You know how unsettling it can be to get a call from a client you thought was happy but clearly is not. Many of us have received feedback from a boss that has left us hurt or reeling from an unanticipated termination. No matter what echelon of the business world you occupy, at some point in time, you will be caught off guard by change and it will hurt.
We set ourselves up to be in a constant state of discomfort by refusing to accept that life IS change.
So, step one in reducing suffering is acknowledging that the only over-arching rule Life plays by is Change.
Your body will change as you age. Your finances will fluctuate depending on the risks you take and those outside your control like the stock market. The weather will do the opposite of the forecast on the day you are launching a new product outside.
Take this as a matter of course instead of a personal attack and life becomes much less stressful.
Mindfulness is the boat in which you can safely sail these turbulent waters.
In the professional world, mindfulness in business becomes more than a trendy cultural buzz word, it IS the cornerstone of how to orient and sustain yourself in a madly changing environment.
We can observe this in meditations like the body scan or watching the breath during a moment of silence. You might find your attention wandering away from noticing your toes to thinking about the meeting you will be leading afterwards. Then you may feel a cramp in your calf muscle and start wondering where that came from.
The more we train ourselves to watch the constant change and shifting of our own minds and bodies without judgement, the more we begin to experience the capacity to observe all these thoughts, sensations, and feelings moving through the body…and we encounter the notion that we are more than these unpredictable behaviors.
Once we start to gain experience of the space between a thought and the observation of the thought, there is enough room to step back and make a more ethical choice. A choice that more clearly reflects who we really are. A choice that accepts what is happening and responds to THAT. Even in the midst of unexpected change.
Because time matters, we engage fully charged...