Practical methods

Zen calligraphy and Gathas – short aphorisms for contemplation – encapsulate Buddhist teachings and thus condense the Dharma. Through them, we can touch the mind, understanding, and realization of their Creator. By contemplating the Gathas with an open mind, we can touch their essence and thus penetrate the Buddhist wisdom teachings more deeply and relate them to our current situation. By connecting with calligraphy and Gathas, we can positively direct our minds in many ways, for personal benefit and for the well-being of all with whom we are in contact and exchange. The calligraphies and gathas of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh seem particularly well-suited for such contemplation. If we particularly like one of these artworks, we can print it out, cut it out, and hang it somewhere in our home or workplace, where it will constantly remind us of its essence and strengthen it in our own lives.

Deep exchange in a spirit of connection is a great gift. In many gatherings, the ability and the will to understand are not present. Such events can be extremely superficial, exhausting, and frustrating.

We desire a different form of communication and exchange.

Deep exchange is a time when we can share our experiences, joys, difficulties, and questions about practice.

By listening deeply to the person sharing, we create a calm and receptive atmosphere.

By sharing our difficulties and joys on the path of practice, we contribute to the learning process of the entire group.

How do we listen? To ourselves and others? When we listen, we are often more preoccupied with our own inner commentary than with the words and intentions of the other person. Deep listening means, first and foremost, lovingly but firmly perceiving our own inner monologue and gently stopping it. Sometimes it helps to (discreetly) place both hands on our stomach, feel our breath, and thus calm our judging, daydreaming, wandering mind. By returning to our breath, our listening skills improve.

Every speaker is only as good as their listeners. Without inner openness, there is no learning.

The quality of our listening has a significant influence on what the other person says and what they don't say.

Negative and critical thinking silences our conversation partners and fuels fear and aggression.

Positive thinking and an open mind foster our connection and allow us to share more essential things.

Over time, we recognize the quality of our communication more and more clearly. By deepening our own listening skills, we will eventually find opportunities to introduce deeper listening into our work environments. What would change if we listened more deeply in our meetings, on the phone, or in conversations?

What our world lacks on all levels is relaxation.

Relaxation begins in our own bodies.

A relaxed body brings forth a relaxed mind. A relaxed mind helps our body not to tense up so easily.

Deep relaxation is an exercise in letting go. It allows the body to regain a natural balance and heals it where needed.

We lie on our backs, become aware of individual muscle groups, and consciously relax them. A person or a CD can guide us through this.

We release our mind from its usual worries and preoccupations and feel the pleasant effect of a relaxed body on our mind. We recognize how feelings and impulses arise, rise, and disappear again in our body and mind.

The ability to deeply relax supports us enormously in our daily work and is an important tool for our meditation practice.

What would change if we could go through the workday with a relaxed body and mind?

Food is a fundamental prerequisite for our life and survival. However, in our affluent society, many of us have lost touch with our daily food. We eat and drink harmful things (quality of food). We eat and drink too much (moderation of food). We eat and drink to reward or distract ourselves (motivation of eating). We cannot switch off during meals, but instead keep ourselves occupied. Onward with projects, problems, and worries (The spiritual fragrance of food).

When we eat mindfully and in silence, we arrive at surprising insights.

Our body signals to us clearly: "That's enough!" Often we only need half our normal portion and are still satisfied.

We realize that we cannot find happiness or community in the refrigerator.

We gain a new capacity for enjoyment and appreciate our daily bread anew.

What would change, What if we just spent ten minutes eating in silence with our colleagues, consciously noticing and enjoying every bite?

Fasting is a universal process in which we voluntarily and consciously abstain from "something" for a specific period of time. We choose an area of ​​our lives that we want to shed new light on or where we feel we have lost our sense of proportion. Tried and tested areas include food, alcohol, sweets, coffee, sex, media, the internet, and shopping. We can prescribe a complete stop in selected areas or impose budgets on ourselves. This allows us to connect with our habitual energies and realize that our daily consumption often doesn't deeply nourish us, but rather casts a veil of unconsciousness over our lives. Fasting awakens us; it is a conscious decision to allow ourselves to be nourished by wholesome things and non-things, and to observe our own lives and consumption with awareness and interest.

