Janice Marturano's Blog, page 2
December 31, 2013
Compassion: a Fundamental of Mindful Leadership... and Life
What is the role of compassion in the workplace? Very simply, it is one of the four fundamentals of leadership excellence, of mindful leadership, and of living mindfully. And it can be a New Year's resolution that you can implement starting today!
November 24, 2013
A Mindful Season
The treasures that are right here, right now -- a measure of health, a family, a pet, a friend, a warm meal, a strong faith, the sounds of a beautiful piece of music, or the warm glow of a candle. The list is endless.
September 29, 2013
Leadership Burnout: A Simple Way to Re-engage
Is there a simple way to begin to support leadership development and cultivate the ability to lead with excellence? Happily, there is.
Janice L. Marturano: Leadership Burnout: A Simple Way to Re-engage
Is there a simple way to begin to support leadership development and cultivate the ability to lead with excellence? Happily, there is.
September 2, 2013
Simple, Daily Tips for Mindfulness at Work
This post is part of a series on Cultivating Leadership Presence through Mindfulness. The series will culminate in a four-day mindful leadership retreat in New York in October 2013. For more information, visit http://www.mindfulleadership.com/.
Mindfulness training is about your life. It isn't about the time you meditate on a cushion or chair. It is about learning to be awake for each moment of your life. So, bringing your training into the moments in the day is a necessary requirement.
The good news is that you can bring your training into everyday moments without adding any more demands on your already too-packed schedule. I like to call these moments Purposeful Pauses. It isn't just about stopping, it is about noticing what is here to be noticed when you stop. And it is about redirecting the attention when it takes off into the future or the past. This is a continuation of the attention training you experience when you are practicing meditation on your cushion or chair. These Purposeful Pauses allow you to step off the daily treadmill and perhaps find some spaciousness in the day to make more conscious choices.
Mindful Leadership and Wellness© Daily Tips from the Institute for Mindful Leadership
With each Purposeful Pause below, practice noticing when the attention drifts and redirect it back to where you are now.
Purposeful Pauses:
1. Choose to start your day rather than letting the day start you -- begin each day by noticing the sensations of the breath for a few breaths before jumping out of bed.
2. Use transitions wisely -- choose some days to drive to and from work without the radio or phone. When you arrive at your destination, allow yourself a few moments to sit in the car, noticing the breath.
3. Nourish yourself -- mindfully eat your lunch attending to the colors, taste and smells of the food.
4. Just walk between meetings -- no emails or texts -- feeling the feet on the floor, the air on the skin and the possibility of greeting colleagues you pass rather than bumping into them while you text!
5. Sit at your desk while your computer is turning on, noticing the sensations in the body as you sit.
Try one each day, what do you notice? What other Purposeful Pauses do you discover?
Explore and discover,
For more information, visit: www.InstituteforMindfulLeadership.org
August 19, 2013
Mindful Leadership: Being the Leader We Know We Can Be
This post is part of a series on Cultivating Leadership Presence through Mindfulness. The series will culminate in a four-day mindful leadership retreat in New York in October 2013. For more information, visit http://www.mindfulleadership.com/.
I was recently doing some research for my mindful leadership book (yes, I finally agreed to try to write one so 'Finding the Space to Lead: A Practical Guide to Mindful Leadership' will be published by Bloomsbury Press in January), and came across a wonderful quote that I wanted to share with all of you.
Indira Ghandi once said, 'You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose."
What a wonderful sentiment! It underscores the very essence of mindful leadership.
Our journey to develop the qualities of mindful leadership calls us to be present in this moment, to be 'still in the midst of activity'. Or, more accurately in today's world, in the midst of the chaos that often typifies our lives. As we begin to cultivate a practice to develop the qualities of mindful leadership, we begin to recognize the folly of believing that if we could just move faster, we would eventually catch up. If we could just find a way to attend all those meetings and calls that are double-booked and triple-booked on our calendars, it would all be fine. Really?
