Being mindful does not mean being mindless!

Over the last year, I have delivered a series of workshops for a large company on mindfulness at work. In the workshops, I explored how people can use mindfulness techniques to live a productive life in and out of work.

Some might remember that I have a frustrating relationship with mindfulness. The current vogue of the positive psychology movement to push mindfulness as an object, a box to be ticked, is unfortunate. Mindfulness should be part of the process of how we live our lives, not as a product to be consumed. (Look at a previous post, “On the fad for mindfulness”, on this topic.)

I adopt a deceptively simple approach to counselling based on four key phases:

• explore what is (or has been) going on,
• reflect on those experiences,
• understand what has been happening, and
then
• choose the best-fit action that will work for us – and be adapted to meet future circumstances.

This series of blogs will follow the same pattern, looking at where we are as a society and as Persons, mixing theory and practice to help you choose the best fit for you to move forward and live your life as a person, not as an individual.

The distinction between our being a ‘Person’ and an ‘Individual’ is essential to understand all that I do and to understand why I emphasise living a productive life. (See here for a fuller explanation). We need to be more effective in our lives. To do this, we need to use good mindfulness tools that teach us to become more aware of what is happening around us. Which, in turn, allows us to gain perspective on those things that hold us back in our lives or the concerns that inflect stress and anxiety.

Becoming a Person means becoming mentally fit for living a rich and rewarding life in relationship with those around us working for the common good.