Work

Work: how to find joy and meaning in each hour of the day - Thich Nhat Hanh

I'm kinda resistant to fandom, personal heroes, wholeheartedly looking up to someone. Why is that?

But I sure would love to hang out with this guy. Not necessarily to talk about stuff. Just to follow him around for a month or two.

I bought this book for the Brother Lawrence retreat, but I didn't read it in time to incorporate it. I'm not sure how I would have anyways, and Bro Lawrence is good to go. No supplements needed.

My initial take-aways

• Gatha's for everthing! His gatha's are so awesome. He encourages using or creating them for key moments throughout your day, such as putting on your clothes, drinking your coffee, walking in the factory door, between projects, on the way home, etc. Predictable events or transition moments. Mostly I attempt to use the Jesus prayer and deep breathing, but I'd like to explore short scripture passages as gathas relevant to certain actions or times of day.
• "Conditions for happiness." He almost never says, "do this so that you will be joyful or peaceful or happy." Usually he says, "do this so that joy, peace, or happiness will become possible." This lines up so well with advice I've found in various depression books. Directly grasping for wholeness, happiness, or health often doesn't work out very well. Instead seek the conditions for happiness, which are slightly different for different people. Common conditions are: loving others and being loved, talking and deep listening, looking and listening to the world around you, useful work, some discipline. None of these guarantee happiness.
• He and his community rules clearly state that if you're in-the-moment-angry, you should not speak right away. It's ok to talk about your anger, but not ok to lash out in anger. Great advice! But is it always great advice? I mean, I know he's not trying to be legalistic and say you can't scream at a giant about to stomp on your house. I'd like to learn how to speak faithfully in the moment, when I'm seeing red. Likely that's unrealistic. Can you rage in a non-hurtful way?
• Build continuity, somehow, between home and work. Maybe it's a prayer or a song, maybe a purpose or mission, maybe a way of thinking about or structuring your day. He advises against falling into the trap of depending on home life too much or work life too much. Develop your practice at home and at work, then something deeper, something that includes home, work, and everywhere will become dependable for you.