Throughout the Sojourn Partners blogs, I have touted the positive impact of mindfulness practice, both for the workplace and for the individual. There is another related practice that takes mindfulness as a foundation but then helps the mind open up to innovative thinking. The practice is to start with a few minutes of just noticing your breath. Specifically, become aware of its rhythm, being conscious of the coolness of the air on the inhalation and the warmth on the exhalation and/or the quality of sound of the breath throughout its cycle. This allows you to arrive into the present and to calm the nervous system. By doing so, it opens up the brain’s ability to creatively problem solve. Here you can ask yourself a question such as “What is a positive outcome I want to see?” Then watch where your mind goes.
You may find this to be a very productive shift, especially as ideas that may have not occurred to you before start to emerge. Anecdotally, I have had clients and students tell me that consciously uniting the mind and body has allowed them to access their intuition and better connect to their audience – whether it’s when writing an important email or developing a piece of impactful marketing material.
Please note that this practice of contemplation is not about letting your mind wander, especially as it moves into its usual litany of stressful thoughts. It’s about purposely using the calm and clarity of the mind that you have created through a meditative process to let your deeper thinking and understanding rise to the top of your awareness.