BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 21

[Heisoku]

I like this koan as it illuminates a paradox I have found in most jobs I have had.
I have a preference for working quietly and in a mindfully relaxed way. Experience has taught me that solutions appear in such focused yet silent places... From school and university studies into the various jobs I have had.
I know that many solutions to apparent emergencies and sudden problems have arisen from this silent space. YET...this makes me appear to be lackadaisical, air-headed, incapable etc, etc by colleagues and supervisors. I don' t know why but there is a preference for loud , frantic, thinking aloud type behaviour which always claims to be present and active. Usually the solutions produced by this are shallow and temporary whilst solutions from a still silent mind have more sustainability and inclusivity. I read this somewhere.
I used to get annoyed at having my ideas passed over but in the fullness of time I at last have a boss who recognises that there is a validity in some of the ideas or solutions I have. However it is not that MY ideas were better but that they were not considered. The 'hard-at-it' requires an external validation i.e. to be called hard at it! Seems we are required to be or seem to be 'hard at it'.
As someone I met once said, "if you are in a factory always carry a broom, if you are in an office always carry a clipboard or file."






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[Amelia]

I feel the same, Heisoku. I work at a Subway and something one of my coworkers has said seems to be the norm there: "They don't want things done right, they want things done fast."

I don't want people to take that to mean that Subway franchises cut lots of corners. We are very clean in there and we care about making sure our customers get good food. However, sometimes things are done in such a quick way without a real need, and it creates waste and neurotic behavior in the employees. Taking the time to make sure that the dishes are done correctly sometimes gets me lectured, whereas doing them super fast, which creates a huge mess and frequent changes of water makes my coworkers very happy.

[Mp]

I like this koan as it illuminates a paradox I have found in most jobs I have had.
I have a preference for working quietly and in a mindfully relaxed way. Experience has taught me that solutions appear in such focused yet silent places... From school and university studies into the various jobs I have had.
I know that many solutions to apparent emergencies and sudden problems have arisen from this silent space. YET...this makes me appear to be lackadaisical, air-headed, incapable etc, etc by colleagues and supervisors. I don' t know why but there is a preference for loud , frantic, thinking aloud type behaviour which always claims to be present and active. Usually the solutions produced by this are shallow and temporary whilst solutions from a still silent mind have more sustainability and inclusivity. I read this somewhere.
I used to get annoyed at having my ideas passed over but in the fullness of time I at last have a boss who recognises that there is a validity in some of the ideas or solutions I have. However it is not that MY ideas were better but that they were not considered. The 'hard-at-it' requires an external validation i.e. to be called hard at it! Seems we are required to be or seem to be 'hard at it'.
As someone I met once said, "if you are in a factory always carry a broom, if you are in an office always carry a clipboard or file."

Thanks Heisoku, I can relate very much with what you have said, I too am the same way when it comes to work. My best work comes from the silence and stillness in my work activity. Being a computer programmer I have worked in many different sectors ... but the one I found the hardest was Publication. The reason for this was most of the folks I worked with were very creative and their creativity came out in meetings, talking out load, showing slides, examples, etc ... the ideas were great, but ALL over the place. So, going back to the code, the place of quiet stillness.

Gassho
Michael

[Myoku]

Heisoku,
same experience here, and the main reason I quit my job 12 years ago, I was just too tired of being noticed again and again while things went wrong again and again, founded my own, tiny company and not regretting a moment.
Gassho
Myoku

[Tb]

Hi.

One of my biggest faults/failings is that, after my wife, and mother to my son, left me and my son all those years ago, not have gotten her to reconnect to the family she has.
Sure, she has him some of the time, but conversation with me, or other persons around him that is not of her family is sparse, and when she has him...

So, what can i do?
Nothing more than i have always done.
Be here, do the best i can.
Never give up.
All the time.

Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy
Fugen

[Shogen]

This " Great Manisfestation " is hard at it and we are a part. To see two is delusion. Sweeping, cooking, choping... no less a part. gassho, Shogen