Come On Brain, Make a New Blog Title

Sometimes I feel like my brain has taken a vacation and forgot to take me along.  Typically this occurs when I'm super stressed out and it seems like anything that could happen does and it happens all at the same stinking time.   

To try to keep balanced, I try to incorporate at least an hour of "me" time everyday.  Now, typically this "me" time takes place in the evenings before bed.   A large portion of this time is spent reading, but not all of it.  I make sure that whatever I do, it  is something non-work related that I thoroughly enjoy, and since I love technology (and free things). . . I going to share some of my favorite FREE Zen apps with you.

Here are my favorite Zen Apps in no particular order. . .

Zen Space

If you like using a desktop zen garden, this is the app for you.  It's free and you don't have to worry about sand getting all over the place.  It also has sound that you can run while you are in the app.  If you do a good job of keeping things equal, butterflies will start appearing and will flit across the screen.

Hello Flower

This is a really cool app where you can create your own flowers from the inside out.  You can choose your color, shape, and style of each petal.  Here's a few screen shots of me creating a flower.  I've had a lot of fun with this app.

Bubble Wrap

Who doesn't love bubble wrap?  This app is great for those moments when you just need to chill.  It has 2 modes: just pop (which is my favorite) and a timed round when you have to pop an entire page in a set amount of time.  For me, when I'm just trying to chill, a timed game seems kind of counter intuitive;  so I try to stay away from those.

Fluidity

I love, love, LOVE this app!  You can change the color, amount of sparkle, and the consistency of the liquid.  Talk about cool!  This is a very calming app and it let's your mind wander.  I love seeing artistic photos of space, and to me, it's like your creating amazing photos of the stars.

Nature Scenes

As you can see there's a running trend with putting ads at the bottom of the free apps; now this really doesn't bother me anymore.  I think I've built some kind of commercial immunity, and I am pretty good at blocking them out completely.  But, this apps' ads really don't bother me since your not really going to be watching the screen; instead you'll be listening to the calming sounds of the rain.

This app also has a mixer, which is my favorite feature, where you can add and subtract a series of calming sounds to make your own perfect calming background music/sound.   They even have sounds of the city, for those people who miss the sounds of the hustle and bustle of home.  It also has a sleep timer, so you can set the sounds to end at a certain time.  Did I mention this app is free?  

Pond Lite & Pocket Pond
The big difference between these apps is the fish themselves.  
In Pond Lite. . .

You are automatically given these cute colorful koi fish.  You don't have to feed them, just enjoy watching them swim your stress away.  

Pocket Pond . . . is another fish entirely.

In this app you have to feed your fish and clean the filter regularly. If you don't the fish die, I don't use this app often so when I opened it to get some screen shots I found out that not only was my pond full of algae and the filter was filthy, but. . .

. . .all my fish died. 

The sad part is, even though I used my koi credits (given for free as you keep up your tank) to 'purchase' new fish. . . the dead ones stayed down at the bottom as a sad reminder of what was.  On a positive note, my frog was still alive and very hoppy.  

If you are going to be a casual koi fish care taker, I suggest Pond Lite, otherwise you'll end up with a pond full of sadness. . . and a hoppy frog.

Apps aren't the only way I help to melt the stress away; in fact, they are just one of my many tools in my tool box of Zen.  I prefer not to be a homebody, so when I can, I have fun with family and friends, get outside and enjoy the sunshine, draw, sketch, and get all artsy!   These apps are just one way I like to manage stress.  Plus, there are just those times when your 'me' time requires just that; some time just for you and only you.  

To quote Mary Poppins, "A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down," but I think that laughter truly is the best medicine.