Craig Daniels

Craig is dedicated to helping small businesses grow and their marketing success by developing a deeper connection to Curiosity, Intention and Gratitude. Curiosity is the foundation of all business endeavors, capture curiosity and you’ve captured momentum.

Best Exercise For Mindfulness

Craig Daniels ·Leave a Comment

In his book ” Each Moment Is The Universe” Dainin Katagiri mentions that within each snap of the fingers reside 64 moments. And it doesn’t matter that even Katagiri doesn’t know where that number came from.

Connecting cycling with a moment in time is easy to do, each wheel on a road bike often has 32 spokes. As you pedal your way down the road you’re sitting between two wheels each with 32 spokes, you’re sitting at the center of the 64 moments, 64 opportunities each presenting itself within the snap snap of the fingers.

Like a bicycle wheel or the carnival wheel of chance calling to us, this moment we now recognize is spinning with possibility. This moment we find ourselves in right now, contains the past, the future and the present. Each moment is an opportunity of choice. What will you choose? Will you go back into the past, rocket into the future or plant your feet firmly in the present?

What choice will your wheel stop on this time? Which spoke in the wheel will resonate with you so you’ll inhabit it?

“The way we are living,
timorous or bold,
will have been our life.”
Seamus Heaney

Pedaling round and round while sitting atop a bicycle is not the same today as it was yesterday. And like watching your breath in mindfulness practice the experience is bound to be different. Bicycling may be the best exercise for mindfulness combining fresh air, cardio workout and sunshine with a smooth cadence surely brings a rider into sustained period of mindfulness practice.

Yesterday you may have rode your bike along a flat road next to a winding meandering river, today you might find yourself far away from flat roads while you climb steep hills or maybe you’ve found the perfect combination route with hills, curves, dips and flats randomly interspersed throughout a boundless landscape.

The central point is, a session of exercise in mindfulness atop your bicycle presents unlimited experiences similar to sitting in a traditional mindfulness practice.

I first learned about meditation and mindfulness in college and while it sounded interesting I didn’t formally engage in a practice for another 20 years. But in hindsight I now realize I very much became a practitioner of being in the present moment when I took up daily bicycle riding, this was years before I ever sat and watched my breath.

From my first 10 mile bike ride I fell in love with the freedom and exhilaration one experiences while riding long distances up and down the hills of Vermont and New Hampshire. For nearly 15 years I turned the pedals on my bike round and round from March through mid November. At times my riding included others, but often I’d ride alone. My daily ride distance stretched from 20 to 50 miles in what I now recognize as my journey of Bicycling into Mindfulness.

While pedaling, my thoughts would become nonexistent, they’d fall away or disappear as each foot locked to the pedals went round and round. The pedaling itself became my focus and in time the cadence anchored my chattering mind and delivered a panorama of visual clarity and effortless purpose, I’d discovered the best exercise for mindfulness to be Bicycling.

Many occupations such as surgeons, pilots, writers, athletes and welders often find themselves completely in the moment while the rest of the world vanishes. This falling away of thought transforms into mindfulness and present moment awareness, a state most of us can tap into using a simple meditation practice. For beginners I recommend the MUSE headband as a wonderful tool to quiet your thinking and develop everyday mindful awareness.

Our minds ride upon a torrent of thoughts from the moment we wake each morning till we finally fall asleep each evening. On average each of us produces 60,000 distinct thoughts each and every day, thankfully most of those thoughts are below the surface awareness, otherwise we’d become immobile.

I stopped riding regularly when I moved to an urban area and grew tired of fighting the traffic and potholes I’d come across as I searched for a clear stretch of road, and I’m not mentioning the all too common flat tires that frequently occurred.

Bicycling Becomes The Exercise For Mindfulness

While still actively cycling one of my favorite rides took place in a small Vermont town known at Quechee. Originally a farming community that turned into a resort and 2nd home community for those who the locals called Flatlanders, meaning they moved to Vermont from Connecticut or Massachusetts.

