Every Day Is A Good Day
In this issue:
Every Day Is A Good DayZen of Coaching: Course for Executive CoachesA Poem, by Anne HillmanWhat I’m Watching, SportsHalf Day Meditation Retreat, October 12thI’m quite fond of Zen stories. Some seem inscrutable or overly simplistic. Here is one with a touch of dramatic flair, and as often the case, some deeper meaning for how to live during these most strange and bewildering times.
Ummon, a renowned 9th century Chinese Zen teacher looks over an audience of several hundred students and asks them this challenging question: “I’m not asking about what happened in these past fifteen days, I’m asking what will happen starting now.” Apparently this question was met with an awkward silence. The teacher answered his own question by saying: “Every day is a good day.”
This story, and the statement, Every day is a good day, has been preserved and passed down as a teaching story. Why? What does it mean?
Usually we think that our days are ok, bad, fantastic, terrible, surprising, boring, etc. etc. Looking at our days and our life, we often think in terms of good or bad, enough or not enough, successful or failing. In response we feel anxious and upset, or not. We feel good and happy, or not.
Of course, our days can be good or bad. We can have enough or not enough. Zen stories and practices pose the possibility that we also live in another dimension – a dimension of greater wonder and greater freedom; freedom to not be caught by our own stories and judgements. The teaching is to appreciate everything, to find and live with greater flexibility and perspective, outside of good and bad, enough or not enough. The practice of meditation is one way to shift this teaching from an intellectual idea to a way of being, a way of living, that changes everything.
Even though our world and our lives are filled with good and bad, the challenge and opportunity is to appreciate everything and learn from everything. I’m reminded of a greeting card I once published when I was CEO of Brush Dance. It said:
“My life is one learning experience after another. By the end of the week I should be a genius.”
Practice
Explore during meditation, and throughout the day: “Every day is a good day” in addition to good or bad, enough or not enough.
Zen of Coaching: For Executive Coaches: Transforming Others, Becoming Your Best Self, Changing The World
An online course, beginning October 24th
Coaching is a way of helping others find the deepest places of their hearts.
Program Overview
Zen of Coaching is a transformational program for executive coaches and leaders who want to deepen their presence, expand their impact, and build a coaching practice rooted in wisdom, not just performance. Blending Zen principles, mindfulness, and real-world leadership experience, this course—created by Marc Lesser, the Zen teacher and CEO who helped bring mindful leadership to Google—supports you in cultivating stillness, navigating complexity, and coaching with greater authenticity, clarity, and purpose.
To register and for more information.
A Poem by Anne Hillman
We look with uncertainty
beyond the old choices for
clear-cut answers
to a softer, more permeable aliveness
which is every moment
at the brink of death;
for something new is being born in us
if we but let it.
We stand at a new doorway,
awaiting that which comes…
daring to be human creatures,
vulnerable to the beauty of existence.
Learning to love.
What I’m Watching
Sports! So many great sports to catch these days.
This week: U.S. Open Tennis. All week and this weekend.
Half Day Meditation Retreat, Sunday, October 12th
In person, in Mill Valley, and online.
In our world of busyness, of more/faster/better, this half-day retreat offers time to stop, reflect, and renew. We will explore the practices of effort and effortless as a path to well-being and “stepping into your life.” Together we’ll follow a gentle schedule of sitting and walking meditation, a talk, and some discussion. Anyone looking to begin or deepen a meditation and mindfulness practice is invited to attend.
Warmest regards,
Marc
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