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1.3 | How do these practices inform or influence your leadership?
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Practicing mindfulness of body and self care most certainly influence how I show up in my position, particularly if/when I am challenged with a difficult situation or personality. If I am creating space for meditation, exercise, time in nature and all things nourishing, my cup feels full and I am able to give myself to the people that need my insight, attention, and action. It is clear to me that the kind of leader I strive to be is generous, flexible, collaborative, patient, compassionate. I understand that it would be very difficult for me to consistently achieve these states of being if I wasn’t actively practicing mindfulness of body and self care. I hope to keep elevating my baseline for what this all means as I continue to dream, experiment, and build.
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The practices have brought about more compassion for self and others in my leadership team and I have begun to expand that feeling towards other teams at my organization. A daily sitting practice (something I had been wanting to get back to) also allows me to ground and pause before reacting or moving quickly to meet deadlines. Boundaries have been easier to be aware of as well.
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Returning to a regular meditation practice after a year of being haphazard about it has been good. That, combined with mindfulness of listening and speaking practice, as allowed me to be more present during the work day, even on zoom, and to pay attention and notice how I am showing up. With more presence, comes greater self awareness and clarity that gives me more choice in how I react and engage with people and difficult situations. I’ve found the listening and speaking practice and the way I show up (confidence/humility, stillness/sparkliness etc) to be especially impactful. I tend to favor sparkliness a lot and I’ve been able to see when I show up that way, when it might not be a helpful approach and I remind myself to slow down and step into a different mode of interaction. Being more flexible in that way allows me to respond to situations appropriately and sound more knowledgeable and professional.
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The practices have engaged parts of me that were latent around leadership, and to permit patience and openness to learning leadership skill rather than continuing to be guided by an unstated belief, that I don’t actually believe, that you either have it or you don’t. I am able to bring more joy and playfulness to meetings. And in doing that, finding that there’s pleasure in leading that I have been reluctant to experience.
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These practices have reminded me to slow down, be patient, and listen. In order to be a service-oriented leader, I need to first know what my team needs & not make assumptions of what I think they need. This practice has forced me to be more reflective and take the opportunity to learn about my team’s needs.
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Again — it is mid Nov. and I am grateful to have a few more pieces in place in the course to reflect on this from this current time. My relationship to the idea of leadership has shifted significantly since the beginning of the course. The embodiment practices, mindfulness, and certainly loving-kindness with self, neutral person and persons I am experiencing difficulty with has been at the core of this. In my roles as a leader, parent and caring woman in the world I reached almost 50 with nothing left in me but a significant diagnosis and some time and the luxury of redoing somethings internally and externally. My understanding of leadership — I don’t know where I got this — my family, my spiritual communities, my gender, my privilege, the ethos of capitalism — all of the above and more — has been of a go-getter. A do-er. A heroic supermom with her own business and plenty of energy to spare and keep giving with plenty of time for quality relationships, self care and all the rest. But mostly a solver. I can solve a problem that is not even mine and be out of my business and waste energy by the minute. I put this story together to help myself live with all of the uncertainty I guess. With this class and with being able to consistently come back to safe…happy…. healthy… at ease.. my nervous system is processing things very differently and from a much more self-centered place (in a good way). And this feels like my new incarnation of leadership. I love what Marc said about how are bodies, having cultivated kindness bring something new into the room. He said it better than that but it has become my new bar for the kind of person I would like to be. personally, relationally and organizationally.
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I have been thinking consciously about creating space between stimulus and response, and using mindfulness of the body to to that. I have also been paying much more attention to interrupting my impulse to problem solve, provide an answer, give directions. The guidelines of the wisdom circle – and in particular the instruction to only ask clarifying questions – has been very useful and a tool to create new ways of responding.
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I have been working on bringing a more mindful me to work for years now. I am much more self aware. I am more attuned to when others are responding to me, and I to them, especially if I am coming off as snappish or short. I am attuned to when I need to explain myself or even apologize, explaining I was reacting to a situation and not to them personally. I understand that I am responsible for my actions as well as those under me; I understand that not everyone is going to agree with my perspective or my approach, and some people will leave the business-as clients and as employees. Depending on that fact’s importance to the business, I need to act skillfully and modulate/ adjust/refine my responses, my behavior, the trajectory of the business. To understand this, I need to be mindful. I also need to be RE-minded of that.
