#flow-state

#flow-state

Zen Buddhist monk and personal hero of mine, Thich Nhat Hanh, spent much of his life writing about mindfulness. He stressed that when we do anything, we should commit to it fully, giving it our undivided attention and allowing ourselves to become immersed in it, be it simply eating, walking, or anything else. "Drink your tea slowly and reverently," he said, "as if it is the axis on which the earth revolves--slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future."

"I think I'm going to get into beading," I said to my husband as we sat on the couch together in the post-bedtime slump. After we get our 4-year-old to bed, sometimes with a fight, we crash in the living room together and just enjoy the sound of silence. In telling him, I was mostly preparing him for the number of packages that were about to arrive in the mail bearing beads, tiny pliers, and little gold doodads.

Almost everything in life now feels monetized, from birth to death, with every aspect of existence having a price tag attached, even relationships and joy.