Preview: Zen Housewife
Zen HousewifeLast Build Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2008 11:31:52 +0000
Goodbye! Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:57:00 +0000 Farewell to all who've read this blog. I'm simplifying and part of the process is letting go of this blog. It will cease to exist soon when I don't renew the domain registration. Thanks for reading. Goodbye.
Buddhist social networking Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:27:00 +0000 Karmacino is like Digg for the Buddhist community and it looks pretty cool. I've just signed up. My username is zen.housewife
The science of meditation Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:26:00 +0000 Science says that meditation helps us focus. But we already knew that.(object) (embed) [via: WildMind]
Accidental Dharma: the gift wrapped in shit Sat, 05 Jan 2008 22:55:00 +0000 Fellow blogging Buddhist Peter, of The Buddha Diaries, has launched a new collaborative blog called Accidental Dharma: "the gift wrapped in shit" and he is inviting stories of lessons learned from the nasty little (or big) accidents (or incidents, or losses) that happen in our lives. Peter has provided a place for all to explore their accidental Dharma and to tell their story. Email your story.
Just do it Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:28:00 +0000 (image) Hey, I've got it.I'm just shining the sink. Just drying the dishes. Just making the beds. Just wiping the window sill. Just sweeping the doorstep. Who knew that Nike had the answer all along? Just do it! Photograph by Oliver Gruener
Impermanence Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:55:00 +0000 Christmas is over. In the long run-up to Christmas when the day actually comes it's all over in a flash. I've been reflecting on impermanence these past few days.Driving down the motorway at night. Headlights appear, dazzle and are gone. Standing in a kitchen drying dishes. My sister-in-law realises that she must live her life. Sitting indoors, nearly seventy, afraid to go out, afraid of change, afraid to live, afraid to die. I feel sad for my mother-in-law whose life is do difficult for her to bear. Bringing my face down to the carpet in the morning, saluting the sun. Noticing that old people aren't able to keep their homes as clean as they once did. Flowers die in a vase. Fruit spoils. What's in an expiry date? My only decent pair of jeans became indecent when they split across the back of the thigh, revealing more than intended. Every moment of the day demonstrates impermanence. What a blessing to see this.
Dharma in the evening, Metta in the morning Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:01:00 +0000 I'm harping on a little, I know, but I'm so blown away by what I have available to me, for my learning pleasure, now that I have this little piece of equipment called a media player. Instead of reading last night I listened to a Dharma talk by Gil Fronsdal about the Four Noble Truths, and this morning I enjoyed a guided Metta meditation when I awoke. I'm downloading a few more Dharma talks as I type this. This is as exciting a discovery for me as books. Yes, it's that big. I suddenly feel like the world is my oyster and I can bring learning to myself whenever I yearn for it. I feel like I want to say a big thank you to someone, I think I'll go and give my husband a big kiss.
Tracy breezes into the 21st century Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:01:00 +0000 It was my birthday last Monday. I had meant to write a blog post about it. It was such a lovely day. Pete gave me a Trevor Baylis Eco Media Player. If you don't know what one of those is, it's like an iPod, just way, way cooler. It's bigger than an iPod, has more of a retro look about it, and, and here's the cherry on top, it is a wind-up media player. Yes, it has a hand-crank. 40 seconds of winding gives you one hour of music. A friend of mine likened it to an old phonograph with earphones. Hahaha. It's not quite as big as that.Yesterday I discovered podcasts. And I discovered a website called AudioDharma where you can download Dharma talks by a variety of teachers and speakers. My media player has opened up a whole new world of learning to me. I'm still reading Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi.
I've been on retreat Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:54:00 +0000 I approached the day with butterflies in my stomach, but felt comfortable within half an hour of being there. It was my first time on retreat. It was a teaching retreat, and we learned about insight meditation (Vipassana). I've been trying out insight meditation over the past few months, so this has given me a bit more guidance and reassured me that I'm on the right track.I'm ready to sign up for a whole weekend of silent meditation now. The thought still scares me, but now I know that those thoughts won't last long once I'm there. The most exciting part of the meditation for me is the discovery of the space between thoughts. It turns out my head is not always what it appears to be, even from the inside. I'm currently reading Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi.
Rubber Buddha Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:38:00 +0000 (image) Some months back I was looking for a Buddha to take pride of place in my little shrine. This would have been ideal, if a little on the large side. Right action for the environment![via: Make]
To retreat Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:13:00 +0000 Tomorrow I'm off on my first ever retreat. It's a one day insight meditation retreat. I'm excited and nervous.
