Living in More Than One World

In 1975, the Relaxation Response, a book by Herbert Benson, a Harvard Medical School cardiologist, became a surprise, multi-million selling best-seller and led to his subsequent books such as Your Maximum Mind, Timeless Healing, The Breakout Principle and Relaxation Revolution. Benson is still writing and researching, and the January-February 2012 UTNE Reader has a fascinating Q&A with him, conducted by Daniel Redwood, about the roots of the relaxation response, and Benson’s work in stress reduction and related holistic health areas.

Relaxation in this sense is not engaging in relaxing activities, but the response of our bodies to techniques that, among other things, decrease heart rate, breath rate and blood pressure; and provide an alternative to the “fight-or-flight” response. Benson is now the Director Emeritus of the The Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. The site describes the response and also provides directions for eliciting it. Meditation is one vehicle, but the interview points out that there are others, including yoga, repetitive prayer, and even activities like knitting or crocheting. There can be a religious or spiritual component, but it is not necessary. Benson points out in the interview that it is “very important to note that health and well-being is akin to a three-legged stool. One leg is pharmaceuticals. The second leg is surgery and other procedures. There has to be a third leg, and that leg is self-care. Within that self-care leg we have the relaxation response, nutrition, exercise, the beliefs of the patient, socialization, and cognitive restructuring.”

Benson’s work is needed now more than ever. Although many of the stressors of life are similar to what they were in 1975, a major trigger that did not exist then is our 24/7 always on, always connected, always expected to be available culture. The benefits from the relaxation response may be a key ingredient in helping today’s knowledge workers remain healthy and productive.

Marc Allen, the publisher of New World Library, has written a recent post about the fact that eight of the company’s authors have been included in Mind Body Spirit magazine’s 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. The list itself is pretty fascinating, with the Dalai Lama at #1 and New World Library authors Eckhart Tolle at #2 and Deepak Chopra at #4.  No matter what your system of belief, or unbelief may be, the best spiritually-oriented writers serve a wonderful purpose by helping readers to understand and interpret the deepest meanings in life.

Lists like the one in Mind Body Spirit help guide us to high-quality writers, but there are other valuable resources. Every year I look forward to The Best Spiritual Writing series, edited by Philip Zaleski and now published by Penguin. The 2012 edition collects articles and poems that have appeared recently in magazines and journals, including “A Chapel is Where You Can Hear Something Beating Below Your Heart,” by one of my favorite writers, Pico Iyer. He has contributed often to the series, including writing the introduction to the 2010 book. And each year Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat choose the Best Spiritual Books of the Year, categorized by topic, from the more than 300 reviewed each year on the Spirituality & Practice site. Another terrific resource is the 2005 book 50 Spiritual Classics, part of the 50 Classics series by Tom Butler-Bowdon. Tom’s website generously includes free full text of many of the chapters, including one on Tolle’s 1999 breakthrough book, The Power of Now. Unsurprisingly, there is considerable crossover between this list and the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. Who are your favorite spiritual writers? Do they appear on these lists?

Leave it to The Economist, and specifically the Schumpeter management column, to find the intersection between Leonard Cohen and entrepreneurship. The February 25th Enterprising Oldies explores, in a neat package, why all of us (no matter where we are chronologically in adulthood) may have to explore entrepreneurship and other forms of self-employment at some point in our working lives.
As we think about how to diversify our portfolio of work experiences, it’s worth digging deeper into how we can apply some of the life lessons of the 77 year old Cohen, a singer/songwriter/poet/novelist who was inducted into the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. He’s written such oft-recorded classics as “Suzanne” and “Bird on a Wire,” and the more recent “Hallelujah.”
As pointed out in The Economist and a recent New York Times interview, part of Cohen’s recent renaissance has come about because he had to resume touring and recording to help make up for millions of dollars lost in dealings with a former financial adviser. But no matter what the impetus was, the fact is that he has a new album, Old Ideas, and has toured the world recently at far beyond traditional retirement age. What can we learn from his example?
1.    Diversified creative output. He has a tremendous body of work, going back more than 40 years, to draw on. It’s entirely possible that his poetry books are not major money-spinners, but he also has his albums, songwriting royalties (perhaps a considerable sum, given all the cover versions of his songs) and concert fees.
2.    A  powerful personal brand. Mention the name and people instantly associate it with him and his work.
3.    A global outlook. He has a worldwide following, with his books and music available worldwide, and fans everywhere, well beyond his native Canada.
4.    Remaining relevant. People are eager to listen to the new output of this 77 year old man, and he’s adding new fans all the time.
5.    An impressive body of work. One reason millions of dollars are at stake from Cohen’s career is that he has written and recorded so many important songs over more than 40 years.
Even if the work you do is not creative in nature, chances are you still may have to/want to work beyond 65. It’s never too soon, or too late to be thinking about amassing a high-quality body of work, diversifying your output, building your brand, thinking globally and remaining relevant.
As ties to traditional jobs and employment arrangements continue to evolve and become more tenuous, we will increasingly find ourselves in what could be called The Leonard Cohen Economy.