Time

"Time is an illusion."
          – Albert Einstein 

I used to think it was a real kick in the pants that time we spend enjoying life seems to go five times faster than time it takes to do the stuff we don't like so much.

Years ago I tried to fix this (because I always thought it was my duty to fix whatever needed fixing).

Like, doing dishes. I used to really dislike doing dishes. (I don't want to use that word hate, just 'cause I "hate" that word. :-) So to prove to my kids that most things could be made better I decided I would from then on "like" to do the dishes. Every time I had to do them, I would think of all the reasons in the world why I liked to do dishes, or why I would rather be doing dishes. It became a game I played in my mind to come up with reasons why:

• "I am so lucky to have dishes to do!"
• "Can you believe we have hot water anytime we want?" 
• "It makes my hands nice and warm on a cold day." 
• and on and on with statements to this effect. 

Then I started saying these things out loud to whomever was around:

• "Let me do that, I LOVE to do dishes!" 
• "You guys sit down, I do this better all alone." 
• "This is a one-person kitchen . . . I love to do this." 

It didn't really take long for it to work. Within a short period of time, I actually did like this repetitive task. Really. Still do.

Now that I have said this, I know that doing dishes is not the same as pain, caring for a loved one who is not doing so well, sleeplessness, addictions, fears, etc.

The LONG hours spent doing some things such as these . . . maybe we can play a trick on ourselves and reverse the long and short of it. I think that is one way Zentangle can get us through some difficult times. It can change long hours to short hours. 

You also get a bonus of feeling good about yourself for that period of time as you produce art you can admire, share, or give away. How cool is that?

These are a few Zentangle tiles I created during my usual middle of the night awakenings.

. . . maria

P.S.

I'd love to give one of these tiles away. We'll randomly pick from the comments below and, if we can contact you, you can pick out which one you'd like and we'll send it to you.

Click images for larger views.