Mind full or Mindful?
Michelle Ansell
Improving New Hire Retention. Executive and Professional Search Permanent & Interim Management Recruitment. COO, Chief Customer Officer, Director roles. Expertise in CX/EX, Transformation. Committed to Diversity.
What do Paul McCartney, Bill Gates, Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey, Hugh Jackman, Kobe Bryant, Marc Benioff, and Ariana Huffington all have in common?
The practice of meditation.
For many, meditation conjures up thoughts of religion or spiritualisation, some new age fad, or sitting cross legged for long periods of time. Others can see mindfulness, or, mediation as being just to hard, "I just can't calm my mind!"
But for customer and employee focused employers, performing mindfulness?meditation?at the workplace will help employees focus on- immediate tasks, manage stress and anxiety levels, control anger, overcome depression, and remain thoughtful throughout the day. It will also reduce burnout, increase leadership trust, and boost employee engagement. Six Proven Benefits Of Meditation In The Workplace. Forbes
"In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you." - Deepak Chopra
Coming out of the back of Mental Health Awareness week, the ONS reported 2.5m people are currently on long term sick leave with, "the strongest increases in ill health have been in the conditions related to mental health, particularly in the young" and data from 2022 by Mental Health First Aid?showing that 48% of all employees in England have had no wellbeing check-in from their employer in the past year. Perhaps as employers instead of the ping pong table, or, games rooms, we should be creating more meditation, mindfulness rooms and or awareness sessions for our employees?
Regular practice and cultivation of mindfulness can lead to transformative changes in one's mental, emotional, and physical well-being, contributing to a more fulfilling and balanced life.
The process has also been effective at treating anxiety, stress and depression.
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Meditation is not trying to go anywhere or do anything, meditation and being present is just seeing what’s there and letting it speak to you. The goal is to be present to what is.” George Mumford?sports psychologist and mindful meditation teacher.
Meditation is a process and one which brings several benefits. The key is to learn to enjoy the process. Practice letting go of self-criticism, comparison, and expectations as soon as they arise. It doesn’t matter how much skill we have or how much we’ve practiced meditation; if we go into it without strong expectations or an attachment to rigid goals and timeframes, then meditation can be a success. Mindful meditation is more about noticing thoughts when they enter the head and noticing again when they pass, without getting too attached or drawn into them, says Positive Psychology
If these benefits are not enough to consider the process, how about a younger brain age? There is a growing pile of evidence “that meditative practice may be associated with slowed biological aging,” Neurocase.
Meditation has been shown to induce increases in brain tissue, even after relatively short periods of time, such as weeks or months, says this research paper from Elsevier and NeuroImage. They observed that, at age fifty, brains of meditators were estimated to be 7.5 years younger.
Want to know more, there are lots of free resources online but here is a link to one from Headspace.
What do you think, have you seen the benefits of more mindfulness or meditation, or might you consider the process for your team?
"In today's rush, we all think too much — seek too much — want too much — and forget about the joy of just being." - Eckhart Tolle
Really good article Michelle and timely too. Many people have shifting businesses, changing jobs or in an unexpected job search and other stresses right now. Mindfulness and meditation can make a big difference. I meditate during my one hour Pilates. Not only am I getting a workout, but I also have my eyes closed and I'm in my own zone. I think box breathing is also very helpful.