In Quechee I’d park my car at a friends house on Main Street and begin my ride. Main Street is a narrow two lane road bereft of shoulders, meaning if I got too close to the edge of the road I’d tumble down an embankment. The tumbling was always in the back of my mind as I pedaled forward along Main Street, and yes I did tumble down the embankments a few times. The aforementioned tumbling caused me to ride in the middle of the lane while on Main St, thus forcing cars coming up behind me to go around me and saving me from more tumbles off the edge of the road. Paying attention to each moment was vital for the first few miles of my ride.

Main Street merged with Route 4 in the small town of Taftsville Vt., but first I had to cross the one lane covered wooden bridge. Crossing meant riding in the center of the bridge on a raised series of boards no more than 18 inches wide. I’d zoom over the bridge as fast as possible, hoping a car coming the opposite direction didn’t appear and force me to stop to let the car pass before I could finish the river crossing. Cars rarely waited for me to finish my crossing before proceeding on their own crossing.

Once on Route 4, I was able to focus on my pedaling to maximize both my speed and efficiency. To get the most out of riding it’s important to master the cadence of pedaling much like mastering the cadence of breathing when sitting in a regular or device aided meditation session.

Our tendency is to point our toes toward the ground on each down-stroke, but it turns out that keeping our foot and the pedal flat on the down-stroke if more efficient. And it allows more speed with less effort over time.

Keep both feet parallel to the ground through the entire pedaling cycle.
As your foot reaches the point where it starts it’s upward motion, lift that foot using your leg and the momentum of the pedal.
Continue lifting on each rotation while keeping both feet parallel to the ground. Down-Push and Up-Pull in a fluid oval motion.

Much like watching your breath in sitting meditation this way of pedaling will feel awkward at first and you may find yourself becoming mechanical as your apply the practice. Just as in breathing during meditation it’s important to let the body find its own rhythm and not get attached to perfection. Let your breathing and your pedaling take on their own cadence.. Left alone your body will breath in and out on it’s own, and your feet will go round and round on their own as well.

If you find yourself rocking from side to side your seat needs to be lowered some. If you find yourself squirming in your chair as you do meditation remind yourself that it’s just internal resistance to sitting quietly expressing itself.

Resistance to a quiet mind or a smoothly flowing pedaling motion is natural. Our mind is busy and will always look for an outlet until we train it to slow itself and connect it to awareness of breath and awareness of pedaling.

THOUGHT: The observing mind is like a rock
in the middle of a stream….. Visualize it

In the center of Woodstock Vt. I’d turn right onto Route 12 and head north out of town. It was on Route 12 that I found my cadence, a cadence resembling settling into the natural rhythm of breathing during my daily 40 minute MUSE mindfulness sessions. it was on Route 12 that I first experienced Bicycling into Mindfulness and became convinced that cycling was the best exercise for mindfulness.

My bike route took me past the former Mt. Tom ski area and the cut off to Suicide 6, both were ski areas where I spent countless hours in my early teens skiing for hours and hours. Mt. Tom is now closed for skiing but is crisscrossed with hiking trails.

Each time I’d pass the ski areas memories would fill my mind and occasionally throw off my pedaling cadence. The push and lift, push and lift would decay as my mind wandered to skiing down the mountains on some bright sunny day full of joy, full of youth. But just as I bring my awareness back to the in and out of my breathing while in sitting in meditation I’d bring my pedaling back to the familiar push and lift, push and lift cadence.

After passing the ski areas the road took on a steady rise broken up by a few downhill dips and then upward again it went. The steady assent was one of the joys of riding and I’d easily slip into a no thinking mode of awareness as I pedaled (push and lift) upwards for miles and miles.

