Mindfulness | Executive Coaching and Business Development UK

February 13, 2018 by j9wood Leave a Comment

Make better seasonal choices for year-round success

I read in the newspaper recently that this winter Europe has seen the lowest levels of sunlight in an age. We all love our sunlight and this report got me thinking about the seasonal choices we make for ourselves at this time of the year. Do we help or hinder ourselves given that during winter there is less sunlight to lift us up and get us motivated?

Conscious Decision Making

I’m writing this on a miserable Sunday in February. The rain is pouring down and it is the sort of day that could put even the most optimistic person in a bit of a funk. I’m an early riser, as many people who like to be productive are. However, when I realised what the weather was like I fought the desire to follow my natural instinct and decided to have a lie-in instead. Using my fledgling mindfulness skills, I was able to lay in bed until eleven thirty, reading the Sunday paper…without beating myself up for not being productive. I know there was a time not too long ago when I couldn’t have dreamed of doing that. This morning, by making one conscious seasonal choice, I had the opportunity to remember just how lovely it is to be tucked up warm listening to the rain fall against the window panes – and I really enjoyed it.

Tweak rather than Dismiss

Make better seasonal choices for year-round success Picture2 — puddle splashing

When I did get up, I knew that I didn’t want to go for my usual run in the downpour. A perfectly normal response to a rotten British winter’s day, you might say. However, I’ve noticed that people who are driven to succeed often ignore the advice to ‘listen to their body’, and see the phrase ‘I don’t feel like it’ as an excuse not to do something. Listening to our body is definitely important, as it can help us to make the right choices for long term success and health. Being aware of this, instead of dismissing the thought of going out altogether, I tuned into my body, and reasoned ‘ok, I don’t want to go for a run, what would nourish me instead?’ I felt a walk would be the thing to nourish me today. So, I layered on my waterproofs and headed off to the Downs.

Unexpected Benefits

What I found when I got there was peace and quiet. The Downs in Bristol is a popular running route and is normally a busy spot. Today, my reward for getting out and about was some wonderfully meditative time in nature. And, would you believe it, I surprised myself by feeling the desire to run for a bit? I interspersed my walking with some running as I went. Before, when I was all about the drive, I couldn’t tune in and listen to my body the way I do now. Before, I would have pushed myself to get up early and go for run – which, at this time of year would have probably made me feel worse by the evening. So the decision to walk/run was perfect. My seasonal choice gave me some of the hibernation time I needed, but also gave me a lovely experience that lifted my mood. Even in the complete absence of any glimpses of sunshine.

What are your choices?

Making good seasonal choices is not a black and white matter. It’s not a case of either do it or don’t. If you are not feeling up to what you might normally do, perhaps there is another option that would suit you better at this time of the year. We are human – and winter has unavoidable physiological effects on us. If winter is a time where you feel that your energy and drive take a hit, that you just can’t seem to get motivated, then perhaps you need to look at the seasonal choices you are making. And remember, they are all choices. We have the freedom to choose how we spend our time and what food and activities we nourish our bodies with.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

For many, Seasonal Affective Disorder, otherwise known as SAD syndrome is a troublesome part of life at this time of the year. When we don’t get enough sunlight, it can affect our bodies and our mood in real ways. No matter how successful we are, we must accept that we are human and are sensitive to changes in the environment around us. Again, we have a choice around what we do about that. We can put plans in place that ensure we get extra sunlight or find substitutes for it during the winter, no matter how weak that sunshine. Getting out for a walk on the gloomiest of days will help. Maybe a vitamin D supplement over the winter months, or a sunrise alarm clock to wake you up with daylight? There are lots of little seasonal choices we can make in our daily lives to nourish our bodies and minds during the dark winter months. These small changes can help keep us feeling and performing at our best throughout the year.

Take Action

What one small seasonal choice could you make today that will nourish your body or mind? Try entering into it in the spirit of exploration. Say ‘I wonder what it would be like to try x’. Note your experience and how you feel afterward, you feel much more motivated.

