In this meditation on collaboration and leadership,
We're going to draw upon the traditional mindfulness technique of loving-kindness meditation,
But adapt it for the slightly different context.
To begin,
As always,
Find yourself in a comfortable seated position with your spine upright,
Your shoulders dropping down away from your ears,
A gentle sense of openness,
Presence,
And awareness running throughout the body,
Allowing your eyes now to very gently close as you imagine a beam of light streaming down through the top of your head.
As you breathe in,
The light is drawn into your body,
Filling your body completely.
As you breathe out,
The light leaves your body.
Breathing in,
Feeling the light coming through,
Moving to each deep part of your body,
Bringing rest and relaxation and ease and comfort to every place that's still carrying tension.
Noticing the movement of breath inward,
Drawing that light down,
And the exhale,
Allowing that light to naturally flow out,
Breathing in and out in a very natural rhythm,
Not changing the pace in any way,
But just allowing that movement of light down and into your body and flowing up and out of your body.
From here,
Imagine in your mind's eye your immediate team around you,
Those colleagues that you spend most of your time with.
Really seeing them vividly,
Almost as if they're in the room with you.
They're standing about six feet in front of you in your mind's eye.
You can notice all of the details of how they're usually dressed and how they're standing.
As you feel your full presence with those immediate colleagues now,
You can gently,
In your mind,
Say the words to them,
May you be peaceful,
May you be healthy,
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
May you be healthy,
May you be happy,
Allowing those words to continuously flow through your mind,
Feeling how your body and emotions and mind change as you share those words of loving kindness with your immediate colleagues.
May you be peaceful,
May you be healthy,
May you be happy.
After a while,
You might forget those words and your mind might wander.
If it does,
That's not a problem.
All you need to do is to return to that image of your immediate team and share those words with them.
May you be peaceful,
May you be healthy,
May you be happy.
The words flowing up and down through your thoughts and body,
And now letting go of the image of your immediate colleagues,
And seeing now in your mind's eye your stakeholders,
Those customers or members of the board or people that you see less regularly in your job but whose opinions matter.
You probably know them a little bit less and maybe not at all,
But you can still imagine them in your mind's eye as if they're standing about six feet in front of you,
Observing all the details and sharing those same words with them.
May you be peaceful,
May you be healthy,
May you be happy.
Allowing those words to continuously cycle through your mind,
Noticing what it feels like to share those with stakeholders,
With people who maybe you don't know all that well,
But for whom nevertheless you feel a sense of loving kindness.
Now letting go of the image of the stakeholders and bringing into the screen of your mind your competitors,
Perhaps other businesses,
Perhaps people that you see as competitors within your own company,
People that maybe you know very well or maybe just a more general sense of competition or of threat.
Seeing these people very vividly in your mind's eye and once again sharing loving kindness with them.
May you be peaceful,
May you be healthy,
May you be happy.
This may be more challenging,
But notice how each time you hear those words in your mind,
Your mood changes,
Your feeling toward them shifts in a gentle and sustainable way.
And now letting go of the image of your competitors in your mind and replacing them with a final group,
Your critics,
Those people who haven't believed in you,
Who have told you you can't succeed or you aren't good enough.
Maybe these are critics who you know today or maybe they're critics from the past.
Maybe it's even that voice of your inner critic.
But wherever the voice of the critic is coming from,
Imagining it now in your mind's eye and sharing,
Even though it might be hard at first,
Those words of loving kindness.
May you be peaceful,
May you be healthy,
May you be happy.
The words flowing through your mind gently over and over again.
And now letting go of this image of your critics in your mind and reflecting on a few questions as we draw this meditation to a close.
How did it feel to approach these different types of collaboration and working together from the perspective of loving kindness?
What specific strategies might you use to bring more loving kindness into how you work with those around you?
Which group was most challenging to share and feel loving kindness for?
How might this sense of loving kindness change your professional relationships?
And now beginning to move your body again,
Bringing gentle awareness back to your body.
Knowing that every collaboration,
Every relationship is an opportunity to deepen your awareness and your connection with others.
And now gently opening your eyes,
Taking out your journal and spending a few minutes reflecting on this experience.
