And if you had these three all together, what kinds of conversations might ensue?

• “Post-Modern Practice: Awareness and Wisdom in the Age of Technology,” perhaps?
• or maybe “Conscious Business: Supporting Staff to Live Mindfully, Meaningfully, and Effectively?”
• might they have contemplations along the lines of “Considering the Aesthetics of Twitter Musings on the modes of attention & awareness whilst composing & consuming tweets“?

As unlikely as it all sounds, this is just the mix of people that will be having these conversations at this weekend’s Wisdom 2.0 Conference in the famous Silicon Valley of California.

From the about page:

The Wisdom 2.0 conference is a one-of-a-kind event that brings together people from a variety of disciplines, including technology leaders, Zen teachers, neuroscientists, and academics to explore how we can live with deeper meaning and wisdom in our technology-rich age.

What can I say but fascinating!! Isn’t this right up the alley of everything we explore here at Project Simplify? Simplifying isn’t about reverting back to the stone ages or selling everything to go live in a yurt (though it might for some).

Simplifying, instead, is about navigating an increasingly complex world and learning for ourselves what is meaningful. What do we have to say, how can we say it, and what is the best means for sharing those gifts?

It’s about doing what counts, nothing more, nothing less.

For most of us (online folks reading blogs), we like our tech toys. We appreciate the amazing and previously unimaginable ways in which we can connect with other like-minded folks.

At the same time, it’s easy to take on too much. How do we keep it inline with our heart’s purpose?

Can you tell I’m getting excited about this weekend?? I’m going! That’s right, I’m returning to the area of my roots (I grew up about 15 miles from the conference’s Mountain View site).

Among other speakers we’ll be hearing from (the folks mentioned above):

• Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos
• Roshi Joan Halifax, Zen Abbot
• Kaitlin Quistgaard, Editor-in-Chief, Yoga Journal

What I’m just as excited about is meeting the sure-to-be-fascinating attendees who are as stoked as I am to get together around this subject.

Fun!

It’s been several mornings since I’ve done my morning yoga. The muscles are a little tight, and flexibility isn’t what it was even a week ago.

This morning on the mat, getting back into my body felt great. Exaggerating the poses felt like pulling taffy–I reveled in releasing the resistance.

Until… a thought floated in that had a characteristic gentle truth feeling about it. I’ve learned to recognize this as one of the ways my inner wisdom reaches out to find me when I’m being dragged down the street by my wild pack of dogs, aka, my ego.

A word of context about this thought. Yesterday I was hit by the effects of “burning the candle at both ends”. In a short writing session I posed the question: how can it be that all the things I want to be doing are so great, and yet I’m pushing hard to make progress on all of them and not taking time for yoga or creative projects?

This isn’t the groove I want to be in. What gets cut out? The answer that popped up wasn’t definitive and it wasn’t new. I’ve already cut out the superfluous commitments in my life that I am no longer passionate about.

The next step then, has to do with how I drive the car, so to speak. Ten people can start here in Nevada City and go to Lake Tahoe, and each one can take a different route. Walk, drive, horseback, bicycle, limo, helicopter, hitchhike, motorcycle, hot air balloon, or pogo stick.

My current mode, the candle at both ends variety, isn’t cool.

So I did what I know helps me get back in the groove: I reviewed my schedule for the next day, reviewed the projects that I want to make progress on, reviewed the misc Todos that I want to check off; then gave them time limits and estimated when they could happen during the day based on the set appointments.

Happily, this got me back on track with yoga and meditation first thing in the morning, which brings me to the beginning of the story.

There I am on the mat reveling in the sensation of stretching muscles and the thought arose that I’ve been addicted to sensation. Rather than listening for the gentle nuances of the energy flow in body, I was focused on the bold and the loud.

Just like being at the park on a lovely day. Instead of listening to the breeze gently rustling through the leaves of the trees around me, I’m listening to a cranked up radio.

And since I see the body as a signifier of other things going on–meaning, the body exhibits symptoms, not the causes themselves–then I’ve got some mis-tuned listening happening at deeper levels.

