My Favorite Zen Buddhist Quote by Someone I'll Bet You Didn't Realize Was a Buddhist.

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“Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it.” ― Ray Bradbury

Though he may often refer to God in his stories, Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles (as well as, 600 or so other odd stories) when interviewed on the occassion of his 90th birthday said,

"I'm a Zen Buddhist if I would describe myself. I don't think about what I do. I do it. That's Buddhism. I jump off the cliff and build my wings on the way down."

It's one of my most favorite quotes regarding Buddhism, life, and the truest form of living. Not thinking, rather doing and figuring it out 'on the way down.'

I have faced many challenges in my life and my world. Some, a little more recent than those which have gone before them.

Nevertheless, with each day - and, no matter how I may feel - I smile in a way I've not ever done before. I smile from the centermost point of 'gratitude' - as I am always and forever, most grateful, to greet each new day. 

And though, my mobility is a little wobbly at times these day...like the bird, my wings shall be formed as I leap from life's cliff and find my way back down to that 'ground.' 

Namaste, my most beautiful friends - and remember, you must build those wings in order to 'fly.'