Bruce: Here are my questions -

How do you balance peace and action?

Mindfulness and projects?

No-mind and mind?

How do you stay present?

Thank you, Bruce – let me tackle these one at a time.

1. Peace and action.

I love the quote from Phil Jackson when he was coaching Michael Jordan: “let the game come to you.” Don’t force things, let them unfold. He might have said, be peaceful but not passive.

I think we can be in action like that. Show up fully present, engaged and in action … but not forceful, stressed, and attached to an outcome.

2. Mindfulness and projects.

This is interesting … a project is about achieving a specific outcome at a specific time in the future. Mindfulness is about being in the present. Feels like a paradox.

For me, putting an intent for a specific future out of my mind and captured in a project lets me be more present. If I know I’m driving to Sydney, I don’t have to worry about where I’m going. I can just be present and drive. If I don’t know where I’m going, I’m actually more likely to be thinking about the future, and less in the present moment.

3. No-mind and mind.

I’m not my mind. I am not my thoughts. But I can watch my mind and my thoughts. I try to do that without judgement. I don’t fight my mind. I don’t try and stop my thoughts. I just observe … ideally with a sense of curiosity from a place of innocence.

4. How do you stay present.

I don’t practice staying present. I practice noticing when I’m not present and coming back. It’s a subtle distinction, but I think it’s important.

If my job was to stay present, then I’d be failing a lot. If my job is just to come back to the present moment whenever I notice I’ve left, then I get to succeed a lot. And when I meditate I am just building the muscle of noticing when I’m not present and coming back.

Hope that helps, Bruce (and everyone else).