Just as the body is an indicator, it’s also a doorway. First step is to turn off the radio and listen for the breeze. Ahhhhh, much better. Let’s see if we can stay in the park today. I think I’ll give the radio to the Thrift Store. =)

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Photo credit:
palm trees
by leahleaf

Can’t get to the office?! What’s that all about? Sometimes I feel like I’m attached to the fridge, as in: “Well, I’m going to eat at some point in the next three hours so I may as well stay home near the kitchen.” Hmm, that’s logical.

So before jumping on to the first-project-to-make-progress-on of the day, I zapped my email inbox–
side note: (a side note already? uh-oh we’re in trouble…) my inner Natural Professional self knows that I’m better off starting the day with project time not email zapping.

I mean, here it is one hour later and I’m still not in project mode. The only reasoning I’ve got for this one that is even remotely semi-valid is that I was expecting a couple of interruptions within 20 minutes. Which did happen and are now done happening.

Where was I? Oh yea, zapping the inbox. Figured I’d share some resources that came from that session because 1. I love what other people are doing out there in the wide world of wisdom, 2. I want to share these, and 3. this blog is how my future me re-finds resources that I found previously.

Here we go:
CoffeyTalk with Lissa Coffey, lifestyle designer. (The site title shouts out “Dating and Relationship Advice” but I think that’s more for catching interest.)

What I find particularly interesting about her approach is that she weaves in the Ayurvedic doshas (Pitta, Vata, and Kapha). You can even take an easy dosha quiz to find out what yours is (in exchange for your email address). My results:
In body:
Vata – 3
Pitta – 4
Kapha – 5

and in Mind:
Vata – 6
Pitta – 6
Kapha – 0

This means my dominant dosha is Pitta. I realize that doesn’t mean squat to you if this is the first time you’ve heard about these.

Hey, I just saw she has a button linking to the quiz. I am so sticking that in here.

She also has articles so you can learn about the doshas and probably some simple things you can do to better work with them.

Now, I already new a smidgeon about Ayurveda. We folk in Nevada County are peripherally exposed to Ayurveda on a regular basis as the California College of Ayurveda is based in Grass Valley, a mere 4 miles away. Plus one of their star students, Wahneta Trotter, lived here at my house a few years ago so I got even more peripheral exposure from watching her work culinary magic in the kitchen.

While this certainly does not qualify me for an honorary degree of any sort, I’ve experienced enough to realize it’s a sophisticated and comprehensive way of approaching body and health. Take my word for it (or two words): good stuff.

Say, speaking of Wahneta and good stuff, she produced a Yoga Nidra CD which I highly recommend. Even if you don’t do what most people call “yoga”, you just might dig this one. It’s about as close to sleep yoga as you’re going to get. (Wikipedia’s explanation here.)

Basically, your job is to lay down, relax, and (if possible) stay awake while you get more and more relaxed. The only thing you need to do is come up with your Sankalpa, or resolution. My take on the Sankalpa is a positive statement that represents something you want to fortify in your life. She talks about it briefly on the CD. I find that I don’t have quite enough time to think mine up in the time allotted in the recording, so I hit pause on the player to give myself a few more moments. It’s very healing.

In fact, I’m going to give away one of her CDs!
(If you miss out, you can buy one here.)

I’ll send one of her CDs to the first person who comments on this post and says something like, “Yoga Nidra for me, please!” (just make sure you include your email address where prompted in the Add Comment section.)

At the risk of sounding totally xenophobic, I’d prefer to keep the sending experience easy by staying within the U.S.

Oooh, a giveaway, fun!

Let’s leave it at this and get on to project time. =)

My yoga teacher, Mandy Lucchese, is an artist. She makes elegant female figures that stand about three or four feet tall.

In yoga class on Tuesday, she wove a lovely weave between molding the clay and creating our experience from the inside out.

The following was inspired by that class and those thoughts:

The way to living from the heart is through massaging the way you live in the world. It’s by aligning heart with action and massaging everything in between to embody the heart vibe.