Once I reached my turn around point I’d spin around and speed as fast as possible back down toward town. The downhill part of the ride was glorious and while I didn’t need to pedal for much of it I nevertheless continued my cadence all the while watching the world pass by in a blur of focused awareness while maintaining a high speed push and lift cadence continuing my bicycling into mindfulness.

Push and Lift, Push and Lift, In and Out, In and Out. The pedaling and breathing anchoring my mind in serenity where the stream of thoughts, judgments and assumptions ceased to exist, for a while at least.

Push and Lift – – – – – – In and Out,

Moment flowing into Moment,

it’s all the same thing.

Mindfulness Practice Tips from Craig Daniels

Mindful Meditation Opens Doors In Life

Craig Daniels ·Leave a Comment

This Mindful Meditation we see and hear about nearly everyday in blog posts, scattered across social media and inking its way across print media is much simpler to understand and to do than you may think.

For a brief moment imagine standing on a platform waiting for a train or subway car, now expand your imagining so you see you’re also in the middle of a workday crowd rushing to get to their jobs and running errands for the day with everyone slightly jostling each other on the platform worried they’ll be late, for whatever it is they think the have to do. Ask yourself “What Am I Doing Right Now?“

If you are distracted by the noise and energy on the station platform then it’s likely you’ve lost your focus and your connection to being mindful. If on the other hand you are aware of all the hubbub around you yet you are clam and focused on the moment you are inhabiting it’s likely you are being mindful.

Of course my little example above is a bit simplistic but closer to being in the moment without losing your focus than you might think. Being mindful is as simple as being present in each moment within each moment within each moment. Getting to that place can seem complicated but I assure you it is no more complicated than breathing in and then breathing out.

It’s no more complicated than feeling your left foot hit the ground and lift itself into the air while feeling your right foot do the same in sync with the left foot, that’s being mindful. Left than right and repeat, you’re moving forward right?

Each of us is on a seemingly endless journey along a road with many hills and valleys in the form of hopes and fears, in the form of judgments and assumptions about ourselves and about everyone and everything we come in contact with. Through the practice of mindful meditation we will discover a space we can inhabit that is free of judgments and assumptions. We can reach this space through a simple practice of breathing in and breathing out.

Our society urges us to practice wishful thinking and endless talking, but in the end these two practices are empty distractions and won’t help us to inhabit each moment in our life with focus, awareness and gusto (passion, vitality, love) and a feeling of being awake.

The practice is as vital and current today as it was 2500 years ago and you don’t have to join anything, pay anything, be anything (other than yourself), go anywhere, worship anything or anybody. No, you only need to sit and breathe in and out on a regular basis.

” it’s nothing special, but it is something”
shunryu suzuki

Mindful Meditation is a an act that’s as simple as watching yourself breathe in and out, it’s that simple, that basic. As your breath comes in and flows out your mind and body become synchronized. As your breath comes in and goes out you start to notice the stream of thoughts flowing through your mind, a stream of activity you usually are too distracted by the everyday noise to recognize.

Each of us has in the neighborhood of 60,000 thoughts each day, most of which we are unaware of. Most of these thoughts have little to do with what we are engaged in at the moment.

Practicing meditation allows us to create space within our mind which helps us to see each moment in a clearer and calmer view. This space gives us a chance to pause before we react to what’s going on around us and make more choices that are not colored by quick judgements, unfounded assumptions and unfocused basis.

Choose a quiet space for your mindful meditation practice and if at all possible pick a space located far away from all the external distractions in your life. If you are new to meditation you’ll soon find that your mind has more than enough thoughts and distractions without exposing yourself to extra noise and hum from the world while you sit in meditation. Choose a space where you can detach from your everyday life with ease.

Once you’ve spent enough time and sessions in meditation that you think it’s something you’d like to continue on a regular basis, consider creating part of that space into a dedicated area that’s reserved for practice. Maybe hang a few serene and peaceful pictures on the wall along with a small table for any items like books or candles you find inspiring to your practice.

