Was mindfulness drummed into you as a child, as it was to me?
“Mind the steam! …Mind the Gap! …Mind that’s sharp, you'll cut yourself!”
I think we need more of that sort of mindfulness, frankly. It forces us to stop, think, and go carefully.
[TL;DR We need both a sustained mindfulness on the potential consequences, while we maintain a narrow mindfulness for our self-care.]
G’day, Richard here.
In the self-care world, today, mindfulness takes on a whole different realm of introspection, a stillness, quietly not thinking. In fact, you'd be able to talk about what you're not thinking about, resulting in our being centered. Self-first, self-care, so that this body and mind and soul can engage meaningfully in the world. (…Super important, right?)
So, mindfulness has a narrow focus, on self-care.
Mindfulness also has a sustained focus, as we engage in a complex world (…right?)
There are all sorts of things going on in a volatile world, wars, and the like, but when there's mindfulness about complexity in work and personal life, it’s really about thoughtfulness.
- Do we see the systemic nature?
- Do we have that awareness?
- Do we feel a little more at ease with complexity? …because we've been mindful of the consequences.
- Do we feel a little more centered? …because we're working artfully together with others.
- Are we coming to these things with truth, beauty and goodness?
And, there's a whole lot of exposure, risk or danger inherent in these questions.
But the question around mindfulness (and how we hold these two states of mindfulness together) is: are we stopping, even momentarily, to think so that we can go carefully?
Now when my brother first joined the Navy, he was a quartermaster gunner. And he was drilled extensively, as you might imagine, in handling high explosives.
One saying drilled mindfulness into all they did: “It's safe until you forget it isn't.”
And I wonder if we need to drill ourselves in mindfulness. Becoming more aware of the whole we're interacting with, and mindful of the systemic consequences for planet, people, and for prosperity.
So, let's value mindfulness more. And take that little moment to stop, think and go carefully.
Let me know what you think about mindfulness. Drop me a comment. I look forward to talking to you again next week.
Take care, bye now.
Be mindful.
Richard
#NoProblemTooBig
#AnchorOnValue
#Mentor #Speaker #AntiComplexity