Nichiren Buddhism is about living from this moment forward, which means not being wrapped up in the past or worried about the future. It means deciding right now to be present right now, creating the future from the causes (as in cause and effect) that we make in the present moment.

I feel like my biggest obstacle to living from this moment forward is the fact that I'm caught up in "old" thinking. It's hard for me to move beyond my past when I think that my future must be built on it. For instance, when I answer the question, Who is Terri Moore?, I look to my past and recall that I was born in Sacramento and went to college in Florida and blah blah blah. I traipse through my past in order to bring everything up to present time. What a waste of energy!

I would like to be able to answer: "Terri Moore is an interdependent being who is continually creating herself in the moment." (But then, people would think that I'm from Southern California.)

Anyhoo... Here are my "guidelines" for living and thinking fresh each day.

1. I am going to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. I'm not going to fancy it up with a lot of politically correct adverbs -- chant sincerely, chant courageously, chant joyfully. No, I'm just going to sit there and chant without putting some big emotional spin on it. I'm not going to expect any type of results. I'm not doing this practice for "goodies." I chant because Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the sound of my Buddhahood expressing itself. All I need to do is show up in front of the Gohonzon and let my Buddhahood have its say.

2. I want deeper truths, not just conventional ones, so I will approach things in a questioning way. I won't always take everything at face value.

3. I will ask myself a lot: What makes me think and act the way I do? If I am making a judgment, I will pull myself up short and ask what the basis of my judgment is.

4. I am not going to look to the past for answers and assurances. It's a new world and a new day. The past is like fog evaporating in the sun; there's no comfort to be found there.

5. I will try not to talk in a comparative way, such as this is better than that, or this is worse than that. That is all judgment. I want to know things in my heart, not play games in my head with reasoning.  I can reason myself in circles, like a dog chasing its tail. I want to know things from a more confident basis than mental reasoning.

6. I will develop the kind of thinking that does not leave out my emotions or the wisdom of my physical body. I will integrate my heart, body and mind and "think" with my whole self.

7. I will not discount the thinking of others. I will not assume that I have a right to know what others think. I will not assume that we must agree. I will let others have their thoughts. People are free, so I will treat them that way.

Thanks for reading!