Become a Mindfulness Advocate
Here’s how you can support mindfulness for yourself and others as we move into the future.
In addition to emphasizing the importance of physical health, this year has really highlighted the importance of our mental and emotional wellbeing. In response, many people and organizations are turning to mindfulness. This means that more research and resources are available about mindfulness than ever before, making mindfulness education and practices available on an unprecedented scale.
We ultimately believe this is a good thing, and we want to make sure this trend continues as we move into the future. How can we ensure that mindfulness remains a priority in our personal and professional lives? And how can we continue to expand the accessibility of mindfulness practices and education?
Each of us has a role to play in preserving this emphasis on mental and emotional wellbeing. Here are some ways you can help raise awareness and advocate for mindfulness in different areas of your work and your life.
In Your Daily Life – Cultivate a Personal Mindfulness Practice
When it comes to mindfulness, we can often teach best from our own experience. By developing your own mindfulness practice – however that looks for you – you’ll be better equipped to have authentic conversations about the importance of mindfulness and its role in your life. This in turn can help guide and inspire others toward living more mindfully.
Developing a mindfulness practice is all about finding what works for you. You can choose one thing to do more thoughtfully each day. You can continue to learn and to educate yourself on mindfulness. You can find a teacher that resonates with you. You can also work with a mindfulness coach to explore your attitudes and beliefs around mindfulness, and identify a practice that works with your lifestyle to achieve your goals.
In Your Career – Develop Mindfulness Skills for the Future of Work
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the livelihoods, workplaces, and career skills of the future could look very different from how they do now. In order to navigate this, we each need to develop the ability to manage increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) in a rapidly evolving world.
Mindfulness is a crucial competency for the future of work. By cultivating mindfulness, you will be better prepared to address the challenges of the future of work more successfully. There are many resources available for continuing to build your mindfulness skills. At WorkMinded, our offerings are designed to develop mindfulness skills specifically for the future of work, including our mindfulness course on managing change.
In Your Organization – Be the Example of Mindfulness at Work
Research continues to demonstrate the connections between mindfulness and organizational outcomes. Whatever your role, and whatever the shape and size of your organization, you can raise awareness of mindfulness and advocate for more mindfulness in your workplace.
Start the conversation with your colleagues and bosses by requesting to add short mindfulness activities to meeting agendas. Gather a group of people interested in mindfulness for an informal lunch-and-learn. Find ways to share your favorite mindfulness resources with others, such as on a message board or team chat. Our workplace mindfulness toolkit is also available for a deeper dive into the factors that make mindfulness programs more successful within organizations.
In Your Community – Start the Conversation around Mindfulness
We believe that people and societies need to prioritize mental wellbeing as highly as we prioritize physical wellbeing. This includes making it okay to talk about mindfulness and emotional health, both at home and at work. It also includes continuing to find ways to make more mindfulness more accessible to more people.
Start by sharing your favorite resources with your community and networks. You can also get real about your own challenges with mindfulness, like feeling distracted or struggling to find time to keep sessions – how you handle these challenges in your daily life might be just the example someone needs to get started themselves. We offer plenty of free resources to help learn more about mindfulness, including our WorkMinded podcast and the 7x7 Mindfulness Challenge.