“Mindfulness is awareness of yourself in the present and the ability to choose what to focus on,” Sky Jarrett said during an Invest Human podcast. “It’s a space that allows you to choose your reaction to what is happening in the moment.” Sky was articulate, definitive, and everything I wanted to be. And what’s better? I know her.
Finally! I met my village in the corporate world. These people speak my language and walk the talk. While supporting the quarterly Human Capital Knowledge Sharing Call, my manager Margot told me to listen to this podcast. As I listened, I took some notes. Sky defined Cognitive Rigidity as being closed off and operating on autopilot. Mindfulness helps remove those barriers to operating to ones fullest potential. I could immediately relate to her example of driving to work and not realizing what happened from point A to point B (ironically, I was listening to this while driving to work).
Sky’s podcast appearance immediately brought me back to my Leadership AND blog. It’s amazing how much time I can let go by before getting back to what really matters. Like Sky said, mindfulness is a practice and we need to build our muscle for it. For me, mindfulness requires an ability to say NO to things that are not important simply to be helpful. Mindfulness requires me to focus on my path – the path to make global leadership development my full time career. Thank you Margot and Sky, for jumping in to my life to become my friends and help me be more mindful – at exactly the right time.