How Do I Live a Zen Lifestyle?

Have you ever wondered, “How do I live a Zen lifestyle?”

Well, living a Zen lifestyle is easier than you might think.

You know that feeling of Zen you get when you visit the day spa? It is possible to extend that feeling out to the rest of your day and eventually, your entire life.

But first, what is Zen, and how do you live a Zen lifestyle?

Zen originated among Buddhist monks, but that’s not exactly the Zen that we mean when we talk about living a Zen lifestyle.

Sure, enlightenment by direct intuition through meditation sounds great. But this doesn’t really apply to most of our lives.

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Thinking Less will Help you Live a Zen Lifestyle.

A more relevant definition of Zen would be, “a state of calm attentiveness in which one’s actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort.”

This means being perfectly present. Being completely in the moment. Being so absorbed in whatever you are doing that you lose your sense of time. It’s being in a state of pure flow.

The key here is to think less. That’s right, I said, “think less.”

Overthinking is a huge epidemic in our society today. It really is making people sick, but it’s a silent killer because most people are unaware that it’s even happening.

Have you ever thought about something negative so much that your stomach hurt or you got a headache? That’s the kind of overthinking I’m talking about.

Luckily, there are many ways to cultivate a Zen lifestyle and increase the amount of peace and calm that exist in your life.

Some Actionable Suggestions

Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Develop a daily practice of silence.
  • This means go to the quietest place you can find, and just be for 15 minutes per day to start.
  • Close your eyes. Listen to the silence. Really open up your ears and listen.
  • Try not to think. Imagine your thoughts as waves at the beach. They roll in, and they roll out, and you don’t have to try to hold on to them.
  • “Listen for the deeper sounds of harmony & beauty… that are to be found in the essence of silence.” -Norman Vincent Peale
• Try out some breathing exercises
  • There are many breathing practices out there that can really help you to heighten your experience of your body, and clear your mind.
  • Box breathing is a great one to start with:
    • Breathe in for 4 seconds
    • Hold for 4 seconds
    • Breathe out for 4 seconds
    • Hold for 4 seconds

Whatever you decide to do to start to live a Zen lifestyle, make sure that you make it your own. Find things that feel good to you, and commit to doing them daily. Soon enough, you’ll have exponentially more inner peace and serenity. And that’s what living a Zen lifestyle is really all about.