Marc Lesser's Blog, page 17

A Taste of Awe

As I write, it’s less than a week before the 2020 US election, and there’s a lot to be upset, nervous, angry, and disenchanted about. It’s unknown if our democracy will hold. It’s unknown if we will continue to pretend that the pandemic, systemic racism, and climate change don’t exist or don’t matter, as though these can be ignored in service to “the economy” and to maintaining political power. It’s depressing and frightening.

Pandemic coupled with election stress is taking a significant toll on people in the US. As a means to make a difference and to cope, many people are taking affirmative action, such as volunteering, donating, writing letters, making calls, and educating themselves. But in the midst of all this, it’s equally important that we also take care of ourselves.

How?

Try channeling a sense of awe – a feeling of reverence, respect, wonder and amazement. A recent study – Awe Walks Boost Emotional Well Being – from UC San Francisco and The Global Brain Health Institute suggests that simply taking a 15-minute weekly “awe walk” where you focus on your surroundings instead of yourself can lead to greater well being.

I’ve experimented with awe walks for years. Focusing on your surroundings is an excellent starting point, and exploring a very conscious and directed attitude of “beginner’s mind” can deepen the experience. For example, explore seeing a tree as though you are seeing it for the first time – let yourself be curious and amazed (trees truly are amazing!). Look around at flowers, the sky, clouds, houses, mailboxes, cars with this same sense of curiosity and wonder. Notice what it feels like for your body to move – consider the anatomy of walking with one foot lifting off the ground, while moving your arms, hips, and shoulders in harmony.

After one of these walks, experiment with writing what you noticed and how you felt. You can do this in a journal or on your computer; writing can be a way of installing and supporting greater well being.

At times, merely reflecting that we are here, alive, together, on this planet can be awe inspiring.

To explore the topic of awe further, take a look at The Art of Creating Awe – a TED talk by Rob Legoto, creator of the movie effects for the film Apollo 13.

Awe is, of course, rather subjective. But here are some other performances, quotes, and poems that inspire awe for me:

Billie Eilish singing her breakout song Ocean Eyes
Nina Simone playing piano and singing I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free
Neil Young performing Full Moon Rising
The London Symphony Orchestra performing Beethoven’s Symphony #9
“All I really need is a song in my heart, food in my belly, love in my family

–Raffi (watching my 1 year old grandson singing along with this children’s singer is also awe-inspiring!)
“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within”

–James Baldwin (particularly relevant for these times)
“You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.”

–Franz Kafka
Wild Geese

by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

What inspires awe for you right now?

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Interview: Mindful Leadership | Valeria Teles

Marc Lesser joined Valeria Teles on the Fit For Joy podcast for a conversation about Zen, making things simpler, mindful leadership, and the connection between success, freedom, love, failure, pain, and possibility. You can listen to the conversation below.

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The Good, the Bad, and How We Perceive Both

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? I suppose this is an unfair question.

I think we are all born with a certain set point about how we approach events and conditions and then we learn and develop filters, lenses, and mental models that further shape how we see ourselves in relationship to events and conditions.

The greater the uncertainty of events and conditions the easier it is to experience our world through the lens of pessimism and more difficult it is to be optimistic, sometimes without noticing, without awareness, of our individual and group tendencies, views, and filters. We have our individual patterns and these, like all emotions, are influenced by our families, friends and communities. You might say these approaches, how we view conditions and events, are inherited, learned, and contagious.

Mindfulness practice and mindful leadership aspires to shape and train people to see through the lens of what is – to fully experience pain and suffering, to clearly see and feel threats and falsehoods, and at the same time to cultivate an overall container, an underlying approach of appreciation, curiosity, and possibility.

Of course we are all influenced by uncertainty, by conditions and events. Mindfulness practice and mindful leadership provides a set of practices for training the mind and body in greater curiosity, listening, and love, as well as skillful, engaged action.

Right now in this time of heightened uncertainty, I’m juggling feelings of concern along with cautious optimism, pretty much daily. I think it’s the same for many of us.

To experience concern means to feel worried, disturbed, uneasy, and/or anxious. The Latin root of the word points to a broader meaning of “perceiving together.” The Latin root seems so much more pleasant!

October 13, 2020 marked the 7-month anniversary of my transition to a life of social distancing and working entirely from my home. On March 1st, I began a resident teacher month-long retreat at the San Francisco Zen Center. It was cut short on March 13th as the pandemic became more prominent.