April 4, 2017 by j9wood 6 Comments

How to find some balance in a crazy world

How to find some balance in a crazy world zingg 11 I’ve touched on the topic of mindfulness on my blog before. Today I want to share my own experience with you in the hope that it can help you find some balance in your own life.

We live in a great, big hurly-burly VUCA world. And it’s exhausting. What is VUCA you ask? It’s a term borrowed from the US Army. It stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. The business community has borrowed it from the army, and applied it to leadership development, for us to think about how we need to lead (ourselves and others) in a VUCA world.

Are you creating your own in-balance?

If you reach for your device on waking, the chances are that you are met with an onslaught of demands before you’ve even started your day. But does it have to be this way? We are creators of our own fate. You can choose to start your day in a different way. In a way that gives you a bit of time to yourself – at least for a short time each day. One tool that has proven successful for me is mindfulness.

Choose to create balance

Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhism. It’s come a long way from ‘hippydom’ to being a legitimate cognitive tool to help us deal with the frenetic pace of today’s world. While mindfulness is not an activity as such, it is often arrived at by practicing mindfulness meditation, yoga or other mindfulness inducing activities.

Mindfulness itself is a state of awareness of your experience in the present moment – a state of awareness that carries no judgement on what that experience is.

In the past mindfulness was often viewed with scepticism by the business community; something that was more appropriate for holistic enthusiasts and hippy types. But today the medical field stand behind it as a well-researched and successful tool to deliver significant psychological and physiological benefits. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS Choices and the Mental Health Foundation have all acknowledged the benefits of mindfulness in leading a healthy, stress-managed life.

Some of the most common benefits associated with the regular practice of mindfulness are

a reduction in stress and anxiety
improved sleep quality
increased focus
better memory
an improvement in cognitive flexibility

And with this researched evidence, the business community is finally catching up and catching on.

Choosing how to practice mindfulness

With the explosion of interest in mindfulness, there has been a proliferation in the ways we can access it. Choosing the right option to help you practice can be stressful in itself! So here’s an overview of your options:

The two main categories of help are

in-person mindfulness activities (e.g. courses, retreats, workshops)
digital mindfulness activities (easily accessible digital version of mindfulness which you can carry around in your pocket and access as and when you need).

I’ve tried many options over last five years. My personal interest was piqued by the emerging research, and I wondered how mindfulness could help my clients in the leadership development and resilience optimisation work I do. And of course, as I’ve explored and tested various options, the benefits for my own health and wellbeing have become more and more evident.

During my experimentation, I found it difficult to find a way of practicing that worked for me. Id’ find myself starting with and online app, and then getting bored. I’d get the giggles during ‘in-person’ activities. Or I’d find the voices used in the various digital activities I tried deeply irritating. But then…

…finally, some Headspace

I saw Andy Puddicombe’s TED talk , Ten Mindful Minutes, back in 2012. But it wasn’t until last year that I discovered Headspace.com. Headspace is an App designed to bring mindfulness to people in a simple way. Andy Puddicome is one of its co-founders, and the voice of all the guided meditations.

I am a Headspace convert. I love it for many many reasons:

it has a superb structure built with the aim of learning a new practice
it’s not patronising
you can choose the duration of your sessions and vary it each day if you like
there are hundreds of different options depending on where you want to focus your practice (sport, creativity, focus, anxiety, sleep etc etc). There are even options children.
Andy’s voice is very listenable, calm and encouraging.

I also like Andy’s story and the ethics surrounding the business he and his business partner have set up. After all, it is important that the businesses we support are ones that align with our own principles.

My Headspace experience so far…

Practicing mindfulness is neither hard nor easy, but it is different. For that reason, you need to approach it as you would learning a new sport. Lots of practice!

I am now five months into my Headspace journey. I have completed 131 sessions, averaging 14 minutes at a time. (Though I have challenged myself and managed 40 minutes on one occasion!) In that short space of time, it has become an essential part of my morning routine. Gone is my grab for Facebook and emails. Gone is listening to the news first thing. I have learned that these things can wait. In return, I enjoy a more peaceful entry to the day and it doesn’t just make me feel good. It makes me much more able to deal with whatever the VUCA world throws at me. Bring it on!

