Zen

I have stress in my life, ok, who doesn't?  Well, one thing I decided this summer was I wanted a zen garden.  Where to put it?  How could I afford what I wanted?  Well, I decided to go miniature.  My son and I collect rocks, I particularly look for heart rocks, but if something strikes my fancy I'll grab it too.

Preacher stand

One of my favorite places on earth is my camp.  This place is my "safe place" it is where I go to find peace, heal my soul, and be with God.  While my son and I were there this summer, and at the beach nearby, we collected rocks.  I started to have an idea: I can have a zen box.  When we got home from our week away from the world we set about creating our little piece of heaven.  We got a couple of plain wooden boxes from a craft store, painted them white, Will colored his, I used stickers with inspirational sayings.  Then we filled our boxes with sand (mine is multicolored to remind me of all the elements of camp and the beach) combed the sand with a fork--it's all I had-- and placed our rocks.  Here is my little zen garden in a box, whenever I feel stressed I look in my box and imagine I'm back in that peaceful spot.

I kept my cover very simple

These are 2 of the sides, can you tell I love dragonflies?

This is my zen.  I have blue for the water, tan for the beach/earth, and green for all the trees.

Where do you find your zen?

Poetry

I've been reading some poetry lately to inspire me to write again. As with the photography, I'm no expert and will never be published outside of this blog, but here are a couple that I've found to have struck a chord in my life.

Welcome morning by Anne Sexton

There is joy
In all:
In the hair I brush each morning,
In the Cannon towel, newly washed,
That I rub my body with each morning,
In the chapel of eggs I cook
Each morning,
In the outcry from the kettle
That heats my coffee
Each morning,
In the spoon and the chair
That cry "hello there, Anne"
Each morning,
In the godhead of the table
That I set my silver, plate, cup upon
Each morning.

All this is God,
Right here in my pea-green house
Each morning
And I mean,
Though often forget,
To give thanks,
To faint down by the kitchen table
In a prayer of rejoicing
As the holy birds at the kitchen window
Peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it,
Let me paint a thank-you on my palm
For this God, this laughter of the morning,
Lest it go unspoken.

The Joy that isn't shared, I've heard,
Dies young.

Instrument of choice by Robert Phillips

She was a girl
No one ever chose
For teams or clubs,
Dances or dates,

So she chose the instrument
No one else wanted:
The tuba. Big as herself,
Heavy as her heart,

It's golden tubes
And coils encircle her
Like a lover's embrace.
It's body pressed on hers.

Into it's mouthpiece she blew
Life, its deep-throated
Oompahs, oompahs sounding,
Almost, like mating cries.


Hope they bring some inspiration and thought into your life as well......