I’m concerned that 7 months later the infections and deaths in the United States continue to rise. I’m concerned about the levels of isolation and the strains being put on many parts of our workforces and families. The lack of a plan, of unity, of a scientific or sane approach is disturbing. I feel worried, uneasy, and disturbed that we are all vulnerable (with the exception of our President, apparently).

I’m concerned about the strength and viability of our democracy, about what will happen on election day, and that the days, weeks, and months that follow November 3rd could be chaotic, divisive, and perhaps even violent.

I’m concerned about our ability to acknowledge and transform racism within the U.S. and that we are stuck in old and outmoded approaches and mindsets.

And I’m concerned about the biodiversity of life on our planet and all of the ways human activity, avoidance, and ignorance are negatively impacting the health and our living systems.

To be optimistic means that you’re disposed to take a favorable view of conditions or events. The root of the word optimism is “the greater good” and “the best.”

I’m cautiously optimistic about the creativity and intelligence of the scientific community and their ability to find effective and safe paths and solutions to working with COVID in the U.S. and throughout the world.

I’m cautiously optimistic about our business leaders, business community, and educators becoming more conscious, aware, caring, and compassionate, and their ability to adapt and forge inspiring and effective solutions to difficult problems.

Although I have concerns, I’m also cautiously optimistic about the strength of our democracy. Despite the challenges and chaos there are many devoted people who are committed to the greater good and wanting the best for everyone; people willing to challenge those misusing power and bending the truth to suit individual and narrow interests.

I’m cautiously optimistic regarding our ability to move beyond fear, tribalism, and to transform the inner and outer systems of racism so that we stay open to our common humanity.

I’m cautiously optimistic that the time is ripe for the U.S. and the world to come together to find creative solutions to renewing biodiversity and healthy living systems.

In the same way that we practice how to skillfully weather the negative effects of concern and worry, we are also free to practice the cultivation of cautious optimism. I make a point of doing this daily. Here are some of the resources that have helped me recently:

Cultivating Our Capacity to Respond: Sensory Awareness and Anti-racism. On October 24 and 25, from 9am to 1pm Pacific, my wife Lee Klinger Lesser, and Jarvis Jay Masters, a long term inmate on death row in San Quentin Prison, will be co-leading a benefit workshop for the Equal Justice Initiative. EJI is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in the American Society. Click here for more information and to register.






Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen teacher has written numerous books on mindfulness and engaged action. The Miracle of Mindfulness is one of his early works. Here is a short video clip of him responding to the question: How do I stay in the present moment when it feels unbearable?
A Life On Our Planet with David Attenborough is an excellent, moving, and ultimately hopeful film about climate change, including its causes and possible solutions. As with all of Attenborough’s works, it’s visually stunning and inspiring. You can find it on Netflix.

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Anger, Grief, Self-care, and Doing What You Can

I’m angry.

I’m grieving.

I’m reading a lot.

I’m taking good care of myself, and I hope you are too.

I’m doing what I can.

I’m angry that our elections and our democracy are being threatened. I’m angry about the silence. I’m angry with how badly the pandemic has been mis-managed by our leadership. I’m angry about the lies, the posturing, and the divisiveness. I’m angry that journalism, integrity, and science are being attacked.

I’m grieving for the hundreds of thousands of people who have died in the U.S. and a million worldwide. I’m grieving the millions of people who have lost their jobs, for the poverty, suffering, and food insecurity. I’m grieving for the black men and women who have lost their lives from fear and racism. I’m grieving for a country that needs to engage with its history and find ways to heal and transform.

I’m reading a lot:

I just finished What Comes Next And How To Like It, a memoir by Abigail Thomas. It’s an easy read, which I need sometimes. And, it has depth, humor, and creativity.


Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem are both powerful and difficult books. Caste delves into the history of racism in America in a way that feels both blunt and brilliant. My Grandmother’s Hands addresses the ways that our emotions, trauma, and racism live in our bodies and the necessity for addressing these issues at this level to impact real awareness and change.


Breakfast With Buddha by Roland Merullo was recommended by several members of Mill Valley Zen, my Wednesday night meditation group. I’m enjoying the writing, the story telling, and a lighthearted way to address the relevance of a spiritual life.


I’m a regular reader of the New York Times and The New Yorker. I feel good supporting journalism.


