We keep ourselves stuck with how and why questions. How am I to live? How am I to get people to love me the way I want them to? How am I do get where I want to go in my career? Why am I where I am? Why do people in my world act and think the way they do?

Joseph Campbell’s spin: I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive. Looking for the meaning of life is looking for the how and why. Being alive is about saying yes to what makes us feel most alive. The answer to how and why is yes.

What makes you feel alive?

One of the people in my workshop today with an esteemed Fortune 100 company responded to my introduction to appreciative organizations with the observation that this is something they never do - focus on their strengths and passions. He was both shocked and inspired by the idea that an organization should focus on the appreciative side of life.

What’s interesting is that for the hundreds of people I’ve exposed to the appreciative model, no one pushes back with resistance. We all seem to have this intrinsic appetite to focus on appreciative nature of things.

It is still radical, this bias for our strengths and passions that invites us to fearlessly let go of suffering in all its forms and all its causes. Embracing commitment to joy continues to be the most daring act of the heart.

I spent yesterday at a regional technology planning conference where I was told that the mantra for technology business success is “eat or be eaten.” If this injunction doesn’t sound new, it’s because it isn’t. If I recall, it’s been around since guys hunted mammoth beasts wearing loin cloths and carrying big sticks. What’s new is the scale. Today, you get to make business headlines if your prey is global.

So this raises the questions for me … how would business look today from a globally collaborative rather than globally competitive model? …. would we need to develop new competencies? … what would be the impacts on education, arts, innovation, and environment? … which of our spiritual values would be awakened in the process?

I think one of the alternatives to road rage is road grace. When it comes to drivers moving along a road or lane sought after by yielding drivers, I’ve noticed three types of drivers whose road presence is a great metaphor for the intrinsic views that shape the quality of our relationships and our lives.

There are those who see you want to get into traffic and pretend to not notice, keeping the space in front of them tightly closed, obviously not wanting to get to their destination one car length late. They view the joy of others as a barrier to their own joy. They don’t mind people being happy as long as they can decide on the conditions and timing of their happiness.

Then there are those who view relationships and life as the reluctant and joyless accomodation of the joy of others. They leave you just enough room to slide in while they hover close enough for you to feel guilty asking for the space they reluctantly surrender.

Then you have those for whom your joy is their joy. They see you need in, slow down to create a generous space and wait until you’re safe in it before they comfortably follow. May the road grace people be fruitful and multiply.

We want instant food, instant knowledge, instant networks, instant growth, instant trust, instant innovation, instant transformation, instant sustainability.

What does it take to realize that depth is the casualty of speed?

For those of us willing to brave the unknown in discovery of a life larger than we’ve ever known, ambivalence is the necessary path from inauthentic certainty to authentic commitment.

In his talk yesterday, Jinpa Rinpoche addressed the role of competition in business relative to the Buddhist teaching of love and compassion. His suggestion was unequivocal and challenging: always wish success for yourself and everyone else. Period.

My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake and they live in a state of constant, total amazement. / Meg Ryan to Tom Hanks in Joe vs. The Volcano

Cynicism is an adjustment of expectations down. We expect the bad to continue or get worse.

When we understand cynicism from an ecological view, we realize that cynicism is an effective way to excuse ourselves from responsibility. The deeper our cynicism, the more we project responsibility for our world on other people. It works for anyone who wants to enjoy tangible and immediate relief from responsibility. So, the question is: What’s the opposite of cynicism and what kind of people seek its opposite?

My initial reaction is that the opposite isn’t a kind of hope that plays the same role of projecting responsibility on other people and conditions.

In her essay, Buddhism in a Global Economy, Helena Norberg-Hodge suggests several advantages of smaller scale economies, referred to as local living economies in the sustainability community. These are consumption and growth economies that support local businesses, relationships, resources, and opportunities.

Local living economies create opportunities for local production and use of goods and services that express the unique character of the region. Monoculture promoted by global conglomerates is minimized in favor of cultural self-esteem. Everyone has a clearer appreciation for the social and economic impact of their spending and production, increasing the chances of unlegislated ethical and fair trade practices. Transportation and marketing costs are reduced, freeing capital for more innovation efforts. With less dependencies on non-local suppliers, there is reduced vulnerability to local economic collapse if these suppliers who have no personal commitment to the region happen to lose interest in the local economy.

Local talents and natural; resources are used more sustainably for local production requirements. There are reduced risks of vulnerability to politically-motivated non-local trade and tarrif policies. More entrepreneurs are in demand to fulfill local needs; local students have more options available to participate in business leadership. International transplants with unique skills have opportunities to produce locally what used to be only available non-locally. Economic trends are easier to see and respond to giving everyone more opportunities to become agents of change rather than victims of it.