The way our lives are today, it’s so easy to get caught up in the stress of everything. We have to think about so many things at any point in time. Paying the bills, getting to work on time, what’s for dinner tonight, the weekend plans, why hasn’t that person called me back?, etc. etc. — all thoughts that cross into our heads, sometimes all at once. It’s easy for our heads to feel like we’re swimming and for some reason, we can never break the surface. But it’s time to let go of all that and get ourselves on the path to “zen.”

This isn’t a topic that I’m too familiar with, I’ll be the first to admit that. But it’s a path that I want my life to be on – peaceful, calm, destressed. Seriously, how great does that sound? I just picked up a book called “Being zen : bringing meditation to life” by Ezra Bayda (published in 2002). I haven’t started reading it yet, but I think it sounds great. Detaching yourself from the stressful situations and letting life work out things for itself, staying calm and keeping yourself centered.

I used to stress over everything. I used to worry about everything, be caught up in all sorts of drama and generally, I was pretty unhappy. But the past few months have really taught me a lot about letting things go and how much that can seriously help your demeanor and attitude towards life. Being present in the moment allows me to enjoy things so much more. Not worrying about everything and trying to plan every last detail of everything has opened me up to spontaneity and adventure. Detaching myself from stressful situations has allowed me to not worry so much about those things and focus on my life and the things I can control.

I’m sure there are tons of books about “being zen” out there. Meditation, focus, being present in the moment, letting go, etc. I plan on using these tools a lot in the future, and I hope maybe you’ll consider it too. It seems like it’ll be a great way to get centered and calm and relax. Now I just have to come up with a mantra for myself for those times when things do get in the way — but I’ll work on it.