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The Paradox of Mindful Leadership

  “If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.”

St. John of the Cross

If you’ve been paying attention, you know that “mindfulness” is the flavor du jour in leadership training. Jon Kabat-Zinn and others have been teaching it for decades, but just recently it has come into our collective consciousness. This does not mean that people are actually being mindful; it just means that lots of us are talking about it. It has been on the cover of Time Magazine and there is even a magazine called Mindful. This week Mindful is featuring stories like “Five Tips for Bringing Mindfulness to the Office” and “Free Mindfulness Apps Worthy of Your Attention.” Mindful is a helpful magazine that features some interesting articles but note the paradoxical nature of a “Mindfulness App.” It really is a perfect emblem of our times—a way to speed up one’s ability to be mindful, when mindfulness is all about stopping and stillness.

But why is mindfulness attracting so much attention now? I can answer in one word—neuroscience. The neuroscientists studied what happens in the brains of meditating Buddhist monks. They found meditation does change your brain. If you are a meditator you already know this; you have experienced it. If you have studied the mystics, you already know this, though you may not have experienced it. A meditation or mindfulness practice reduces bias, improves attention, increases creativity and provides greater cognitive flexibility. A mystic might call the latter equanimity or even the peace that passes understanding.
Mindfulness is not a stress reduction technique, though it can reduce stress. It is not just attention training either. According to neuroscientists, mindfulness is about fundamentally changing the way you relate to your experience. Kabat-Zinn says increasing relatedness is the goal of mindfulness.
So a mindful leader is one who creates the space for silence in her life at least once a day. A mindful leader is aware of his inner life. And most importantly a mindful leader knows the Source of her leadership. A mindful leader is not motivated by competition but by connectedness. A mindful leader knows not only what to do and how to do it but also is aware of who is doing the leading. A mindful leader enters into the meditative spaces of stopping, stillness, calmness , peace and true thinking. These spaces are the fruits of a mindfulness practice. Finally, the mindful leader is countercultural because he desires to surrender his egocentric needs and embrace the needs of the whole.

Patricia Speler is Executive Director of Seton Cove.  She is a spiritual director, teacher, and retreat facilitator who specializes in the use of literature and writing for spiritual growth and ethical development.  Patricia is a graduate of Perkins School of Theology and Seminary of the Southwest.

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