Sitting in meditation should not be confused with torture. If your knees or back are hurting you more than likely will quit the practice. So why put yourself through excruciating pain? Sitting is a marathon not a sprint and sitting comfortably is important.

If you want to ache and pay penance for some sin you’ve committed I suggest you visit a monastery and sit for hours and hours and hours each day, that will do it.

For the rest of us I suggest trying different postures till you feel you’ve found what works for you. You can sit on a cushion, on a chair, walk or stand. Others do lengthened yoga exercise and meditate while they hold a position, good for them but not for most of us.

From time to time I sill sit on a cushion but mostly I sit in one of those ergonomic office chairs with the high back and headrest. I use a chair because it supports my back very well and that is one of the keys to meditation NEVER SLOUCH. I rest my hands palms down on my thighs or folded in my lap left hand on top of my right hand and my thumbs touching comfortably.

Many years ago when I sat in a Zen center one of the monks would gently touch my shoulder while pushing on my lower back to help me reposition my posture and stop slouching, but now when I’m sitting alone I find the chair keeps me very straight.

I gotta say, I miss having a monk remind me to not slouch. (note to self – work on that attachment)

When you begin your meditation practices, start with small chunks of time. Those who I’ve talked with over the years tell me 5, 7 or 10 minutes are worthy chunks of time to begin with. I personally always add 2 minutes to every chunk of time I’m committing to, so my start times would be 7, 9 and 12 minutes.

Why do I add 2 minutes? I add the 2 minutes because I never know how focused I am till I actually sit down in meditation, the extra two minutes is meant to absorb fidgeting around on the chair or cushion. I’m sure you all know it can be difficult to sit still when you first sit. So I think of the extra 2 minutes as throw-away minutes and then I get the most out of the remaining time. Even after years of sitting I still add 2 minutes to each session and sit either 37 or 47 minutes and let all my restlessness play out in the first 2 minutes.

Take a few deep breaths once you’ve gotten comfortable at the beginning of your meditation practice, try inhaling threw you nose for a count of 3 and exhaling through your mouth. Do this 2 or 3 times to settle things.

Some people can feel the air coming into their nose easily while others have to use their imagination, I’m one of the latter. I don’t feel the air until it is in my nose and starting to flow down into my lungs. But I have no problem with feeling it exit right at the entrance to my nose. Find a spot where it comes in and a spot where it flows out and sit with it as it comes in and goes out, comes in and goes out, comes in and goes out.

At the beginning as you are developing your practice bring the rising and falling of your chest of abdomen into your awareness if this helps. After a while you’ll be able to bring your focus down to a smaller area.

3 to 4 times during each sitting I will follow my breath as it travels into the back of my throat and then I’ll imagine it flowing down the out side of my neck into my shoulders and then reverses itself. I use this exercise to prod my neck and shoulders into releasing any accumulated tension which in turn frees up my breathing a bit more.

Observing the breath gives you refuge when your thoughts pop into your awareness and allows you to let them pass with judging if they are good or bad, right or wrong, light or dark. When you notice you are thinking gently bring your awareness back to your breath.

When sitting in meditation it doesn’t matter if you have evil thoughts or good thoughts, they are only thoughts to be regarded as “thinking.” Your thoughts are nether sinful nor virtuous, nether dark or light. You may think about punching someone in the face or maybe you’ll think about buying all the ice-cream from the local ice-cream truck and giving it away to all the kids and their parents in the nearby park.

Don’t be shocked by your thinking just label your thoughts as “thinking ” and come back to the breath.

If the thoughts become overwhelming or your emotions starting roaring remind yourself that you are neither your thoughts or your emotions. At the end of the day you get to decide if you’ll hook onto your thoughts and emotions or if you’ll bring your focus back to your breath and allow your thought and emotions to tire themselves out.

Uncomfortable thoughts and emotions are a great time to strengthen your practice by releasing the hold they have on you. It’s when we judge the thoughts and emotions as good or bad that we increase their power. return to your breath over and over and over, soon enough your thoughts and emotions will move on as if they were never there. Breathe in and breathe out.