Molding clay…
I have an idea to make a bowl.

Throwing the clay on the table and yelling “Bowl!” will not produce a bowl.

Punching a fist straight down into a lump of clay will produce something that can function as a bowl.

Learning to throw on the wheel will create a nice bowl.

Taking the time to practice and build skills thru intention turns this craft into art.

Developing sensitivity and subtle techniques, learning to handle nuances, creates beautiful works of art.

When each and every action embodies the nature of a beautiful bowl, that is what will result. When each and every action embodies peace and love, the result will be peace and love.

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Photo credit:
Shaping
Originally uploaded by BLW Photography

After 12 hours of traveling yesterday, my sister and I arrived in Hawaii and were met by our folks. I sat out on the porch right after waking this morning and realized there was a huge need to get my head into vacation mode.

(mental chatter) Listen to the birds when all else is disagreeable (electric lawn mower, air blower, kids crying, etc). Listen to me!. Geez! Give the mind a little vay-kay from freaking out.

Hmmm, that’s interesting. I wonder if my mind is in even higher gear simply because I’m in a new place? Perhaps trying to make sense of where I am and why I’m here, seeking my place in it.

Since the geography is different, my responsibilities are different (no clients to work with, newsletter to write, irrigation to set up, no farmers market to get going, workshops to run, etc.) perhaps my mind becomes extra active looking for something to glom onto.

Default mental gropping: Feel angst at finding myself in this awkward world of mass tourism–nay, get entirely riled up by the disregard for the local culture of the place–could be anywhere. Not to mention the dis-ease of getting through airport security today and all the irritation toward the imposition of police state–what have we done?! Arghghhgh! STOP!

calm sea
Originally uploaded by ‘eindzel

I choose differently. I am aware that the my ole noggin is searching for reference, searching for a place to land, searching for comfort. I can practically feel it flipping through the mental index looking for a train of thought to jump on. It’s got a sign up for hitch-hiking: “Desperately seeking reference point! Please help me get there!” STOP.

This time, I will give my mind its reference, lead it to its place of comfort, direct it to its place to land. Remind it of the solid ground that hasn’t failed me before, a steady place that doesn’t shift. The place that provides comfort so deep that I’ll surely wonder why I ever left.

Yup, time to get quiet. Focus on the breath. Come back home. Dive into the comforting, expansive ocean within to soothe my nerves and calm my mind. Realign with center. Breathe. Let go.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. There we are. Thank goodness.

Whodda thunk that meditation would save me from myself on vacation? Cool!

Alright, I’m outtie–time to go have some fun!

I heard a recording of this in a yoga workshop earlier this month. I found the acknowledgment of the exhausted mind so reassuring. This has been recognized for millennia as the ultimate battle. Makes me feel a little better that it’s not as easy as I’d think it should be to get my mind working for rather than against me.

An extract from ‘Natural Great Peace’ by Nyoshul Khen Rinposhe (corrected 5/12/09, link changed 10/11/2011)

Rest in natural great peace this exhausted mind,
Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thoughts
Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves
In the infinite ocean of samsara.
Rest in natural great peace.
- Nyoshul Khen Rinposhe

I spent a good portion of the drive reigning my mind back in and trying to subject that unruly mutt to some discipline. Varying degrees of success on that one. At meditation last Wednesday, we talked again about observing the observer. My novice understanding of that is along the lines of: who/what/? has awareness that I’m alive and observing the world. Then observe that awareness. I could hold on to that for about a nano-second at a time–celebrate the small things! But it didn’t help turn around that whack, mind-wandering issue that had me feeling out of sorts. (Blogger Gopal Krishna offers more to understand on observing the observer in their post Thoughtless awareness – “observe the observer” technique)

Three quarters of the way down I remembered the Gratitude practice so I started listing all the things, people, and situations I’m grateful for, like an awesome boyfriend, great family support, my health. Then got into being grateful for the peace of mind and well being to be able to share the simplify vibe with others. Which got me to thinking about an article I read yesterday (in Mindfulness and Meaningful work) The Art of Living, by Thich Nhat Hanh. He said (in a nutshell): be grateful if you have work you love that contributes more to peace in the world than negative. Since Buddhists aren’t into killing animals, he said we can’t rag on the butcher. The butcher butches because there is a demand for his product (all of our responsibility). If he wasn’t asked for meat, he doesn’t need to kill. He can go be a big animal veterinarian, take up blogging for dollars, or he can take up ceramics or something–whatever his heart leads him to do.