Grasping a hot coal Sun, 09 Dec 2007 15:36:00 +0000 An elderly gentleman with a long white beard looked at the group and said: "Here's how I see it. We are conditioned to seeing things as black and white, my way is right and your way is wrong, and this causes us to react in a knee-jerk fashion to things and people that irritate us. But if we are mindful, make use of the old adage counting to 10, and examine the irritation within ourselves, then we can respond to the person or situation instead of react." Words from the wise.This all makes perfect sense to me now, after discussing the issue of "irritation" with my meditation group this morning. But yesterday afternoon it wasn't so clear. Yesterday afternoon in the car with Pete and the kids, on our way to buy our Christmas tree I found it so hard to see things from Pete's point of view. It irritated me so much that he insisted on my accompany him and the kids to pick out a Christmas tree when I wanted to stay home and prepare a special meal to mark Bodhi Day. I had it all planned out. He and the kids would go and get the tree and dress it while I prepared a lovely meal for us to share. I felt disappointed and angry that he didn't understand that the meal was important to me and so I made a fuss about it, something that I'm not very proud of now. In retrospect, I was so attached to the idea of celebrating the Buddha's awakening my way that my behaviour was not very mindful or enlightened at all. Just another one of life's lessons coming at me from an unexpected angle. Am I grateful for the lesson? Of course I am. Will I remember it for next time? Who knows.
Vegan without a vengeance Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:37:00 +0000 I am no longer a vegan with a vengeance. I fell off that wagon. The wagon was high and I fell hard. The path was too extreme and I couldn't keep up. I'm still travelling to the same destination, but I'm taking an easier route, a route called vegetarianism. I no longer feel guilty when I want some cheese. What a relief. This is my middle path.
Haiku at bedtime Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:27:00 +0000 Past my bedtime, with a headache, but not feeling tired, I sat in front of the noisy television and a blank sheet of paper. Thoughts ran through my head and formed themselves into incorrectly syllabled haiku on the blank page.head aches TV blaring go to bed lights off creep upstairs lights out all is quiet ears are ringing tinnitus lazy housewife children's toy spread around write now right now writer's block
Being good friends Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:12:00 +0000 I spend a fair amount on time with my nose in a book, and recently I've been taking in the wisdom of Edward Espe Brown's Tassajara Cooking. Here's something I've learned this week about keeping my kitchen in order (excerpt from the book):"Cooking makes cleaning possible, cleaning makes cooking possible. It's all the same when we are good friends with ourselves and with the world around us. To help us be good friends with ourselves and with others, with rice and cabbages, with pots and pans, we may need some rules: This book would make a great gift for someone looking for purpose in their cooking or in their life.
This man speaks the truth Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:24:00 +0000 hieroglyphic stairway it's 3:23 in the morning surely you did something as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying? what did you do
Link karma Sun, 02 Dec 2007 14:50:00 +0000 To start with, here are a couple of fantastic recent blog posts from a few of my favourite blogs: Zen in Ten, by the amazing Karen Maezen Miller or Momma Zen as she is also known; and Results of Practice by Wade at The Middle Way.Then I've got some great parenting links to share: Parenting Book Reviews at Family Dharma Connections; and Dhammadinna's Request for some other useful parenting resources. An interesting blog post by Steve Olson: Child Creativity Linked with Outdoor Free Time. Yes, our kids need to play outside, with worms and frogs and mud. It's really, really good for them. Lilac's Book: Random Advice & Hippy Values is a wonderful manual for life written by a father, Bill Orton for his daughter Lilac. Read it online or download the book for free and pass-it-on.How about some outside time for the grown-ups too? This looks like a very cool website for booking a weekend away. It's all local (if you're in the UK) so no need to fly anywhere and blow your carbon footprint up out of all proportion. Be sure to practice your anger management techniques before you go, especially if you're staying in one of those Romany caravans and if the weather is as yucky as it is today.If you'd like a more permanent way to get outdoors, how about building a cabin in the woods. You'll have to apply one-pointedness to the planning application process too.Move and the way will open. [...]
Because it is as it is Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:17:00 +0000 Today has been a lesson in patience and looking into the face of chaos and disorder with calm. I didn't start out calm, but I've got calmer as the problem has escalated. It's an EcoStreet problem. Our hosting company is completely unreliable. And now they've pulled the plug on us because we have too much traffic. At the risk of sounding sarcastic, I thought that was the point of a website. So, EcoStreet is down (you'll notice I haven't bothered adding a hyperlink, that's because there's no point trying to visit it), and I'm awaiting quotes from 3 hosting companies, one of which will be the proud new provider of our hosting service before the night is out. Until then, the site is down and that's just the way it is.As I reached the end of the blog post it has also occurred to me that this is in fact a piddling little problem compared to that which many other people are facing today and I feel grateful.
The blog's had a makeover Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:05:00 +0000 I've been meaning to give the old blog a new look for a while now, being the mistress of procrastination that I can be. With a little leap of faith I've got a new template, and all without losing any of my precious blogroll links, or my recent comment widget. All praise to Blogger for making blogging easier and easier, so that those of us who like to blog still have time to live a little. And on the subject of makeovers, it's off to the shower for me.
How to pick a winner - a photo essay Sun, 25 Nov 2007 16:28:00 +0000 My beautiful assistant Piper is ready to pick the winner of our giveaway of a copy of MJ Rose's The Reincarnationist. The names have been put into the hat.Here she is having a good feel around. Making sure the names have been well mixed up.She's picked a winner. Hooray!Who is the winner, you ask? Good question. Here's your answer.It's Réjean �?mond from Saint-Hubert, Quebec, Canada. Congratulations! [...]