How regularly you practice mindful meditation over a long stretch is more important than how long you sit, at least early on in your practice it is. 10 (12) minutes each and every day for 30 days is recommended over just 1 hour of straight sitting once a week. The commitment of sitting yourself down each day goes a long way toward connecting you with the present moment, connecting you with here and now.

Focus Opens Opportunity

Craig Daniels ·Leave a Comment

Our mind rides on a stream of thoughts and emotions seemingly manufactured endlessly. And given that each of us creates in the neighborhood of 60,000+ thoughts each and everyday, endless may be an understatement.

We are awash in our thoughts, awash in our emotions, all simmering and bubbling in a mind-soup, a tangy concoction of past experiences. These hopes, fears, judgements and assumptions existing below our awareness direct our actions and turn our emotions on and off with little consciousness input from us. It’s both amazing and scary at the same time.

The Encounter

Distractions often engulf us as if we are being overwhelmed by a powerful force. And in a sense when a distraction grabs our focus we are at the mercy of our thoughts, engulfed by our subconscious. From deep within ourselves we start walking away from our intended focus. We think and do things counter to what we’ve told ourselves.

The encounter with our ravenous subconscious thoughts often muddies our clarity and erases our awareness. It’s often easier to go with the flow when we encounter thoughts emotionally charged with craving, grabbing and desire, then it is to stay our ground and remain focused.

“When people talk, listen completely.
Most people never listen.”
Ernest Hemingway

It can be easy to convince ourselves we are listening to another, when in fact we are only looking at them while our thoughts zoom here and there within our skull. It’s not our job to decide if what they are talking about is important or relevant to our lives. Our job, our commitment is to actively focus with our best listening skills in full engagement. Otherwise we should excuse ourselves, and go home to watch TV, or find another activity requiring only passive attention.

Our minds constantly distract our attention and will dissolve our focus unless we actively train it to ignore the caustic judgements and assumptions dancing to and fro, dancing side to side in our untrained mind.

“People will look at the world without seeing anything
beyond their unconscious expectation.”
Chuck Klosterman

Expectations seem to rise out of nowhere when we least expect them. But in reality our expectations are completely in line with our beliefs about how the world “SHOULD BE,” in line with how we see the world. But expectations can be a gift when we notice them, we can ask ourselves why are my feelings hurt and why should that person do what I want them to do?Ask yourself, is what I see in front of what I expect to see and not what is really occurring?

Every time you notice someone is not doing, saying or thinking what you think they should be doing, saying or thinking ask yourself, why am I attempting to control this persons actions, control this persons thoughts. When we ask ourselves these questions our anger, our hurt feelings and our contempt for another person often dissolves and the veil falls away from our sight.

“Speak to me:
I will spend my lifetime trying to understand you.”
Kamand Kojouri

Imagine for a moment someone repeating the above quote. We all want others to listen to our thoughts, our dreams and ideas. Each of us longs to be listened to and to be understood.

What’s the secret to hearing and understanding what another is sharing with you? It’s simple, FOCUS. Understanding another requires attention to that person as they speak. Hearing what’s being said is not a passive activity, it’s an active one.

“When birds burp, it must taste like bugs.”
Bill Waterson

I wonder, how much awareness and focus do we bring to tasting what we put in our mouths. Do you think you’d notice if the next forkful tasted like a bug? Think about that for a couple of moments. We talk while we eat, we drive while we eat, we watch movies and television while we eat, we argue and debate while we eat. The one thing we rarely do while we eat is eat with awareness, and focus on what’s happening at the moment we eat.

Being in the present moment while eating is a fine way to develop our focus skills. Practicing a little while eating will not only pay off while eating but will develop your focus in other areas of your life.

