B 'ell (That's Biel)

Well after the worry and stress of where the hell is my rent coming from .. might have just got a bit of work .. not enough but it's a start.

Anyway ... it was nice to go to the Jazz in the evening and chill with some whisky and an excellent gig. To be honest, I'd hoped it would be good but there were little doubts going through my head whether it might venture into Sade territory .. thankfully it didn't ... Julia Biel has got an excellent voice .. I'd describe it as 'Dusty' I guess .. some well written songs and backed by some great musicians .. especially Jonny Phillips on Guitar .. nice to hear some thoughtful Jazz guitar instead of the 'showy' variety. Also excellent Cello and Bass ... Trumpet and Drums were pretty decent too .. though as an ex drummer, it was a shame Seb Rochford wasn't playing as whilst the drummer was pretty good he seemed a little cautious as I suspect he'd been drafted in at the last minute ... but that's nit picking .. excellent gig ... so good I bought her CD ... and got it signed .. how sad is that at my age lol

Also, for a change, I managed to go to bed without falling asleep on the sofa until 4am as I usually do ... must have taken it steadier last night :-)

Oh well .. onwards with the day do my morning Gongyo and Daimoku (Buddhist chanting stuff) and see if I can do something towards scraping rent together and there's a Buddhist Meeting tonight which I've just remembered I'm moderating .. better do a bit of research methinks












also ... Just want to post yesterday's post again so I remember to read it as I thought it was excellent :-)

"'What kind of future do I envision?', we may ask ourselves. 'What kind of self am I trying to develop? What do I want to accomplish in my life?' We should paint this vision of our lives in our hearts as specifically as possible. This 'painting' becomes the design for our future. The power of the heart enables us to actually execute a wonderful masterpiece in accordance with that design. This is the doctrine of a life-moment possessing three thousands realms.

The more specific and detailed the blueprint we have in our hearts, the better. The point is to continue vividly painting the target we have and to advance toward that goal single-mindedly. Then, at each instant, the reality of our lives will gradually approach the painting that is our aspiration.

Everything depends on what is in our hearts. Heartfelt prayers will definitely be answered. If we decide that something is impossible, then consistent with our minds in thinking so, even things possible will become impossible. On the other hand, if we have the confidence that we can definitely do something, we are already one step closer to achieving it.

In accordance with the principle of a life-moment possessing three thousand realms, pessimistic thoughts or feelings take form, just as they are, in reality, producing negative results. People who have negative thoughts create effects for themselves that perfectly match their thinking."
(Learning From the Gosho by Daisaku Ikeda, p. 128)