I invite you to try mindfulness practice for yourself. It can be hard to get into the practice of doing it every day, but stick with it. When you do you will see an improvement in how you deal with everyday stressors and an improvement in the quality of your relationships and encounters.

If you do one thing after reading this blog – watch this short animation on how Headspace works.

If you do decide to give it a go, I’d love to hear how you get on.

March 27, 2015 by j9wood 2 Comments

The pow(d)er of now: mindful lessons from the slopes

The pow(d)er of now: mindful lessons from the slopes

After a week in the Austrian Alps, I’ve been of reminded how refreshing it is to be living in the moment, entirely focussed on what ‘s happening in the now.

I always choose activity based holidays. I find they’re the best way to switch off. In a way, they create a kind of enforced mindfulness. You focus on the task in hand (whether it’s skiing, cycling, trekking etc). You’ve no doubt heard about the concept of mindfulness. It has its roots in Buddhist meditative practices, and was largely adapted to be more accessible and help people deal with anxiety, stress and depression. However, a growing list of organisations (BT, Google, JP Morgan, PwC, Capital One, Transport for London and the Home Office) are using it as they see the benefits in improving concentration and memory, unlocking creativity and boosting leadership potential. So having now come back to reality, I got thinking about how I can be more mindful on a regular basis:

Exercise: It’s easy to forget that the benefits of exercise extend beyond the physiological. But do you really focus on what you’re doing? As I thought about this blog, I realised that listening to TED talks while walking (which I started doing a few months ago) wasn’t allowing me to focus on the activity itself. So I’ve decided to ditch the ear-buds and opt for silence on some walks; focussing on the surroundings and letting my thoughts come and go. (I’ll always need a sound-track for running though).
Devices: I hardly looked at my phone while skiing, and felt better for not checking it all the time; we check our phones on average every 6 minutes. So how would it be to ‘tune out’ for an hour to really focus on something? In an earlier blog I referenced Pico Lyer’s ‘Art of Stillness’ where he suggests one day a week of taking yourself off-grid. Nice idea, but for most of us unthinkable. I’ve adapted his idea, so in the evenings (Sunday in particular), I try to have at least 2 hours without using a device (and that includes my macbook). It’s hard. Sadly, the only way I can manage this is to physically put the devices in another room and turn them off. But it gives me a sense of freedom and time that feels good.
Just sitting: When did you last sit down at home and just sit? No TV, no radio, no book/magazine. Just you and your thoughts (and maybe a coffee). I wanted to see if I found this useful in any way. It actually feels very alien to start with. I found I was thinking about what I was going to do when I stopped sitting. Not really the idea! But I persevered. Now I find a five-ten minute ‘sitting time’ really does rejuvenate, and you may be surprised about where your thoughts go.
The little things: There has been so much written about enjoying the little things in life. But it really is true. We can be on automatic pilot so much that we miss the small changes and events in our everyday surroundings. Being present and noticing the little things can change your mood, make you smile and encourage you to engage with new people.
Environment: We all feel energised by holidays, and part of that is the change in environment. But you don’t have to go on holiday to get the same sense of rejuvenation. Try altering your route to work, getting the bus part way and walking, or exploring new areas of a city you’ve lived in for many years. Alternatively simply find the nearest park, hill or coast and spend a little time with mother nature, moving away from your daily routine.
Food: One of my work colleagues did a short presentation on mindfulness the other week (we have a ’15 minutes of fame’ initiative where anyone in the agency can talk on any subject). She got everyone to eat chocolate ‘mindfully’. Brilliant. It’s all too easy to shove food down our necks and see it as fuel. See how different it feels when you focus on what you’re eating and think about the flavours.

So, these are a few personal ideas on a subject that’s been widely written about. I hope you find some of it useful.

Make better seasonal choices for year-round success

How to find some balance in a crazy world

The pow(d)er of now: mindful lessons from the slopes

Zingg

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