“Touch is the more basic, the most nonconceptual form
of communication that we have.”
Ina May Gaskin

Often we barely notice the shape or texture of the things we touch. Our nerves in most of our bodies send a wealth of interesting and sometimes vital information to our brains but because we are so often distracted we fail to notice.

Try focusing a little each time you pick something up, be aware of what sensations you feel as your fingers tighten their grip around the object. What are you feeling and where does that information take you? What do you associate with the sensations?

The Glorious Words of Focus

centered
heart
convergence
absorbed
limelight
engaged
captivated
fascinated
involved
engrossed
consumed

The Inglorious Words of Distraction

frenzied
distraught
bewilderment
distressed
panicked
confusion
interference
agitation
bored
frightened
uncomfortable

Here’s a short article expanding on my thoughts about Focus: The Art of Focus: Why Entrepreneurs Need ‘Focus’ More Than Anything Else

And finally, here is a kinda short video (19:00 minutes) about how our brains deal and adapt to focus. If you want to jump to the last tip (Unitasking) skip ahead to 6:07 and you can listen to Dr.Marvin Myungwoo Chun talk about why Multitasking may be the worst thing we can do to our brains and ability to focus.

Focus is something that every business can benefit from in huge ways. Focus enhances thinking, communicating, direction, innovation, creativity, production and decreases stress, worry, job dissatisfaction, sick days, and general malaise associated with being unhappy and unfulfilled with your job.

Focus can be learned and strengthened in much the same ways as walking or biking strengthens muscles in our bodies. It’s being actively engaged with the 3 tips ( Simplify, Relax, Unitask) from the above video that expands our focus right before our eyes and perceptions. You’ll be amazed how even 10 or 15 minutes each day of exercise can bring about deeper focus and awareness of what’s going on in your life.

Time Well Spent

Craig Daniels ·Leave a Comment

Often the phrase Time Well Spent is connected to a group of words such as time-management, productivity and constructive. When most employers think about Time Well Spent they are thinking about the ROI you represent. Rarely does the TWS conversation find it’s way around to words containing valuable, gratifying, beneficial, rewarding or generative. Nor is creative and innovative connected meaningfully with TWS. Why is that? Think about it for a moment.

Is TWS while you’re away from your work not valuable to your employer? Is TWS in pursuit of family, hobbies, vacations, studying, or a myriad of things seemingly not directly connected with your work, not important to how well you preform your job?

Why are the words we traditionally think of as encompassing and promoting creative, innovative, visionary and ingenious outcomes not generally part of the TWS conversation?

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled,
but a fire to be kindled.”
Plutarch

Curiosity calls to each of us from the moment we are born, it is the siren song of becoming an inquisitive being. Each of us has a thirst to know why and how ideas, things and people operate. From our earliest breath we reach out to know experience. And if we are lucky enough to have people in our lives that encourage our Curiosity we’ll continue to search for answers all our life.

When a business allows our Curiosity to grow and expand in the work environment that business benefits tremendously. If we are wondering about how we can better do our job, searching for a better way to communicate with customers and our co-workers we are growing the business and creating long term wealth.

Encouraging and cultivating Curiosity within each employee is not only smart business it is fundamental to success in the 21st century and is TWS.

“There is always a gap between intention and action..”
Paulo Coelho

Sitting at the base of Time Well Spent is a little thing called Intent. Being involved with Intent is a bit like balancing on the tip top of a triangle, atop a pyramid of choice. Intent is where you shed all other options when you take a step forward into the unknown. Intent is what allows us to accomplish what needs to be done if we are going to have moments, or even a lifetime of TWS.

We think and think some more and we plan and plot out where we want to be. And in a blink of an eye we create Intent to power us across the water to the other-side. it sounds magical and maybe it is, but let’s not get caught in that trap. Intent is decision fortified with action.

