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Speaker 1: Hi everyone, Culy Taylor here and welcome to Mojo Monday. Today,

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Speaker 1: I want to share with you a zen Cohen and

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Speaker 1: it's one that I heard recently by a lecture that

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Speaker 1: I was listening to by a Japanese psychologist. And if

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Speaker 1: you haven't heard of a zen coin, it's a short,

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Speaker 1: often kind of puzzling phrase or question that isn't meant

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Speaker 1: to be solved like a riddle. It's something that you

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Speaker 1: kind of need to just sit with. And Cohen's a

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Speaker 1: designed to move us beyond our usual black and white

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Speaker 1: thinking and into more deeper reflection if we allow ourselves

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Speaker 1: the time to do that. They don't necessarily give us answers,

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Speaker 1: but instead a Cohen will help us become more comfortable

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Speaker 1: with ambiguity and open up sort of insight about life,

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Speaker 1: ourselves and our true nature. But the particular con that

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Speaker 1: I have chosen today is actually quite simple, now that

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Speaker 1: I've said all that, and this is it. Willows are green,

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Speaker 1: flowers are red. That's it. So it's a very simple statement.

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Speaker 1: And you might be thinking right now, so what, But

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Speaker 1: stay with me on this because it's in its simplicity

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Speaker 1: there's something a lot deeper. And I actually really really

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Speaker 1: love this. So often we move through life wishing things

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Speaker 1: were different. We try and fix and control and improve

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Speaker 1: and change. We judge how we feel. I often hear

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Speaker 1: clients say I shouldn't be feeling like this. You know,

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Speaker 1: my life is great. But that's resistance, and that's the

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Speaker 1: struggle that we often have. You know, we wish we

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Speaker 1: were more confident, or more calm, or less less anxious,

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Speaker 1: more successful. We wish other people wouldn't be the way

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Speaker 1: they are, you know, that they'd agree with our views,

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Speaker 1: particularly political views right now, which is causing a lot

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Speaker 1: of divide with people. You know, we wish people would

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Speaker 1: call us more often, or they'd complain less. Whatever it is.

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Speaker 1: But I'll read the con to you again. Willows are green,

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Speaker 1: flowers are red, So the willow can't be anything but

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Speaker 1: green right now, and the flower is simply red. And

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Speaker 1: if they wanted to be different colors, they couldn't. So

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Speaker 1: what if just for a moment, we stopped resisting, We

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Speaker 1: stopped resisting reality. What if even when we're anxious or

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Speaker 1: sad or frustrated, we allowed those feelings to be there.

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Speaker 1: What this does is really challenges our Western mindset, where

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Speaker 1: we focus so often on fixing and controlling, and that's

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Speaker 1: when we struggle because our emotions are inevitable. But what

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Speaker 1: if there was no fixing, so there was no judgment

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Speaker 1: and no commentary about our emotions or our thoughts or

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Speaker 1: other people just this is how it is. So that's

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Speaker 1: the invitation here today is to meet the moment, the feeling,

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Speaker 1: the person in front of you just as they are.

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Speaker 1: And this doesn't mean that we agree with every opinion

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Speaker 1: of other people, or we like everything that's happening, or

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Speaker 1: we like what we're feeling. It's not passive, and it

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean we're giving up. It just means that we're

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Speaker 1: really clear, this is what is here right now. So

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Speaker 1: Shima Marisa, the Japanese psychologists who was around the time

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Speaker 1: of Freud in the nineteen twenties, he spoke about the

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Speaker 1: gap between reality and how we want things to be.

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Speaker 1: So when we stop arguing with reality, we stop focusing

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Speaker 1: on the shoulds and the shouldn'ts, then that gap can

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Speaker 1: become smaller and we create kind of a space, a

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Speaker 1: space to a space to breathe. For starters, it kind

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Speaker 1: of gives this reprieve from the struggle, but it's also

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Speaker 1: a space to respond from wisdom rather than reactivity, and

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Speaker 1: a space to really choose your path. And that's what

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Speaker 1: mental fitness. This is really a part of being mentally fit.

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Speaker 1: So not pushing away difficult thoughts or emotions, but letting

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Speaker 1: them be a part of your present experience. So today

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Speaker 1: or this week, let that coen just sit with you.

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Speaker 1: If something challenging shows up, maybe you feel flat or

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Speaker 1: overwhel or you're behind in work or UNI, or maybe

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Speaker 1: somebody said something that hurts you, just say to yourself,

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Speaker 1: willows are green, flowers are red. This is what's here

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Speaker 1: right now, and then you can ask yourself what can

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Speaker 1: I do with what is This is the action part

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Speaker 1: of this. So when we can be fully present, make

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Speaker 1: room for all that's there without pushing it away or

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Speaker 1: needing it to be different, then we gain clarity. We

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Speaker 1: grain space to see what really matters, and then from

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Speaker 1: that place the next step becomes clear. So that's living

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Speaker 1: with purpose. So thank you so much for listening to

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Speaker 1: Mojo Monday this week. I hope you carry this little

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Speaker 1: zen moment with you through the week. I know I

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Speaker 1: will already have. I've asked myself for I've said that

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Speaker 1: phrase quite a few times willows are green, flowers are red,

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Speaker 1: just to help me get really present and stop resisting

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Speaker 1: what is. So I hope you all have a great

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Speaker 1: week and I will catch you next week. See you