Welcome to episode 77 of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives.

This special episode – part one of a two Q&A installments – marks the launch of the first book by Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach/journalist Jo Confino. Being with Busyness: Zen Ways to Transform Overwhelm and Burnout is intended to help readers navigate these experiences, relieve stress, and reconnect to their inner joy through mindfulness and compassion practices inspired by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. 

Instead of discussing the book, the two presenters asked listeners to submit their questions on these timely topics. Listeners’ generous, vulnerable questions answered in this episode include: Can mindfulness help us observe busyness, set limits, and let us savor boredom and solitude? How do you handle the phone as monastics in Plum Village, and what do you do to not get pulled in? How can I make long-lasting change when our culture demands constant attention? How do I survive when I desperately want to leave my line of work but can’t for financial reasons? 

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Co-produced by the Plum Village App:
https://plumvillage.app/  

And Global Optimism:
https://globaloptimism.com/

With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:
https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/

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List of resources

Interbeing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing  

Being with Busyness 
https://www.parallax.org/product/being-with-busyness

‘Three Resources Explaining the Plum Village Tradition of Lazy Days’
https://plumvillage.app/three-resources-explaining-the-plum-village-tradition-of-lazy-days/ 

Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path 

Online course: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet
https://plumvillage.org/courses/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet

Bodhisattva
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhisattva 

Christiana Figueres
https://www.globaloptimism.com/christiana-figueres 

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Quotes

“The title, Being with Busyness: it’s not getting rid of busyness, it’s not fixing busyness, but it is a way of being with busyness. But it’s not about fixing it, it’s about how to be in it and how to be with it; how to move through these particular strong energies of our society so that we don’t lose ourselves.”

“The first wing of meditation is the art of stopping and recognizing the present moment. But there is a fear of doing nothing, because we have been educated – dare I say, brainwashed – to think that we have to do something in every moment of life, because time is money. Time is projects; time is to succeed. And this has driven our society into a mindset of not knowing how to be in the now.” 

“Thay always reminds us that the purpose of being alive, first and foremost, is to be here, to know what is happening in the very here and now.” 

“Knowing that we have habits that are taking us away from the present moment is already mindfulness.”

“A mindful life, the art of mindfulness, is not about just cutting off bad habits; it’s also about developing enough good habits to replace the bad ones.” 

“I really love this idea of reciprocity: the idea that if you’re given something valuable then the most natural thing is to want to give something valuable back.”

“It’s not about the laptop. It’s about how we use it; it’s about what kind of practice we build around it.”

“There is a system pushing us to be a certain way. There is a system making demands of us – but, actually, within that system we always have agency. There is always something we can do.”

“Dwelling happily in the present moment doesn’t mean that that moment needs to be happy for us to be happy – but it is about being happy no matter what.”