{"id":1606,"date":"2011-09-05T11:49:34","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T15:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/?p=1606"},"modified":"2011-09-05T11:49:34","modified_gmt":"2011-09-05T15:49:34","slug":"labor-day-what-are-we-being-mindful-of-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/09\/labor-day-what-are-we-being-mindful-of-today.html","title":{"rendered":"Labor Day: What Are We Being Mindful of Today?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It’s Labor Day. Today seems like one of many holidays that has become a generic “holiday” without reference to its original purpose. Memorial Day and Labor Day mark the beginning and end of the summer season in the Northeast United States. You’re not supposed to wear white pants after today. I doubt many of us consider the significance of the holiday beyond that.<\/p>\n

Labor Day celebrates the contributions (often of their lives) of American workers. It became a Federal Holiday in 1894 and was celebrated by most states before then. Is that what you’ll be contemplating today? Labor Day is a good time to think about our work in the world, what the Buddha called Right Livelihood. What efforts do we make? What service do we provide?<\/p>\n

We are problem-solving animals. Our brains grew so large, in part, by successfully solving problems — where to find reliable sources of food, for instance. We are also manual creatures. We evolved using our hands to make tools, and to engage effectively with the world around us. Today, many of us have professions where we do not use our hands in meaningful ways (I don’t think moving a mouse and keyboard qualify).<\/p>\n

What impact does the work we do have on the world? Is it beneficial for others? Is it harming others? Like speech and action, livelihood depends on context and intention. You could work for the greatest charity on the planet, but if you engage with your work with anger, rancor, and bitterness is it still right livelihood? You could be a butcher with love and compassion bursting from your heart. Is this not right livelihood?<\/p>\n

It’s tempting to want certainty, neat categories that tell us what is OK and what is not. The world is much grayer than this. Mindfulness can help us to engage with life in ways that will be beneficial to others and ourselves.<\/p>\n

Life can be praxis — the lived experience of practice. Life isn’t a theory; it is here right now. “What do we want to do today” and “how do we want to be today” are two questions that when brought together can help us towards right livelihood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s Labor Day. Today seems like one of many holidays that has become a generic “holiday” without reference to its original purpose. Memorial Day and Labor Day mark the beginning and end of the summer season in the Northeast United States. You’re not supposed to wear white pants after today. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1606"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1611,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606\/revisions\/1611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}