I often refer to parts of Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind and Not Always So by Shunryu Suzuki, The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge, and The Heart of Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh. My one-phrase summary of all these books is: The world is not what it seems! (From the perspective of Zen, business, and Buddhism.)

I’m taking good care of myself, and I hope you are too. Most mornings I’m joining the San Francisco Zen Center for two 30-minutes periods of meditation. I generally walk four to five miles a day and do some stretching and strength exercises. I love to cook and eat, especially simple vegetarian meals. I’m really good at sleep (despite the anger and grieving) and get my 7 – 7.5 hours a night. I try to stay connected to family and friends. This has been challenging during the pandemic. I’m planning to schedule more zoom teas with those I’ve lost connection with.

There is a beautiful poem that epitomizes self-care and wellbeing called Song of the Grass-roof Hermitage by Zen teacher Shitou, who lived in China during the 9th century. The poem can be found in a book called Inside the Grass Hut by Ben Connelly. The first two lines are:

“I’ve built a hut where there’s nothing of value.

After eating I relax and enjoy a nap…

And, in the last portion of the poem:

Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely.

Open your hands and walk innocent.

Thousands of words, myriad interpretations,

Are only to free you from obstructions…”

I suspect that life in 9th century China was immensely challenging and stressful. I love Shitou’s advice of napping, relaxing, opening our hands, and walking with innocence. And I appreciate that he frames living our lives as one interpretation after another, while finding freedom from obstructions.

I’m doing what I can. I’ve begun writing letters for Vote Forward, encouraging people in swing states to vote. Working America is another organization that enables letter writing to encourage people to vote.

I’m listening to talks and interviews:

Tami Simon, CEO of Sounds True, has a wonderful 3-part video series with Dr. Tiffany Jana on healing racism.
Krista Tippett interviewed John Lewis, a piece called Love In Action. Very inspiring.

It doesn’t feel like enough, and I’m doing what I can.

Anger, grieving, reading, self-care, doing what you can – I hope you are taking good care of yourselves. I hope you are doing what you can.

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3 Quotes to Inspire Courageous Leadership

The air here in Northern California (and southern California and Oregon) is extremely unhealthy, as fires continue to burn. Last week it was as dark as night most of the day here in Marin. It was to say the least, unusual, scary, unnerving.

During these challenging times, the word courage has been showing up a lot in my thoughts. The word itself comes from the word heart.

Three quotes come to mind when I think about courage and mindful leadership. The first quote has been one of my favorites for many years:

Be joyful though you’ve considered all the facts.

–Wendell Berry

It takes courage to consider all the facts. Who wants to do that! Especially right now. I think of this as a core mindfulness practice – aspiring to face what is, with as much clarity and heart as possible. The other part of mindfulness practice is finding joy, and appreciating our lives, right in the midst of “the facts.”  It takes courage to do both.

The practice of considering all the facts is a core leadership practice – the facts about people (how are people on my team and company feeling and performing), the product and service facts (how are our products and services performing?; what changes are need?), and the financial facts (are we meeting financial targets?) Often, especially when things are not going well, these practices take courage.

The second is a quote I recently heard for the first time:

The bad news is there is no parachute.

The good news is there is no ground.

–Chogyam Trungpa

Chogyam Trungpa was a leading Buddhist teacher in the United States in the 1970s and 1980’s until his death in 1987. He was the founder of Naropa University and of Shambhala Training.

The image of no parachute can be frightening. It’s meant to be frightening. It’s a metaphor for the fact that there is nothing to hold on to. No parachute means we can’t predict what will happen next, as hard as we try. When we picture this, it’s easy to feel as though we are falling.

This image of “no ground” is meant to help. It makes it easier to let go of our attempt to hold on to anything – our ideas, our fears, our need to protect ourselves. It takes courage to stop predicting the awful things we can conjure up happening. It takes courage to let go and feel and embody a sense of relief, ease, and the possibility that we can find some appreciation right in the midst of challenges and difficulties.

The third quote is one of my all-time favorites from Dongshan, an important 9th century Chinese Zen teacher:

Not being caught by “it is” or “it isn’t”, do you have the courage to be at peace with it?

Everyone wants to leave the endless changes,

but when we stop bending and fitting our lives,

we come and sit by the fire.

It is so easy to be caught by it is or it isn’t, by either/or thinking – in politics, business, relationships, racial issues, nearly anything. It takes courage to hold to our values and convictions and at the same time to not get caught, to not obsess. Not being caught means that we keep listening, that we stay open for real meeting and real solutions.

