Zen-Journal® ~ Task & Life Management that Fits You Perfectly

Sacredness Is Not Just an Idea, but an Experience

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From my morning reading in Lodro Rinzler’s book, Walk Like a Buddha:

Sacredness is not just an idea. It is an experience. Having a realization of sacredness means that you experience an element of power and dignity in everything, including the ballpoint pen you are using, your comb, taking a shower, or driving your car.”

~Chöygam Trungpa Rinpoche, Smile at Fear, p. 112

I have long held that there are both meaning and significance to be found in the simplest of tasks if we hold the intention to experience them.

Filing important papers, waiting for a meeting to begin, making that first cup of coffee at work: all can be inherently sacred moments.”

Re-reading Rinzler’s book in recent days, and especially coming on to this quote from Chöygam Trungpa Rinpoche, has been like the appearance of guideposts along the path I walk, indicating the way forward.

The Key to Effecting Change in the Workplace is Practicing Mindfulness

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If you’re unhappy with the culture of your workplace or the general level of professional behavior in your office, there is no better way to initiate the change than to start with yourself and consistently be the best version of yourself each and every day.

In my opinion, the only way to effect change is to first become the change.

When you bring your inner monk to work, you show up as the same person you are when you’re on the meditation cushion. I realize that just by possessing a positive outlook and modeling positive behavior isn’t often enough to bring about changes in others, but as a Buddhist practitioner, it’s the place you must start.  [Read more…]

Anti-Awareness and The Miracle of Mindfulness, Revisited

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I’ve been re-reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Miracle of Mindfulness on my Kindle. I’m having a beautiful experience revisiting this volume that I read so many years ago.

You’ve probably had this same experience whereby you begin reading a book you read years ago and suddenly remember how lovely it was the first time, right?

I’ve recently experienced a heavier weighted reliance on mindfulness: In part because of work pressure, in part due to personal issues, and partly because I want to cultivate more awareness on a moment-by-moment basis.

It’s too easy to slip into the lazy habit of being somewhere else. I want to be here now…and now…and now. It is a positive way for me to be in the world and it reminds me, especially in times of challenge, to remember the faithfulness of my breath and how it supports me both physiologically as well as spiritually. [Read more…]

Work as a Practice for Awakening

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I’m currently reading Zen of Business Administration: How Zen Practice Can Transform Your Work and Your Life by entrepreneur, Zen monk, and former Zen Center Director, Marc Lesser.

The premise of the book is that Zen practice can lead to the dissolution of the often self-placed boundaries between work and play.

At the heart of Zen is the absence of a separate sense of self. I have to admit that this is a concept that I’ve yet to fully understand.

I’m only about one-fifth of the way into this delightful read, however, I hope that by the time I get to the end I’ll have a clearer understanding of it. [Read more…]

How To Use Mindfulness to Survive and Thrive in Today’s Open Seating Work Environments

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Open seating workspaces aren’t what they’re cracked up to be

Open seating offices are all the rage in both Silicon Valley companies and across the globe, but for many, they’re a problem.

While proponents of the concept boast about improved productivity and ease of interaction between team members, there is a growing body of evidence that sheds light on some of the more harmful aspects of the model.

In this article on Forbes, David Burkus -author of the titles, The Myths of Creativity and Under New Management– takes a look at the various studies that identified some startling negative effects on the inhabitants of open seating offices.

The findings include a 2005 study from researchers at Australia’s University of Sydney that found: [Read more…]

8 Ways Regular Mindfulness Practice Can and Will Transform Your Brain

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Mindfulness practice is a transformative practice. If you engage in eating ice cream five minutes every day, do you know what would happen? Your waistline would be transformed… and probably not in the way you’d want.  🙄

You wouldn’t see it changing each day, but over the course of a few weeks, you’d notice some changes.

That’s how it is with mindfulness practice.

After five minutes on the first day you might not notice any transformation occurring, but over a few weeks you’ll notice some significant changes.

[Read more…]

Your Workday Doesn’t Have To Feel Like You’re Living a Scene from ‘The Shining’

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REDRUM, REDRUM…

OK, that’s a bit dramatic…(if you’ve seen the film or read the novel, you get it), but life working around Type-A folks can certainly evoke some really strong reactions.

Anger, feeling hurt, annoyance and other forms of upset are examples often how we choose to respond to various stimuli at work and maybe even at home, on the freeway, or around our kids.

It’s almost as if we possess a negative-reflex-thinking mode that becomes our go-to response, triggered over and over again each day.

Unfortunately, this leads to increased stress levels, a dumping of stress hormones in our bloodstream, and ultimately to disease states like hypertension and heartburn.

That’s an unhealthy way to live. [Read more…]

From Whom Should You Learn Meditation?

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“I’m thirsty, but I guess I should wait for an aquatic scientist before drinking.”

There is no need to wait

Searching for a certified, aquatic scientist before making the decision to drink water is ludicrous, right? I mean, who in their right mind would even think of that?

Yet that’s exactly what some trained and certified (by their tradition) meditation teachers advise new meditators. Frankly, I think that’s a load of crap and it promotes further division along sectarian lines. Yes, I understand that Buddhist meditation isn’t something that anyone can teach, but let’s be realistic, sitting in silence, focusing on your breath, and learning to be with yourself isn’t rocket science.

The argument seems to be that non-certified meditation teachers can’t take a student deeply into their meditation journey and, therefore, might omit the finer points that a traditionally-trained meditation teacher would be equipped to teach.

So, respectfully, I get that, but again, we’re not talking brain surgery here. Ok, we are kind of talking about a brain-changing experience, here is where I think that logic breaks down. [Read more…]

Ask Baz: On Being Distracted

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Is Being Distracted in the Present Moment a Bad Thing?

I was talking to a friend (who also is a subscriber to the blog) earlier today about the way we relate to the present moment. She made the following statement (which is shared with her permission):

S: “I think my biggest impediment [in relation to the present moment] is my distractibility; that’s not to say that I have an inability to concentrate or to give myself over entirely to a moment, but I find that my mind is a devilish partner in my heart/mind collaboration. Your thoughts?”

My Response:

Distraction always takes us away from the present moment. However, the new present moment might fully engage us; if that is the case, then a new present moment is available for us to immerse ourselves in. The issue I see here is not the immersion onto a new present moment, but the ease of leaving one moment for another – as you put it, your distractibility.

Both the on-the-cushion practice of mediation and the off-the-cushion practice of mindfulness is about training the ‘unruly child’ to sit still for 5-10-20-? minutes. Over time -via daily practice of these two activities- our minds become less unruly: more calm and controlled. We adopt a new definition of ‘autopilot’ that includes a calmer, more serene operating style in both mind and body.

This week I’m reading The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh. In it, he makes this statement:

“Our breath is like a string that connects our mind with our body.”

When we repeatedly focus on our breath (both in mediation and in mindfulness), we link the two and they operate as one. In the process we become less distracted. Perhaps, less distractible.

Going forward, I’d recommend being as conscious as possible in each moment of distraction; for example, when you are suddenly distracted by something, pause, take a breath, and knowledge the distraction. Take a few seconds and decide if is best to stay with whatever you’d be leaving or if it’s better to make the switch? Sometime it’s OK to switch based on importance, urgency, etc. But sometimes, it simply based on boredom or fatigue.

The key isn’t what you decide, it’s taking the time to know the difference.

What are your thoughts on this issue of distractibility?