Muses on happiness

Zen3

Originally uploaded by Spanish Moon.
I haven’t written anything in my blog for a very long time now. Lots of changes have happened in my life, but things are gradually returning to normal. One of the changes is that I’ve moved house!!

To start off this new lease of life on my blog I’ve decided to share some pictures of a little corner I’ve made in the front garden for sitting and meditating. I have some photos of gorgeous Zen gardens in Japan and I find them just wonderful and restful, so I decided to make my own little Zen corner. I have a wooden bench so I can sit and just enjoy it all, which is under a huge palm tree which always has birds coming and going. I’ve also got a sort of fountain, although it’s more like a granite monolith sitting on some stones and, thanks to a pump, water trickles down the monolith into the stones and down into a trough where it goes back into the pump again. The sound of the water trickling down the granite and then splashing onto the stones is so relaxing. Behind the bench and in the shadow of the palm tree, I have planted a Japanese Acer which is just starting to produce this year’s leaves. What a gorgeous shade of red they are! Then, in a corner I have placed some white stones to act as a border for containing the gravel, into which I have sat some stones. I took a long time finding just the right stones. Compared to the “real” Zen gardens, mine is pathetic, but it works for me. It is my little haven. I’ve tried to screen it off a bit with some plants. At the moment it all looks terribly “new” but I shall enjoy watching it mature over the years.

I do believe that we all need to find or create our own special place where we can get in touch with ourselves and be at peace. Somewhere that feels “sacred”. Five or ten minutes meditating in my little corner renews me completely.