WHAT HAS YOU THINKING ABOUT MINDFULNESS RIGHT NOW? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT AT WORK?
My first 4 years in Colorado I collaborated with a professor at Penn in studying the effects of mindfulness training on attention and memory. The results were astounding and showed up with very little sustained practice. Of course, the longer the sustained practice, the greater the impact (we tested retreat participants at the beginning middle and end of a 20-day focused meditation/mindfulness program). At that point, we didn’t do follow-up work to see how well it “sticks” afterward…or if it even does at all. That is something I am curious about.
We also know that with ongoing, sustained meditation and mindfulness practice, the brain slowly rewires itself. My favorite metaphor for describing change is muscle-building. At first, it stinks, is awkward, uncomfortable, and you end up sore, but over time, if you stick with it, you build new, strong, and effective muscles that are able to help you accomplish far more than you were before, and consistently.
Extraordinary times take extraordinary means and I do believe that mindfulness is one of those extraordinary means. Specifically, it is a tool for pulling apart the conflation of cortex and bioreaction unlike any I have encountered. And in today’s world of moral, religious, and political reaction followed by immediate disconnect and conflict, I truly believe this skill is more needed than ever before. WHY?
Extending this to business, we are in a world where organizations are seeking out greater and greater impact and global scale. But, for them to truly thrive, they will be required to work with a wide range of diversity, beliefs, interests, politics, cultures, and on and on. I can’t image this working if leaders are coming from a place of ego (which is really the place where the cortex rationalizes our (bio)reactions and feelings for our own benefit). WHY DOES MINDFULNESS BALANCE EGO AND BIOREACTIONS? Mindfulness practice is a powerful antidote to this…of course, as long as you practice.
Mindfulness practice is a powerful antidote to this…of course, as long as you practice.
