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Before you tell yourself you’re not a morning person, hear us out.
Many of us are not morning people. We get it, waking up can be painful! What’s more, thinking about the realities we have to face each day can also make us cringe. But winning in the morning doesn’t mean you have to be a morning person.
A consistent daily Buddhist practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and reciting portions of the Lotus Sutra is how anyone can access the (much-needed) vitality to address each day with courage, wisdom and compassion.
Why is that? The Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda explains chanting in this accessible way:
Reciting the sutra is a daily activity in which we purify and prime our hearts and minds. In the morning, it is starting the engine for our day, like grooming ourselves before we set out for the day. Some people have powerful engines, and some have weak engines. The strength of the engine dramatically affects what we accomplish throughout the course of our lives. The difference can be enormous. Diligently applying ourselves in our daily practice of the sutra recitation boosts the power of our engine.
Discussions on Youth, p. 215
Bottom line: when we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo each morning, we summon the courage from within to face anything.
The year is an accumulation of what we do each day, so if we try and win every day, then definitely, we can claim a victorious year.
How can we jumpstart the process?
Listen to our guest is Yoko Ambulo, of Chicago, who shares her journey of learning Buddhist lessons about what happiness actually is, what a winning daily rhythm looks like and why it’s so important to create an arena in which you give yourself a chance to win.