Several years ago, on a trip to Spain and Portugal, I had my first “moment of Zen.”

Since then, I’ve had others.

It’s a feeling of being exactly placed in the universe at the proper moment. Or, at least that’s what it means to me.

It often involves a glass of wine, some late day sun, a breeze — because I’m outside — and music, frequently jazz.

My moment of zen

My most recent one would have been better with fewer people, but I will take what I can get. In a tourist spot, finding a relatively quiet table under an umbrella is a good thing.

I went on a Meetup with Footsteps Explorers to Buddha Eden in Bombarral. It’s a huge Oriental garden (35 hectares) that “was created in protest the destruction of the Bamyan Giant Buddhas, in what was one of the greatest acts of cultural barbarism, erasing masterpieces from the later period of the Art of Gandhara,” according to the website. It is the largest Oriental garden in Europe.

I walked most of the perimeter and a good part of the interior. It’s a lot of hills, like Tennessee, so no trouble for me, walking at least.

I did try to stay in the shade. No sense in burning if I can avoid it.

It’s a beautiful park with so many vistas. I found lots of places to just sit and take in the view.

 

Senses engaged

Finally, though, I found my way back to the restaurant at the entrance where I got a glass of vinho tinto (red wine) for 2,20€.

A water feature provides cascading sound. Jazz emanates from hidden speakers. An umbrella shades me from the late day sun. The sky is blue; the clouds white.

I wait for the others in my group to complete their tour of this beautiful space.

And I can’t help feeling I’m where I should be right now.

My moment of Zen.

 

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Be a Better Writer Tip

If you need to write on a schedule — such as for a blog or a job — it’s a good idea to plan your writing time and subjects.

It takes 30 days to create (or break) a habit. So, in 30 days’ time, you can get into the groove of writing more, writing every day or writing on a schedule — whatever your writing goals may be.

As a newspaper journalist, I knew I had to write every day — at any given time. We couldn’t wait for inspiration or the mood to strike. No, we had to write when we got the information.

When I first started, we only had deadlines once a day, so I could wait until after lunch or another interview. Sometimes, we’d work on stories for the following days, weeks or projects. But we also had the daily news machine to feed, so we were writing something every day.

Later, when we were writing for the web, it was more important to write immediately and get a story online. No longer did we have once-a-day deadlines — we always were on deadline.

I learned, from necessity, to write any time about any thing.

You can, too, if you need to, but chances are, you don’t need to.

Instead, you can achieve your writing goals. We’ll talk more in depth next time.