Wake up gently via Zen
Over the years, I’ve come to the conviction that how we wake up is important. I think it can set the tone for the day. Wake up harshly, and your day starts off on the wrong foot. Wake up gently, and you’re off to a good start. One day a couple years ago I did a Google search for “waking up gently.” I found a Web site selling so called “Zen alarm clocks.” The idea behind these clocks is to take your time waking up. To savor and enjoy that state between sleep and wakefulness. The clock gets you started waking up with just one gong. Then you get a chance to doze some more, for, say, 10 minutes. Then there’s another gong. Another chance to doze some more, but only for 5 minutes. Another gong. Then just 2.5 minutes to the next one. And so forth. If you don’t get up before, in the end it will go “gong, gong, gong” continuously. It’s a logarithmic zen approach to getting out of bed.

Zen alarm clock
Anyone in my bed hated the Zen alarm clock.
Admittedly, there were some problems with it. Foremost, the little built-in hammer that hits the bowl to produce the gong sound makes a whirring, winding sound every time it goes into action. The sound is noticeable enough to distract from the Zen-like experience of the gong. One might even call it counterproductive. I soon found myself sensing a twinge of aggravation before each gong. Talk about starting the day off on the wrong foot.
I stopped using the Zen clock.
Until the iPhone came long.
Imagine my delight when I saw a “Suzu - wake me up gently” iPhone / iPod application. It takes the same logarithmic Gong-based approach to waking you up. But it’s better. First, of course, because there’s no whirring hammer distracting you from the gong. Then, one can choose the exact volume of the gong. Next, you can specify the time interval between the initial, singular gong, and the final “gong gong gong gong gong.”
I’m happily back to my Zen-like wake-up experiences.








