Discover how to strengthen your resilience
We've curated a list of some of our best lessons, tips and tools from our 2017 blogs.
From self-care, emotional intelligence and self-awareness, to work-life happiness, we hope you enjoy this simple summary of our best content this year!
Be sure to check out the blog that inspired lesson #4. It's one of our most popular posts of 2017, with over 500 likes and shares on Facebook!
Here's eleven favourite mindful lessons from this year:
Some may argue mindfulness is so mainstream it's become a bit of a fad and is at risk of becoming part of the self help movement.
I don’t think this is a big issue (after all it's been around for thirty-five hundred years).
But it does make it more important when choosing a mindfulness advisor or consultant, that they have a deep daily personal practice and check their bio to make sure they're qualified or certified.
Many people are now using this ancient practice to improve leadership skills. Not only does training in mindfulness help increase happiness and reduce stress, but it also promotes clear and creative thinking...
If you’d walked into a corporation 10 years ago to discuss the benefits of mindfulness and meditation for cultural effectiveness, leadership and the bottom line, it’s quite possible security would have discreetly ushered you out of the building. How would you have reacted if you saw your boss or colleague sitting at their desk with their eyes closed apparently doing nothing? Let’s be honest, you’d probably be at least a little skeptical and thinking your colleague’s either out to lunch, or playing hooky and avoiding work. Fast forward to 2017 and you’ll discover a different reality....
You probably have it down to a T.
You arrive to work on time, get your tasks done, maybe you shut down around 5 p.m. and go home.
Mission accomplished.
Do you believe that's your job? To show up on time, take notes with a smile on your face and do the work that's assigned?
I don't.
Bear with me and I'll explain.....
Listening well can be one of the most important skills we have. How well we listen has a profound impact on our life and work and on the quality of our relationships with others.
Here are ten lessons I've learned from mindful listening that have helped me to better understand the difference between only hearing someone rather than deeply listening to them.
Pay attention to the urge to speak or offer input too soon. Hold that feeling in your awareness and continue to listen rather than respond too quickly.
While judging can be a helpful way to evaluate, maintaining a non-judging, curious attitude can encourage the speaker to relax and be more...
I didn't know what I was doing there, in that room full of strangers.
Not just strangers, but people who had experienced some of life's greatest challenges. I felt like an outsider, as if I was somehow misplaced among these suffering people. What on earth was I doing there with all of them?
What I was doing with them, was attending a 12-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Interpersonal Neurobiology course.
The truth is, I've led and participated in dozens of executive workshops, but never one in which...
Don't just do something. Sit there.
It sounds completely counterintuitive and jarring.
Yet it says a lot in just a few words.
We spend much of our time "doing" things in our day as opposed to "being" in our day.
Being in our day requires some silence and stillness, observing, listening, letting things be. Getting out of our own way. Holding our thoughts, emotions, fears and sensations in our awareness, as opposed to acting on them.
Let's be clear, I'm not suggesting that we abandon 'doing things'...
Breathe.
In our breath, lies a completely overlooked source of power that can transform life. Yet we take it for granted much of the time. There are a couple of reasons why.
It's automatic. Like the sun rising and setting every day. It just happens. We don't have to consciously make ourselves breathe. Our body does it for us.
It's instinctive. From the moment we are born to the moment we die, we breathe. We didn't have to take classes to teach us how to breathe. It's just part of...
Jon Kabat-Zinn wrote, "Make sure you weave your parachute every day, rather than leave it to the time you have to jump out of the plane."
Excellent advice for skydivers and pilots. Is it also good advice for those of us who remain earthbound?
I was sitting in a room with 12 strangers, taking part in a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course, when I first heard about...
It was an ordinary day. I was at work. My phone rang.
When I looked at the screen it said it was my doctor. I answered it and she asked, "Where are you?" I said I was at work. "Can you find somewhere private to go... right now?" I found a small room and shut the door. "I don't know how to tell you this... but you have a rare, aggressive and advanced cancer."
In so few words, everything changed...
I struggled to find work-life balance, both as a single person and a married mum with young kids. I worked hard, didn't look after myself particularly well, got too few hours sleep, didn't spend enough time with my family and spent a lot of money on things I didn't need. Oh and I also happened to eat 3-4 tubs of Haagen-Dazs every week.
I became vaguely aware over the years, of a slight nagging...
