Wandering mindfulness

I sat at a traffic light the other day behind a minivan with the license plate IGIVEUP. So that was depressing.

Perhaps as an antidote to that level of despair, I decided to make a zen garden out of a $4 box that I got at a craft store. I filled it with sand and added a candle and small rocks. Ellie played with it when she got home and when she got upset after she couldn't make her own, I said, "Remember that life is suffering and suffering comes from desire. If you want to eliminate suffering, you must eliminate desire." She said, "Huh?'

My zen garden:

I got more frames at the thrift store to make more zen gardens. It's kind of messy once you get to the sand part, so I thought about putting them together outside in the driveway. But there are wasps buzzing around the house (I think they're building a nest in between the shutters) and screaming like a little girl just doesn't say zen to me. So I think I'll make them inside the house.

So I was looking up zen gardens and Buddhist symbols online and I saw that you can get a certificate in Relaxation, Meditation and Mindfulness right over in Schaumburg. I can actually become a certified relaxer? Sign me up.

I do think it would be fun and probably helpful to take a class in Buddhism. Learn how to meditate. Learn how to breathe. Learn how to be mindful. Like being mindful of your body when it's telling you that it's 12:30am and you should go to bed instead of staying up to blog.