And, right now especially, it takes courage to stop bending and fitting our lives. Perhaps not to sit by the fire, to stop, to find a place of rest and wellbeing.

Practices:

Try to muster up the courage to keep your heart open in the midst of adversity.
Consider all the facts, with a sense of joy.
Find freedom in letting go of a need to hold on, a need to predict the future.
Let go of being caught by thinking you are right or not right.

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Why Are You Here, and What Should You Do?

Great questions, don’t you think? Especially now, during this most strange and challenging time. I’m finding with less travel, less movement, less time wasted looking for parking, I have more time to think, to ask, and to reflect on questions that arise.

The first question feels beautifully and mysteriously poetic and can be taken in many ways. From a leadership or work perspective, you might question why you are “here” in your particular work role, in a certain place, and with the team you have. “Here” can also mean many additional things – it could refer to your home or your relationships. It could also mean your state, country, or even your existence on this planet we call Earth. What mindset or feelings arise when you reflect on what “here” means for you?

The second question, what should you do, is more practical. There is no way to avoid or escape answering it. It requires making or not making choices. What should you do about the pandemic, the election, and climate change? What should you do for your livelihood, for your relationships, for your health and wellbeing? What should you do with this life?

At the moment, I’m noticing that my response to the first question involves a process of inquiry about my mindset and feelings, and this process is heavily influencing my decisions. One answer for me to the second question leads me to plunge into focusing my time, energy, and activities toward more learning, investigating, and healing. I’m watching, reading, and writing a lot – to expand my worldview, to open, and to attempt to find greater awareness and freedom.

Recently I watched the documentary film, The Pieces I Am, about the life of the writer Tony Morrison. She died almost exactly a year ago at age 88, after writing many profound and important books, and winning the Nobel Prize for literature. Here are a few of her words.

“If you wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.” 

“I tell my students, ‘When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”

“As writers, what we do is remember. And to remember this world is to create it.”

Genius, with heart and purpose, is definitely something I want to be around and learn from.

I’m also enjoying What Comes Next and How To Like It, a memoir by Abigail Thomas. This book was highly recommended by Annie Lamont, one of my favorite writers. It’s a book about learning, exploring, and healing. The first few sentences are:

I have time to kill while waiting for the sun to dry, and I’m mulling over the story I spent years writing and failed to turn into anything, trying not to be depressed. Nothing is wasted when you are a writer. The stuff that doesn’t work has to be written to make way for the stuff that might; often you need to take the long way round.

Thomas crafts sentences and ideas masterfully, combining the expected and the unexpected, leading me to open my mind and heart.

I’ve begun reading My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem, a powerful book about racism, trauma, and the role that our bodies play in both. In an early section of the book he opens a section on Acknowledging Our Ancestors with these words:

“Our bodies exist in the present. To your thinking brain, there is past, present, and future but to a traumatized body there is only now. That now is the home of intense survival energy.”

Such brilliant and powerful writing and teaching, filled with pain and possibility. Much of the practice of Zen and meditation is about healing through the body, by sitting still, allowing the body and mind to function more freely and fully.

Why are we here, and what should we do?

Right now most of us find ourselves in unfamiliar territory – everything is different across every platform whether it’s work, home, school, or our relationships. As we struggle to adjust to such immense change, we’re also presented with an opportunity to reflect on a great many things.

This week, you might consider:

Why are you here and what mindset, attitude, or approach are you cultivating in your work and your life? How does this approach influence the decisions you are making? How does your attitude influence your definition of “here.”
Why are you doing the work you do?
What do you aspire to do?

Start with what are you doing, now, today, and this week. Try taking a step back and a broad view. Acknowledge that things are difficult right now, name the difficulty, and allow yourself to feel the sensations in your body. Then consider ways to keep things simple so you’re focused on what matters to you most, right now; right here.

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Kindness

By Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

thinking the bus will never stop,

the passengers eating maize and chicken

will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness

you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho

lies dead by the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you,

how he too was someone

who journeyed through the night with plans

and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

It is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you everywhere

like a shadow or a friend.

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Video: How to be a Mindful Leader – Guided Meditation and Q&A

Meditation helps us live with an appreciation of the power and preciousness of our human life. In this Facebook Live event with Mindful, Marc Lesser leads a guided mindfulness meditation, discusses his latest book, Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader, and hosts a Q&A on mindful leadership.