Metta is the capacity for loving-kindness – towards ourselves and others. We urgently need kindness and care for ourselves and for those around us. Before we connect with others, we must first connect with ourselves. By wishing good things for ourselves, we can then share that goodwill with others. By recognizing our own resentments and aggression, we don't have to fight them in others. Loving-kindness can be practiced. How do we practice loving-kindness? One proven method is loving-kindness meditation (Metta meditation), in which we send positive wishes first to ourselves and then in ever-widening circles to cherished friends and family members, to neutral people, and finally to difficult people or even enemies. We gather our mind and say inwardly: "May you be happy," "May you be content," and so on. Formulas.

Practicing Metta meditation regularly imbues our minds with goodwill, and we radiate positive thoughts and wishes to our surroundings.

A company where all employees regularly practiced Metta meditation would have to deal with significantly fewer misunderstandings, conflicts, or cases of bullying.

Conscientiously practiced Metta meditation can be far more effective than expensive team-building seminars or coaching sessions.

What would change if we wished ourselves and others well every day and judged and condemned less?

When we breathe mindfully, body and mind unite. Heart and mind, thinking and feeling find each other again.

We find peace and become clearer.

Breathlessness, haste, and restless thinking lead us and those around us astray.

Mindful breathing activates our body intelligence and gives us inner spaciousness.

We return to ourselves; we recognize what is happening right now.

Breath is a powerful life energy with which we can connect in every moment, and especially in difficult times.

A-L-I is a magic formula for our daily work routine. If we feel exhausted, twisted, tired, tense, or if our thoughts start racing, we take a mini-break. A = Breathe L = Smile I = Pause Three breaths are usually enough to recenter ourselves and create inner spaciousness. A brings body and mind together, L gives ourselves loving attention and soothes the inner critic and judge, I gives us a moment beyond functioning and achieving, and nurtures the feeling of inner freedom within us. We can regularly remind ourselves of A-L-I, but in everyday life we ​​often forget this and lose ourselves in our activities. Therefore, we need external reminders of mindfulness to remind us to pause. An excellent reminder of mindfulness can be our telephone. Instead of immediately reaching for the phone, we practice:

A = Breathe

L = Smile

I = Pause

Red lights, waiting times, church bells, and computer crashes—everything can remind us to take three deep breaths. We know ourselves best and can create a safety net by, for example, placing reminder markers on our cell phone, laptop, espresso machine, remote control, or credit card. This way, we can take a different direction with a smile.

What would change if we regularly practiced A-L-I in our workplace and in our activities?

XXX Experience report by two NAW activists with A-L-I (published in Intersein 2/2016)

Silence and stillness are not self-evident in our culture, but are associated with specific situations, awkward silence – embarrassed silence…

Many people feel uneasy when silence descends and turn on the television or make a phone call.

We can rediscover the power and beauty of noble silence and communal silence.

Meditation seminars, in which certain sections are spent in silence, offer such opportunities.

We experience the power of silence. Our mind finds peace.

Beyond words, a deep connection usually arises naturally.

We see that it is often our thoughts and words that separate us, and we experience a different form of communication.

Those who can be joyfully and peacefully silent together will also talk to each other differently.

Those who have attentively perceived a person beyond words will more easily recognize in them a kindred spirit, a brother or sister, and will not equate this person with opinions, positions, or outward appearances.

In silence, we return to ourselves. Returning from silence, we are more awake to all that is.

What would change if we integrated periods of silence into our daily work routine and allowed our thoughts to quiet down?

Simply sitting and clearly perceiving the present moment. This is difficult for many of us. We're always on the go. There's so much to do. Simply sitting? Does that make sense? Isn't that escapism?

Sitting meditation is considered the royal road to mental training in many contemplative traditions for good reason.

Traditions.

In sitting meditation, we bring the body into an upright, relaxed, and stable position.

By "parking" the body, we can see the manifold movements of our mind more clearly. First, we calm our mind, then we look at it closely.

