From time to time it seems worthwhile to include a newsarticle that presents in broad fashion the concepts I use in teaching and coaching. Our local Columbus Dispatch ran this article recently. It came from The McClatchy Newspapers, written by Howard Cohen and reported by Marsha Halper in the Miami Herald.
Mindfulness touted as calming influence
Our worries. They’re crescendoing like the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth: bailouts, buyouts. Recession, depression.
Enter the meditative practice of mindfulness. Born of Buddhist roots, it’s increasingly recognized as a measure to calm the mind’s chatter and elevate the brain’s thinking and organizational processes.
“The uncertainty of tomorrow creates a lot of the angst or discomfort,” says Scott Rogers, director of the Institute for Mindfulness Studies in Miami Beach. “People are looking more and more to bring a little bit of ‘ahhh.’ Not just stress reduction but allowance and acceptance.”
Mindfulness is built around the premise of disengaging from overly emotional responses and extraneous thoughts that clutter the mind’s ability to think clearly.
There is a growing body of evidence that this type of mental discipline and meditative practice can carve new pathways in the brain. It’s a concept called neuroplasticity, and it’s just the opposite of what scientists had thought for years — that the brain’s nerve cells were set in childhood and didn’t change. Research has shown otherwise.
Mindful LIfe/Mindful Work teaching Mindfulness as an anchor. For being in the middle of what is, and that is, constant change.
I like the idea of disengaging, like a car, when the tranny if shfted into neutral, the car is still running, but the pressure is off. At Mindfulcoachjournal.com, and in my coaching practice, mindfulness and acceptance are mainstays.