- Insights Into Practices: Envisioning
- What I’m Watching
- A Poem and Nursery Rhyme
- 3-Month Practice Period – Starting January 8th (Two weeks from today)
“They say that I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one.”
– John Lennon, Imagine
We swim, live, and act in how we envision our world unfolding.
I remember once teaching a leadership and emotional intelligence workshop to Google engineers and getting a good deal of resistance and push back to “envisioning” as a core emotional intelligence competency. “I thought we were supposed to be present, and now you are teaching being in the future” was a specific complaint.
I understand and appreciate the dilemma. “Right now, in this moment, we can explore our visions for the future” was my response.
A visioning practice that I did with Google engineers was to write for seven minutes with this prompt:
If everything in your life was to go exactly as you want it to, what would your life look like in five years from now. What would you be doing. Who would you be doing it with and where would you be? Be specific. And, you might allow yourself to dream big. Why not? What is there to lose?
As one year comes to an end and another year begins, what are your visions, hopes, and dreams, for next year and beyond?
What matters to you most?
Dreaming big can include the outer world, (accomplishing more), more well being (meditation, exercise, sleep, diet), and it can include cultivating opening our hearts, more connections, expressing our creativity, and bringing more love and generosity into our lives.
Resilience: The Other Side of Envisioning
There are many studies supporting the effectiveness of envisioning a supportive or ideal future. And, there is a good deal of evidence to support the importance of resilience — responding to challenges, difficulties, breakdowns, and events going differently than how we’ve envisioned them. There is no shortage of these.
I aspire to dream big and to practice resilience — to be fully engaged with both practices.
A recent executive coaching client began one of our meetings with this statement:
“I’m going to have a horrendous day.” She had scheduled back-to-back meetings, without much space in-between; no time for lunch, and needed to pick up her young children at the end of the day, make dinner, etc. etc…
“That sounds really challenging.” I said. “And, I could imagine three possible scenarios:
1) Have your horrendous day today. Notice what happens and how it feels.
2) Make some changes in how you schedule your time. Perhaps make some small changes such as scheduling 50 minute meetings to give yourself some space.
3) Explore making some “inner” changes or adjustments. Work with your mindset and approach. Can you meet your challenges, meet each moment with a little more appreciation and curiosity?
Practice:
Try on, “A Dream Too Big Is Just the Right Size” through journaling, planning, expressing what matters most to you.
Do some journal writing, engaging your vision for next year and beyond.
(Sunrise 12/25 from my kitchen table, Christmas/Hanukkah)
A Poem
Basho, a Zen poet from the 17th century wrote:
This dewdrop world –
It may be a dewdrop,
And yet, and yet
A Nursery Rhyme From the 1850’s
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Live is but a dream
What I’m Watching
100 Years of Solitude. A series based on a novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I’ve just begun watching this and am moved by the interplay of dreams and visions, and the harshness, mystery, and beauty of our lives.
Appreciating Your Life: A 3-Month Zen Practice Period: Begins 2 weeks.
January 8th – April 2nd, 2025
Online
A 3-month Practice Period is a great way to begin or deepen your mindfulness and meditation practice and cultivate ways for integrating mindfulness practice with your work and all parts of your life.
Online meetings are Wednesdays from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. PT. We will begin each session with 30 minutes of lightly guided meditation, followed by a short talk, as well as small group and large group discussions.
The theme for the Practice Period is Appreciating Your Life. This is the underlying theme of meditation practice and Zen practice – seeing and feeling everything, the good, bad, ugly, beautiful – as gift and an opportunity to learn, grow, and engage. It’s the practice of feeling deeply, opening our hearts and minds, with a mindset of appreciation, and of being of benefit, through our ability to see more clearly, to accept what is, and work effectively with change and for change.
Our primary reading for the practice period is Branching Streams Flow In The Darkness, Zen Talks on a poem called the Sandokai, or the Harmony of Difference and Equality. This is an excellent primer on the non-dual teaching is Zen practice and how to apply them to your wellbeing, relationships, work, and social and environmental responsibility.
Being part of a community that meets weekly is a powerful way to find more clarity and connection as we begin a New Year. Each week we will meditate together for 30 minutes. Then, I’ll give a short talk, unpacking ideas and practices from Branch Stream Flow In The Darkness. We will have a variety of small group and large group discussions, to practice and deepen the tools and themes discussed. Each week you will leave with an actionable insight, or a practice, and a suggested reading.
Weekly sessions will be recorded and made available in case you miss any sessions or want to revisit them.
I hope you will join me. (Register here.)
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year!
Marc