The zen of gardening
Ok. So I'll admit right off that I don't really understand 'zen' enough to have warranted the title, but who cares.
Recently pezwitch and I each took new jobs. These changes have altered our schedules a bit. Me as the early riser hasn't been going in until after 8 because I'm expected to stay later in the evening. Poor pezwitch, who enjoys the more restful mornings, is up and out of the door by 7. I've been taking advantage of the time to do dishes, workout, or generally pick-up around the house. This has freed me up to do the annoying mowing in the evenings with the rest of the time to myself.
I must admit when this first started I was watching TV, playing on-line and such. However I have started getting in the habit of taking 30 minutes or so every other night or so to go weed the plants around the house. As the nights have gone by I've started to find it very meditative.
Tonight I got to thinking about how much I used to dread weeding and what was so different. One thing I figure is that when it gets hot out and more bugs I probably won't like it anymore. But more interestingly it's because I've changed my perspective.
There's always the question of are you weeding because you want to, to keep a spouse happy, keep up appearances or something else. But I was thinking of why I weed at all. I used to think that the 'goal' was to rid the entire garden of weeds. Not very realistic unless I chemically bombed the entire yard reducing it to dirt.
No, I weed because it gives me the time to think and the 'goal' is to simply make it look better. I know I'm not getting everything, or taking it al out by the roots but it doesn't matter. It feels good to make it look better and I get to zone out. It's nice.
This is one of the few times I think I've started to know the phase 'life's not a destination, it's a journey'.
Recently pezwitch and I each took new jobs. These changes have altered our schedules a bit. Me as the early riser hasn't been going in until after 8 because I'm expected to stay later in the evening. Poor pezwitch, who enjoys the more restful mornings, is up and out of the door by 7. I've been taking advantage of the time to do dishes, workout, or generally pick-up around the house. This has freed me up to do the annoying mowing in the evenings with the rest of the time to myself.
I must admit when this first started I was watching TV, playing on-line and such. However I have started getting in the habit of taking 30 minutes or so every other night or so to go weed the plants around the house. As the nights have gone by I've started to find it very meditative.
Tonight I got to thinking about how much I used to dread weeding and what was so different. One thing I figure is that when it gets hot out and more bugs I probably won't like it anymore. But more interestingly it's because I've changed my perspective.
There's always the question of are you weeding because you want to, to keep a spouse happy, keep up appearances or something else. But I was thinking of why I weed at all. I used to think that the 'goal' was to rid the entire garden of weeds. Not very realistic unless I chemically bombed the entire yard reducing it to dirt.
No, I weed because it gives me the time to think and the 'goal' is to simply make it look better. I know I'm not getting everything, or taking it al out by the roots but it doesn't matter. It feels good to make it look better and I get to zone out. It's nice.
This is one of the few times I think I've started to know the phase 'life's not a destination, it's a journey'.