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Video: How to Be a Mindful Leader – Mindful30 Guided Meditation

Meditation helps us live with an appreciation of the power and preciousness of our human life. In this Facebook Live event with Mindful, Marc Lesser leads a guided mindfulness meditation, discusses his latest book, Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader, and hosts a Q&A on mindful leadership.

The post Video: How to Be a Mindful Leader – Mindful30 Guided Meditation appeared first on Marc Lesser.

3 Practices For Responding To Uncertainty

We are living in a time of tremendous uncertainty. In some way, this heightened uncertainty has for many of us uncovered our tendency to avoid or deny just how unpredictable our lives really are on any given day, even when we’re not in the midst of a pandemic. Finding equanimity and freedom in the midst of uncertainty is a core, important practice that can benefit everyone, regardless of age, gender, race, faith, or profession.

Dongshan, one of the greatest Zen teachers of all-time, lived during 9th century China, which was known as the Golden Age of Zen. He often taught three ways of navigating each day:

The bird path
The mysterious way, and
The open hand.

I suspect there may have been even greater uncertainty during the 9th century compared to now. Let’s look at these three teachings and how they might be applied as practices for our current challenges.

The bird path is about leaving no trace in the midst of activity. It’s the opposite of a leader or a person who leaves an emotional wake – often of stress, anger, or feelings of lack and scarcity. The “bird path” means communicating with clarity, conviction, connection, and with love – for the work and the people. It’s about communicating without confusion, without anything extra, or anything missing.

Following the bird path starts by noticing and being aware of your emotions. For example, when you feel impatient, explore becoming familiar with this emotion. When feeling impatient it’s easy to blame, to communicate dissatisfaction, and to put others down. On the bird path, the aim is to turn the feeling of impatience into a sense of urgency and care, recognizing a need to make changes and improvements, and welcoming the opportunity to create a more clear vision for success.

The bird path is a challenging and practical, aspirational practice. On a deeper level this practice goes beyond clear communication. It’s the practice of being so comfortable in your own skin, that you widen your perspective to include caring for others in ways that are selfless and free. The bird path means acting with a full functioning, unhindered body and mind – like a bird soaring effortlessly and effectively.

The mysterious way involves recognizing and appreciating how much we don’t actually know, and finding comfort in this not knowing.

At its heart, this practice is a powerful way to develop greater comfort and effectiveness while responding to uncertainty – a skill that we can all use right now. Practicing with and embracing mystery allows us to find our way with more ease and confidence even when there are few of the usual patterns or road signs to rely on.

We make lots of decisions in our business lives and our personal lives without knowing the outcomes. We weave together stories to make our decisions and our lives as explainable as possible. Underneath, we know that there is tremendous uncertainty, that the world seems to mysteriously function without a specific intervention, that fish swim in the sea, that the sun rises and sets, that we start businesses and work collaboratively with people from many cultures around the world.

The practice of the mysterious way is much like Practice #3 from Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader: Don’t Be An Expert. None of us are experts in the realm of relationships, mindfulness, or human emotions and consciousness. But when we appreciate the mystery in these realms, we can be adventurous and learn to thrive.

The open hand practice is simple and powerful. It’s the opposite of working and living with a closed fist. I’ve noticed that many people, as leaders or in various roles, live and lead with their fists closed, often with a closed mind and heart, and from a sense of scarcity as a means to avoid stress and uncertainty. The practice of the open hand involves noticing when you are making a fist, and living with rigidity, a sense of clinging, and/or fear. The practice is to open your hand, to yourself, and to others, thereby opening your heart and mind. The practice of the open hand means seeing your work and your life as an offering and responding generously to needs and problems. It’s about cultivating an attitude of care and service.

This week’s practice:

Bring to mind a difficult situation or interaction at work. This can be something that’s happening at the moment or something that has passed. Start by naming the difficulty, the context, and the people involved. Now consider 3 ways to approach and potentially diffuse the situation:

Write down one way that you can follow the bird path in a similar situation by leaving no trace of emotional wake so that you “burn like a clean bon fire rather than a smokey fire” as Shunryu Suzuki, San Francisco Zen Center founder, sometimes describes this practice.
List the ways in which you can find ease and confidence in the midst of uncertainty and mystery as to the outcome of a similar situation.
Make a note of each time that you find yourself showing up with a closed fist or an open hand this week. How does each feel? What causes you to close and what’s the “antidote” that supports an opening up?

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