Zen Actuary 19: Cultivating Gratitude
By Rich Lauria
The Stepping Stone, March 2022
Author’s note: This is the continuation of a series[1] adapted from the book Awake at Work by Michael Carroll, covering the application of Buddhist teachings to situations encountered in a modern corporate workplace setting. This series addresses challenges frequently encountered by practicing actuaries.
The end of year holidays—from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day—typically provide an extended opportunity for each of us to reflect on the year that has passed and to contemplate how to make the next year a better experience for ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. It goes without saying that the last two years have been challenging for everyone on the planet, and will continue to be for at least the first portion of 2022. I have spent a fair amount of recent installments chronicling these challenges and offering mindfulness techniques and perspectives for managing the heightened anxiety that has accompanied them. This installment will say much less about the status of the virus and the associated disruptions, and focus its energy instead on how to bring that Thanksgiving mindset into the entirety of the New Year.
I have not suddenly gone into denial or stopped following the news; I do not recommend either of those techniques. Rather I believe that spending time being thankful for what I have—which is a bounty of abundance—will ultimately be more productive in developing calm and peaceful states of mind. I further humbly suggest that practicing gratitude can help anyone—actuary or otherwise—establish and maintain good physical and mental health and well-being.
Thanksgiving in particular has long been my favorite holiday. When I was younger, I loved the nice break after a long grind of schoolwork or actuarial exam preparation. I also enjoyed the feast of family, food and football that comes with it. As the years have gone by, I have grown to appreciate the true intention of the holiday. I make sure to take time during the weekend to contemplate all I have to be thankful for. I have since observed a noticeable shift in my mood and demeanor, and the family part has happily taken on even greater importance in what I experience. Going beyond that, the holiday has become more about what I can give back from this state of being.
One of the things I’m most grateful for is the opportunity to be part of this wonderful profession. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to apply my skills and intellect to the myriad of interesting business challenges that have come my way. More importantly, being an actuary has introduced me to so many terrific people. The relationships that have been cultivated throughout the years have been priceless. And amazingly I currently enjoy being part of the preeminent master’s degree program in enterprise risk management, a field that did not even exist when I first became an FSA!
Actuaries as a group have much to be thankful for, even during these stressful and uncertain times. The profession remains vibrant, led by strong and dedicated individuals who value giving back to the membership; their actions alone speak to a mindset of gratitude. At its core, actuaries remain well-renowned for their ethical behavior and integrity in their work product and personal interactions. The rigorous educational requirements, continuing education standards, clearly written standards of practice, and detailed code of conduct provide its members with the tools necessary to succeed and thrive. The stepped-up number of webinars offered by the SOA provide substantial opportunities for members to stay current in their practice and network with others.
The prolonged public health crisis has created a multitude of stresses and anxieties. This includes inflationary pressures and employment upheaval caused in part by pandemic driven supply chain disruptions. All businesses, including those served by actuaries, have had to adapt to these realities. How does one find a reason to be thankful when the news seems so bleak?
When things get difficult, it is common and understandable for one to feel overwhelmed and helpless. It may lead to playing the “blame game” by creating “maras.” The word “mara” in Buddhism translates to demon. Not those corporeal beings with pointy ears and pitchforks, instead they represent negative states of mind and harmful actions such as jealousy, hatred, and greed. They serve to distract and blind us from the peace and joy that we seek. The demons may be symbolized by disagreeable family members, difficult co-workers, noisy neighbors, opposition political figures, and perhaps entire groups of people we struggle to relate with. Anything potentially can take on the form of a mara if one allows it.
The good news is that gratitude practice can be an effective antidote.
There are four approaches I have found helpful in generating the state of “santosha,” or contentment. The first is the recognition that there have always been challenges, and there always will be. This basic fact gets easier to recognize as one gets older and has more experiences to draw upon.
Even though the current world situation or one’s personal circumstances seem insurmountable, it’s not as if there were no challenges in 2019, 2009, 1999, or before. And if you were alive during that time, you found a way to get to the next day, and the day after that, right to this present moment as you are reading this article. And chances are there were others beside you helping in some large or small way, blended with your own resourcefulness and talents. Contemplating this will create a sense of thankfulness for who you are, the gifts you have been provided, and the assistance you have received to get to where you are today. It will also instill a sense of knowing that today’s challenges can also be met, even if it is not yet clear how that will occur.
The second approach builds on the first by recognizing obstacles as opportunities for growth, whether career building or in terms of personal mindset and behavior. This should resonate with actuaries, who are problem solvers by nature. “Necessity is the mother of invention” is an old cliché, and is a powerful insight in implementing this technique.
If there were no challenges to be met or obstacles to overcome, no one would have a job or career to attain personal and financial satisfaction. The insurance industry is built upon the reality that things sometimes go wrong and fall apart, providing an opportunity to offer protection from the adverse financial outcomes associated with them. As the world’s oldest risk management profession, actuaries are highly trained to diagnose potential failure modes and recommend and implement mitigation techniques.
Beyond being grateful for the existence of problems from a pure economic perspective, transforming adverse conditions is a powerful technique for developing new skills and building self-confidence:
- That new projection software that cannot readily handle a key product line is an ideal candidate for an actuary to demonstrate ingenuity and acquire a deeper understanding of both the software and the product itself.
- Compliance with that new illustration regulation can open the door to a new way to communicate the benefits of an established product with the marketing team, and maybe those ambitious sales goals will be less daunting as a result.
- The loss on your staff of two recently minted FSAs destined for actuarial stardom forces you to finally do that staffing review you’ve been putting off, resulting in a restructuring that highlights the strengths of several junior staff members who had been overshadowed and underutilized.
