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Sometimes I enjoy a reminder of what it takes to really listen to a teacher. As both a teacher and (moreso) a student in martial arts, and a student at UNC's MSW program, I enjoyed something I found (for the second or third time!) on listening and wanted to share.

So today I took some time to read a new book - commentary on one of my favorite, if not my favorite Buddhist teaching: Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara - The path of the Bodhisattva - available online or in paper format in my current favorite translation. I've read it often, maybe about 50 times through at this point, and I enjoy commentaries on it. For those not familiar with that term, it's pretty common in Buddhism for sutras or teachings to be commented on and have those commentaries get famous in their own right. So, back to what I'm reading: the Nectar of Manjushri's Speech: A Detailed Commentary on Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva.

In the introduction to the commentary, the author reviews a few Buddhist reminders about listening. First, the three defects of a vessel:

Concerning the three defects of a vessel, it is said:

• Inattentive, you are like a vessel overturned.
• Forgetful, you are like a ruptured vessel.
• Stained by the afflictions, you are like a poisoned vessel.

So: don't do those! :-) In Aikido, that seems to parallel as well. I notice these as a student and teacher, but prefer to share my experience embodiing the listening "whoopsies" myself.

While sitting in seiza listening to Steve Sensei or another teacher, if I find myself with a wandering mind on what I'm going to do after class, or some situation from my "outside" life, that's me as the vessel overturned. If I'm watching, but not really taking in what he's saying and then miss basics like footwork or handwork clearly off, I'm like a ruptured vessel. If I'm of a "peace ninja" type mind, thinking how Awesome I'm going to be when I get up and do that technique myself, I'm like a poisoned vessel (maybe it's got mold in it or something, I don't know). So the antidotes, from aikido, seem to be:

• To deeply and ravenously search out the energetic relationship being demonstrated. What is sensei's core doing? How is his spine moving, what are his internal movements? I sometimes lean forward and try to drink in the situation. That keeps me from feeling as "overturned"
• To ensure that I'm also looking at the basics. If all else fails, "forward foot goes back, then step" or whatever. If I can't even lock down on the rough hand and foot movements, how will I hunt down the internal movement that the structure enables?
• To watch humbly, mindful of the non-competitive spirit of aikido. I am not in class to become a dangerous martial artist, a dangerous man. I am there to clean up my spirit and not roughly pull someone all over the place. To me, it should feel like guiding their energy around, making sense of the uke/nage relationship.

So, food for thought!

I'll follow this up eventually with the six stains - another simile for bad listeners!

Labels: aikido, Buddhism, listening

In honor of my recently getting my hands on a copy of the ever elusive Getting Things Done...Fast! tapes, I've decided to do a few posts on my GTD implementation. These'll be coming around in the next week or two, and by the end, it'll be a complete "How I GTD" for my personal system. And mine's workin' pretty darn well, so I hope it'll be helpful and "food for thought" for those implementing GTD themselves.

An interesting note here I noticed. I'm quite happy to have gotten my hands on GTD...Fast! It was mentioned on Merlin's Blog some time ago, among other places, and its rarity was not far off. I called libraries all over the US, tried to interlibrary loan it through a few institutions... etc. In a funny catch-22, I attribute my having my hands on it to...can you guess? ... my existing GTD system. Having the reminders pop up in the right context regularly helped me keep concentrated on it (and other) tasks. Without a strong GTD system, I think there'd have been no chance of finding it. Of course, there are probably many folks with great GTD systems that didn't nab it and may have wanted to - I'm not saying it's purely earned here - but I am saying GTD has a strong impact on one's ability to get information, and good information, about GTD. Funny thing.

There's a line in Siddhartha (I'm thinking of the enjoyable movie here) that reminds me of what an effective GTD system can do for long-term projects.

"When you throw a rock into the water, it will speed on the fastest course to the bottom of the water. This is how it is when Siddhartha has a goal, a resolution. Siddhartha does nothing, he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he passes through the things of the world like a rock through water, without doing anything, without stirring; he is drawn, he lets himself fall. His goal attracts him, because he doesn't let anything enter his soul which might oppose the goal. This is what Siddhartha has learned among the Samanas. This is what fools call magic and of which they think it would be effected by means of the daemons. Nothing is effected by daemons, there are no daemons. Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast."

I'll end with this, for now: a gem from the GTD ...Fast! series. When talking about actions, David Allen remarks that things are on your mind not because they are unfinished, but because...

1. The outcome is not clarified (Project vision of success unclear) and/or
2. That next action has not been definied (next action not identified and meeting solid next action criteria) and/or
3. The reminder of the project and/or the action item is not parked properly in system that you'll see at the right place (context) and time.

Therefore, there is no system better than your mind able to keep track of it, so it pops up.

This, to me, is one of the holy grail blips of GTD. WHY did I just think that? What is the real, basic measurement of a GTD system that keeps that open loop out of the mind? Well, it's a problem with the clarity of project's successful outcome/vision, the simplicity and atomicity (physicality, contextualizedness - not a word, the very next thing, etc.), or the reminder system.

Ding!

Labels: Buddhism, GTD