Intent is something every team and group within a business should value and understand. Intent is the glue that leads a team to new heights of awesomeness and success, Intent washes away the individual ego and allows for group to reach the summit.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it
is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
William Arthur Ward

We often find the Gratitude showing up at the end of a project within most businesses, more of an afterthought than an important part of success. You reach the company goal or create new and exciting innovations and lastly hands are shaken and maybe a few pats of the back are exchanged, but that’s about the extent of Gratitude in today’s business environment.

If Intent sits at the top of the success pyramid then Gratitude is the gyroscope at it’s center keeping it centered and aligned. Gratitude is the nourishment within a business connecting each employee to each customer in a active circular relationship, a relationship that generates deep success and validates TWS.

Read more about Gratitude in business – 20 Examples Gratitude Helping Business

“The world’s continual breathing is what we hear and call silence.”
Clarice Lispector

How does cultivating Silence within your business have anything to do with success, growth and TWS? Silence creates the space needed to build a sturdy and functional pyramid of success. Silence is where we first notice the assumptions and judgements we bring to each project and relationship within the business. Those hooks we all carry around blinding us to current reality can be at the very least pushed aside and sometimes eliminated.

Silence opens the windows letting in the fresh, interesting and creative ideas. Silence encourages each member within the business to share their strength and vision, a sharing that adds to success and long-term value creation.

Check Out Mindfulness Changes Everything in Business

“Sharing will enrich everyone with more knowledge.”
Ana Monar

Sharing can be thought of as an overview of the entire business, a clear view of how connected each of us is to each other and to the whole. Think of yourself floating above everything and seeing how each cog in the machine depends on the other cogs to give its best.

Sharing what we think and Sharing what we’ve learned with the others in the group creates new and exciting innovations much quicker than each person working in isolation. And not only are innovations created quicker but also created on a richer and more satisfying way leading to TWS.

“Only time will tell if it was time well-spent.”
Jimmy Buffett

Mindfulness Changes Everything

Craig Daniels ·Leave a Comment

2017 was the tipping point where the weight of evidence clearly tilted in the direction of business leaders believing Mindfulness Changes Everything in business. 2020 in all probability will expand the global acceptance of McMindfulness but also the realization that there are many deeper levels of mindfulness to be explored.

Change is difficult in our lives, but within business the embracing of change is titanic in nature, business has a tendency to coop intriguing ideas and practices to the point they have little resemblance to the original. Mindfulness has often been twisted into knots before being presented as a viable tool to a companies employees, this twisting has resulted in McMindfulness, a practice that often has lost its real strength. McMindfulness is made to be accessible to everyone and requires little commitment or work of those taking it.

I’ve collected 10 posts from 2017 that I think offer a broad view of how mindfulness is being used (or abused) within the worlds businesses. To understand the acceptance of mindfulness within the current business community it’s important to take the temperatures and views of differing authors.

10 Posts From 2017 Offering A Myriad of Takes on Mindfulness Changes Everything

1) Mindfulness in Business: How to Live in the Present While Predicting the Future

The first post I want to share with you is an example of how business in the 21st century often views mindfulness practice. Here’s a quote from the author. “It’s about fully living in the present and taking control of thoughts, feelings, and emotions, but it’s also about emptying your mind.”

I’m not sure the author of this post actually has practiced mindfulness as he never mentions if he does, but by reading the above quote I think what he is trying to do is make mindfulness fit into his current business practice and not the other way around. To be clear mindfulness is not about “taking control of thoughts, feelings or emotions. There is not taking control in mindfulness.

You might wonder why I would include this post if I think it misses the mark, I’m including it because it’s instructive ( I encourage you to read it) on how most business leaders still cling to their former mindset while talking about mindfulness. There is little to be gained from mindfulness if you actually have not practiced mindfulness with effort.

2) Why we need simplicity to cope with complexity – mindfulness in business life

This second post comes at mindfulness from a fully engaged yet traditional business focus. The company Jaguar Land Rover has invested time and energy into enabling many of it’s employees in taking part in the companies ongoing mindfulness classes.

