate both time and life, as well as all the impermanences and weather that arise during your journey, know how to take advantage of all the curves you cross and never forget that everything is fine. Don't be in a hurry, LIVE the present. Don't focus so much on the whats, whats and wheres or whats, know how to appreciate simplicity and be genuine with time and also with life – after all, life is about being present. And may you always be there.

* Tip: for those who haven't had the opportunity to visit the Zu Lai temple, I recommend you visit and allow yourself to enjoy a unique experience. Feel the energy that is impossible to describe – just Feel. Click here for more information about visiting Zu Lai Temple!