Summon the Zazzen

"Carnival" courtesy of bomobob

 

I work hard. I'm working all the time. My brain is constantly on overdrive with thoughts about marketing and promotions, new product designs, show schedules and booking, packaging, branding, the list goes on. I dream this stuff, and when I wake up I'm pretty sure some of it sneaks into my breakfast too. Today though, I spent three and a half hours at the spa getting a manicure, a pedicure, and a facial. It was heaven. And when it was over, I just felt so great about being this person that I am that I just wanted to jump right back into my work- but my body was in such a state of zazzen bliss that I couldn't.

Zazzen: the state of being in which you feel like a stick of butter gently softening, melting, into a pliable, impressionistic sort of mass, and you are just absolutely delighted to be yourself in that moment *not to be confused with zazen (one 'z') which is a type of meditation focused on sitting.

Regardless of the kind of work that you do, the people that you live with or the kind of life that you lead- you are a person who is worthy of the power that you have within you and is deserving of your own respect. In order to be worth anything to anyone else, you have to be worth something to yourself first. You'd be surprised how easy it is to take that for granted, to think, "I know I'm worth something to myself, why on Earth do I have to show it or prove it? I KNOW it!" Well the truth is, most of the time, we actually don't know it because we aren't usually in the practice of telling ourselves on a daily basis how awesome we think we are.

Why the heck not?! Why are we waiting to hear or see that stuff from other people? You don't have to depend on others to help you to realize that it's pretty cool to just be you. You can do that yourself. Just Summon the Zazzen. Bring into your life those things that you love that you think are treats, or just for special occasions.  Show yourself that you appreciate who you are by allowing yourself to enjoy that which you are naturally drawn to. It'll make every other aspect of your life easier, more enjoyable, and who knows, you just might wake up one day and absolutely love every moment from then until you go back to sleep.

Okay, Summon the Zazzen. It can be anything on the spectrum from a mani/pedi on one end to an extra round of Call of Duty: Black Ops on the other. Make a list of things that you absolutely love to do, things that make you happy just to think about them, and start booking those moments into your schedule or making notes so that you don't forget to enjoy them more often.

I want you to do more things that make you feel awesome and less things that make you feel icky. By the way, those icky things definitely feel less icky if you introduce more awesome. So give yourself a high five/pat on the back/big hug and remind your being that you appreciate it.

*Maria