For a few months now I’ve been tossing around the idea of combining bonsai with meditation. My idea was to heighten the meditative experience by having a bonsai present in the room. Some practitioners use flowers to help the environment of meditation. I even came up with a cool acronym, BAM – Bonsai Assisted Meditation. There’s only one issue, I only meditate sometimes. I read books about meditation but not really a masterful practitioner. Not sure what came to me but last night while taking a shower, out of nowhere, the word Mindfulness came to mind. Being mindful of the word “mindfulness”, I came up with the Bonsai Assisted Mindfulness. Also has the acronym BAM. Bam!!! I said in my mind. I like that better.
I may have mentioned this before in my previous blog posts. Someone told me onetime that the best bonsai in your collection is the bonsai your working on in front of you. That simple advice really means a lot now when I look back. The simple lesson here is “mindfulness”. In this world we live in, we are constantly bombarded with distractions. Digital distractions and life’s distractions in general. Soon we realized that what we had set out to do in the first place have been put aside unfinished or hastily completed. Practicing mindfulness is practicing focus, attention, awareness, and therefore clarity of purpose.
The art of bonsai must be practiced with “mindfulness” otherwise one will end up with unintentional broken branches, unintentional cut leaves, and overall a bad bonsai. Bonsai trees that are created with mindfulness and intention will generally end up to be better trees.
What if we applied these same lessons in our own life? What is in front of you, your work, your kid, your talents. Be mindful of what’s in front of you. You will produce better work that will eventually produce you better income. Are you mindful of your kids needs, not just of the basic needs but their need for genuine attention from you. What about your talents? What do you best? Hone that and use it and share it.
NOTE: The picture on the post is a photo I took while walking by the Bellevue Art Museum. If you look carefully, as bright and seemingly loud the letters are, there are two subtle features I like about it. The artist used fractal-like patterns and the artist connected the patterns and colors from one letter to the other. Overall is created one whole picture.