By Dr. Ron Passfield
Albert Flynn DeSilver has written a book titled, Awakening through Writing: The Space Between the Words, as a wake-up call to the power of writing as a means for exploring our inner landscape. In an interview with Tami Simon, Albert identified some of the key messages in his book and I want to reflect on … Continue reading “Writing: A Pathway to Mindfulness”
If you revisit the previous post and listen to Goldie Hawn’s statement about the tools and skills that children are given in MindUP™ , you come to realise that she is creating the foundations for mentally healthy workplaces . As Goldie pointed out, she set about creating a new culture, conducive to world peace, by developing … Continue reading “Creating a Mentally Healthy Workplace”
In sharing her life story in abbreviated form at a technology conference, Goldie Hawn manifested what we have described as mindful leadership. Goldie was participating in the final day of the conference which was devoted to how mindfulness practices can develop a person’s potential. She certainly epitomised what can happen when we grow in mindfulness. … Continue reading “Mindful Leadership: Goldie Hawn”
Self-awareness can be developed in many ways and it underpins much of what is involved in effective leadership. I will discuss a few ways to develop self-awareness but this is a lifetime pursuit! 1. 3 Minute Journaling I discussed this process in more detail in a previous post on journaling. This free form of writing … Continue reading “Mindful Leadership: Self-Awareness”
Daniel Goleman, who popularised the idea of emotional intelligence (EI) in his book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, maintains that EI underpins mindfulness. In fact, in his earlier book, The Meditative Mind, he shares his experience of different traditions of meditation. Thus meditation and mindfulness were part of the framework shaping … Continue reading “Mindful Leadership and Emotional Intelligence”
In my previous post, I discussed mountains and rivers as a source of meditation and their predominance in Chinese landscape art. I also focused on the Shan shui tradition of landscape painting where the artists expressed their thoughts and emotions about a physical landscape in their painting. In this way, they revealed something of their … Continue reading “From Outer Landscape to Inner Landscape: The Growth of Awareness”
I drafted my previous post about support for meditation while in Hong Kong en route to Italy. Now that we are in Lake Como in northern Italy, I have been able to reflect on my experiences in Hong Kong. This post is a result of those reflections. During our Hong Kong stay we visited Chi … Continue reading “Multitasking or Single Focus?”
Jon Kabat-Zinn, in his book Coming to Our Senses, reminds us that we need support for our meditation if we are to build mindfulness. This support may take the form of a routine, technique, books, audio tapes or a support group. He cautions, however, that we need to gradually reduce our reliance on this support. … Continue reading “We Need Support to Build Mindfulness”
In previous posts, I discussed how mindfulness meditation can provide pain relief in situations of chronic pain and alleviate the symptoms of psoriasis. From my personal experience, I can confirm that being mindful in the midst of pain or the relentless itch from psoriasis is not easy. However, I have found in both situations that … Continue reading “Persistence with Mindfulness Creates its Own Reward”
We all experience physical degeneration of the brain through ageing. However, the impact of this degeneration varies from person to person. There are genetic factors that come to play but also life experiences and lifestyle. Professor Michael Ridding of the University of Adelaide argues that “cognitive reserve” explains to some extent how some people can … Continue reading “Dementia, Ageing and Mindfulness”