So it was somewhere around this point in my thought process that I turned the radio on and stumbled across a radio station that sounded like it was being broadcast from someone’s living room. A bunch of young guys–at one point they did say it was a college station, something like KYID (could be wrong on the call letters). Sounded pirate to me. Anyways, they were playing a good mix of local and old school alternate rock. The Smiths, Violent Femmes, a Rush impersonator, Wheezer and so on. But the part that got to me, that actually started to lift my spirits and dispel the funk was they on-air phone auction they were hawking prizes for. Minimum bid for the Harry Potter action figure was $10. Some xbox thingy for a bunch o’ cash. The Nutty Professor in VHS (they spent some time clarifying that yes, it was VHS not DVD, and yes, you must have some untechie family member who refuses to switch to DVD because they know someone like that.) They even had a pack of wine charms which got ragged on mighty heavily though in a funny kind of way, because they were, after all, trying to exchange these sundry items for money afterall. The wine charm discussion went something like this: “You know when you go to a party that you’re supposed to take some useless gift to the hostess? Maybe it’s something they like but don’t need–and who needs more stuff. Or something they need but don’t want. Or could be something they don’t want or need but would be helpful to have, this pack of wine charms might be that.”

I tell ya, those guys got me right out of my head. Arriving at the place of appointment a couple minutes early, there was just enough time to duck into the cafe/grill on the main floor of the building for the second latte of the day (now do you see what kind of day it was?!) Between the intention of pulling in my mind, the gratitude practice, the guys at KYID (?), and that second latte, I greeted my client with a totally genuine smile and had a great session. =)

Even so, I’m looking back on the last two weeks and realize that I’ve been feeling the effects of a steadier mind. How enjoyable! I felt calm, in good-humor, free of anxiety, and constant in my progress on current goals. I’m noticing this now because it’s beginning to fade… Hence the work of a meditation practice–one time just doesn’t do it. Oh schwell.

Our delightful meditation teacher, Patt Lind-Kyle, sent around this reminder today:
Remember: Breath is not only the cause of life; it brings about quality of living, too. As is the breath, so is the mind, and as is the mind, so is the person.

Just the reminder I needed today. Thanks, Patt!

As if this wasn’t reminder enough to keep the mind reigned in, my yoga teacher read this quote from Gandhi yesterday:

Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors.
Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.

Wonderful words from a remarkable man.

I feel like there are some wild horses stampeding along the mental plains and I’m unwilling to let them have their way. Taking some time on the back porch, this is where my thoughts are leading for reining the stampede back in…

Learn to control my mind and I can do any and everything. This is my practice now, controlling my mind. Observe:

• One thing on my plate can consume 110% energy (i.e. drawing from reserves and not sustainable).
• Ten things on my plate can consume 50% of my energy (i.e. I’m organized, taking care of business and not expending any energy unnecessarily).

Which do I prefer? That’s a no-brainer! Which am I doing at this point in my life? Ten things on my plate at 110%. My goal is to get that down to 80%.

No wonder I’ve been so drawn to meditation lately. I thought it was going well and then I got a book at the famous Powell’s Books in Portland called, Turning the Mind Into an Ally. [I love the title and lament the reality that the mind is such an unruly foe so much of the time.] Sakyong Mipham, the author talks about the nine stages of meditation in the Buddhist tradition.

