Zen and the art of microscope maintenance
Christmas holidays are here and after a far too long break I am back typing away the joys, sorrows, fun and irritations of my somewhat out of the ordinary, middle class, working mother life.
Zen has been the theme of the last few trying months. I really don't know exactly how and when my life took such a zen turn. It might be related to the Wednesday night Urban Yoga virtual lessons at my local Basic Fit branch, or it might be the by-product of 175 days of continuous dieting or maybe just the consequence of drinking too much Coca Cola Zero Sugar. Who knows, but in any case I have become strangely content and somehow resistant to the many temptations towards cynicism and despair.
How to describe such a zen state without using too much fluff?
Let's say that you have slept five hours, you get up and deliver the children to their respective school location with not too many tears and after ten hours at the office dealing with many different needs and wants, you get back home smiling and hugging your loved ones on the way to prepare dinner thinking that life is beautiful. And the next day again and again and again without foreseeable end.
Life is beautiful in its odd twists and turns!
I have mentioned that the last few months have been very trying, but not trying in the sense of having to live through several unexpected sad situations. Actually the other way around, trying because I had to live through several expected sad events that took place, all in a short time span. These clearly made a few dents in my otherwise shiny zen armor.
Many people fear the unexpected, I do fear the expected much much more! And the rather obvious lesson that my zen state thought me is the following: just don't expect anything. How could I have not thought about it earlier? It is so simple! And yet it rather clashes with my mildly compulsive tendency to be well prepared. Tricky, very tricky....
Christmas is the best and the worst period to practice being Zen. From one side one enjoys a long sequence of beautifully uneventful days (no temptation to irritation and cynicism) on the other hand so much free time brings up all the ghosts that we usually keep at bay just by automatically going through the motions of our busy daily life. My favorite time of the year, nevertheless.
Stay tuned, I will keep you posted on how I am doing!
PS: my apologies for going off theme today," Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" from which clearly my title is derived is not a famous movie, but a famous book. I recommend it anyway though.
Zen has been the theme of the last few trying months. I really don't know exactly how and when my life took such a zen turn. It might be related to the Wednesday night Urban Yoga virtual lessons at my local Basic Fit branch, or it might be the by-product of 175 days of continuous dieting or maybe just the consequence of drinking too much Coca Cola Zero Sugar. Who knows, but in any case I have become strangely content and somehow resistant to the many temptations towards cynicism and despair.
How to describe such a zen state without using too much fluff?
Let's say that you have slept five hours, you get up and deliver the children to their respective school location with not too many tears and after ten hours at the office dealing with many different needs and wants, you get back home smiling and hugging your loved ones on the way to prepare dinner thinking that life is beautiful. And the next day again and again and again without foreseeable end.
Life is beautiful in its odd twists and turns!
I have mentioned that the last few months have been very trying, but not trying in the sense of having to live through several unexpected sad situations. Actually the other way around, trying because I had to live through several expected sad events that took place, all in a short time span. These clearly made a few dents in my otherwise shiny zen armor.
Many people fear the unexpected, I do fear the expected much much more! And the rather obvious lesson that my zen state thought me is the following: just don't expect anything. How could I have not thought about it earlier? It is so simple! And yet it rather clashes with my mildly compulsive tendency to be well prepared. Tricky, very tricky....
Christmas is the best and the worst period to practice being Zen. From one side one enjoys a long sequence of beautifully uneventful days (no temptation to irritation and cynicism) on the other hand so much free time brings up all the ghosts that we usually keep at bay just by automatically going through the motions of our busy daily life. My favorite time of the year, nevertheless.
Stay tuned, I will keep you posted on how I am doing!
PS: my apologies for going off theme today," Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" from which clearly my title is derived is not a famous movie, but a famous book. I recommend it anyway though.
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