6 Fundamentals to master mindfulness in times of uncertainty

"The highest dharma is to reject all dharmas."?- H.W.L. Poonja

Great leaders motivate and inspire employees, and help colleagues to share and believe in a vision. If innovation is their loadstone, mindfulness is the bedrock.

Forget the hyperbole. Influential business leaders know that to change the world mindfulness is an essential part of their toolkit. Mindfulness practices reinforce your courage and deepen your capacity to take positive action. Here are 6 fundamentals guaranteed to build your awareness by being mindful of the present moment.

No. 1: Positive psychology lies at the root of mindfulness

Positive psychologists insist that mindfulness is crucial for your mental health and well-being. In modern parlance, mindfulness practices have been adapted to business cultures focused on helping employees to prioritise wellness in the workplace, thereby reducing the stigma of mental health issues and work-related stress. Addressing our disparities, great business leaders understand these principles, providing support through formal structures and programmes. This is why?mindfulness?has become so influential and mainstream.?

No. 2:?Mindfulness clears out toxic work environments.?Toxicity, bullying, and authoritarian habits are negated when managers and staff are mindful. A series of exercises known as kriyas teach practitioners how to draw energy into their bodies through the medulla oblongata. When executed on a regular basis, cortisol levels drop and serotonin is released. Best of all, everyone's performance is enhanced and work relationships are reinforced by trust.

No. 3: Mindfulness is emotional intelligence to the X power

Forget textbook definitions. On YouTube, Eckhart Tolle speaks on?"The Power of Now". He explains the virtue of living in the only moment you will ever have because your attention is focused. You observe thoughts and processes, but you are unattached to emotions and final results. In meditation, practice begins by watching your breath move in and out of your body. By focusing your breath on seven physiological energy centres, your awareness becomes sharpened.?

No. 4: Building authenticity

When your mind wanders, which it will inevitably do, gently guide it back to the point of focus. When you are capable of sitting in this state you experience authenticity. Authenticity cannot be calibrated like data analytics because it is a state of consciousness. Consciousness infuses everything that we do within us and around us. It binds the universe together, but it does not allow us to manipulate it.

No. 5: Enhancing leadership performance

Mindfulness also enhances our leadership performance because the individual shifts his or her focus from transactional behaviour to values. Compassion and empathy spring from states of mindfulness. You start caring about your workforce because it is intuitively the right thing to do. Following this path not only makes you a better boss but also provides your staff with a valid reason to come to the office beyond financial remuneration.

Furthermore, your newfound inspiration starts becoming contagious. Remember, colleagues, judge you by your actions, not your words. Just satisfying shareholders is so yesterday.

Moreover, you don't need senseless praise. Only sycophants require this. Who needs a job title, when everyone works together and has a true sense of purpose? Getting a paycheque does not bring?meaning to anyone's life. It is simply an end result. Money, no matter how important it is to you, cannot buy you loyalty or hard work. As one of my colleagues states, "You can only drive one Ferrari at a time".

I've known many people across the spectrum of business practices. Some are consultants others work in finance, the arts, and so forth. What everyone says to me after they start to practice mindfulness is that it transformed not just their careers but their lives. The reason is clear: They found a true purpose.?Being obsessed with quarterly targets is not mindfulness. It is a path to neurosis where you create your own parallel universe. The fruits you reap are stress, anxiety, and burnout.

Mindfulness teaches you respect for others?

This should be important to anyone in a leadership role. You don't need to micro-manage and control every detail. Your role is to support and provide the vision, listening as much as possible to feedback, criticism, and ways to improve how everyone can do better by helping each other.

No. 6: Trust is paramount to mindfulness?

Trust springs from having an open heart. The heart is not just a physical organ pumping blood throughout the body nor is it just your emotional center. It is an energy vortex managing your position between the earth and your highest Self. Masters in India counsel their disciples to go there and roam during meditation. Here the practitioner finds a sense of calm and stability the external world can never provide. If you want peace of mind and sanity stay focused on your heart.

Now you have the tools to "wake up and roar".

About the author

Andrew Scharf is an Award-Winning MBA Admissions Consultant ?? Executive & Career Coach recognised for helping top performers, and aspiring professionals be all they can be. His?mission is to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world at?Whitefield Consulting . Have a professional project you would like to discuss, send him a DM.