Zen and Self Esteem 

Good God what a fantastic cover of the 13 floor elevators!!!!

Thank you to the writer who asked this question. It hits home for a alot of us.

I find Zazen helpful as you say, it's not sitting in a crumpled heap and watching endless RU-vid. I agree, a good dose of 20 plus minutes. It offers a space of sitting upright with our pain and difficulty. But i have found it to have it's limits. I have had the ongoing need to have at least one trusted, safe 'other' to help me hold and process painful feelings/experiences. Having not had that as a child or in my early adult life, I have come to find it, thank all that is Holy (sorry Bodhidharma!), in therapy , friendship and (when appropriate) with my partner. Also, to some extent, with Sangha. Although this has been somewhat complicated at times tbh. Warm wishes from Merry Ol' England

I admire your honesty. I feel sorry for teachers who have to hide their suffering. That´s too much pressure. I´ve read of one canadian zen teacher who couldn´t open up about his mental health issues and ended up dying of an overdose of opioids.

Great intro! Also, great answer to someone in need. Zazen developed into my elixir after continued effort through varying crises. Now, it helps with most things - not only the bad. If I miss zazen due to an emergency or weird interruption, I notice it throughout the day until I get it in. I hope things are well. Have a foot of snow on the ground here. Winter started with a bang

Thaks for that video, Brad. It is just what I had been waiting for. I am one of those persons who has spent their life depressed and now finds refuge in fitness. I have also had more obscure moments in the past where I have fallen in the other darker paths you mention. I discovered meditation a good 15 years ago. I was very depressed and decided I would go to Thailand to an internal martial arts school for a month up in the jungle, where I was introduced to meditation. On this trip my friend lent me your book "Hardcore zen" which I read ( I don't like reading much), this is how I know of you. On my return to my country (Spain) I found a zen group which I joined for a while, but unfortunately I found them to be political and could not hang around with them very long. I have always been trying to meditate but never have had consistency. Always jumping on and falling off the train. I will get your book and try to read it. I will do my best to meditate daily at least once before I go to bed. I will try to watch your videos more often too! Thank you Brad.

Love it, good advice as always, and love 13th Floor Elevators!!!!

I read “Zen wrapped in karma dipped in chocolate” when it first came out and I remember thinking that I was very pleased that you wrote about your life when things were going to hell for you. I deeply respected your honesty and found that I could relate to you in many ways. You could have sugar-coated things, to be one of those phoney Zen guys, but you didn’t. Instead you showed how Zen helped you to pull through difficult times, and you did it in a subtle way. That was really valuable. Maybe consider how much your home life has improved since then and read the book? Then you can truly say that you have moved on because that chapter of your life is over and you have stopped clinging to it.

The covers have gotten so good in the past few months!

At least more men see m to be opening up about these things now (yes we bleed too). In the past, bizzarly, men in particular have tried to protect their self-esteem by hiding emotions, certainly never crying etc. Nothing wrong with reaching out. We're all connected! 👍🙏

Wow, BEST cvr ever, Brad!!! We in Texas still 😍 Roky and we miss him alright!!! Love the Intros! Also great topic!

Excellent offering. I ordered that book today.

Roky is rocking in his grave. Great cover Brad.

To the questioner: Yes, self esteem is very important. You can see how important when you realize that people actually kill themselves when they run out of self esteem. Take it seriously. Meditation is not a verb, an action or a doing...its a state that happens to you and its very difficult to achieve. But when truly entered its value is self evident...in the same way the value of exercise is self evident. Its makes you feel good. So when you say...whats the point? This indicates it hasn't happened yet.

Brad am i mad? Is zen a fad? Will i become a chad? Will i become a good lad? Why do i still feel sad?

Really helpful, thanks.

Very helpful. Thanks.

I sit and tell myself that I am a raindrop, and cannot be squeezed into something smaller than myself. That I am the shape and size of myself, my ''container'' and no more nor less. Water will not fit into anything smaller than it, otherwise too much pressure turns it into steam. *this may seem silly, but the analogy seemed logical when I was sitting one day and it continues to be my attempt at sitting-logic. I will not, and can not be squished into something smaller. "I yam what I yam.'' -Popeye The Sailor Man

Yeah I just ordered it. Damn. Bro hitting home too hard rn 😂

Amazingly brilliant! About Zazen!

The only song I know by Roky Erickson and seems appropriate to this talk... "Cuz you don't love me yet... you don't love you yet... I just won't forget... because you don't love me you don't love you ye-het" covered by the great band Bongwater.

Good answer

You need someone else to read Zen Wrapped in Karma for the audiobook. Maybe Liam Neeson?

This episode of the big tale of Zen seems to hold this remarkable structural-functional message, for those who may be interested in such "meta-narratives": The salvational project of Zen circles around the institution of "sit-Zen". Ideally, taking the Fujisan-like posture, the "bashô" (´place´) of sit-Zen functions as the holy dwelling or sanctuary, which, basically, promises to supply, figuratively speaking, the ultimative (nirwanic) shelter from the storm, letting (time-)being sit calmly, - in an immanentist sense, that is, - in its eye , -- or, - in a transcendental sense, that is, - aloof from it. -- However, real-existant fleshly being-in-the-world permanently resists this "ideal scenario" in many (bio-noo-societal) ways... This makes, i.m.o., for some interesting reading in the field of comparative studies of religions. Thanks for Your time and attention.

🙏

Please do “If You Have Ghosts”

Had a rough day the other- last thing i wanted to do was sit and stare at a wall - but i did it anyway - and i came to the same conclusion as you - better for me than the alternatives

Room to Live Hippie go get-um

that bookshelf is so zen ☝️

"The SELF that you're concerned about...its an imaginary concept...you're getting worked up about something that doesnt exist." Are you saying there's two entities involved...one imaginary self, and another self that does the imagining???

You have been told that the self doesn’t exist. But it does. It doesn’t exist as an independent entity but it most certainly exists as a set of neurological processes. Roy Melvyn

Have you thought of asking someone else to read the ZWIKDIC audiobook?

Can't listen now, but soon.

Hope you are well brad. Why do we reafirm the self?