Zen Garden Your Life

I have a confession to make.  I’ve never visited a Zen garden.  Yet I still love the idea of Zen gardens.  I love the notion of a space that is elegant, clean, aesthetic, and serene.

Imagine creating a space in your room, your home, your office, even your commute on a bus, that was so elegant and serene that it actually gave you energy and peace of mind rather than detracting from it.

This is what it means to “Zen Garden” your life.  Yes, I’m using the phrase as a verb.  Why?  It’s just how I think about taking a space and making it simple and wonderful.

Zen Garden Your Life

Take a look around your personal space.  Take one little spot.  Zen Garden it.  I don’t mean a whole room.  I don’t even mean your messy closet.  Maybe it’s just the top of the little table beside your bed.  Is it messy?  Can you clean it up a bit?  Just leave on it what you most treasure and value.   Now arrange those items so that they are “just so.”  Just make that spot perfectly, simply elegant. We don’t need any rules.  You don’t need any guidance on this.  You know how you want them to look in this moment—just so.

Each day, find a little spot, and Zen Garden it:

• The bedside table

• Where and how your hats are arranged

• Your car

• Your mind (this last one may be the most beneficial!)

Zen Gardening an area may be a multistep process.  For instance, to Zen Garden your car, you may need to first just clean it out and put things where they belong.  Then, another day, you might vacuum it.  Finally, on yet another day, you may decide to wash the outside.

It’s really up to you.  There’s no great rush.

The Zen Garden Habit

You might be able to turn the act of Zen Gardening your car into a bit of a Zen Garden itself; by that, I mean that you will be elegant and patient and economical but effective in the movements and steps you take to put your car into its just so state.

Be careful. If you slowly, patiently, and serenely Zen Garden your life, you may not recognize your inner and outer realities after a few weeks.  They will be just so and you will drift through the world as serene and light and peaceful as a cloud sailing through the sky on a summer day…