The One Who is Not Busy
Darlene Cohen, 2004
Written by a Buddhist priest, an American woman living in San Francisco, this short book explores the concept of “simultaneous inclusion,” or how a worker can be both “busy” and “not busy” at the same time.
Cohen employs case studies and simple, non-religious exercises in breathing and body awareness to increase two skills: “the ability to narrow or widen the mind’s focus at will” and “the mental flexibility to shift the mind’s focus at will from one thing to another.” Using these two skills, Cohen says, will both increase our enjoyment of the task at hand (whether that is doing the dishes or laying on the beach) and help us to become aware of how what we are doing fits into the “big picture” of how we want to spend our time and live our lives.
This book is a quick read, and I found that the exercises provided almost immediate relief from the stress of multi-tasking, interruptions and overload. I highly recommend it.
