Hello Treeleaf,

This may sound like I'm making it up, but I'm not...

Tonight I had a very profound and emotional realization of "now." I had a vision of my wife and I in old age looking back on our lives and I just thought "man, all of this is going to be gone one day, everything is fleeting," my eyes teared up at the thought, I was overcome by sadness, but also by the need to make the most out of the rest of my life and cut all the "trivial crap" out. Suddenly, everything seems more "real."

This was a very intesnse experience, and I suppose my question is this: Has anyone else experienced this? How do you deal with the emotional effects of this "realization" or whatever you want to call it?

Gassho,

Mushin

P.S., although I do practice zazen frequently, this particular experience happened during prolonged Aikiken (sword) practice, which is basically an excercise in mindfullness.