When our minds are overloaded with views, opinions, and assumptions, it is difficult to learn new things. We are often held back by limiting beliefs and are prone to make assumptions without challenging them.
Read moreThe power of stepping away
By stepping away when necessary and taking some time to rest and restore we can prevent burnout and maintain optimal performance.
Read moreLead Above the Line
Imagine a line. This line is the foundation of mindful self-leadership.
Below the line are the attitudes, habits and behaviours that keep us stuck and drag us further below into disfunction and languishing.
Above the line are attitudes, habits and behaviours that are energising and enabling, and that help us to flourish.
What happens when we are below and above the line?
Read moreS.T.O.P.
S.T.O.P. is a simple, yet very effective micro-reset tool that can be used anytime you notice you have lost the hold on yourself, be it through becoming distracted or being overwhelmed by a strong emotion.
So how does it work?
Read moreDaring Greatly
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818) – Caspar David Friedrich
Becoming the best version of ourselves requires us to dare greatly. We are called to lean into our fears and our vulnerabilities, our doubts and excuses and the “not enough” stories we tell ourselves; to open our minds and hearts and be willing to face both our light and our shadow.
Read moreFalling Leaves
Photo: Dominic Blewett
Lockdown was a kind of a retreat, time to slow down, turn inwards; pause, reflect and be more present.
It reminded me of the time I spent in Thai forest monasteries practising mindfulness and meditation.
Every day, the grounds must be swept of leaves that fall in every season in Asian forests.
In the afternoons, I would watch the monks sweeping mindfully with long-handled bamboo brooms. And all the while, the leaves continued to fall. As they came to the end of the long path, the new scattering of leaves had already covered the ground behind them. Still, they would show up, day after day, patiently and peacefully sweeping the path.
It's kind of like life. Just like the leaves endlessly fall, so life never stops delivering the endless stream of events. We often complain, or get bored and wish things were different.
It’s as if we are arguing with the forest, not wanting the leaves to fall.
Yet, when we attend calmly to what’s in front of us, when we drop our expectations and judgements, when we cease our worries and frustrations, when we stop complaining and start responding, we become like the sweeping monks. We find peace with the way things are.
Ajahn Cha, the great master of the Thai Forest tradition once said :
“Our lives are like the breath, like the growing and falling of leaves. When we really understand about falling leaves, we can sweep the paths every day and have great happiness in our lives on this changing earth.”
The new normal
I’ve been asking my friends and clients if they want to go back to normal and the answer is, every time, a resounding NO!
If it means going back to the congested motorways and no time to spend with friends and family or in meaningful pursuits, then it’s no wonder we don’t want to go back there.
We had time to press pause, reset and revaluate what normal looks like. What lessons have we learned, individually and collectively? Is there a better, more balanced way forward?
Read moreThe hard days
Yesterday was one of those days.
They come, periodically, these days when I feel like I am sitting under a damp, heavy blanket. Everything requires effort as if I am moving through a thick, viscous substance. It is hard to get everything done.
Actually, not everything. Anything.
Read moreFocus on what’s not broken
Our brains are wired to survive, they are always searching for problems and how to fix them. Due to something called the reticular activating system, we hardwire what we regularly focus on and as a result, our world is often perceived through a glass-half-empty perspective.
We often fail to notice what’s not-broken and get caught up in not-enough stories:
Who do you want to be during this time?
Sometimes, we forget that who we are is not set in stone but is rather emerging, moment by moment, by how we interact with our environment and the unfolding of the events. Sometimes, we get so entangled in the circumstances, that we forget that we can choose how we respond to them. And that this, in turn, defines us.
Read moreNo one is OK
At least not all the time.
As we move deeper into lock-down, those top layers of trying hard to maintain a sense of normalcy (for ourselves, our families and our teams)and keeping ourselves busy are wearing thin. Seeping through, sometimes in the quiet of the night, are those murky, confusing, anxious rumblings of our minds struggling to make sense of it all.
On hope
I don’t think hope is wishful thinking.
Hope is the vision committed in action.
Václav Havel who served as the last President of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992, and then as the first President of the Czech Republic, said:
“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
Read moreThe Brave New World
The world today is no longer the same world it was last week. Even yesterday feels like another time and place now that the lockdown has been announced.
So what about tomorrow?
Read moreEmbracing uncertainty
During our lives we will all have to go through some kind of watershed: losing a loved one, moving house, or city, or country; getting sick, losing a job, going through a significant restructure at work, or starting over - a new job, new relationship, having a baby…
Right now, as we plunge into a global pandemic, humanity is engulfed in the fear of the great unknown, full of uncertainty.
Uncertainty + Fear = Anxiety
Anxiety + Social contagion = Panic
Read moreLeading Above the Line - from Empty to Enlightened
When we find ourselves stuck below the line, we feel empty, exhausted, and entangled.
EMPTY
When we are running on empty, we have nothing left to give.
Read moreThe sandwich generation leader - how to create some space in the pace
The majority of people currently occupying leadership positions are Gen X or the so-called Sandwich Generation.
Recently, during my Mindful Leadership Webinar, I was deeply moved and inspired by the sharing of one such senior leader.
“Christine described the challenges she faced being the sandwich generation leader. She shared how she feels pulled between aging parents and young children;
Read more1% better
from Atomic Habits by James Clear
The book that had a big impact on me in 2019 was Atomic Habits by James Clear
The idea that it is the consistency that matters and that committing to one tiny small action daily and embarking on a 1% better journey can have a massive impact, was a big paradigm shift for me.
For most of my life, I have been setting big goals only to be let down by not moving towards them incrementally.
Read morePut the big rocks in first
Start with the end in mind - S. R Covey
In our busy lives, we tend to fill the days with an endless stream of events, tasks, and interactions.
Some of these are urgent and important and they demand that we respond (emergencies, deadlines etc...), there are many urgent but not important things that take up a lot of time and focus (disruptions: emails, txt’s, people demanding our attention).
But most of it is not really urgent nor important – it’s just stuff that fills our days and clogs our attention.
Read moreThe case for Mindful Leadership - What is it, why does it matter and why now?
During my last Mindful Leadership Webcast, one of the attendees remarked: "I have never seen these two put together – Mindfulness and Leadership."
So let's try to unpack this. Mindfulness is the agency which enables us to see things clearly, think intentionally, and respond calmly and skillfully to the challenges we face. It seems that when. Leadership is devoid of this agency, it lacks impact, particularly in the age of disruption
Read moreThe difference between worry, anxiety and stress
Part of developing our emotional intelligence and emotional agility is the ability to observe and name our mental and emotional states and understand the difference between them. Sometimes events, thoughts, and feelings get all jumbled up, and we find ourselves in a state of overwhelm dominated by worry, anxiety, and stress.
It is important to understand the subtle but essential distinction between these three states
Read more