I am a husband, writer, and teacher exploring what it means to cultivate mental silence.

Work/Life (im)-balance...

Work/Life (im)-balance...What do you give the first part of your day to?? In a quest for mental silence I...give it to...me!I start my day with a 20 minute run on the treadmill. I follow that with 10 minutes of meditation. After getting ready for work...I sit for 10-12 minutes and have breakfast.After final preparations for work, I spend 3 more minutes taking a sacred pause...which is basically a little more meditation. So about 45 out of the first 85 minutes of my day goes to these things. I love this part of the day...the quiet, the solitude. The rest of the day, the better part of 9 hours...goes to...work. Don't get me wrong here...I love my job and this seeming imbalance is not unusual. It does weigh on me though. Think about it, 45 minutes x 5 days = 225 minutes or...3 hours, 45 minutes to myself vs. 45 hours spent working. So...I spend about 15x more working than I do time by myself for myself...in the morning...during the week.Evenings are a little better. If I get home at 5:30pm and spend 3 hours with my wife, that's 15 hours...added to the 3 hours, 45 minutes of quiet and solitude I give myself in the mornings. I'm still working at least 2x more than I am doing other things...on any given day...during the week.Putting this in front of me helps me better understand why that first 45 minutes is so important. I cannot imagine what my state-of-being would be without it! What do you give the first part of your day to? If you care about yourself and can "afford it"...I suggest you think about giving more to...you!

When the mind wants what the body cannot yet have...

Zen and the art of setting up my screens...