The author writes darkly about how stress and loss of productivity is a huge problem, he goes on to cite return on investment by embracing mindfulness. Here’s an example of the tone of the post, “We lose 40% productivity due to multitasking and distraction.” Truly a sobering quote about the loss on investment.

The author does a fine job for the most part yet fails to include either quotes or stories about himself, employees or company executives and how their experience of mindfulness changes everything, or doesn’t change anything at all.

3) This Is The Mind-Set You’ll Need In Order To Thrive In The Future Of Work

I choose this 3rd post because of it’s vigor, hope and because of this quote blurb,“think wisely.”

There are many paths to take and techniques to try in your quest to do be more creative and develop more productive tools within your business environment. The technique of sitting in many chairs is but one of them and I couldn’t help but smile at how wonderfully it connects with my belief that mindfulness changes everything, even when it’s not called mindfulness.

“The good news is that your brain can be rewired, and leveling up just a little could put you considerably ahead of the pack.” Dr. Liz Alexander

mindfulness changes happen in 10 minutes

4) Spending 10 Minutes a Day on Mindfulness Subtly Changes the Way You React to Everything

For a moment think about being in 10 minutes, tick-tock, before you know it those moments have vanished. Everyday we forget, misplace or deliberately toss 10 minute chunks of time away without a thought, without regret and without a feeling of loss. When we do bother to think about 10 minutes we find ourselves easily distracted, after all, of what importance are 10 minutes?

“A diligent approach to mindfulness can help people create
a one-second mental space between an event or stimulus and their response to it.”

This is a well written and straight forward How-To about mindfulness and gaining a toe hold, or maybe I should say gaining a mind hold into the practice of mindfulness. And if you guessed it may only require 10 minutes, you’re absolutely correct.

5) Proactive Mindfulness in Business: Beyond the eye of the storm

A short, quick and yes I have to say upbeat little ditty of a post written by an author (Anne Bach Krog Iversen) that clearly has a thing for mindfulness in and out of business. I’m sure she would agree with how I titled this blog post using Mindfulness Changes Everything. Be sure to give it a read.

Rather than “I have to, I should, I can’t because…”
proactive people come from a place of, “I choose to, I am, I want to.”

6) Helen Tupper: How to make time for mindfulness at work

I’m a huge fan of lists imbued with how-to’s, and this post from Helen Tupper hits a home run on both counts. She lays out clear markers on the mindfulness path such as Make Space To Think, Focus In 3 Minutes, Ask And Listen and Make A Stress Log. Tt’s short and informative, give it a read.

“Overtime, these actions can build into a powerful practice that
will enable you to be happier and more effective at work.”

7) 3 Ways Leaders Can Instill Mindfulness At Work

Leadership is a bit like the top stone of a pyramid. If the capstone aimlessly wanders off the rain, snow and wind will invade the cohesion and collaboration holding the pyramid together. If leadership fails to recognize the importance of being part of the successful cohesion guiding the pyramid into historic long term success than the future is dim.

This post weaves its thoughts around the role of leadership and mindfulness within an organization. And clearly points out how important it is for leadership to be at the forefront of anything it’s asking the teams to integrate into their work.

“Now more than ever, we all need space and time
to recharge and oxygenate –inside and outside of the office.”

8) How To Practice Mindfulness At Work

We can never have too many how-to posts, especially posts that are short and full of easy to understand and carry out directions for accomplishing new things. Go ahead and add this to your favorites or your list of stress reducing, creativity enhancing and success at work tips.

When you have a couple of minutes to spare (you do have a couple of minutes ) bring out this posts and jump in, and remeber Mindfulness Changes Everything.

“Incorporating mindfulness into your
daily routine can be a game changer.”

9) Mindfulness at Work: 4 Ways It Can Benefit Your Organization

achieving business success with mindfulness changes

10) Mindfulness at Work: The Secret to Achieving Business Success