The first four have to do with placement of the mind on the breath. In other words, developing the ability to hold calm attention on the breath without getting distracted by a wandering mind. He calls this stabilizing the mind. One way to think about it the mind as a body of water. The untrained mind is like a rough ocean with tall waves on which you get thrown and pulled all over the place. As the mind stabilizes, the waters calm. The next step might be white caps on the ocean–you still get tossed about but not as much. Eventually, the deep waters on which you float are calm and serene. One way to tell where you are on the waters is how many breaths you can take in meditation without a thought popping in your boat. Once you can do about 21 breaths in a row, you’re probably at the second level.

Like I said, I thought I had been doing well with my meditation, but after reading Turning the Mind Into an Ally, I’m quite clearly still in level one. LOL.

Why do I think this is such an important practice to cultivate? It’s mostly intuitive–I just know that getting my mind under control is an incredibly important part of my development as a person, but also for the work I do in the world. Burn-out is so last paradigm! Learning how to say “No” to requests for my time and energy is one part of the solution–but it’s a small part. There is a lot to do in the world right now. Change is happening so fast and our participation in creating the communities that truly serve its members is crucial. But like I said, burn-out is no good. Getting spent because of all the responsibilities on my plate serves no one.

The ultimate question, as I see it, comes down to a foursome: “How do I do as much as possible, as well as possible, with as little effort as possible, and have as much fun as possible?” I’m still figuring it out but I know that meditation is the key: it enables me to stay clear on priorities, focus my energies, do what I do best and leave the rest for collaborators, stay out of drama-filled situations, and have the greatest impact.

Maybe someday meditation will replace the need to do weekly planning and ToDo lists but I probably won’t get to that point until level six or seven, which, according to my timeline, should happen in another three decade or so. =)

I opted for overruling the ego and was on the yoga mat within 10 minutes. Ahhh. Happy to be up getting the energy flowing! After yoga, 15 minutes of meditation–well, kind of. I tell ya, the ole noggin’ was not cooperating this morning. Sitting was similar to laying in bed–I felt bombarded by all kinds of out of place thoughts (meaning, appropriate during other activities) and had a heck of a time relaxing my mind. Leaves me feeling kind of spun out–and it’s not even 8:30am yet.

Over a cup of chai, I read an article in Inc magazine called “Bill Zanker Never Wants to Come Down” about the ambitious leader, Zanker, of the Learning Annex. I knew the Learning Annex to be a source of day long seminars. It’s changed since he bought it back from his former partner in 2002. Now, in addition to seminars, they put on those huge, convention center sized, big hype, “get rich”, weekends featuring Tony Robbins and Donald Trump.

I’ve never seen Tony Robbins do his thing. Sounds like it’s quite a performance. Thousands of people jumping up and down screaming at the top of their lungs indicates some darned persuasive motivation, indeed. What they were experiencing, Robbins’ calls the “peak state”. And this is the way to change your life, living in a peak state. Find a trigger to get yourself back into it, and ride that emotion to a new life. It’ll probably be a physical activity or movement as “emotion is created by motion” he says.

That does bring up an interesting concept. Can you imagine someone pumping themselves up in the cereal aisle at the grocery store in an attempt to get back to their peak state? Maybe they were being drawn to a sugar cereal and they knew that they’d want the healthy variety if they were tapping into their potential in their peak state. What if 10 people in the grocery store were doing this? Someone in the veggie section, another in the frozen foods, another in front of the Ben & Jerry’s case… It’d be quite a racket.

On a more moderate note, reading about this immediately recalled my wandering mental state in bed this morning. It’s not a state of mind I care for, nor do I think it contributes to my desire for a productive, fun, and interesting day. Frankly, I feel victimized by my monkey brain.

Here’s what I got from that article to apply to this situation: Don’t bother trying to talk myself out of that state (that just feeds the monkey brain!). The only motivation I need is to actually start moving–get on the yoga mat, go for a bike ride up a big hill, turn up the music and start boogie-ing, jump up and down–something with the intention of ramping up the energy level. For me it’s like shaking off a negative mind funk. I’d had a sense that just getting myself to the yoga mat was a huge step in the right direction. Now I know that’s the ticket, Tony says so!