Work can often be frustrating. On the job we frequently face conflicts, difficult personalities, disappointing results, a variety of challenges and obstacles. In this unique book Michael Carroll, a Buddhist meditation teacher and a corporate executive, shares Buddhist wisdom on how to transform the common hassles and anxieties of life in the workplace into valuable opportunities for personal growth, heightened wisdom, and enhanced effectiveness. Carroll shows us how life on the job - a matter what kind of work we do - can become one of the most engaging and fulfilling areas of our lives.
At its heart, Awake at Work offers thirty-five principles for developing a new way of relating to work that is characterized by honesty, openness, courage, maturity, and endless learning. By contemplating these principles on a regular basis in the context of our daily work lives, we can begin to explore and overturn the misconceptions and mental habits that keep many of us in a state of constant frustration and dissatisfaction on the job.
Carroll invites readers to contemplate these slogans and to use them on-the-spot, in the midst of work's chaos, to develop clarity, wisdom, and inspiration. Along the way, Carroll presents a variety of techniques and insights to help us "acknowledge work, with all its complications, as a valuable invitation to fully live our lives." In an engaging, accessible, and often humorous style, Awake at Work offers readers a path to rediscovering a natural sense of intelligence, confidence, and delight on the job.
Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos, Michael Carroll, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 240 pages, $18.95
Michael Carroll is the founding director of Awake at Work, a consulting group that works with organizations and individuals to help them rediscover balance and well-being while pursuing professional success. For over two decades Carroll worked as a human resources professional, holding executive positions at Shearson Lehman Brothers, Paine Webber, Simon & Schuster, and the Walt Disney Company. He is also a graduate of a Buddhist seminary and an authorized teacher in the lineage of the Tibetan meditation master Chogyam Trungpa. Carroll has taught mindfulness meditation at the New York Open Center, the Omega Institute (assisting Pema Chodron), and the Wharton School of Business. This is his first book.
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Acknowledgements
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xi
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Getting Started: Work's Invitation to Wake up
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1
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Cultivating Mindfulness at Work
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10
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Contemplating the Awake at Work Slogans
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17
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Part One
The Four Primary Slogans
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1.
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Balance the two efforts
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23
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2.
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Be authentic
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30
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3.
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Cultivate li
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40
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4.
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Work is a mess
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47
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Part Two
Developing a Composed Attitude
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5.
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No ground, no guarantees, just now
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55
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6.
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A bucket and a thumb
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59
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7.
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Your present job is going away
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63
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8.
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Step beyond the silence of fear
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66
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9.
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Power is unnerving
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77
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10.
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Be cynical
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76
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11.
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Contemplate wealth
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80
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12.
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At times of risk and stress, cultivate stillness
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84
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13.
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Cultivate "kitchen sink" mentality
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89
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14.
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Be kind to yourself
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92
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15.
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Open
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95
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Part Three
Working with Others
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16.
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Welcome the tyrant
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101
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17.
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First to pacify, last to destroy
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106
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18.
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No blame
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116
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19.
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Practice "no credentials"
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119
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20.
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Cultivate the art of conversation
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125
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21.
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Avoid idiot compassion
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130
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22.
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Study the six confusions
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135
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23.
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Extend the four composures
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144
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24.
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Everybody just wants to bounce their ball
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149
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25.
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Treat everyone as a guest
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153
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26.
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Witness from the heart
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157
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Part Four
Acting Precisely
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27.
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Don't forget
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163
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28.
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Appreciate the intimacy of morning routines
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167
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29.
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Acknowledge small boredoms
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170
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30.
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Respect karma
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174
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31.
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Do not-know
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180
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32.
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Be humble while ambitious
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185
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33.
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Notice and cut work's speed
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189
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34.
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Take a fresh glimpse and adapt
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194
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35.
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Keep your seat
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198
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Appendixes
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Instructions for Mindfulness-Awareness Meditation
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205
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Instructions for Contemplating the Slogans
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208
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Contemplations-in-Actions on Wealth
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211
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Five Contemplations for Cultivating LI
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215
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