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Talk: 19840429-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-learning_how_to_live_part_ii-1512 Leandra Tejedor Start_time: 00:32:09 Display_question: How can I bring more awareness to my work tasks? Keyword_search: content, process, job, attention., awareness, training, consciousness, Zen monasteries, Westerner, awake, Japanese, Korean, monks, nuns Question_content: Questioner: Just wanted to ask…did you mean that you cannot pay attention to the content of what's in front of you? That is…the meaning content… or the process, of doing it? Both…if I read it, I slow down, and if I pay attention to the actual process, of moving my hands, I'm slowing down too. Larry: Okay. One thing that comes to mind immediately, is… to have a tremendous sense of your body, as you do this. And then let it take off… and then… do you see what I'm…? In other words, you're aware of yourself standing or sitting, and I think that will help you… be with it, as it happens. That whatever… see if you don't need to know the meanings…you don't need to know the meanings? Questioner: In my eyes I can view that as a question right? Larry: Okay, when you go back to your job, if we could meet again, you would be able to tell me how to do it. In other words, it'll take some doing, but you'll need a form of attention, that's appropriate for you. So that first of all, that it should improve, help you improve on the job. If this makes you worse, there's something off. Because there's something in awareness. I would say its main function is… that it sets things right. That's its job. When you see things are off…you see a snake, you get out of the way. If you don't see it, you don't get out of the way. Questioner: Maybe it is that I have been doing it right. Yeah. I was… Larry: Maybe. Why not? Questioner: It does works like a flow. Yes. Larry: There may be nothing new that you need to do, with that one. And maybe it's more bringing that quality of being fully in what you're doing, to the other activities in life. Questioner: I know exactly what she's talking about, and it's true. That's the training, and that's where you get speed, and that's what you're supposed to do. And the awareness is that you're on automatic, and that's okay. Larry: Okay. Now, funny thing happens, though, is that if you're really aware of the automatic, it loses some of its mechanical qualities, and you feel more alive, even though it's the same motion. Questioner: I mean…but that's the training, because that's the only way to get speed. Larry: That's right. Okay. This brings up a very important issue. Much of our life is routine. It's not just your job. How many times have we gone to the toilet already? And more, how many times we wash the dishes? How many times have we made our bed? Okay, it gets routine, habitual. In a sense we're half asleep. We're dead doing it. If you bring awareness to it, it's suddenly brought back, from the dead. It's revived…even though it's the same activity. In other words, it could be the 2,000,000th time that you've taken out the garbage. But if it's done with awareness, it's the first time. Break_line: It's very important to see that, because that's what we're trying to… rejuvenate our whole way of living. We're trying to bring it all into consciousness. And we do have to do the… if there's some way out, of not doing things, over, and over, and over again, great. But there isn't. All of us have a lot of things that we do many, many times. It does not have to become stale, mechanical, and dull. But what's required is… in fact, some of the training in monasteries, particularly Zen monasteries, is to take advantage of that. Break_line: From a Westerner's point of view, when you go over there… you have a romantic notion, as to what, let's say, in my own case, what the Japanese, and Korean Zen monasteries, should be. And it's exotic, robes and all the rest of it. As you come to see it from the eyes of Japanese monks, and nuns, and Korean monks, and nuns. You see that for them, it's a very boring setting. In other words, it's a totally routine, simplified, and repetitive. The bells ring, time to bow. Bells ring, time to sit. Bells ring, time to eat. And the challenge is, is to remain awake, and fresh in the midst of all of that… over, and over, and over, and over. So that's a very wonderful teaching, but you have to really, stay awake in the midst of it. There's some of that quality here, if you've noticed. Questioner: Yes End_time: 00:36:15
