I lived six glorious years in Australia. It was the most free and happy place on four continents that I have ever been.
It helped that I was a resident of the Australian Capitol Territory. Being a territory, it had its own rules that were in some ways ‘looser’ than states like New South Wales and Victoria. My experience was that territories in Australia were considerably more ‘free’ than states.
At that time in Oz the Aussies would inevitably greet each other with, “How ya’ going?” The proper response, nine times out of ten, was, “Yeah, good!” Despite the freedoms of the A.C.T., this remained a social constraint that could not be put aside. Wouldn’t the exceptional freedom here allow me to answer differently? Being an American, couldn’t I just say in our own way, “Well, since you asked…”?
And yet I rapidly adopted this means of salutation among the locals. Not, as one might expect, in an attempt to become more Australian, which I could never truly be. Instead, I used the response, “Yeah, good!” because it was such a positive way to present my situation at that moment, whether I thought my circumstances to be good or bad.
The way of Zen asks us to look into a moment and question our impulsive judgement about whether the moment is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. How much of that judgement arises inexplicably from within, and how accurate is it given the truth of This reality? Are you ‘good’ at this moment? If not, are you sure you’re NOT good? Are you only saying, “Yeah, good!” to meet the expectations of others, and is that a wise thing to do?
In the town of Merimbula I once met a downcast fellow who didn’t see me coming. We passed on a narrow sidewalk and he lacked any credible way to avoid me. So I asked, “How ya’ going?” And he responded, “Yeah, good.” I paused; he paused. Then he said, “The dog died this morning. And the ute won’t start.”
According to him, and given how morose he looked, his day wasn’t ‘good’. But I immediately saw the wisdom in the expression, even if he was just taking the mickey with a seeming tourist.
There were many days in Australia when things appeared to be going poorly for me, but I rarely thought to admit it to a passerby. If asked, “How ya’ going?” I would automatically say with a grin, “Yeah, good!”
That’s partly because after Merimbula I caught on to a wonderful thing: by making myself say, “Yeah, good!” I actually felt better. For me, the mere act of voicing the phrase, “Yeah, good!” several times a day made me appreciate the fact that most of my life was indeed going quite well: I had food, a roof over my head, a loving wife, friends, and a purpose.
So, I embraced the sentiment, “Yeah, good!” The coming years found me struggling with the nearly impossible tasks of becoming an internationally known scientist, building and funding a research laboratory, overseeing research efforts at an American university, and coping with a young family. Little sleep, many demands, and an ever replenishing To Do list could have been a great burden; but the phrase, “Yeah, good!” went through my mind most days, even if I wasn’t able to say it with meaning to my fellow Americans in the work place.
When asked how they are doing, professional Americans commonly say, “Busy!” That’s because “busy” is often equated with “good” in my country. Even though most of us realize “busy” doesn’t mean “effective and useful”, and certainly not “happy", we still admire a busy person and we rarely stop to consider, “How ya’ going?”
But by responding, “Busy!” several times a day, we focus over and over again on the schedules we have created for ourselves, and on the mountain of tasks we’ve allowed ourselves to commit to. We see our worth as being a function of our busy-ness. We seldom use the opportunity to escape that moment-by-moment busy work mentality in favor of a fresh, awareness-invoking “Yeah, good!”
Aussie norms forced me to say, “Yeah, good!” every day, and I am profoundly thankful for that. I miss it, now that I’m back in America. Perhaps Zen practitioners would appreciate the phrase “Yeah, good!” as much as I do. Maybe with awareness of the koan “Every Day Is A Good Day” a quick “Yeah, good!” would be especially meaningful.
Maybe, like me, saying “Yeah, good” will recall to mind all of the truly wonderful things that are happening in our lives every moment of every day, whether we feel “good” or “bad”— benefits that this moment constantly supplies to us and our welfare. Light. Air. Senses. Awareness. Beauty. Rest. Friendship.
Instead of grumbling to ourselves and others so often, it would be fine to spend a little more time trying to say, “Yeah, good!” Gratitude never goes amiss.
