You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”
― Henry David Thoreau
Mindfulness is defined as a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations. It involves being aware of every passing moment and observing every action as it happens.
Recently, mindfulness has become a popular topic in various facets of today’s culture, particularly in the health and business industries. Coaches and CEO’s are discovering that encouraging mindfulness in their teams and employees is leading to improved performance and productivity.
How can incorporating mindfulness into day-to-day activities affect outcomes and improve performance? What is it about mindfulness that causes such a boost in our capabilities? Here are five ways mindfulness is changing organizations all over the world with one simple message – be present.
1. Builds Resiliency
The hippocampus is a part of the brain that deals with self-awareness, pain tolerance and memory. In a 2011 Harvard study, individuals who participated in an 8-week mindfulness program increased their hippocampus size, supporting the argument that one can actually build a tolerance to certain emotional stresses put on the body. In other words, our mind becomes resilient to matters that could have once stopped you from moving forward in a task.
2. Encourages Growth and Self-Regulation
Being mindful helps us be more conscience of our internal thoughts, drives and struggles. When we are more in tune with where we are mentally, we are more likely to understand how we need to grow and what we need to do in order to accomplish a goal or learn a specific task.
3. Promotes Deep Listening
“Deep listening” is knowing what you are feeling physically and emotionally when someone is speaking to you. Being in tune with our emotions when listening can keep us engaged with the speaker. This can improve our response by making it more relevant to the conversation and inhibit us from interrupting.
4. Encourages Autonomy
Autonomy is freedom from external influences or control. Though there needs to be control within most environments, complete control can promote mindless work and lack of creativity. Autonomy lets people learn and think in the way that suits them best, which leads to better teamwork, sharing of ideas and accepting diversity. Autonomy also boosts brainpower by forcing people to discover answers on their own, rather than directly giving the answers.
5. Discover Gratitude
The past is history, the future is a mystery and the present is a gift. Being present allows us to appreciate the things we have and the people who surround us, as opposed to focusing on the things we do not have and the relationships we have lost. Though we should strive for the best and remember the people we miss dearly, it is important to allow ourselves to move on and to dream about things that we want in our lives.
“Do not dwell in the past. Do not dream of the future. Concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
– Buddha