MEDITATION AND PUBLIC POLICY

For more than 10 years British parliament has included the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness (“Mindfulness APPG”). The role of the Mindfulness AAPG is, “to make trainable capacities of heart and mind serious considerations of public policy” Ormston, R., Bristow, J. (2023). Mindfulness in Westminster. Reflections from UK Politicians. The Mindfulness Institute, at pg. 3.

As of 2023, more than 300 members of the House of Commons (both MP’s and Peers) as well as approximately 800 staff members, have attended mindfulness classes-- of their own volition. The introductory quote in the above-cited report (attributed to the Baroness of Burtersett) neatly sums up the content that follows: “We talk about mindfulness being helpful ‘out there’, but what about mindfulness could help ‘in here’, in Parliament? What about mindful politics?”.

What about the idea of mindful politics in governments located across the globe? What about mindfulness (a term that can be understood to be a practice interchangeable with meditation), as a tool used by politicians to help them in formulating and enacting public policy? What about forming a caucus similar to the Mindfulness AAPG right here, in the United States?

Passionate debate among politicians (as well as everyday people) will always be part of human dialogue, especially in the arena of public policy. Imagine what that debate would be like if it was complemented by an organized period of silence? A period of reflection? A period of calm, accompanied by a deep and purposeful breath?

Former United States Congressman and Presidential candidate, Tim Ryan, wrote a book entitled A Mindful Nation describing a number of different public policy concerns that could be positively impacted if US politicians learned about, and practiced, mindfulness (or meditation) -- like UK politicians who are members of the Mindfulness APPG in Parliament.

But, back to the point of this piece. Mindfulness and meditation (call them what you will) do have a role to play, in the arena of public policy. Yes, they’re intensely personal, but isn’t that also true of public policy?

In a democracy, the personal opinions of everyone entitled to vote, count. In an autocracy, the personal opinions of one man or woman, count. The bottom line is that almost everything that becomes public, begins with the personal-- a fact that is seldom discussed, but is nonetheless true.

The point is, attention to personal thoughts or beliefs ultimately impact almost all of us. Many of us think that mindfulness and meditation are simply self-help tools that are just woo woo, but the fact is they can play an important role in the conceptualization and implementation of public policy.

For many, it may be impossible to think it, but mindfulness and meditation are practices that impact a diversity of issues such as climate change, health care, housing, incarceration and many more-- they certainly do in the parliament of the United Kingdom.

I continue to advocate for mindfulness and meditation as necessary components of any balanced wellbeing initiative that our businesses (including law firms) may adopt. That advocacy will not abate-- rather, it will expand to include the political arena and the enactment of public policy.

The business world has been slow to adopt concepts and practices that are considered “out of the norm” -- standing still seems to be the stance with which they are most comfortable. That, and, they can get away with maintaining status quo because employees often don’t have much say in the matter.

My hope is that politicians-- who are accountable to constituents who are typically more diverse, and definitely more empowered-- will be more open to learning, and adopting, new ideas. Elections, as they say, do have consequences.

Who knows? Maybe mindfulness and meditation will be adopted by some of the politicians here, in the United States?