We see the interplay of thoughts, emotions, sensations, and perceptions. We recognize the transience of all phenomena and gradually gain insights into how we function as human beings on a deeper level. By understanding ourselves more deeply, we also understand others better. Seating meditation is one of the best investments we can make in our lives. It gives us insights that can resolve a wide range of conflicts, problems, worries, and false ideas at their root. What would change if we had the opportunity and space for quiet sitting in our workplaces?

With a smile on our lips, everything is easier. When we smile at ourselves, we cultivate a loving relationship with ourselves and become less hard on ourselves when things aren't going well. When we smile at others, we connect with them and naturally ease the tension in the situation. We can create an economy where a relaxed smile is the norm. Such a smile needs to be practiced. It originates in our own face.

Consciously inviting a smile into our work can greatly transform it.

Let's give ourselves and others a smile!

A smile that invites us to laugh at ourselves, not to take ourselves too seriously.

A smile that can acknowledge our own mistakes.

A smile that can connect with our difficult emotions and signal attention and care to them.

The tea ceremony provides us with a framework in which we can connect deeply. We share inspiring things from our lives or things that have touched us, that have helped us understand the world and ourselves more deeply, or that have strengthened us in everyday life.

Tea ceremonies are the place where we share poems, stories, songs, experiences, or games with one another. The framework is broad, and the most important ingredients are our mutual goodwill, our true presence, and the openness and joy of listening to each other.

Besides the biscuits and the tea, which we enjoy with concentration and mindfulness, it is these spiritual ingredients that connect us effortlessly. Experiencing such a tea ceremony can transform our understanding of community. We see what is possible when we come together with open hearts and share our joys and sorrows in a mindful setting. Tea ceremonies are simple celebrations that make the potential of true community tangible.

Every step is valuable. Every step is part of our lives and can nourish our joy and happiness. Do we enjoy the little things in our lives or do we chase after a distant promise of happiness? We have learned to sacrifice the present for an uncertain future: "Once I have a career, success, wealth, or this and that, then…" Our economy makes promises of happiness that it cannot deliver. In walking meditation, we learn to take each step consciously, to become more alive, and to influence the quality of our steps. We become free, and we can transfer this freedom to more and more areas of our lives. The quality of our steps is the quality of our lives. What would change if we could relax on our way from one appointment to the next? In what state would we arrive at our destination?

XXX Report on our coordinated walking meditations through city centers during the Advent season

Often we only see the negative – in ourselves and others.

The practice of flower watering is a method of exercise in which we consciously and selectively name, express, and appreciate the healing seeds. Here, we remain focused on very concrete experiences. For example, we can say to another person: "When I came home yesterday, tense and angry, and immediately complained to you about this and that, you remained calm, made me some tea, and gave me a loving hug. That helped me a lot, and I saw the flowers of loving kindness, compassion, and stability blooming in you." The practice of watering flowers can become a powerful ritual in relationships, in which we express all that is "right" and wonderful about the other person. In a world that mostly focuses on flaws, shortcomings, and inadequacies, we offer a counterpoint and tell each other what is good and beautiful.

When we do this regularly, we open our eyes to beauty and help our minds step out of the ingrained focus on flaws.

Learning to name and express our own strengths and qualities can be an important step towards self-acceptance and self-love. We take the sword out of the hand of our inner critic.

The Mindful Business Commitment says: "May I smile at my imperfections." We know we are more than our shortcomings, and we should remind each other of that again and again.

Rarely is our work just about the work itself.

We add a lot of extras to the task at hand. This can create tension, dissatisfaction, stress, and mistakes.

In work meditation, we remain in contact with our breath while performing the task. We regularly pause and concentrate fully on the task at hand. When we do something wholeheartedly, when we are completely present, joy arises all by itself. It is this unconditional joy that we so often miss in our daily work. We notice all the extras and smile at them. We see how responsible we are for the quality of our work and that even seemingly unpleasant things can bring us joy. We feel the Joy that arises from collaborative work and offers us an alternative to rivalry and competition.

What would change if we didn't burden our work with brooding, comparing, speculating, and evaluating, but instead focused entirely on the task at hand?