Zen and the art of Motherhood

Do you know where and how I find peace? Where in my life I feel most enlightened? Where I am content and happy? It is in my motherhood. Raising five children and working with young children all day may sound unglamourous and messy but to me, it is Zen. I find that children have the purest hearts. Just being around them all day renews me. It is refreshing to play with children or to take part in a hilarious attack of giggles with two teenage daughters. I can sit on the floor for hours doing puzzles and building things and I have such a great excuse to do that and feel productive because it is all under the notion that I am teaching a small child. I love how they include me in their world of imagination. I also have so much love poured into me and showered all over me simply because I am taking care of them. Wiping noses, changing diapers, putting on band-aids, cooking meals and cutting up food, reading books and tucking them in blankets, combing hair, brushing their little teeth, helping with homework. I know, it sounds tedious but it's not. It fills my spirit with such tenderness and love I can hardly describe it. I can meditate best while I am doing laundry. I don't know why people sometimes feel they must travel to far away places under the influence of some guru when it's more wonderful to find your zen right where you are doing your every day things. Being a mother is the best. And having a husband who recognizes how beautiful motherhood is and respects it above all else is divine. I really am the luckiest girl on the planet.