Mindful Leadership by Maria Gonzalez

Author:Maria Gonzalez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2012-02-21T16:00:00+00:00

External Awareness

You can train yourself in a systematic way to be present. In Chapter 3 I talked about a technique called External Awareness (review that chapter for the specific details of the technique). It involves being aware of three things: your body, the sights you can see, and the sounds you can hear.

The Body

The body exists only in the present. Any concept that you have of how your body once felt is memory; any concept of how it will feel in the future is a projection or fantasy. Right here right now is all there is. That is why the body is so helpful in bringing you back to the present moment. It is a gift as close as your fingertips or your breath. The breath is another way of becoming aware of your body in the present moment. You breathe in and breathe out and you are right here.

Sight

What you can see with your eyes open exists only in the present. If you recall where people were seated at a meeting after the meeting is over, that is no longer sight; that is a memory, an image in your mind's eye. As every artist knows, even if you stay in the same place, moment by moment the light is changing. A canvas painted at 9 a.m. in one location will look quite different from one painted at 3 p.m. in the same location. Sight exists only in the present.

Sound

Sound too exists only in the present. If you are listening to someone speak or listening to a beautiful piece of music, it's happening right here and now. If later you replay the person's words in your mind or are playing the music in your head, that too is a memory and is considered internal talk.

Remember, the objective is not to become skilled at formal meditation for its own sake. The true prize is in being able to be mindful moment by moment as you move through your day, whether you are in a critical meeting, walking down the street, on the golf course, on a treadmill, or playing ball with your child.

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