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A Mindful Moment

November 17th, 2011

I had the chance to attend the Applied Mindfulness Conference this weekend and to hear Michael Carroll, author of Awake at Work and the Mindful Leader, talk about mindfulness. He notes three underlying principles associated with mindfulness:

1. “To be comfortable with who you are…to rediscover the natural ease of being human”

2. “To understand the courage and exposure that comes with living a mindful life…to have the courage to be open and be touched by our world”

3. “To become more skillful (emotionally intelligent and confident) in order to help others in more intimate ways”

In our rush through life, we miss countless opportunities to more mindful and intimately engage with our self and others. Take three minutes right now to do nothing but sit silently and clear your mind of thought, angst, worry, your next set of to do’s, your self critique or critique of others, the pressure of the day, etc., etc., etc. When finished, read on.

With clear mind, consider the following two sets of questions so that you might identify two actions you’ll take to create a more mindful and intentional relationships—one action will be self-oriented and the other is other-oriented.

• What have you rushed by relative to your self? What time do you need to take (or give)? Or what emotion do you need to let go? Or what promise do you need to fulfill?
• What have you passed by relative to others? What do you need to do to make for more meaningful connections? What time do you need to take (or give)? What conversation do you need to have? Or what promised do you need to make or fulfill?

To live, engage, and create with deliberate attention and intention is what separates the truly great leaders from the rest. What steps can you take moving forward to ensure you do the same?