And even if we could do so, is that what is needed? Or, have we discovered that what is called for is the ability to take a purposeful pause and, in the space of those moments, make more conscious choices about what is noticed and what is needed? Isn't that what we always envisioned our leadership would be? We want to make clear, creative, compassionate choices on a consistent basis. Deep down we know we are capable of doing so, and yet, we also know that we fall short of the mark more often than we expect. It is easy to do when we are over-tired, over-booked and living our days in an auto-pilot haze.
We need to make a change. We want to be the kind of leader we know we can be. And so we practice, a little each day. We learn to stop, to be still, and to choose. And in the process, we learn about this innate, miraculous capacity 'to be vibrantly alive in repose'.
Enjoy the journey and pass along your insights!!
@JaniceMarturano
Janice@InstituteforMindfulLeadership.org
August 5, 2013
Welcome to the New Mindful Leadership Page on HuffPost
A mindful leader is someone who embodies leadership presence by cultivating focus, clarity, creativity and compassion in the service of others. These innate capabilities of the mind -- focus, clarity, creativity and compassion -- can be trained and strengthened.
Janice L. Marturano: Welcome to the New Mindful Leadership Page on HuffPost
A mindful leader is someone who embodies leadership presence by cultivating focus, clarity, creativity and compassion in the service of others. These innate capabilities of the mind -- focus, clarity, creativity and compassion -- can be trained and strengthened.
June 11, 2013
Power and Money: What Is Missing?
Last week, I had the privilege of being a part of a unique, all day gathering at the Third Metric: Redefining Success Beyond Power and Money. In many different ways, the panelists and the attendees spoke about the struggles of leading and living in today's 24/7 culture. It felt to me as though there was a consistent theme of 'something is missing in my life' and, more importantly, 'is there any way to find it?'.
What is the 'something' that is missing? For women, and for men, the something may be our own wisdom and our own intuition. They aren't actually missing, it is just that they get buried-by deadlines, projects, kids, parents, 24/7 connectivity, etc. And, even when they manage to break through all the confusion of the day, we often don't trust them. After all, they aren't based on the kind of thinking we were taught to develop and use for tough decisions, the thinking based on analysis.
Of course, we need our analytical mind but if all our choices are made without bringing our innate wisdom and our intuition into the picture, we begin to feel only partially here. We, in fact, are only partially here. It is only when we make conscious choices that use all of our capabilities that we begin to feel as though we are living our lives with excellence.
So, 'is there any way to find it?'. For many of us, by choice or necessity, we aren't going to make radical changes to our current way of life. But beginning to train ourselves to include our wisdom and our intuition doesn't require that we quit our job, change our career, or neglect our families. It can begin with the simple step of forming an intention to make 10 minutes of the day for a mindfulness meditation practice. Just sitting still and bringing your attention to the sensations of the breath. And every time your busy mind pulls your attention away from feeling the breath, just bring it back. When you allow the mind and the body to settle into the present in this way, you may be amazed at how easily you begin to notice your wisdom and your intuition.
Give it a try.... you may begin to find what is missing.
Janice Marturano
InstituteforMindfulLeadership.org
What is the 'something' that is missing? For women, and for men, the something may be our own wisdom and our own intuition. They aren't actually missing, it is just that they get buried-by deadlines, projects, kids, parents, 24/7 connectivity, etc. And, even when they manage to break through all the confusion of the day, we often don't trust them. After all, they aren't based on the kind of thinking we were taught to develop and use for tough decisions, the thinking based on analysis.
Of course, we need our analytical mind but if all our choices are made without bringing our innate wisdom and our intuition into the picture, we begin to feel only partially here. We, in fact, are only partially here. It is only when we make conscious choices that use all of our capabilities that we begin to feel as though we are living our lives with excellence.
So, 'is there any way to find it?'. For many of us, by choice or necessity, we aren't going to make radical changes to our current way of life. But beginning to train ourselves to include our wisdom and our intuition doesn't require that we quit our job, change our career, or neglect our families. It can begin with the simple step of forming an intention to make 10 minutes of the day for a mindfulness meditation practice. Just sitting still and bringing your attention to the sensations of the breath. And every time your busy mind pulls your attention away from feeling the breath, just bring it back. When you allow the mind and the body to settle into the present in this way, you may be amazed at how easily you begin to notice your wisdom and your intuition.
