The Art of Zen Living

“Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.”

- Shunryu Suzuki

We set goals every day.  Some small (I’ve got to run to the store and get milk today) and some big (I’m going to go back to school and learn how to write).  I’ve read a lot about how to set goals, how to achieve goals, and the importance of setting specific goals.  I’ve seen very little written on the topic of setting good goals.  What is a good goal, anyway?  Goals are as different as the people that set them.  If you want to be rich, then your goals are likely to be very different from the goals set by someone that wants to be raise a large family.  But what is a “good” goal?  From a Buddhist view, a “good” or skillful goal would be one that, when achieved, reduced the suffering (or, if you prefer, enhanced the happiness) in the world.  The tricky part is in looking at all the ways we’re connected, and making sure that you aren’t enhancing your happiness at the expense of enhancing someone else’s suffering. So how do you do that?

I have a friend that’s looking at getting “her dream car” - a Mercedes.  It’s an older model, and she’s getting a good deal on it, but as she was telling me about the car she said getting this model car had always been one of her goals.  She went on to explain the things I mentioned - older model, good deal, and that financially it would be a “lateral move”.  I asked her why she felt the need to explain to me that it wasn’t a materialistic goal, and the need to justify the reasons for her goal.  She hadn’t realized she was justifying the goal.  I asked her if her insurance rates would go up - they would.  I asked her if she’d get better gas mileage - she wouldn’t.  I asked her if the cost to maintain and repair the Mercedes would be more or less - they’d be more.  She’d really have to cut some corners to make ends meet if she got this car.  Her goal, then, would increase her own suffering, even tho the car would provide some momentary excitement and joy.  I encouraged her to consider all of the facts before she made a final decision.

If you find yourself having to justify or rationalize a goal when you tell someone else about it, the reason is that it’s a bad goal.

I’m guilty of this - we all are.  Explaining to our family and friends what a certain goal is really “not as bad as it sounds” or “not what you think”.  We aren’t even really explaining it to them - we’re explaining it to that little voice in the back of our own head, the one that says “This isn’t right.  I should be doing something else with this time, money or both…“.  We can’t fool that little voice.  The voice is also nearly always right.

This week’s weekly challenge is to listen to that little voice in my head when it comes to my goals.  If my inner voice doesn’t agree, the goal gets scrapped and I start over.