Mindfulness at Work

Life can be seen as a series of experiments where you try something, review it, learn from it, and then try something slightly different. The more experiments you make, the more you can start to see the gap between reality and what you tell yourself. You can start with low-risk experiments just to find out how it feels to do something different. For example, if you believe yourself to be shy, initiate a conversation with a colleague you know by sight but haven’t spoken to. Use your discretion – I wouldn’t try this in a situation where my intentions could be misinterpreted. The conversation’s outcome isn’t important; you are interested in how it feels and what resources it will need from you to do it differently

TRY THIS
Pick up any small object that is to hand such as a pen. Concentrate on the object. Handle it and look at it from all angles without commenting and without using words to think about it. Just allow the object to exist. Do this for a minute if you can. Could you do this for a whole minute without any discomfort? Did you ‘allow’ it, without having any words? What emerges about yourself as a result of the exercise?

Our blind acceptance of the status quo, as learned from our early experiences of teachers and other leaders, is a primary source of unhappiness.