If you weren’t so distracted by the busyness of your life, what is it you would want to accomplish? Sometimes distractions overwhelm us because we haven’t visualized our highest priority. So, in this exercise, you will imagine what, in a perfect world, you’d like to achieve and become. However, don’t be “realistic.” Imagine what you’d do if you had all the resources you needed — no constraints of money, resources, respect, or time. What if there were no excuses? Then what? What do you want to accomplish?

Sit down, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. Relax your body; put your attention on your breath. Breathe all the way in, and all the way out.

See the calendar in front of you with today’s date. Now, see the days unfolding forward day by day, week by week. Watch the days move forward until it is today’s date three years from today. See the day and the year.

There is a story about two Zen teachers from seventh-century China. One teacher is sweeping some stone steps inside the monastery with a wooden broom. He is approached by the other teacher, who looks at him and remarks, “Too busy.” (This is a way of saying, “Why are you sweeping when you should be meditating or undertaking some type of contemplative practice?”) The first teacher, holding his broom, responds by saying, “You should know that there is one who is not busy.”

Though we often associate busyness with activity and speed, and lack of busyness with stopping or slowing down, this is not always the case. It is possible to be actively engaged and not be busy. Not being “busy” does not require that you stop, slow down, or step out of the activity of your life. Most of the time, we learn, we adjust, we find our composure, right in the midst of the activity and intensity of our lives. We have to!

Less Effort, More Results

Blessed are we who can laugh at ourselves for we shall never cease to be amused.

Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated? David Bader

I’ve recently begun thinking that my next career may be to become a “sit-down” comedian. Whereas stand-up comedy is aimed at being funny and making people laugh, sit-down comedy would be aimed at being funny and helping people to awaken, to free themselves of false views, and to be more appreciative and alive. The main thrust of sit-down comedy would be allowing people to see that what we think of as a solid, substantial self, with all its associated problems and concerns, is a fiction. Once we realize this we have just enough distance from our thoughts, assumptions, and problems that we can laugh at ourselves. Since we are all born and we will all die, what isn’t funny? Sit-down comedy would, of course, be performed sitting down.

Dear reader: Are you happy?

I notice in my own life, when people ask me – “Are you happy?” I often don’t know what to say. I feel blessed, inspired, humbled, and often confused. I sometimes feel as though I am doing too much, sometimes not enough. I often feel overwhelmed by my shortcomings, and grateful for my loved ones, friends, teachers, and students. Am I grateful? Yes? Happy; I struggle with this question. I’m grateful to be able to struggle with this question.

I've enjoyed reading a terrific article in the June Atlantic Magazine, regarding a study that followed the lives of 268 Harvard students from the classes of 1942, ’43, and’44 for more than 70 years. A quote from Dr. George Valliant, who conducted the study for more than 42 years, when asked, What have you learned from the Study? – “That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships with other people.”

Teamwork is the ultimate competitive advantage; greater than strategy, than finance or technology. People working in teams can achieve more than people working individually could ever imagine.
Here’s an experiment, that I’ve had much success with, in improving the performance of teams:
1) At a team meeting, ask each team member to have a short conversation with the person sitting to their right, answering the question: What do we do well as a team? What are our strengths?

“Radical: arising from or going to the root or source; fundamental; basic.”
Webster’s Dictionary

When my son was a teenager he once said to me, “Dad, I just don’t get it. Why do people spend so much time doing what they don’t really enjoy, just to get ahead or to make money? Don’t they get it? Don’t they see that we are all going to die?” I thought this was a great observation and a great question.

Less: Accomplishing More By Doing Less - Prologue

There is an old story of a man riding very fast on a horse. As he rides past his friend standing on the side of the road, the friend yells, “Where are you going?” The rider turns toward his friend and yells, “I don’t know, ask the horse!”

Deepening The Wonder

A poem by Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Death is a favor to us,
But our scales have lost their balance.

The impermanence of the body
Should give us great clarity,
Deepening the wonder in our senses and eyes

Of this mysterious existence we share
And are surely just traveling through.

If I were in the Tavern tonight,
Hafiz would call for drinks

And as the Master poured, I would be reminded
That all I know of life and myself is that

We are just a midair flight of golden wine
Between His Pitcher and His Cup.

If I were in the Tavern tonight,
I would buy freely for everyone in this world

Because our marriage with the Cruel Beauty
Of time and space cannot endure very long.

Death is a favor to us,
But our minds have lost their balance.

The miraculous existence and impermanence of
Form
Always makes the illumined ones
Laugh and sing.

So the secret is just to say “Yes!” and jump off from here. Then there is no problem. It means to be yourself in the present moment, always yourself, without sticking to an old self. You forget all about yourself and are refreshed. You are a new self, and before that self becomes an old self, you say “Yes! And you walk to the kitchen for breakfast. So the point on each moment is to forget the point….
-Shunryu Suzuki, No Always So

Saying YES - Looking over my day today – take my car to the shop: Yes!; writing several client proposals and updating a business plan: Yes!; Schedule appointments: Yes! Time to exercise, to study, to meet a friend for tea: Yes! Sometimes saying yes is easy; other times it seems nearly impossible.

No problem – well, this can be a problem. Of course I have lots of problems. I’ve noticed that everyone has lots of problems. How can we say yes to our problems, without getting caught or confused by them?

Dropping Keys, A Poem By Hafiz

The small person

Builds cages for everyone

She

Sees.

Instead, the sage,

Who needs to duck her head,

When the moon is low,

Can be found dropping keys, all night long

For the beautiful,

Rowdy,

Prisoners.
- Hafiz