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I thought I answered this but I do not see my answer so I am happy to answer this again. I have been a mindfulness practitioner and meditator for many years and over time developed a discipline of daily practice; through the various traditions and teachers I have had; Metta practice, Mahamudra, Yoga, Dakini Mandala/Five Buddha Family work, Mindfulness in the practice of therapy with children and families….Theravada and Tibetan teachers….eventually I came to realize that it all starts with me, my body,my spirit and to benefit from these practices I needed to assimilate them into my daily walking, breathing, being, and doing….As a leader, bringing awareness and attention to the moment whether I am in a 1:1 interaction or with a group, presence of mind and being are central/essential for real engagement and change to happen. Easier said than done! It takes practice and commitment to actually staying mindful. The training to perform psychotherapy, individually, with families and with groups, laid a solid foundation within me in learning how to pay attention, stay mindful, and observe in the moment the process that unfolds. Takes a lot of practice and supervision! Eventually during my formative years as a growing therapist, I began my daily meditation discipline. It helped me with my internal process as well as helped me grow as a therapist. This training prepared me for moving into my leadership work…I am aware that I am a role model…I train staff in practice of using mindfulness in therapy and I also role model effective use of it in meetings when appropriate. This creates a space for my team members to feel comfortable with using this with their staff to enhance and deepen treatment team meetings and some staff meetings. I have been encouraging staff to “press the pause button” with me and take a few mindful breaths together to just take a break from the responsibilities of running MH clinics during a pandemic! Over time, I am learning when and where it is appropriate. There are some meetings where it might not be as accepted and in those settings I will use the “let’s have a few moments of silence together while folks join the Zoom”….I feel that introducing mindfulness to my leadership work has helped me to “be” me in my work…be real/authentic. It also helps me with boundaries; observing boundaries, when to speak, when to remain silent, when to act, when to not act. When I “mess up” mindfulness practice has also helped me to debrief with myself honestly and not tear myself to shreds too much 🙂 Compassion is inevitable when bringing mindfulnees and Metta into the room; especially for myself. This is what I am learning. This class has helped me to trust my practice and strengthen it!
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I am able to be there for people in a way that is more loving, spacious and compassionate. But also, more powerful. The conversations are deeper, more insightful, more constructive. I also have a better sense of purpose when I am doing the practices, which encourages me to step into a leadership role.
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These practices assist my weakest area; which are the lived experiences of pain and suffering. By continuing the work of service, my own pain is relieved through an opening in my heart. I can lead best, as I do the same work of practicing meta love. Self love opens wide the gates of empathy and compassion for others.
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Bringing mindfulness into my professional life has been incredible! I usually meditate before and after work but started to do so in the work day, even for a short time. Setting aside time for mindful walking and noticing my breathing and bodily sensations has transformed my emotions and how I treat myself and others.
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In September, I was engaged in a number of challenging work conversations with stakeholders who were holding very strong feelings. These practices helped me to see my role more clearly and to try to separate out my ego/tendency to shy from conflict and step into conversations in the spirit of service and collaboration.
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The mindfulness practices have helped me to be more focused and less rushed. I feel like there is somehow more time to do everything because there isn’t so much busyness inside of me.
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The practices have helped me deal better with unpleasant experiences. I’ve been practicing with holding unpleasant experiences (with resultant physical sensations, feelings, etc.) in awareness while staying connected to my body, rather than being sucked into mental narratives. It’s difficult in the moment, but after a while I do feel more balanced, and can accept the moment better. Rather than having an immediate judgment/reaction, I can catch myself and then move to shift to a place of openness, curiosity, and compassion. This practice helps me make decisions that are for the greater good, rather than for my own comfort (e.g. being patient to work through a conflict in the midst of feeling rejected/judged by the other party, etc.).
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