• Discuss: What does meaningful work mean to you? What gifts and passions do you bring into the work that you do? What are your motivations and intentions for the work that you do? Which values are most important for you in the work environment?
• Read: The Right Way to Reach the Top by Brad Stulberg (lionsroar.com)
• Watch: How to stop languishing and start finding flow (ted.com
• Namchak Blog: How to Use Shamata in the Workplace
• Lama Tsomo’s book recommendation: Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World * From Lama Tsomo: “I love his breezy, often humorous writing style, while talking about something of great importance, belying the fact that he’s actually quite a deep and heartful thinker. He invites us through the looking glass, into the indigenous world … which of course is right here, right now … even right in our own bones.”
• Podcast: Jonathan Fields – Finding Meaning in Work & Life (The Rich Roll Podcast, richroll.com)

* Namchak Foundation and Lama Tsomo do not receive any monetary or other benefit from the purchase of this book.

10 Minutes of Shamata When we asked Lama Tsomo which practice goes best with this theme of “meaningful work,” she responded “Shamata.” She used the analogy of sitting by a murky pond. It is murky because there are so many waves and all of the silt has been stirred up, so we can’t see to the bottom of the pond. When we practice Shamata, the waves and the silt settle, and we are able to see all the way to the bottom. This helps us to uncover our purpose and our passions and we are able to see our meaningful work more clearly.

One Community Agenda

💫  Opening, Community Commitments, Check-Ins

• Invite a moment of silence and give rise to Bodhicitta.
• Read Community Commitments.
• What is your intention for being here tonight?
• What was your first experience of ‘working’?

🎦   Watch and try out the exercises in this video (10 min): Qigong Routine to Soften Tension in the Body with Jeffrey Chand

• When we are out doing our meaningful work in the world, we may accumulate stress and tension in our body. This qigong practice will help us move and transform that stressful energy in our bodies so we feel vitalized enough to continue the work!

📖   Dharma Exploration from Lama Tsomo’s book, Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? (5-10 min)

• Introduce reading: “Methods So We Can See for Ourselves” from Why is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling (pp. 127-129)
• Ask for volunteer readers to act out conversation on pages 128-129.

📝  Journal (5 min)

• What’s a typical motivation for you when you sit down to do a meditation session?
• Then, dig deeper! Ask probing questions like, “Why do you want to do that? What are you looking for? What are you hoping will come of that?”
• Take a few moments to journal your responses to these questions.

💬  Small Group/Partner Discussion (10 min)

• Break into smaller groups/partners in breakout rooms.
• Make sure each partner has a chance to share the response to their journaling. (5 minutes each)

👥   Group Share (5-10 min)

• Come back as a large group and share takeaways from partner discussions.

🧘‍  Choose Your Own Meditation and Bring Your Motivation (15 min)

• Now that we’re a little clearer on our motivation, let’s bring that to our meditation cushions/seats. Tonight, as is often the case in life, we have a choice to make as to how we will be in the world. In this moment, we will dare say meditation is the most meaningful work we could do together as a community.
• Open three breakout rooms and choose a host for each room to share the following meditations. If your group is smaller, you can choose just one meditation to practice together in one large room.
• Round Robin: Shamata & Tonglen 
• Loving Kindness Meditation
• Shamata & Sympathetic Joy

🌀  Debrief of meditation (5 min)

• What was your experience of your meditation?
•  What difference do you feel your motivation or intention made for you?
• What ideas are you having for your personal practice moving forward?

🙏  Dedicate the merit (1 min)

By the power of this compassionate practice,
may suffering be transformed into peace.
May the hearts of all beings be open,
and their wisdom radiate from within.