The Zen HousewifeThe Zen HousewifeZen and the Art of Household Maintenance Articles
Goodbye!
2008-02-21 09:57:00 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
2008-01-28 13:27:00 Karmacino is like Digg for the Buddhist community and it looks pretty cool. I've just signed up. My username is zen.housewife More About: Social , Social Networking , Networking
The science of meditation
2008-01-23 14:26:00 Science says that meditation helps us focus. But we already knew that.[via: WildMind] More About: Science , Meditation
Accidental Dharma: the gift wrapped in shit
2008-01-05 23:55:00 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. More About: Gift , Shit , Wrapped , Wrap
Just do it
2008-01-04 23:28:00 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
2007-12-30 11:55:00 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
2007-12-22 10:01:00 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. More About: Morning , In The Morning , Evening , Arma
Tracy breezes into the 21st century
2007-12-20 13:01:00 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. More About: Tracy , Century
I've been on retreat
2007-12-19 11:54:00 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. More About: Retreat
Rubber Buddha
2007-12-19 07:38:00 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] More About: Rubber
To retreat
2007-12-14 19:13:00 Tomorrow I'm off on my first ever retreat. It's a one day insight meditation retreat. I'm excited and nervous. More About: Retreat
Grasping a hot coal
2007-12-09 16:36:00 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 pla... More About: Coal
Vegan without a vengeance
2007-12-07 10:37:00 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. More About: Vegan , Vengeance
Haiku at bedtime
2007-12-07 10:27:00 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 achesTV blaringgo to bedlights offcreep upstairslights outall is quietears are ringingtinnituslazy housewifechildren's toyspread aroundwrite nowright nowwriter's block More About: Haiku
Being good friends
2007-12-05 18:12:00 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: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:Clean as you go.Being good friends with the knives, clean and replace them in the knife rack after use.Being good friends with the sponge, rinse and wring it out; with the towels, fold and hang them up, and wash when dirty, or before.Being good friends with the counter, wipe it after use, and scrub sometimes; with the floor, weep and mop. Get into the corners, and when you're done, stand the broom on end or hang it on a hook. After cleaning a greasy floor, sprinkle some salt where it's ... More About: Friends , Good
This man speaks the truth
2007-12-04 19:24:00 hieroglyphic stairway it's 3:23 in the morningand I'm awakebecause my great great grandchildrenwon't let me sleepmy great great grandchildrenask me in dreamswhat did you do while the planet was plundered?what did you do when the earth was unraveling? surely you did somethingwhen the seasons started failing? as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying?did you fill the streets with protestwhen democracy was stolen? what did you doonceyouknew?There's more to this poem, and you can read it at the author Drew Dillinger's website. More About: Truth , Ruth , The Truth
Link karma
2007-12-02 15:50:00 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 Link ed 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 ca... More About: Karma , Arma
Because it is as it is
2007-11-27 17:17:00 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
2007-11-26 13:05:00 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. More About: Makeover
How to pick a winner - a photo essay
2007-11-25 17:28:00 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 Émond from Saint-Hubert, Quebec, Canada. Congratulations! More About: Photo , Winner , Essay , Pick
Clearing out the plastic bag drawer
2007-11-25 14:30:00 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 t... More About: Plastic , Drawer , Clearing
Join the freeconomy
2007-11-19 18:46:00 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 o... More About: Join
We're folding t-shirts again
2007-11-05 11:35:00 Continuing our t-shirt folding theme, here's a basic machine you can make to help you.Great t-shirt folding music too! More About: Folding , Shirts , T-Shirts , T shirts , Fold
Zen and the art of mindful consumerism
2007-10-28 17:24:00 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 spendi...
Zen link love
2007-10-26 22:24:00 My little list of bookmarked links is growing longer and longer, it's time to share.The Zen of Running, and 10 Ways to Make It Work for You at Internet ReduxThe Zen Bookshelf at Cheerio RoadBuddhist Economics at Fat KnowledgeThe Parent's Little List of Trust at Cheerio RoadAmong Other Things at TricycleEinstein's Quotes on Buddhism at Tricycle More About: Love , Link
A tribute to my teachers
2007-10-17 09:56:00 Prompted by Peter at Large from The Buddha Diaries, who has initiated an "inspirational teachers" meme, here is my tribute to teachers who have been there for me.I was that much of a reprobate during my school years that I didn't give any teacher the opportunity to engage with me, even if they had tried to. I had very little interest in school and only did what I had to do to keep my parents "off my back". I had a different relationship with my dance teachers. Dance allowed me to express myself in a way that worked for me, and I was filled with admiration for my dance teachers, who treated me with respect as a dancer. I am grateful for my years in their classes.But my real teachers have been life itself, and my children. I chose the school of hard knocks over the private school that my parents sent me to. I deliberately sought out "troublesome" types to befriend, chose to experiment with drugs and alcohol at an early age and actively put myself into dangerous situations. Lif... More About: Tribute , Teachers
Blog Action Day: being the change
2007-10-15 14:14:00 It's Blog Action Day, a day when thousands of bloggers from all over the world are blogging for one common purpose: our planet.You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - GandhiThe environment has been a priority in my life for as long as I can remember. I've always recycled, always chosen products that have a lesser impact, and been a second-hand rose for most of my life. My holiday of choice involves tents, sleeping bags and long walks, and my favourite place in all the world to be is up a mountain, looking out across the beauty of our planet. I can't pinpoint when I decided that this was the way that I was choosing to live, it's always just been an inherent part of my being.But not all choices are easy to make. Some choices mean giving up too much. Sometimes it's hard to get your head round making the higher choice because it's not exactly what you want right now. I've fallen down time and time again when it comes to making the choice between walking or dr... More About: Change , Chang , Chan
TGIF
2007-10-12 16:19:00 Q: Why don't Buddhists vacuum in the corners?A: Because they have no attachments.
Procrastination
More articles from this author:2007-10-12 11:21:00 Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons. More About: Procrastination 1, 2, 3 |
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