Two terms that don't usually go together are "Zen" and "alarm clock." What could possibly be Zenlike about using an alarm clock? Alarm clocks are notoriously annoying. They offer loud bells, intrustive buzzes, and weird robotic beeps as a welcome to your morning.

We all have to get up in the morning, but we don't seem to have created an alarm clock sound that invites us to have a fabulous day instead of inducing an adrenalin "fight or flight" response. Just about every alarm clock out there produces sounds which make the average person want to throw the alarm clock across the room. What a way to start your day!

When I first heard about the Zen Alarm Clock, I have to admit, I thought it was some hippie-dippie New Age concoction that involved chanting at the full moon or having someone waft incense over you upon awakening. In short, I didn't think that anything called a Zen Alarm Clock could be very useful.

That all changed when a friend introduced me to his Zen Alarm Clock. He had the digital style. Both the digital and the analog (traditional clock face) style have the same key feature. Both clocks have a Tibetan style chime in them, and the clock uses this chime to wake you up.

How would you like to wake up to a soft chime sound? Do you think you could part with those buzzes and bells and other atrocious alarm sounds you've become used to over the years?

I made the switch some time ago, and I've been absolutely tickled pink by my Zen Alarm Clock.

Our nervous systems respond really well to natural sounds and to musical sounds. We tend to feel jarred or become anxious when we're exposed to electronic or disruptive noises. And yet, traditional alarm clocks almost always use an obnoxious noise for the alarm sound.

The makers of the Zen Alarm Clock are one step ahead of the curve. They managed to incorporate aesthetic beauty (both the digital and the analog style of this clock are very pretty) with a lovely chime mechanism that invites you to wake up to a brighter future instead of depressing the heck out of you with loud, annoying buzzes.

The chime mechanism rings once at the time you set your alarm for. Then it rings a few minutes later. Gradually, the chime rings more frequently, until the end of a ten minute period when the chime is ringing every few seconds. None of the chiming is frantic or intense. The chimes are more of a gentle call to awakening rather than the "bashing you over the head with noise" style of alarm.

Waking up to a beautiful musical sound like this promotes emotional well-being, and it's even been proven to improve memory and concentration.

All I know is that my Zen Alarm Clock makes me feel good.