let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me...
If we want to enjoy our lives, we need to enjoy our work. (Duh.)
This is the essence— or perhaps the reward— of Zen in the Art of Daily Money Grubbing: Even as early beginners in the art of Zen, we get to enjoy our lives more, enjoy our work more.
Or if enjoy is too strong a word, than let’s agree that a worthy goal is to at least be more at peace with what we’re doing during our working hours. Enjoying our lives, being at peace with our lives is too important to be relegated to something we experience only “after work” or on vacations, because work hours make up too large a percentage of our life’s hours.
Again, to be clear: if we aren’t enjoying our work, aren’t at peace with our work then we aren’t enjoying our lives, aren’t at peace in our lives. And here in the new millennium, such a state of un-ease is becoming increasingly unacceptable for an increasing number of us. We are recognizing that life’s too short to let un-happiness, un-peace, un-ease continue on for very long, for any reason.
So let’s assume that peaceably enjoying our work really is a very necessary experience not only for ourselves but also for all those around us. (If we aren’t peaceably enjoying our work, it’s not a secret to others at work!) We can further assume, or better, observe, that at root peaceably enjoying our work doesn’t have anything to do with our boss, or the customers, or organizational policy, or pay scale, or job duties, though on the surface it might appear as such. Experiencing peace and joy at work is basically a matter of what we are doing on the inside, not what’s happening on the outside (though, like flat-earthers, we are tempted time and time again, not to believe this.)
We can observe that we enjoy peace and happiness at work when we are enjoying or are simply at peace with the thoughts and stories we are entertaining. There’s no other way.
(Whenever necessary, we can ask, am I enjoying this thought, am I at peace with this story, yes or no. If the answer is not an immediate and spontaneous yes, it’s a no. If it’s yes, perfect. We’re enjoying ourselves; we’re at peace. If the answer is no, (I’m not enjoying this thought, or am not at peace with these stories) then in order to return to happiness or peace we have two options: a. drop the thought or story we are not enjoying or that disturbs us and find or create a thought or story we enjoy more, or b. choose to enjoy the thought or story, or be at peace with the thought or story, that a moment before was causing us unease. A simple exercise, but not necessarily easy.)
Engaging this simple little exercise has profound effects, not only at work, but in every other area of our experience, including our family lives and in. our physical health and social relations. But we too often forget about such an inner process, and instead get caught up in all the unhappy, un-peaceful outer dramas that life brings up.
So if enjoying our happiness, being at peace truly are the most important and most practical experiences we can generate for ourselves and all those around us, in every relationship and every circumstance, then doesn’t it makes sense that we should devote some time each day to doing just this: enjoying our happiness, being at peace?
For a quarterback in the NFL, one of the most important skills— movements– he must learn is the three-steps back before passing or handing off the ball. If he only practiced this three-step movement on game day, he would undoubtedly get better as the season progressed, but he would be sacked many, many times, and probably fumble the ball and lose many games, before his skills improved. That’s why he will spend hundreds of hours by himself practicing this same three-step movement, in preparation for game day. It’s what’s important for him and for everybody else.
In the same way, doesn’t it make sense that we devote a little time by ourselves each day to just enjoying our thoughts, or at least being at peace with our thoughts, and not doing anything else? If this is the most important thing we can do for ourselves and all those around us, shouldn’t we take a little time by ourselves to practice a little?
This is why meditate. We are free to devote a small amount of time, every day, to just enjoying our happiness, being at peace. We don’t need to try to do this just while we’re doing something else. We can do this — and only this— simply sitting in our chair, before the work day begins, and/or after it ends. If enjoying our happiness, practicing our peace are the most important, the most practical thing we can do in our lives, aren’t we allowed to practice our joy, practice our peace, just a little bit, every day, before we do anything else, or after everything is done?
This daily practice of happiness, practice of peace, — devoting time to just this and nothing else– is the essence of daily sitting mediation. We have literally thousands of “types” of meditation to choose from. Here at Zen Money Grubbing we encourage experimenting with the peace practice, or the freedom exercise, as a daily meditation process, though of course any enjoyable, peaceable practice will do. (As Gandhi pointed out, the means and the ends are always the same!)
Of course the basic invitation is to practice our peace and joy throughout the day, as we’re engaged in other activities. As Krishnamurti pointed out, meditation is not a part time gig! And yet, unless we devote time to practicing peace and joy and nothing else— practicing our three step drop—, our daily work experience might prove more challenging than they need to be.
