Calm in the Chaos

A few friends and I recently visited a zen garden in Northern California.  It’s a combination of a farm, meditation center and mystical hideout 20 minutes north of San Francisco.   Although we just went for the day, there are people that do a “work-study” at the farm and live there for months at a time.  We met one of these people, Finn, a kind-faced man who left Louisiana in search of mindfulness and had been at the center for the past few months.   I instantly respected Finn for his decision to go against the grain in search of a meaningful life.    But what I appreciate even more are the people that can find their moment of zen within the business of life.  The people who can, after their job of selling software, can zone into a meditative practice.  The mother that wakes up before her child to practice yoga.   One of my favorite books last year was Ryan Holiday’s Stillness is the Key, which explores this idea.  In a speech he gave on his book tour, he confirmed his mission with the book.  Paraphrasing, he said that it’s not about selling everything you own, abandoning your family and moving to the mountains.  It’s about finding your element of stillness - journaling, meditation, a hobby - in the craziness that is life.   A few years ago, I was in downtown Miami with my girlfriend and came across this massive green sign that said “Finding Calm In The Chaos.” Find your calm in the chaos today.