a happy (work)place

One more layer in my very zen office space.....

1. Desktop Japanese Maple

2. BalanceBall Chair

3. A Properly Labeled Filing System

an apple a day

I recently cleaned and organized my home office (or as my friends were kind enough to point out, I really just stacked all my magazines in the corners of my office) and tidied my desk at work. Now that everything is cleaned up and organized I spend more time in my home office and feel more productive at work. It isn't that I am really more productive, but my mind feels clearer and the visual impact of both places doesn't seem as overwhelming or cause me to cry. Productivity is nice but peace and piece of mind is more important to me. (Don't get me wrong I want and like being productive but I don't want it to be a stressful process.) One of the best things about having an Apple computer are all the apps that I can download. There is an app for everything. The two I am interested in for my office computer are Optimism for Mental Health and the Lotus Meditation Timer.


Optimism for Mental Health Description
A quick, easy to use application that is powerful in helping you understand your mental health. It is used for recovering from depression and other illnesses, for maintaining good health, and as a self-help tool. Optimism helps you to be proactive about your health. By monitoring patterns in your life you can identify the triggers that cause a decline in well-being, early warning signs of the decline, and the inputs or activities that benefit you most.

Lotus Meditation Timer Description
Basically the meditation timer will remind me when to meditate every day, play my choice of music or sounds while I meditate and keep track of my meditation time. (It will wake me up, in case I am so relaxed that I fall asleep.)

(link to Happy Apple album)

Rub A Dub Dub - I Hate to Scrub my Tub

I have a bath tub that I hardly use and hate to clean. Maybe I would feel better about cleaning it if I used it. Doubtful but it is worth a try.

1. Salt Aromatherapy Diffuser

2. Youki Bath Bomb

3. Towel Warmer

4. Thermal Spa Bath Mat

Uhm (not Ohm)

Last year I went to a meditation retreat with a friend.  Other than hairy armpits and the all angry hippies bitterly searching for peace it was really great.  I never thought that I could meditate.  Every time I tried to meditate I would start making a To Do list in my head, after a few seconds I would get up, get a pad of paper and start writing things down.  I started meditating a couple of times a week and had the best To Do lists ever.  They were color coded and had check boxes. My bliss only lasted so long before I decided that I should really try meditating and not what it turned into, quiet list making. 

Anyhow, I went to the retreat and I was able to meditate.  There was one meditation session that lasted about 20 minutes but it seemed like time stood still and only a few seconds passed.  (I was not asleep.)   Afterwards, I was more relaxed, had more energy and was able to focus so much easier than usual.  I need to continue meditating at home on the regular basis.  Ideally I would like to have a meditation corner that is set aside from everything else in my house.  The first problem is, where will I find this serene corner in my house?  I suppose if I put the laundry away it would open up some space. (A meditation chair would be great but I think I need to stick with it a while before I make a purchase.

Reconsidering how I approached meditation was helpful.  The first step was erasing the thought that I can't meditate.  "There's too much noise in my head that will not allow me to meditate." "It is boring."  But, it isn't like staring at a wall in a quiet room.  "I don't have the time."  Lack of time is my favorite excuse but, every single day I am able to carve enough time out to talk about things that really irritate me.  Maybe if I used that time to meditate, fewer things would irritate me, consequently, I would have less to complain about and more time to meditate, among other things. 

The replacement approach started with these thoughts:

-Let go of any "If only I...had, did, didn't, etc."

-Stop fighting the battle about what was supposed to have been.

-Everyone is a paradox. Full of contradictions. A hypocrite. Enjoy everyone including yourself. We are all God's creations.  All unique and special. (All and everyone includes me.)

To meditate, I sat down in a relaxed position and did the following:

-Relaxing my body from the top - down

-Feeling and hearing my breath, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth.  (Just doing this step and tuning other noises out was a giant step.  Obviously, I still heard what is going on around me, but I would reset and start over again, so it wouldn't become a major distraction.)

After settling in I would think about these thoughts or focus on these sounds:

"If you put a tablespoon of salt in a cup of water the water tastes salty.  If you put it in a lake you hardly taste any salt at all.  Make your mind and spirit so large and vast that everything becomes small.  Nothing will have an effect.  Peace."

or

"Breathing in I calm the body, breathing out I calm the mind."

or

Listening and concentrating on the sounds around me.  

(I have used a mediation bowl, a sound machine and music.)

Now, I just need start.  

How To Do Awareness Meditation

Just Say Om (Time Magazine)

How To Meditate (Realage.com)