Terms

To the extent that words serve spiritual communication CUTE is becoming one of my favorites.

Legend Has It...

See more Tibetan photos at boston.com

It's said before they tell a story native Americans say, "I don't know if it happened this way but I know that its true."

Legend has it that Saint Michael Coleman, founder of Ireland's first monastery in the 6thC, prayed so long with outstretched arms and open hands that a blackbird came and built a nest twig by twig in his hand, then layed an egg and in time the egg hatched and a baby bird emerged.

Legend has it in Tibet that a Buddhist prayed in the same spot so long that impressions of the person's feet were made in the wood floor.

Visual Thinking

I've watched this 1966 video of Kermit the Frog riffin' on the fine points of visual and abstract thinking more times than I care to admit. I love it - its smart and tender.

Getting Things Done

Many years ago a friend once remarked, in a light-hearted manner, that my former wife could accomplish six jobs before I could get out of bed in the morning! Years later I took this observation as a call-to-arms and adopted David Allen's approach to getting things done (GTD) at work, at home and elsewhere. My friend might have said I would have done well to adopt my former wife's industry but that would be another story.

There was a lot I was attracted to in the GTD approach including how one manages cognitions in real-time, especially when something grabs one's attention and doesn't let go and the "mind like water" Zen ideal. Allen also makes no distinction between getting things done at work versus at home as he observes we regularly think about home stuff at work and work stuff at home. I eventually "fell off the wagon" with the approach but I've been trying to climb back on and to help I'm reading Allen's new book, "Making It All Work."

In the book he talks about the two majors keys to realizing ones values, perspective and control, as depicted below. One can imagine the outcomes if one was hi or lo on the keys. Hint: if one was hi on control and lo on perspective one would be the ultimate micromanager with respect to self, marriage, group, organizaton, etc. Or if hi on perspective and lo on control, the ultimate visionary who never gets anything done.

If you would like to know more about GTD here is an interview with David Allen.

Sent from Ron's iPhone

"Cloud Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown"

I asked the boy beneath the pines. He said, "The master's gone alone herb picking, somewhere on the mount, cloud-hidden, whereabouts unknown." - Chin Tao, 777-841

Photo taken at St. Benedict's Monastery, Snowmass, CO