Is Mindfulness the antidote to Modern Life?

Last week I had the privilege of participating in the Mindful Leadership Forum hosted by Wakeup! in Sydney.  Of course there was that wonderful feeling of being a little warmer in the harbour city whilst Gippsland was being drenched in glorious rain, but the greater gift was being in a room of over 400 people learning about how compassion and mindfulness is changing the face of business, schools and even the British parliament.  A forum aimed at promoting leadership, that is grounded in self-awareness, authenticity and compassion.

There were many take aways for me in my work with corporate and health executives and professionals, schools and individuals.  Here are just a few.

1. Why do we want to be more mindful? Because there is really good data and science to show that it enables skilful action, enables innovation and creativity and can even alters our genetic code.   In other words because it can improve our performance and our well-being.

2. Over and over again we see in the research that we have the ability to change our brain’s structure and function based on what we do and think, our repetitive behaviours and thought patterns matter.

3. Where mindfulness and leadership come together we can cultivate trust and this allows us to really thrive. As a leader I wonder if part of your role is to inspire the people around you?  Do they truly trust you? Mindfulness at work helps to cultivate an ecosystem of trust that promotes potential.  Nike, The Gates Foundation, Intel, Black Rock and Google are just some of the companies who are cultivating this kind of culture. In Australia Suncorp, Herbert Smith Freehills and Telstra are leading the way.

4. Mindfulness is the foundation of all other programs – it’s not an add on. The British Parliament have been training their House of Lords MPs in mindfulness, in collaboration with Oxford University.  They consider mindfulness to be as good an intervention for mental health as anything else around and will release The Mindful Nation Report in October of this year commenting on mindfulness in health, education, the workplace and the criminal justice system.  Congressman Tim Ryan in the USA and parliaments in Holland, Germany and Wales are all working on Mindfulness training projects for their members too.

There were many speakers at the Mindful Leadership Forum living and breathing (leading) mindfulness, kindness and compassion.  As Lyn White from Animals Australia reminded us, transformative leadership does not happen using only inherited thinking, it requires a new path.  In terms of restructuring our brain it requires practicing a new way, not just reinforcing all the old strategies that keep us at work for too long, being inefficient, unhappy, stressed.  High performance is not a function of working harder and longer.  Self-awareness, authenticity and mindfulness promote trust, potential, compassion and creativity.  Many companies and individuals are noticing that this has improved their performance significantly.

If you want to learn some more take 15 minutes to watch Joe Kraus amusing talk about modern life and mindfulness.  See if you think its time to try something new so you can get more out of your life, including your work life!

Interested in Mindfulness at your workplace? Ask us about Corporate Based Mindfulness Training or Coaching or Facilitation with Sharee.  I am leading a one day retreat on Mindful Leadership in Gippsland and in Melbourne soon.

Interested to join us?   Send me a note today