Dear friends:

We live in difficult times. There is no shortage of issues and situations to be concerned about; our lives and our world are filled with unknowns. Particularly stressful is the state of the economy – as blue chip companies become penny stocks, and job security becomes job insecurity.

Anytime, and particularly during difficult times, stepping out of your regular activities and usual pace can be important and rewarding – as well as lead to more clarity and more possibilities. I realize this can seem counterintuitive – when we feel pressure, when life becomes more difficult, the tendency is to push harder. Instead, explore changing the pace or slowing down. Consider taking some time to investigate and experience the power and meaning of your life that exists outside of the day-to-day changing circumstances.

One way to take a retreat is to not go anywhere but to create some simple rules for yourself that you follow during a day. When my children were young we had 3 simple rules that made a big difference for our weekly “Sabbath” – this was our weekly day of rest/day of mindfulness. We generally took this day each Saturday.

The three rules were:
1) no spending money
2) no television or other electronics
3) we did something together as a family.

Just having these three rules in our lives made an enormous difference in the quality of our day. We generally began our day the evening before by making a nice dinner and lighting candles at the dinner table. We ended our day by following the Jewish Sabbath custom of looking for the first three stars to appear, on Saturday evening, signaling the end of our retreat.

Explore and experiment with whatever works in your life – some time to step out, or perhaps more accurately, time to step into your life.

Best regards,

Marc

The above photo was taken at Minaret Lake, in the Eastern Sierras in early September a few years ago -- a place I love to go for retreat...

"A wise, compassionate, and insightful guide to finding spaciousness in the only place it truly exists: inside your own mind, heart, and life."
- Jane Hirshfield, poet and author of After and Nine Gates


Here are a few lines from the book’s prologue:

"Less busyness leads to appreciating the sacredness of life. Doing less leads to more love, more effectiveness and internal calmness, and a greater ability to accomplish more of what matters most – to us, and by extension to others and the world."

To order LESS on Amazon, click here

Very nice article this week, called Productivity Is All In Your Mind

Washington Times Article

Seminars/Workshops

April 2 Saybrook Dialogues (Wisdom, Leadership and Making a
Difference) With Cynthia Scott 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

April 4 Warmhearted Leadership – 3 month study group,
Mill Valley
(meets on 4/4, 5/9, and 6/6) 415 389-6228,
mlesser@zbaassociates.com

April 18 1-day workshop: Accomplishing More By Doing Less
Green Gulch Farm, 415 383-3134

May 3 1-day workshop: Accomplishing More by Doing Less –
Spirit Rock Meditation Center. To register visit
www.spiritrock.org

June 13 Company Time, Green Gulch 10 – 5 (With Norman Fischer)

July 17 - 19 Leadership, Imagination, Zen – Tassajara, Weekend
Workshop (With Jackie McGrath)

July 19 - 23 Accomplishing More By Doing Less – Tassajara,
4-day workshop

Fridays Sacred Shimmy – Meditation and Dance, with Carol
Lesser and Marc Lesser, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Yoga Sita
Studio, 1501 Mariposa (at Arkansas) in San Francisco


Book Events for LESS: Accomplishing More By Doing Less

March 19 Copperfield’s Books, Sebastopol, 7:30 p.m.

March 22 Book Passage, Corte Madera, Sunday, 4:00 p.m.

March 28 East West Books, Mountain View, 7:30 p.m.

April 26 Sunday 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Ancient Dragon Zen Gate,
Chicago, Accomplishing More By Doing Less –
Reading/seminar

More details are on my website.

Check out the ZBA Associates website

Please take a look at, and post your comments, on my new blog, www.doingless.net: Tools and practices for living a more calm, meaningful, and productive life.

Click here to see my BLOG

Good reads
The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness by Joel ben Izzy – Wonderful stories, and lessons about bringing your life alive.

Death by Meeting, by Patrick Lencioni – I generally don’t like parables; but this story is packed with tools and practices for leading organizations.

www.zbaassociates.com