Welcome.
I'm Janice Martirano,
The Executive Director of the Institute for Mindful Leadership here in the United States.
Today I'd like to speak about some simple ways to bring mindfulness to your workday.
Mindfulness training is about learning to be awake for the moments of your life.
This sounds easy,
But is it?
For most of us,
Our daily lives are so jam-packed with meetings and constant distractions that we are more often on autopilot than awake.
We just put our heads down and plow through the day as best as we can.
When we begin mindfulness training,
We usually learn to practice while sitting quietly.
This is an important part of the training,
But it's not enough.
We also need to learn to bring our training right into the midst of our day.
And the good news is that you can explore this aspect of mindfulness training or mindful leadership training without adding anything onto your to-do list.
I call this part of the training purposeful pauses,
And it has been an integral part of our training for more than 15 years.
Purposeful pauses invite you to notice what's here to be noticed when you intentionally bring your attention to a moment in your day.
For example,
You notice that you're drinking a cup of coffee.
You feel the warmth in your hand.
You smell the aroma,
The taste on your tongue,
Etc.
Your full attention is on the experience of drinking that cup of coffee.
And it's also about in that moment redirecting your attention when it takes off into the future or starts reminiscing about the past while you are taking a purposeful pause with that cup of coffee.
For example,
While you're paying attention to your coffee,
You notice that your mind starts to worry about tomorrow's presentation.
In that moment,
When you realize you're no longer paying attention to the experience of drinking your coffee,
You redirect your attention back to the taste of the coffee on your tongue or the warmth of the cup in your hands.
A purposeful pause only takes a couple of minutes,
But it breaks that autopilot way of living,
And it begins to train your mind to be focused.
Each time that you redirect your attention,
You're building the muscle that keeps you focused and present.
It's like doing reps with your weights.
These mini trainings are a continuation of the attention training you experience when you're practicing meditation on your cushion or in your chair.
Purposeful pauses allow you to turn off the autopilot,
And they give you some spaciousness in the day.
And in that spaciousness,
You have a better chance of making conscious choices.
When you're awake,
When you're present for your life,
When you can really ask yourself one of my favorite questions,
Which is what's called for now?
Not what you always do or what you reactively do,
But take a pause with that cup of coffee.
Pay attention to it,
And as your mind and body settle into the moment,
Maybe there's enough spaciousness to say what's important now,
What's called for now?
Here's a few other examples to get you started.
In the morning,
Choose to start your day rather than letting the day start you.
So begin each day,
Even before you get out of bed,
By just feeling the sensations of your breath for a few breaths,
Asking yourself what is the most important intention for that day?
Number two,
Use transitions wisely.
Choose to drive to and from work without listening to music or podcasts or even listening to phone messages.
Just drive.
Pay attention to what you see and hear and touch.
And if you do that purposeful pause practice,
What do you begin to notice about how you arrive at work?
Number three,
Nourish yourself.
Mindfully eat your lunch without looking at your computer screen or the apps on your phone.
Ask yourself,
How am I taking care of my body today?
And then at the end,
At the end of your workday,
At the end of your full day,
Turn off the computers,
Shut off the phone,
And spend a few moments asking yourself,
What went well today?
We have a tendency to focus on what doesn't go well,
So we really need to be intentional about bringing our attention to what did go well.
After our workshops and retreats,
Our clients consistently talk about how bringing purposeful pauses into their lives makes an immediate difference in how they show up for their colleagues and for their families.
What other purposeful pauses can you find in your day?
Look closely.
Where would a break in your day serve you?
