How has Buddhism changed/developed your life?

kayward2011

As a newbie to Buddhism l am intrigued as to what you have learned in your process, and what have been the biggest changes, developments have occured influenced by Buddhism.

Gui

Hi kayward2011. Welcome. This morning I'm sitting on my porch looking out. There's fog amongst the trees. A rooster crows. In yesterdays, my morning might have gone like this: This morning I'm sitting on my porch looking out. There's fog amongst the trees. Gee, it sure is pretty. I love fog amongst the trees. Kinda reminds me of a scene in a movie I once saw that was shot in Ireland. Gee I sure would love to go to Ireland one day. I know my wife talks about it all the time. I hope she's happy. I wonder if the beer over there is as good as they say it is. Maybe we'll save up some money and plan a trip in the next year or two. A rooster crows. Oh,hey there's a rooster crowing. I wonder whose rooster is crowing. Funny how quiet it is this morning. I can't hear any traffic coming from Church Street like I usually do. Roosters are funny looking. Man, I sure could go for some eggs right about now. I'm hungry.
BTW, the second scenario still happens, just not as much. Best wishes.

Mountains

Mindfulness has been the biggest change for me. As simple as that sounds, cultivating mindfulness (as imperfect and intermittent as mine is) has drastically reduced my anger and reactiveness. That has had numerous other follow-on effects.

genkaku

I'd love to offer a laundry list of gold stars -- bright points and dim corners after some years of Zen practice. But the fact is, I can't play the pot-of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow game very well. I chose to practice and keep on practicing. Was I a fool or was I a genius? I don't know. Stuff changed, but it would have changed whether or not I took up practice, so I'm hesitant to say the Buddhism gets the credit or Buddhism gets the blame. I like Buddhism as a springboard for action, but after that, all I can think to suggest is, "Your life, your choice."

taiyaki

even if i ran away and threw all of the teaching of the buddha down the toilet...
the buddha would always be looking straight at me. we can only avoid the truth for so long.
sooner or later we must face reality.

truth is looking right at us and we are looking right at truth as truth.

buddhism was the map. life itself was the path to the gateless gate.

Cloud

Lack of stress and anxiety, even to the point of no longer requiring prescription medications for the anxiety.

AMH

I really like reality. I have a tendancy towards fantasy that is powerful, so I put that into fiction creation instead of living my life with it. Meanwhile spending my time in the now and reality gives many opportunities for joy (as well as pain) over the years.

I see mindfullness this way, so most of our lives as adults we are thinking of the past, thinking of the future, holding onto things, planning and preparing and worrying. Then we have a moment when life forces us to be fully present in the moment. Typically that is a crisis that makes us put 100% of our attention on the here and now. Often people who have been through a traumatic situation that they handled will talk about it as feeling good to be in the moment even though the situation was difficult. So mindfullness is cultivating and developing skills so that we can do that even when we are not in a crisis. We get to experience what we experience when we experience it without having 50% or more of our brain somewhere else.

Hasn't made my life better, hasnt made my life worse, but at the end of the day or life I can say i experienced my life instead of constantly living in another place and time.

Jeffrey

More confident to sit with stress. So I stop pouring kerosine on the fire. Practice with the three marks to let go of stress. Impermanence etc... All is changing so I am making a fuss and whats the use?

Dandelion

So far, during my 'so far brief' romance with Buddhism I notice my mind thinking about things slightly differently. I get angry, so I try to see my anger objectively. I feel worried, so I try to see my worry objectively. I try to accept my negative emotions as things that will come to pass and not sweat the small stuff as much. I am more productive. I've been meditating every night in bed and using it as an aid to help me to drift off to sleep (I suffer with insomnia, and meditating to get to sleep works a dream - cheesy pun intended! ).

Dandelion

Tosh

I'm an alcoholic (recovered) following the 12 Step spiritual program of AA; and I found Buddhism through my Step 11 (prayer and meditation).

I guess I find the whole Buddhism/AA thing stress relieving; it ensures my internal barometer doesn't hit the 'feck it' stage, where I will take that first drink and thereby kick off the whole vicious cycle of drinking to oblivion again.

Buddhism/AA has changed my outlook on life; focussing it on myself in the right way (self investigation) and showing me that I can get a lot of enjoyment, satisfaction, and worry less about myself by practising compassion for others.

It's been pretty life changing for me; I've not had to drink in a long time now, my personal relations are good, I'm happier and more contented; life has meaning.

And I'm now going to make a cup of tea, followed by some meditation, before doing a little more study on the Two Truths! ;-)