Breathing out, I smile – Bringing ZEN to the life of a DFW

Chrisblue1962

Marru wrote: »

Oxford dictionary: a Japanese school of mahayana Buddhism emphasizing the value of meditation and intuition rather than ritual worship or study of scriptures. Zen Buddhism was introduced in japan from China in the 12th century, and has had a profound cultural influence. The aim of Zen is to achieve sudden enlightenment (satori) through meditation in a seated posture (zazen), usually under the guidance of a teacher and often using paradoxical statements (koans) to transcend rational thought.

What does this mean for people from the western culture? An obvious trend is emerging where people as seeking simplicity and authenticity. People want to be creative again and do things with their own hands and grow their own food. Also generally there is a need for a slower pace. Some people want to go further and connect to their spirituality (not necessary same thing as religion) and want to get to know themselves better.

What does this mean to me? For me the simplicity means that I would get rid of all the clutter, yes I have been talking for years about this now and I really hope that after next exams I can start making some progress. Also it means that I have proper working routines so that my mind is not cluttered with undone tasks and chaos. It would also mean to make time for me to follow my dream and have courage to take those steps. And finally function as a whole being by nourishing my mind, body and soul.

I leave you with a question: Are you a physical being having a spiritual experience or a spiritual being having a physical experience?

Hi Marru

I have dipped into your diary from time to time and really enjoyed reading the above as I can identify with it, specially the paragraph "What does it mean to me?..." - Thank You.

I have been reading other Zen sites, such as Zen Habits and now need to decide how and when I "start to move onward" so to speak...

Marru

Thank you Chrisblue, it really means a lot that my ramblings are read by other people

I am proud of myself today. As you know I am flying off tomorrow and so far I have:

- called the bank and made sure my card won't get blocked when I am paying the hotel bill (don't worry I can claim it back in expenses)
- booked a taxi
- sorted holiday club for DD for next week
- sorted holiday club for DD for inservice day
- got currency
- got comfy casual shoes for travelling and when going out after work (this was a definite need and not a want)
- got a converter for electricity plug
- got a Sudoku booklet (in case I am not allowed to take my knitting to the plane)
- printed all my travel documents
- printed maps
- printed train timetables
- got couple of work tops and got a £4.- discount :j
- prepared my presentations for next week
- uploaded Skype on my work laptop

Only need to
- pack
- do online check in for flight
- go and buy knitting needles for scarf I am intending to start doing (bamboo as to be able to get through the metal detector ), I got the wool for couple of quid today :j
- have a look at maps to see how can I find BF tomorrow, need to go and fetch him

So now I can enjoy xfactor and knitting with red bush. :T

Bitsy_Beans

I think Marru all that deserves a well earned :T:T:T:T

Safe trip. Will be making your DDs birthday cake mid week <gulps> so will be in touch about you picking it up

Marru

Thanks Bitsy

So I have 9 girls and 2 boys coming to the party so far, 8 hasn't replied at all. So do I assume that they are not coming and not making party bags for them or do I assume that they are coming. Oooh this party arranging seems so complicated

Anyway, coordinates for BF's location tomorrow have been found and route planned and also I have checked on the flight (oooh how I love the internet ). Time for bed me thinks...

Bitsy_Beans

Give yourself a cut off date, say Tuesday or weds and if no replies by the I would assume they are not coming. This lack of RSVP does my head in, is it really that hard to say yes please or no thanks, especially since much of it is done via text messages these days grrrrrrr.

Chrisblue1962

Good Luck on your trip Marru...and the birthday party too.

Marru

What a trip!!! It really was a lesson how to keep calm and carry on. We got stranded in Amsterdam. I have never got stranded before so it was a bit of an experience. If somebody hasn't been then I can tell you that Amsterdam airport is massive. It is supposed to be fifth biggest in Europe, Heathrow being the biggest, but my experience is that there is a lot more miles one needs to cover in Amsterdam.

So we were booked into a hotel and given little emergency bag. I did nip into the shop to get some underware, clean t-shirt and deodorant. After having used our meal vouchers courtesy of the flight company we felt a lot better and retired to the hotel. I couldn't get to sleep for some reason and had to get up at 4 am to catch the flight we got transferred to, I think I managed about 3 hours of sleep.

Happy ending as we did get to the office by midday (only 3 hours late) and I don't think we missed that much.

So what should I learn from this experience? To carry clean undies, t-shirt and deodorant in my hand luggage? Possibly but boy was I happy to have had some euros changed just in case. And having a good laugh about it all did help.

We went out for a meal tonight and we were all pretty shattered. The food was absolutely amazing. I don't think I haven't had anything that delicious for quite a long time. And I was chilled enough after the meal to amend the position statement my solicitor has prepared so I can email it back tomorrow for them to send it to the court on Wednesday.

I am due to do my first presentation tomorrow morning so it is bed time for me.

Chrisblue1962

Hi Marru

I have been to Amsterdam a few times and yes, the airport is huge, more like a small town . I quite like the fact that it has a station as well which means you can get to Amsterdam Centraal train station in 30 minutes.

Maybe you should use coming weekend to relax and rest?

Horace

Amsterdam airport is ace and certainly better than Thiefrow (erm I mean Heathrow). I must admit that I always carry some clothing in my hand luggage plus a tiny box of laundry paper (tiny soap leaves for washing clothes). Glad you had a fab time despite being stranded.

I still have these paper plates if you want them?

I was toying with the idea of relearning how to knit after seeing some wool in a charity shop, either that or learning to crotchet. I am inspired by Kirstie Allsopp.:D

Marru

Braving Amsterdam again tomorrow. This time we have plenty of time so shouldn't be a problem getting back.

This weekend I am arranging birthday party for my DD. Thanks Horace for the plate offer but I need to hit the P0undland tomorrow anyway for bits and pieces so I will have a look at what they have.

For some reason I have a croaky voice. I hope it is just the aircon in the hotel causing it and I am not going down with anything.

On the other hand very happy to get home but on the other hand sad to leave here. We have a great team and it has been truly fantastic working here. Never mind all the fabulous food I have been eating. And I have relaxed the diet and had pudding on couple of nights. Didn't finish my tiramisu tonight as it was huge. But oh so good.

I have nothing really inspiring to say but hopefully brain will kick back on gear soon and normal service will resume. Only cloud in the sky is my December exams getting closer so some serious studying is needed.