Give it a try.... you may begin to find what is missing.
Janice Marturano
InstituteforMindfulLeadership.org
May 22, 2013
The Most Precious Gift: Mindfulness to Lead and Live With Excellence
In the past year, I have been interviewed many times about the relationship between mindfulness and leadership. Why do we want to explore this training of the mind in the development of excellence? Is it to become better at our chosen career? It has the potential to do so. But is there, in fact, something more that is drawing us to explore this relationship?
In my experience, first as a corporate officer and now as the executive director of the Institute for Mindful Leadership, the answers to those questions can be found at the very fundamental level of what it means to be a part of the human family.
The very best leaders are passionate about making a difference. This is true whether they are leading a global organization, a small business, a team or a family. They are looking for innovative ways to meet what is here, and they often feel as though something is missing. They are people with bright minds and warm hearts. And when they, on occasion, stop long enough to listen to their own wisdom, they see, or perhaps feel, that what is missing is more of who they really are.
The "more" is the part of us that is often lost when we are living our overscheduled lives on "autopilot." It is the part of us that is hiding in our "success," all the while knowing that no matter how much money and recognition we receive, it will not be the way to let our full and true selves shine. And it is the part of us that knows we need to be connected to ourselves, those around us and our community to feel fulfilled.
But, how do we begin to find the "more"?
The good news is that the journey begins by rediscovering the mind's innate capacity to be present for our lives. It is not an outside tool or skill. We are born with the capacity to be present.
When we train this capacity of the mind, we are learning to cultivate the space we need to make conscious decisions about how we spend our time. It is in this space that we can bring all of our experiences, education and inner wisdom to the moment. It is in this space that we begin to reveal our humanity and embody our passion to make a difference, to lead with excellence.
We learn that our pursuit of money and titles and recognition will never be enough to make us feel whole. And we learn that the most precious gift, the one that can transform our lives from autopilot to fulfilling is, in fact, right here, right now.
Join the next mindful leadership retreat -- learn to lead and live with excellence!
Author of the upcoming book Finding the Space to Lead: A Practical Guide to Mindful Leadership to be published January 2014
In my experience, first as a corporate officer and now as the executive director of the Institute for Mindful Leadership, the answers to those questions can be found at the very fundamental level of what it means to be a part of the human family.
The very best leaders are passionate about making a difference. This is true whether they are leading a global organization, a small business, a team or a family. They are looking for innovative ways to meet what is here, and they often feel as though something is missing. They are people with bright minds and warm hearts. And when they, on occasion, stop long enough to listen to their own wisdom, they see, or perhaps feel, that what is missing is more of who they really are.
The "more" is the part of us that is often lost when we are living our overscheduled lives on "autopilot." It is the part of us that is hiding in our "success," all the while knowing that no matter how much money and recognition we receive, it will not be the way to let our full and true selves shine. And it is the part of us that knows we need to be connected to ourselves, those around us and our community to feel fulfilled.
But, how do we begin to find the "more"?
The good news is that the journey begins by rediscovering the mind's innate capacity to be present for our lives. It is not an outside tool or skill. We are born with the capacity to be present.
When we train this capacity of the mind, we are learning to cultivate the space we need to make conscious decisions about how we spend our time. It is in this space that we can bring all of our experiences, education and inner wisdom to the moment. It is in this space that we begin to reveal our humanity and embody our passion to make a difference, to lead with excellence.
We learn that our pursuit of money and titles and recognition will never be enough to make us feel whole. And we learn that the most precious gift, the one that can transform our lives from autopilot to fulfilling is, in fact, right here, right now.
Join the next mindful leadership retreat -- learn to lead and live with excellence!
Author of the upcoming book Finding the Space to Lead: A Practical Guide to Mindful Leadership to be published January 2014
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