Word Of The Day

Today's word of the day is ZEN.

I refound my Zen today. I didn't even know I lost it. I was mowing the lawn, giving it a scalp cut, 1st cut of the spring. This is where you cut it at the mower's lowest setting, trim off all the dead so it can grow back green for the spring. I was transfixed atop the riding mower doing a repetitive task, the drone of the engine, gentle breeze in my hair. I'm back in the groove again. A calm & peace came over me, & I was reminded of when I worked as maintenance man for Casablanca resort a few years back in Florida, how I would get this way almost every morning cleaning out the pool. It was a task I had done countless times. Muscle memory, you've done it so often you could practically "phone it in," and just lose yourself in the moment. Stop thinking, your body doing the job for you, just embracing the experience. And a sense of calm and serenity comes over you. Kinda like when people do yoga or that slow motion karate dance. A Zen moment.

Okay. Mowing's done, I grab my weed eater. Years & years ago when I 1st got sober I had a lawn care business. Out of necessity really. Back then I was trying to live down a reputation of being a raging alcoholic of supervillain proportions. I WAS the Heinous Anus (past tense). I had burnt so many bridges that NO one would hire me for a REAL job, but I had to make money somehow. So I got humble & I cut grass. I got good at it. It kept my mind off of drinking, it kept me busy and it earned me coin. For a while there it was how I put food on the table. I think about this as I'm weed eating the yard. Performing a repetitive task I've done so many times before I can do it without thinking. My mind can wander. I've mowed and trimmed this yard so many times I could almost do it with my eyes closed... Whoops. I just cut off part of the rose bush. Okay, so a LITTLE concentration is required while doing a repetitive task.

Scratch that. All of it.

Today's word of the day is ALMOST.