Clearing out the plastic bag drawer Sun, 25 Nov 2007 13:30:00 +0000 For a few years now I've been saying no to plastic bags and taking my own bags out shopping. I do this because plastic bags are bad for turtles and sea birds and plastic isn't sustainable. But somehow the plastic bag drawer doesn't get any emptier. Sure, there are times that I forget to take a reusable bag with me, but most of the time I have the reusables in the back of the car ready for any eventuality. I have one of these from Sainsbury's. And one from Tesco, and another one from Sainsbury's, the orange kind, and two from Woolworths in South Africa (the equivalent to Marks & Sparks here). I also have a Heinz tomato sauce bag and a green organic string bag. And a few other random bags that don't see the light of day much.Last night, instead of resting in front of the telly nursing my flu/cold/sore throat and cough or whatever it is, I decided to turn the contents of the plastic bag drawer into plarn.If you want to know more about plarn here are some different ways to turn your plastic bags into something you can knit or crochet.I now have a big ball of plarn that I'm going to turn into a reusable shopping bag. It seems that everyone is doing this. If it works out well this may be what some of the family are getting for xmas presents this year. Eat your heart out Anya Hindmarch! On that subject, the Progressive Bag Alliance have brought out this plastic bag to spread the message that plastic bags are recyclable. Still not as good as a reusable bag though. Better reuse than recycle every time. [...]
Join the freeconomy Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:46:00 +0000 I haven't been this excited about a website since I discovered Freecycle, and I'm telling anyone who'll listen (or read) about it. How would you like to meet people who live within a 10 mile radius of yourself who believe in a community where people help each other and share with each other without expecting money in return? All over the world, people are registering at the freeconomy community. They�??re all tired of the lack of community in their areas and the focus on money, and have decided to do something about it. By signing up to freeconomy, you are able to contact, and be contacted by, others in your area and share your skills and to help one other for free. It�??s a fantastic way to get to know people in your vicinity, and to make a real contribution to your community. The online freeconomy community is only a few weeks old, but is growing rapidly and already represents 35 countries. The idea is to share skills, tools and room/land with people who live near you.Go on over to the freeconomy community, or read my more in-depth post at EcoStreet to find out more.
We're folding t-shirts again Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:35:00 +0000 Continuing with the t-shirt folding theme, here's a basic machine you can make to help you.(object) (embed) Isn't that music great too?
Zen and the art of mindful consumerism Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:24:00 +0000 I wrote a blog post at EcoStreet last week about Buy Nothing Day 2007. If you aren't familiar with BND, it's a 24-hour detox from consumption, but it's also more importantly an opportunity to connect with your consumer conscience, for some perhaps even a life changing experience.When the blog post was submitted to Digg it attracted a fair bit of attention, much of which was negative. What came as a real surprise to me was the anger sparked by the idea."Has the genius who created this given any thought as to the effect that such a day, were it to be actually carried out, would have on the economy?""Sounds like a Communist Plot.... Lets all hurt the economy together... all @ once now....""This is such a bad idea. And very selfish. How is punishing proprietors who build companies and strive for the American dream while taking advantage of a free market society a good thing? Consumerism isn't all bad. If someone works for it or invests for it, why should they be ashamed to spending it? The money spent into our economy in America pays for far more things then the creator of the stupid day thinks it does."Others just didn't seem to get it at all:"good god, i am so sick of mindless fix-it-all activities geared to keep us distracted from actual problems. instead of buying nothing, why not buy items that help you consume less! and what happens when i need to purchase the morning after pill on november 24th? if i don't, it will lead to an entire lifetime of unnecessary consumption" "For every product you don't buy, I'm going to buy three.""If Buy Nothing Day means I gotta go an entire 24hrs without my White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino from Starbucks; they can KISS MY ASS.""huh. that seems to go against my reasons for choosing to live in a capitalistic nation. i don't get it."Diggers can be an opinionated bunch. But in their honesty they've given me food for thought. It is unlikely that we will ever give up being consumers, in fact, it's probably impossible for most not to be consumers in one way or another. So perhaps we can apply the same mindfulness to our consumerism that Buddhists apply to eating and other aspects of their lives. In choosing to buy a product, we could make the choice to be acutely aware and conscious of what we are consuming, considering the resources and energy required to make the product, and the people who worked to bring it to us. Instead of thinking that taking time out from shopping may harm the economy, let's review what our needs are, and consider how our purchases may harm those who are making the cheap goods that we so readily consume. This train of thought reminds me of a blog post I recently read at Fat Knowledge discussing Buddhist Economics. This great comparison is presented:The aim of Western economics is to maximize "standard of living" by the amount of annual consumption, with more being better.The aim of Buddhist economics is to maximize well-being while minimizing consumption.Doesn't that comparison speak volumes? Which seems to be the higher form of economics to you? In his beautifully presented post, Fat Knowledge goes on to explain why we should be consuming less, and how we can consume less. He also explores how work and investment can be included in a mindful economy and concludes that:The key reasons for decreasing resource use are: leaving more for others, reducing pollution and environmental damage, leaving more room fo[...] |
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