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...and here's those six stain similes for proper listening, also from The Nectar of Manjurshri's Speech.  Don't do these. :-)

It is said in the Vyakhyayukti:
To be puffed up with pride, to have no faith,
To have no yearning interest,
Outwardly distracted, inwardly withdrawn,
To listen with despondency: These are all impurities.

The commentary also says:

This refers respective to the pride of thinking oneself superior to the teacher and to one's spiritual companions.  It refers to a lack of confidence in the Dharma, the teacher, and one's fellow disciples.  It refers also to an absence of keen interest and endeavor in the Dharma, and indicates distraction when the mind runs after the outer objects of the senses and is not concentrated, or when it sinks into a state of dullness and torpor.  It refers too to the dismay one might feel at the length of the teaching session, or at the discomforts of hunger or thirst, or of heat or cold, on account of which one does not want to listen or else listens with displeasure.  [...] one must control one's behavior, have an attitude of utmost respect, and listen to the teachings in the proper manner.

Good "ideas" like these, to me, are only useful when they can be appropriately applied.  Even outside of Buddhism, specifically in Aikido or GTD or even social justice motivation, it seems these could be used as checklists for one's perspective.  So, in GTD, one might ask:

• Is my thinking I'm awesome at GTD keeping me from learning?
• Am I unwilling to trust that GTD has any merit whatsoever? (recognizing that some faith can only be realized by familiarity, meaning you've gotta do SOMETHING to get the flavor of it)
  
• Do I think that being organized isn't that important? (i.e. not recognizing the strain on other important parts of life, however subtle yet insidious)
• Am I tooling around with the GTD implementation specifics, like fancy handhelds or other external manifestations of a system, and not really practicing?
• Am I navel-gazing, thinking about the perfect GTD system and how I'll implement it...someday?
• Am I wallowing in how hard implementation will be, how long it'll take, how much money/time/resources, without applying GTD to This Right Here?  Am I stuck on the overwhelmingness of the big picture than I can't see managable chunks of projects and completable next actions?

Seems these stains have lots of applications!  Can you see the aikido or community change making parallels?

Labels: aikido, GTD, listening, social justice