Six-word memoirs – how would you write your autobiography in six words? Short, to the point, your life in six words. I recently gave this assignment at a dinner part – great fun, moving, and very insightful.

Here are a few six-word memoirs from the book, Six-Word Memoirs On Love & Heartbreak:

- Car went kaput. So did he. - Lori Romero
- Moved in. No ring. Moved out. - Melissa Lafsky
- At twelve found soulmate, still together. - Nancy Miner
- Despise him. Desperately seek his approval. - Beth Linas

Here is my six-word memoir for today?

Learning, failing, succeeding each day. Excellent!

What is your Six-Word Memoir for today?

Sometimes a man stands up during supper
and walks outdoors, and keeps on walking,
because of a church that stands somewhere in the East.

And his children say blessings on him as if he were dead.

And another man, who remains inside his own house,
dies there, inside the dishes and in the glasses,
so that his children have to go far out into the world
toward that same church, which he forgot.

Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Robert Bly

The conventional definition of wisdom centers around knowledge and experience. Yes, knowledge and experience are important, and perhaps essential, especially when it comes to getting things accomplished.

I think of wisdom as being much more than knowledge and experience. From the perspective of Zen practice, wisdom is embracing and embodying that there is no fixed self – what we think of our own identities is fluid and in relationship to others and our environment.

In Zen practice, the expression “Way Seeking Mind” means entering a path where the sacred and the mundane are not different. This is a simple, and profound insight, and way of living. Here are a few thoughts on developing a Way Seeking Mind:

For starters, you may experience being alive as a miracle; you may feel that our lives are often difficult and at times impossible. You deeply understand how short our lives are and that we are each on this planet for an extremely limited time. These experiences often come through feeling pain. The pain may be from ending a relationship, from losing a job or a business, from the death of a loved one, or from any difficult change in your life. Pain is often the stimulus that can open our hearts and minds. Our pain opens us to see our fundamental connection with all other human beings on the planet.

My first week as head cook of Tassajara, Zen Mountain Center was exciting and challenging. I had completely underestimated how much food it took to feed one hundred and forty people a day. By my fourth day on the job we had almost completely run out of food. (Tassajara is two hours from the nearest food store.) I looked through the walk-in refrigerator, trying not to panic, and noticed that the only vegetable we had in any quantity was cabbage. Since there was not going to be another trip into town for two days, we found many creative ways to prepare cabbage — cabbage casserole, cabbage seaweed grill, and cabbage soup. I learned the importance of projecting inventory needs as well as making due with what was at hand, two skills that have served me well in starting and running businesses.

Harry Roberts, a teacher of mine, used to tell a story about how his teacher chose the students he would accept. Many more students wanted to work with him than he could accommodate. His teacher would say to the student, “Go find ten different kinds of plants.” If the student walked away and began looking for plants, she was not accepted. The person who did not leave but instead looked down, standing right where he was, was accepted as a student.

Reading the words of Chogyam Trungpa this morning, from his classic book, Shambhala, The Sacred Path of the Warrior:

In order to experience fearlessness, it is necessary to experience fear.

There are innumerable strategies that we use to take our minds off of fear.

Fear has to be acknowledged.

Acknowledging fear is not a cause for depression or discouragement.

Going beyond fear begins when we examine our fear: our anxiety, nervousness, concern, and restlessness.

Discovering fearlessness comes from working with the softness of the human heart.

The ideal of warriorship is that the warrior should be sad and tender, and because of that, the warrior can be very brave as well.

When I mention the word “meetings” what is your first reaction? Do you suddenly feel sleepy or do you want to run for the nearest exit? Or are you enthusiastic and intrigued, looking forward to the thrill of creative group problem solving, fantastic brainstorming, and a team of people working with trust and healthy conflict? I visit and work in many different companies and organizations and notice that most people’s feelings about meetings are more like my first statement.

One strategy common to most great athletes, in almost any sport, is that they work in bursts of peak activity and then take mini-breaks. For example, one day on television I watched Shahar Peer, an Israeli who is one of the highest ranked female tennis players in the world, play an intense and hard-fought match in the U.S. Open. In between points Shahar often turned away from the court and her opponent and closed her eyes. The commentators suggested that she was employing a visualization technique — seeing herself serve the ball into her opponent’s court, or receiving the serve from her opponent and hitting the ball with speed and accuracy. Whatever she was imagining, though, she was using this time to quiet her mind, relax, and ready herself for the next point. She was taking a quick break to refocus, and it was effective.

I was touched by Paul's speech. What do you think?

“YOU ARE BRILLIANT AND THE EARTH IS HIRING…” by Paul Hawken

Commencement Address by Paul Hawken to the Class of 2009, University of Portland, May 3, 2009

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” Boy, no pressure there.

You must remember one thing.
The world was made to be free in.
- David Whyte

Freedom is like taking a bath – you have to keep doing it every day!
- Florynce Kennedy

You are the truth from foot to brow. Now what else would you like to know?
- Rumi

The secret of Zen is just two words: Not always so!
- Shunryu Suzuki

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Error is just as important a condition of life as truth.
- Carl Jung

Be here now….Be some place else later. Is that so complicated?
- David Bader