- A new financial reporting requirement pushes you into joining forces with the company’s controller, and to your pleasant surprise fosters the blooming of a highly valuable relationship with someone who you previously viewed as a rival.
The opportunities presented by seemingly challenging and often annoying circumstances abound!
The third approach involves one of my favorite meditations, and almost always leaves me in a state of awe. Before describing gratitude meditation, I find it helps to first perform some type of awareness meditation. There are many awareness meditations, but my preferred choice is something involving the breath. I recently began doing the “box meditation.” This technique involves four phases, with each corresponding to a portion of the breath cycle.
Decide on a comfortable count that can be equally applied to each phase. I normally start with a count of four, but a shorter count may be appropriate for those who are newer to meditation. After taking a deep breath in and out, start the box by inhaling for the target count. Then hold the breath at the end of the inhale for the target count. Then exhale the breath fully for the target count. And at the end of the exhale, hold the breath out for the target count. While there is no correct number, I find eight to 12 cycles of breath sufficient to slow down my thinking considerably.
The gratitude meditation involves thinking about things one has received and contemplating everyone involved in making that happen. Since I often perform this meditation in the morning, I start with things immediate to my day such as breakfast foods and the clothes I decided to wear. While these seem simple at first glance, the observations from this can be quite profound.
For example, let’s start with the oatmeal I had this morning. There are many people involved on the farm that produced it, including those who planted the crop, maintained and nurtured it, and harvested the bounty. Then there are those who designed and manufactured the equipment to assist in growing and processing of the grain. And do not forget to consider those who designed and created the packaging of the cereal, and all of the food company’s management team that organized resources to mass produce the oatmeal at a price that is readily affordable. And then there are people involved in transporting the oatmeal to my local grocery store, and the personnel at the grocery store. There are also second and third order effects such as the suppliers of the cardboard and ink to create the packaging, and the landlord for the grocery store. All parts of the chain likely have financing supplied by the capital markets in some form. All of this to produce one bowl of oatmeal! And then there is what goes into the fruit and almond milk!
One thought that sometimes comes to mind when doing this meditation is that many of these things are paid for with money that has been earned by the meditator. While this is true, and the people all mentioned above are being paid for putting that oatmeal on my kitchen table, they are still showing me a kindness by allowing me to specialize my skills in areas other than food processing. All I need to do is go to the store (or order online), pay for the oatmeal, pour it into a pot with boiling water, and stir for a few minutes. That is an incredible support system, and one that I do not take for granted! Such necessities in mass quantities are sadly not readily available to many people today, and were not available to anyone for most of human history!
Sometimes the arguments articulated above do not resonate. They do not touch the heart. When I’m feeling particularly self-absorbed with an inflated sense of self-worth, I adjust the meditation to focus on those who have helped me achieve what I enjoy in my career.
I start with my parents and family support, then contemplate the many terrific teachers and professors I enjoyed (especially those in mathematics), and the multitude of co-workers and bosses who helped make my corporate and now academic journey successful. I would not have the skills I enjoy without others, and I would not be writing this article without the many teachings and critical feedback sessions I have enjoyed throughout the course of my life, including some excellent Buddhist instruction.
The last technique I have found useful is one that I have increasingly incorporated into my yoga asana practice. While it does not target gratitude specifically, it is designed to raise energy levels and increase one’s state of well-being. I refer to it as “yogi playtime,” which involves a series of poses and movements just for fun.
While yoga requires steady and regular practice, I have found it is most enjoyably sustainable when some portion is devoted to just playing with poses—especially those I struggle with. The range of things I do during yogi playtime varies each day, but usually includes some type of standing balance pose, an arm balance, and an inversion. It isn’t part of a sequence or structure but just trying stuff for its own sake. Whatever happens, other than hurting myself, is perfectly fine. I’m always grateful for having a breath and a body to do yogi playtime.
I include a ten-minute yoga break in my ERM classes at Columbia when time permits. Students are invited (never forced) to join me for some playtime. One popular short sequence we do is a downward-facing dog medley. At the end of the medley, I invite everyone to perform “donkey kicks.” From either a regular downward-facing dog or a shortened length (i.e., move each leg in about a foot from the normal position), bend the knees, grip the mat with fingertips, and jump up with both legs trying to reach the heels to the buttocks. I implore my students to “kick their butts.” I encourage taking three to five attempts. Some get some hang-time, while one or two might even find a brief handstand. I never find one but I always feel the blood pumping and a rush of energy after my five attempts. There is also a noticeable difference in energy levels among the students who join me.
Maintaining a positive frame of mind is something everyone desires but is often elusive. Life’s ups and downs regularly throw monkey wrenches into our idyllic visions of how our health, relationships, finances, and career ambitions are supposed to play out. While each of us has limited control over the fortunes we are dealt, we have the ability to manage how our individual minds react to changing conditions.
By cultivating gratitude and focusing on what we have rather than what is missing, we can better maintain mental equilibrium and resilience to deal with the next great challenge, especially when transformed into opportunity. The good news for actuaries is that most, if not all, can begin this practice by reflecting on their own jobs and focusing on the many positive aspects of actuarial work, including compensation, work environment, prestige, and the intellectual challenge and curiosity invited. Furthermore, each actuary can take a moment to reflect on the contributions of the many professional volunteers that keep actuarial science dynamic and innovative, and thus preserve and enhance the value of actuarial credentials.
I wish you all a very happy 2022!
Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the newsletter editors, or the respective authors’ employers.
Rich Lauria, FSA, is associate director and lecturer in the Enterprise Risk Management program at Columbia University in New York City. He can be reached at rl2764@columbia.edu. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rich-lauria-6555a425/.