Not too long ago, Jon Kabat-Zinn, the author of Full Catastrophe Living and Wherever You Go, You Are There, gave a talk at Google on the subject of mindfulness and effortless effort.
The phrase effortless effort comes from the Chinese term wu wei, which is directly translated as non-doing.
Mindfulness and effortless effort are important tools for living a Low Density Lifestyle.
The concept of non-doing is a very difficult one for us Westerners to get, because we are used to doing, doing and even more doing. “How can we not do when there’s so much to do,” Westerners who contemplate wu-wei often ask – or at least this Westerner (me) did when I first learned of the term and tried to wrap my brain around it.
Anyway, I thought it would be best if I let Dr. Kabat-Zinn do the talking, and so I have posted his video from his talk at Google.
Watch it, and enjoy!
Michael,
I like Jon Kabat-Zinn–a wonderful teacher. I became involved. I must admit, at first I wondered when this talk would be over. It’s not because I wasn’t interested, but I started to think about the other things I have to do. Ha Ha Ha—just what this is all about, huh? I want to meditate again and this is a good new beginning for me.
Thank you so much for sharing this quality experience and person with us.
Kathryn