Daily Quote for Feb. 9, 2010

Smiles give others hope, joy and strength. Don't forget to use yours today.

Sasha Azevedo

I am often responsible for answering the telephone as part of my duties at the Pork Palace, and I've been told that my telephone manner is very -- how to say this -- distinctive. Some have said my voice is like an answering machine recording, and I do my best to sound both professional and helpful.

Sometimes, I am professional and helpful. Other times, it only sounds like it to the person on the other end of the line.

I'll admit it here and now: I occasionally get very frustrated at my job. For me, it's difficult to be mindful when there are three customers in line at the register, a server wants change for a twenty-dollar-bill, two phone lines are ringing, and the couple at the end of the bar wants another round margaritas and more cheese biscuits. In fact, it's quite easy -- trust me, I've proven it -- at those times to become stressed, rushed and irritable.

The funny thing here is this: When things are at their most chaotic, when I am the most aggravated, that is when my telephone voice is at its most effective and friendliest. I am Mister Chipper Dipper on the phone, bright and professional and the model employee every employer dreams about and every customer wants to be served by. This state lasts until the exact moment when the receiver slams back down onto the cradle and I turn back to the seventy-five other items screaming for my attention.

My coworkers give me a hard time about this. "That's just so fake," they say when they hear me on the phone, and -- sometimes -- they're right. But I subscribe to the theory of "fake it until you make it". If I can act happy in the midst of chaos, that's one step closer to actually being happy in the midst of chaos -- and the rest of the time as well. And if my acting happy spreads a smile to someone else, all the better. Happiness is never diminished by sharing it. Even if I am having to grunt through it.

So use your smile today, even if you don't necessarily mean it. You never know what good might come from it. And it's good practice for when you do mean it.

Daily Quote for Feb. 8, 2010

“When walking, walk. When eating, eat."

Zen proverb

I consider myself a good driver. I've not had an accident since 2001, and that was the first one in years. I can't remember the last time I received a moving violation. Driving is, essentially, second nature to me.

Up until eighteen months ago, I had a habit of multi-tasking while driving. I would often be on my cell phone while simultaneously seat dancing to an old Grateful Dead song and smoking a cigarette. My thoughts were rarely on the driving itself.

All that changed when I purchased an old Mercedes-Benz with the intent of restoring it to its former glory. I have the car to the point where it starts, runs and stops, but the Benz is quirky. It's a 1987 model, which means it has lots of worn parts that like to break at the most inopportune times. I have to let it warm up for a good five minutes or so before pulling out of the driveway, or otherwise it will stall the first time I hit the accelerator. I constantly monitor the oil pressure, engine temperature and the tachometer for any readings that would indicate a problem, and I strain my ears for any sounds that are out of the ordinary.

In short, I must be attentive -- not only to the road and the traffic around me, but also to my vehicle -- if I want to get where I am going. When I am driving this car, I am focused on nothing else but driving.

It is difficult to maintain that kind of focus in daily life, but it is one of my goals. I want to be mindful of my tasks and how I do them; I want to be focused on the task at hand. When I'm writing, I need to write. When I'm making the bed, I need to the thinking about making the bed.

I think that kind of focus is the key to productivity and a mindful life. Be here in the present. Embrace the moment and experience it fully, no matter what you may be doing at the time.

And when you're driving, drive.

Daily Quote for Feb. 6, 2010

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.”

Buddha

I think this is a most excellent quote, full of truth. Each new day brings new opportunity. All we have is now, and we should make the most of it.

As part of my effort to live a more mindful life, I've been trying to focus on the "now" by paying attention to the moment. It's not always easy, for my mind likes to wander all over the place. I'll be washing the dishes when I start thinking about what kind of shift I might have at work, or I will be working on a writing piece and my brain will meander over to the concert I attended last week.

Of course, I can't know what might happen at work, and what happened last week is of little consequence to what's going on now. Worrying about the future is a gamble at best, and beating yourself up over the past is a useless exercise. You have to be here now.

In short, yesterday is gone. It's a new day. Embrace the moment in which you are living right now, and make the most of it. You'll be happy you did.

Daily Quote for Feb. 5, 2010

“You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”

Rabindranath Tagore

How simple and obvious the above seems, and how hard it is sometimes to achieve. If you want to cross the sea, you can't do it by looking at the ocean. Steps and action must be taken. Dreaming of crossing the sea won't get you from New York to Southampton, no matter how hard you visualize it. You actually have to cross!

In my personal life, I've often been the "victim" (can one truly be a victim if the victimization is self-inflicted?) of fantastic planning followed by piss-poor execution. Of course, to reach a goal one needs a plan, but if you don't follow the plan and do the work, you get nowhere.

For years, I had a dream of writing a novel. But until I sat down at the keyboard and actually typed the words, the dream was just that: a fantasy, a pleasant diversion, a "someday" thought. But then I got to work, and in a month, I had a first draft.

I don't know exactly what kept me from doing the work. I assume it was a number of things, including some fear, as well as laziness and a lack of self-discipline. But the truth has been knocked into me lately: If I want to reach the goals, I have to do the work -- even the hard, distasteful stuff that I sometimes dread.

As the old saying goes, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." If we take that first step, then follow it with another, then another after that, and so on, pretty soon we can look back in amazement at the progress we've made -- and that goal, that dream, that "someday" will be closer than we ever imagined.