The Zen principles of balance and unity revolve around the idea that the focus on the breath during meditation allows a person to achieve spiritual enlightenment.  Though this is one area of Zen, meditation has helped me concentrate when I needed to clear my head from stress and anxieties.  Though there isn’t much nature in the city to enjoy, I believe that being in nature is essential to our understanding of ourselves. Basho believed in using the structural freedom of the haiku to enhance his understanding of nature.  His haikus are steeped in structural perfection, and his comparison of it to a “shallow river flowing over its sandy bed” is important in understanding why haikus can act as enlightened “snippets” of life.

Often, I find myself thinking a lot about the time I spend commuting, either to college or work.  In those situations I’m lost in a sea of people I will most likely never see again.  I think about their tired faces and the way mine must look like to people who also notice me.  By adopting the principles of Zen balance and unity, I think I will be able to use this time to think and reflect on my day.  My haikus would be centered around the observations I’d make during my commutes.  Sometimes I get lost in my music or scrolling through my phone on the train, but when I applied actual observation, I saw a world with so many minor variations.  From what people wear, to the ways in which each station is designed in specific ways due to the nature of the city’s geological makeup, I’ve learned a lot simply by paying more attention when I’m on my commute.

While waiting on the

platform, the N train rolled in

fifteen minutes late.

In my apartment I have an Egyptian plant near my sink that has expanded its branches and which I had  to tie up in order to keep from drooping into the sink.  I consider it the closest I get to nature throughout my daily routine.  I regret that there isn’t enough time for me to enjoy parks in the city because of my busy schedule.  This is why I find time to observe the ways in which my plant grows, despite needing very little water.

From the Nile and

laying by the small window

in my apartment.

Last week, when I was starting to feel ill, I decided to make myself some herbal tea.  I find that the drink does wonders for my body and that it must be a remedy that has been in use for hundreds of years.  If I don’t pay attention to these kinds of tasks, I lose missing the connections these activities have to the world and our history.  So, when I think about how much more I can pay attention to, I can begin to feel the balance that Zen offers.

The Herbal green tea

swirling warm in my belly

floods out the disease