Marc Lesser's Blog, page 43
April 25, 2009
Be Mindful of What Is Needed
IMG_0106.jpg I had a teacher in business school who was fierce, intimidating, and a sweetheart. Ian McMillan was a wiry South African with a quick wit and a quick temper. He taught a class entitled “Entrepreneurship.” Our weekly assignment was to find and describe a business opportunity that came from our own experience. We had to spot a need that could be met by forming a business. In one page we were to describe the need, how our business
April 22, 2009
You Are Perfect Just As You Are (and can use a little improvement): A Guided Meditation
IMG_0149.jpg Begin by bringing your attention to your breath and body. Take a few deep breaths, breathing all the way in and all the way out. See if you can notice when your exhale ends and your inhale begins.
With each breath, let go of the thoughts and concerns of the day. As thoughts and feelings arise, note them, and bring your attention back to your breath, and to your body.
April 20, 2009
Embracing Paradox
anticrepuscular_britton_big.jpg A paradox is something that appears to be contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd but may in fact be true. Do less. Accomplish more. These statements present a paradox. Acknowledging, owning, and embracing the paradoxical nature of our lives, the lives of others, and the world can lessen our resistance to change and increase our effectiveness. At its most basic it makes us less tense and more open to happiness
April 17, 2009
Less Posturing
HelixNB3RWeb2_goldmanc800.jpg In writing and speaking about my new book Less, I find myself recently substituting the word “posturing” for the word busyness. The problem with busyness is that it has a quality of avoiding, that leads to a kind of pretending, or posturing. This kind of posturing can become a habit and can be almost invisible. Whereas posturing can at times be a useful strategy, we can become so adept that we can even foo
April 15, 2009
April 13, 2009
Something beautiful, waiting to be born
m39_noao.jpg I’ve read that in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition it is sometimes said that when many things seem to go wrong at once it is because something special and beautiful is waiting to be born, waiting to emerge. Whatever is waiting to be born needs you to be distracted by all of these things going wrong, so that you don’t get in the way, so that it can emerge as beautiful as possible. I’ve been pondering this idea ever since: thin
April 10, 2009
What Do You Want? What Do You Have to Do to Get It? Can You Pay the Price?
IMG_0035.jpg Harry Roberts was a friend and teacher of mine while I lived at Zen Center’s Green Gulch Farm. He was fond of saying that life is very simple — all you have to do is answer three questions: 1) What do you want? 2) What do you have to do to get it? And 3) Can you pay the price? After stating these questions he would usually laugh heartily, saying, yeah, real simple; most people don’t ever ask themselves the first question.
April 8, 2009
Integrative Thinking: Creative Solutions to Difficult Problems
IMG_0064.jpg According to Roger Martin, dean of the University of Toronto Business School, focusing on what a successful leader does is a mistake. Martin contends that it’s more beneficial to study how great leaders think. In his studies of successful leaders, he has concluded that they process information differently than the rest of us do.
April 6, 2009
Turn All Challenges Into Opportunities, And Other Slogans to Live By
challenge images.jpg There is a book from Tibetan Buddhism called Seven Points of Mind Training that contains 59 slogans for how to live your life. Working with short reminders is a simple, direct, and practical way to help us stay clear and focused. Slogans can act as antidotes to being pulled in too many directions or can help us when we feel overwhelmed with the difficulties in our lives and all around us. Here are four slogans that I
April 3, 2009
The Practice of Not Knowing
Mineret Lake 9 06-35.jpg It’s okay not to know. It’s okay to be vulnerable. No one has all the answers. Why not value and learn from the questions and the asking, letting go of what we think we know?
This is a key value, underlying the philosophy and practice of accomplishing more by doing less. It’s okay not to know. In Zen this is called “beginner’s mind” – the mind that is ready, open, and flexible.
