Zen

Now and zen

If I was a musician and Robert Plant hadn’t already used it, I would totally make an album called “Now and Zen.”

Here are some things I find that produce a zen-like quality for me, where I lose myself in the activity, and my mind can unlock to drift and ponder and take me away from the world for a while.

  • Running. That runner’s high thing you hear about is real. Also, this can vary a bit based on conditions. If the terrain is slippery due to ice and whatnot, it’s harder to find zen because I’m concerned about face-planting. But generally, running is very calming to my brain.
  • Drawing. Especially when I do bird art, which is almost like colouring in a colouring book. The application of colour is very soothing.
  • Writing. Even on this blog, sometimes! The quote at the top of this site is accurate, but a lot of writers forget how it feels to get in the proverbial zone. You are taken, briefly, to another place, and it’s great. When you leave, it’s almost like a memory wipe occurs, so writing becomes a “chore” again, instead of a secret delight.
  • Picking up litter with a picker and bucket. This requires a certain amount of hand-eye coordination because grabbing cigarette butts off the ground can be trickier than you’d think. But the activity is so mellow and gentle, it’s nice just to slowly move around the condo complex and surrounding area and plink away at the occasional bits of litter.

I have stopped updating my apps

I view this as a positive thing. Really!

On my iPhone and iPad, app updates are pretty much a daily thing. And the update notes are typically “Bug fixes and improvements”, which is so generic it tells me nothing, other than the developers are not actively trying to make the app worse.

I could run automatic updates, but that cedes too much control, and an update could go sideways. If I approve each update, I may hear about a bad one before applying it and avoid some trouble.

For a time, that red badge on the App Store icon showing me the number of updates bothered me, but something clicked in my brain that made me just not care about it anymore. So now I don’t update my apps and the badge number goes up, and I’m fine with that.

I still go in and selectively update some apps here and there, usually if the update seems useful or adds something that sounds enticing (this is rare).

Anyway, this is just one small piece in me achieving my own personal kind of Zen. More to come!