One night, after reading a story to my then 10-year-old daughter, she looked up at me and said, “Daddy, when we die, will all the answers to life be revealed to us; like when you play a game and the answer is at the back of the book?” The truth is, I don’t remember how I responded.

What I hope I said is that I think we don’t need to wait until we die in order for the answers to be revealed. Perhaps the answers are revealed in many moments, perhaps in every moment of our lives. We just need to be open enough, or still enough, or ready enough to receive them. We can even practice and cultivate this kind of readiness, by paying attention to and letting go of whatever gets in our way. And, what after all, do I or anyone, really know about life and death?

Two Zen teachers meet; one is carrying his bags. “Where are you going?”, inquires the first teacher.

“I’m going on a pilgrimage”, the other teacher responds.

“What’s the purpose of pilgrimage?” asks the first teacher.

“I don’t know.” he responds.

“Not knowing is most intimate.” Replies the first teacher

This phrase, “not knowing is most intimate” could be said to be the heart of Zen philosophy. It is also much like the second part of the “Less Manifesto” – Less Assumptions (from the book Less: Accomplishing More By Doing Less. The others are less fear, distractions, resistance, and busyness.)

In Zen, like in our lives, much of the dialogue is in metaphors. “Where are you going” can be a simple query, or it can mean, “What are you doing with your life?”

I saw a cartoon in a recent New Yorker magazine in which two people were finishing their dinners at a Chinese restaurant and had just opened their fortune cookies. One fortune read, “You are going to die.”

If you let this fact sink in — that life is short, and we all die — it can actually act as a powerful motivating force to help maintain focus and priorities. Everything changes and is impermanent, so are we fully present and making the most of this fleeting moment? Are we fully aware of what we are doing? Appreciating impermanence clarifies priorities, and it helps us identify any frenetic, shallow and ineffective activities we’re being distracted by. We see clearly the things that exhaust us and distract us from experiencing the blessing and opportunity of each particular day.

Every organization has a climate; whether you are a one-person organization or a 10,000-person company, there is a climate. You may be very aware of it, or not so aware of it, but a climate exists. Of course it may change and not everyone would define it exactly the same.

I always find it fascinating to come in contact with an organization, whether a small company, large business, or non-profit – noticing and being influenced by what the entrance to the company looks and feel likes, who I’m greeted by as I enter and how I’m greeted. Is there a sense of urgency or a feeling of being relaxed, an environment of order or of chaos, of enjoyment or strain? I, as well as others, notice and are influenced by "small" things.

Here are five questions that I find extremely valuable to ask about the climate of your organization:

1. What’s the climate like in your organization? How do you know?

There is a story about two Zen teachers from seventh-century China. One teacher is sweeping some stone steps inside the monastery with a wooden broom. He is approached by the other teacher, who looks at him and remarks, “Too busy.” (This is a way of saying, “Why are you sweeping when you should be meditating or undertaking some type of contemplative practice?”) The first teacher, holding his broom, responds by saying, “You should know that there is one who is not busy.”

Though we often associate busyness with activity and speed, and lack of busyness with stopping or slowing down, this is not always the case. It is possible to be actively engaged and not be busy. Not being “busy” does not require that you stop, slow down, or step out of the activity of your life. Most of the time, we learn, we adjust, we find our composure, right in the midst of the activity and intensity of our lives. We have to!

There is an old story of a man riding very fast on a horse. As he rides past his friend standing on the side of the road, the friend yells, “Where are you going?” The rider turns toward his friend and yells, “I don’t know, ask the horse!”

"Mindfulness helps us understand that our conventional view of ourselves and even what we mean by "self" is incomplete in some very important ways. Mindfulness helps us recognize how and why we mis-take the actuality of things for some story we create, and then make it possible to chart a path toward greater sanity, well-being, and purpose. -- Jon Kabat-Zinn

I’ve recently begun experimenting with the Engine 2 Texas Firefighters Diet -- you can eat everything except animal products, sugar, white flour, and oils… Eating this way has brought a new level of attention to what I eat, a new appreciation for what I put into my body. After all, what could be more intimate then this act that we so casually call eating.

Speed kills. This is literally true when it comes to driving. The higher the speed, the greater the chances of fatalities. It is also true that working with speed and intensity, without modulating your activity, contributes to a host of physical ailments leading to a variety of health problems and a shortened life.

But often life itself moves fast, and we are challenged to move fast enough to keep up with it. Whether we are a work-all-night CEO or a stay-at-home parent, our days can become filled with the nonstop challenges of business, home, parenting, and relationships: phones ringing, emails flying, reports piling up, meetings and deadlines, children needing to be picked up from school, dinner to make, laundry to do, bills to pay, and so on. When problems arise, we sometimes must make split-second decisions and adjustments.

To “enjoy” your life is different than how we often think of happiness. Happiness is usually dependent on the circumstances, the situation, the perception and assessment of your life. We are happy when things go well, when we get what we want. To really enjoy your life means to appreciate your life, including what is difficult or unpleasant.

Of course, we all want to be happy. We want the best circumstances, we want to be successful, we want to heal, we want to make changes and improvements wherever possible -- and we all have exactly the life we have, right now. Here is a portion of a talk by writer Anna Quindlen, and a quote by Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki.

From Anna Quindlen’s Commencement address at Villanova, June 2000:

I was drawn to Zen practice as a path and practice to finding real freedom, to owning, respecting, and trusting this ordinary, precious life. My practice began, and is regularly encouraged by noticing where and when I am not awake, where I am holding, avoiding, tight. I didn’t know it at the time but, this could be a description of the practice of Right View.

As I was preparing to give a recent talk, I noticed a part of me was tight. My reaction to this tightness was to further contract. I thought – oh, won’t it feel better when this talk is over. What a relief that will be. I was looking into the future, and avoiding any kind of stress, any kind of being uncomfortable.