By Jeanette M. Pintar - with inspiration from Misty

Misty was truly a Zen Master. She could enter a state of peaceful being no matter what was going on around her. If she wanted to experience tranquillity, she did - with no regard for the dishwasher, wash machine or dryer running, the crash and bang of garbage being collected or the traffic on Peachtree Street. No bother with the airplanes and helicopters flying overhead, the blowers and mowers of landscape crews, nor even the screams of temperamental Cockatiels. No matter what was happening around her, Misty had mastered the art of tranquillity within.

This is something I'm still working on as I'm not one hundred percent sure how she was able to do it. Maybe Misty focused so well on what she wanted that she tuned out the minor distractions. Perhaps she simply chose to ignore them or made up her mind that she would not react - period. It's also possible she just decided to let go of her initial reactions to minor irritations and handed them over to her meditative state of being. Misty simply did not allow most things to bother her and chose to fill her life with a healthy dose of inner serenity, which is a great skill for all of us to master.

Remember: Pay no attention to minor irritations. Not even Cockatiels.

--- © Jeanette M. Pintar, inspired by Misty