And so this is Christmas

It is quite a special time of year, isn't it? People rushing you out of your parking space with a honk, tsk-ing noises behind you at long retail lines, and plenty of generalized anxiety in the air. Ah Christmas.

This year, it seems very appropriate to Zen myself out, big time. I would suggest that you do the same. If only it were that easy. But every day, at some point, I make an effort. Stop the body, stop the thoughts and ultimately stop the mind. Jon Kabat-Zinn writes, "We have only moments to live." At first glance you might be frightened by that news. However the truth behind the statement is much more profound. We all live in the moments of our consciousness- whether those moments are in the present, past or future is your choice. But it seems pretty wasteful to spend any amount of time with your psyche in any time period other than the time that is right about now.

Good Advice

At a Christmas party last weekend, I talked with a mother of three at length about the gig of mothering. Her youngest is 7 and her piece of wisdom for me was to not be bothered about the state of my home. "Don't worry about keeping the place clean, just enjoy your children," she said. Seemed like good enough advice.

So I tried it.

By day two I was so upset with the state of my home that I couldn't enjoy my child.

I would LOVE to see that woman's house. I bet it's a REAL craphole.

The Challenge

It's really hard to blog about being All Zenned Out without talking about Helena. There is no one more present, more in the now, more aware than Helena. She reminds me everyday that the only thing that matters is what is imminent. To Helena, there is no past or future, there is only what is happening at that very second. As evidenced by her tearful rejection of a meal, followed seconds later by her gobbling it up. If only we were all so resilient.