So last week I attended two lectures by a 'Dzogchen' Buddhist teacher: "Yeshi Silvano Namkhai"
'Dzogchen' is one branch in Tibetian Buddhism that is very similar to the Japanese Zen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzogchen
anyway, there were many pearls of wisdom in those lectures but I'm going to share one that is very simple. All the great things in life are not complicated
Did you ever notice how the mind gets bored really fast. For example: you buy a new car, a new computer, move into a new apartment, buy a new mobile phone.... you feel enthusiastic for a short period of time. And then what happens?
you get used to it, you get bored and say: Ok where is the next 'fresh'\'new' thing?
what should I buy\do next?
But every moment can be fresh and great if the mind doesn't tag it as something 'old'.
Try this:
look at your computer for a moment, go outside and look at something you see every day-
your car, a tree, your house, whatever.....
and see what happens for a fraction of a second before your mind says:
Oh I have seen this before many times, Oh it's just my car I'm already used to it....
in fact: what happens before the mind says\tags the object, before the mind says:
This is a car, this is a tree, this is a house, etc.....
Before the mind tags something and puts it in 'a box' (if you know what I mean..) there is a moment where everything is new and fresh. It's almost like the first time you see it
babies and little kids often have this mind where they see everything as fresh and new.
with time as adults we learn to tag everything and put it in 'a box' all the time, and then no wonder we get bored very often.
So try this very simple exercise at times when you don't need to think and can let the mind relax in this moment, see everything as new and fresh again.
works great esp. when you look at nature like that but it works on everything.....
Peace