Why Meditation is your Superpower

How Meditation Changed My Mind

Leading others with impact demands that you Know Thyself. Understanding how our minds work when challenged by others' behavior can help us lead with a steady hand, and build a robust company culture around us.

I love meditation and I believe in sharing one of the most valuable bio-hacks of life, that I have found. This is a longer read than normal, but it's summer holiday time for some of you, and you may have more minutes at your disposal to reflect on how you wish to return to work, or spend your downtime on holidays this year. Enjoy your well-earned rest!

Mediation might be your next superpower...

Meditation really found me

Meditation just showed up one day, when I began to wonder about a meditation teacher who had made a real impression on me. He was powerful, present and made me reflect deeply. I started meditating to know myself better, observe my mental patterns, and see if meditation really cultivates a sense of inner peace that many meditators speak about. And the answer is, definitely!

Beyond tranquility, meditation unlocks creativity and focus by quieting incessant thinking and noise.

Meditation helps me shape my ideas, freshen my approach, and feel intrinsically good on a daily basis.

Meditation Teaches You Stillness?

How do we train our minds to switch off incessant overthinking and be fully present as we lead and coach others?

Meditation cultivates stillness, transforming the practitioner into an observer who notices life's subtleties - crucial for any interactions with others. It slows decision-making, enabling you to gather untainted information and then act. In my experience, an enduring, subtle awareness emerges. Awareness allows us to coach ourselves and others through challenges with a steady mind.

Meditation connects us to something greater - the vastness of the human mind.

Creating a Rich Inner Life

I love the idea of a rich inner life, where you can create a place of creativity, focus, and find answers, that won't come to you in the everyday noise. Meditation is that for me. Here is what I learned in my practice. Meditation creates space between what’s going on around you and how you respond, allowing you to tune into emotional undercurrents and unspoken cues from others. A great gift to have when interacting with others.

Discovering Subtlety in Everyday Encounters

1. Meditation stops the mind long enough to become the observer, hearing people and conversations more acutely. This allows us to move beyond the inner narrative and truly listen without judgment or assumptions. The answers to challenges reveal themselves in life's subtle details. Subtlety informs us of the correct action to take.

Robust Decision Making??

2. By reducing distractions, meditation slows down our decision-making, helping us gather cleaner information, unimpeded by biases and filters. This prevents rushed judgments under stress, enabling thoughtful analysis before acting. Connecting with inner guidance raises your leadership game and guides your decisions.

Connecting to Greater Stillness

3. Meditation has granted me unshakable peace to sit with anything and coach myself when things go off-course. It links me to something bigger than myself. Leaders can tap into this calmness when guiding teams through volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, providing stability amidst chaos.

Being the eye of the storm can dissipate the energy of chaos. It stills people to give them space to think, then act.

Guided by Passion and Joy???

4. Meditation revealed my true motivations in life - what lights me up and what doesn't. Leaders can get clear on their purpose and passion when they sit still. Some of the most productive CEOs take a thinking day every month to reflect in silence. This self-knowledge focuses their vision, allows their authentic self to shine through.

Alignment with what you love enables you to lead authentically.

Trusting Your Inner Voice

5. I respect others' views, and before I began meditating, I noticed I relied heavily on external information at the expense of my inner knowing and thought processes. By strengthening my intuition, meditation prompted me to trust my ideas and decisions. Ideas arise in meditation's calm. Leaders can use their refined intuition to guide strategy, decisions, and planning. It unlocks creativity and courage - both welcome gifts.

Calmness Under Pressure???

6. Meditation keeps me calm and present during challenging situation so I can respond, rather than react. Leaders can avoid knee-jerk reactions in crises, consciously responding instead. Regular meditation cultivates a priceless level of calm, you cannot articulate.

Taking Fun Seriously

7. Meditation injects lightness and playfulness into my approach to work. Maybe that's a life experience thing too. Meditation will help you find ways to inspire your teams and reduce burnout through pragmatic optimism, humour, and joy. It reveals the bigger picture - you can't sweat the small stuff.

Meditation teaches you to notice the absurdity of situations and take yourself more lightly. Will this matter in 20 years? A great question! Probably not, but meditation will always matter, because it keeps giving in a rich and subtle way.

Laying New Neural Pathways?

8. Meditation has changed my brain chemistry. It’s true, I feel like a different person. Universities have studied monks' brain maps altered by meditation. Read the research here - Brain scans of meditating monks.

For leaders, imagine uplifting your organization with the well-being that meditation offers you personally. It transforms you into a more peaceful version of yourself. That creates the right ripples and cultural well-being. Happy beings, create happy companies!

6 Years on, as a Meditator, Consistency Cultivates Rewards?

I've meditated consistently for over 6 years and I am not the same person. I love silent meditation, but guided meditations keep me focused. Experiment and see what works for you. If you like guided meditation, neuroscientist Dr. Joe Dispenza connects science and the esoteric - great for science fans and sceptics. His meditations are my daily go-to.

Leaders with presence inspire cooperation - people sense this guiding force.

I just met a businessman exuding this energy. I could see it in his demeanor and in his eyes. Sure enough, he is a regular meditator! His stillness and presence were obvious within the first 30 seconds of being introduced. And of course, we got talking about how powerful meditation is!

Invitation to try Meditation

Leaders, I invite you to get still in meditation, and notice how your team responds to your new mindset and way of being. Make it a superpower morning routine and observes the effects.

I hope you try meditation. 10 minutes of daily stillness can positively impact your whole day. The world would definitely benefit from more meditators in the work place.

Have a great week!

Shiera

What else can I read from Shiera?

You may also be interested in reading?Why Stress is an Inside Job. How you create your own stress and what to do about it.

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About the Author:

Shiera is an Executive Coach and trainer with a passion for transformational coaching, the language of leaders, and strategic communication. With over 16 years of experience and expertise in coaching executives and leaders to enhance their impact in how they communicate and interact in the workplace.

As a Master Practitioner in NLP, with extensive training in Meta-Coaching and cutting-edge Neuro-semantic approaches to Change Management and Executive Development, she brings a wealth of knowledge to coaching, with a background that spans various aspects of business, including sales, communication, and people development training and coaching. She offers workshops, lunch-and-learn sessions, trainings and coaching for managers, leaders and hungry learners.