Samurai Mindfulness for the Community & Business Leader

A high level of mindfulness is required for us to operate at our highest and best during these stressful times. Otherwise we run the risk of being stuck in confusion and frustration by the intensively changing terrain.

The MINDFULNESS Practice … of the Samurai Leader offers a detailed glimpse into the foundation and application of these practices. It illustrates ways to pragmatically apply mindfulness in a scope of challenging situations, based on 4 decades of experience in my personal life, as well as in work with clients.

Our natural state as children is a flowing mindfulness. As we feel safe and cared for, we are wide-eyed while fully engaged in observing and responding to life.

Fast forward, and over the past 75 years the scope and pace of change has increased beyond measure.

In effect, the current conditions are severely impacting our social, financial, political and ecological systems. Our community’s are stuck in a mudslide of chaos and confusion.

It is crazy-making, and exhausting, to be - stuck - in the cross-hairs of a daunting situation that has to get resolved.

But our situation is not self-correcting. And there is no safety net.

The human experience is designed to learn and grow through challenges. We have been doing this for longer than we realize.

So in response to our current challenges, we're being called to rapidly develop more of our 80 - 90% unused potential - to enable an expanded capacity for regaining the calm and clarity needed - to stop the bleeding and progress toward solutions.

The MINDFULNESS Practice … of the Samurai Leader

The Samurai Leader of centuries past was tasked with learning - and mastering - the practices that enabled him and her to calmly and clearly lead their communities through challenges that were immediately, and vividly, life threatening.

Can you imagine developing the capacity to progressively face your situation with calm and clarity?

Mindfulness: 8 key points and applications

1. My search for … finding a way to calm my emotion/anxiety and clear my thinking, so I could stop defeating myself, … was born during my college wrestling days.

I loved wrestling. Looking back, it inspired me to show up at my best - spiritually mentally, emotionally and physically.

However during the conference tournaments, I would compete in 5 matches over 3 days. The intensity of the high level competition wore me out. I had difficulty eating and sleeping. So by the finals I was exhausted and underweight. I was a shadow of myself.

I realized I needed to discover a way to deal with the increased challenges w/o getting frozen in fear. Otherwise being stuck in the shadows could be the story of my life when I was just beginning to uncover the vision of my life’s-dream.

2. Simply said, mindfulness is about … easing from the pace and pre-occupations of life in the 21st century into into a slower pace with quiet and stillness. This allows more access to our heart consciousness and intelligence. The pragmatic conditions are created for greater awareness about what we are experiencing in the present moment. In effect, we are then able to sense the playing field, along with ourselves, more clearly.

3. The basics … are simple, with levels for developing progress.

Some guidelines include: focusing your awareness in the present moment, by simply being aware of what you are observing and experiencing without thinking or judgment (as best you can). It's also fundamental to be aware of, and actually experience, your breathing.

4. Developing consistency … is essential for fortifying the foundation from which to realize and progress through the endless challenges.

My day wakes up with a period of mindfulness. It helps set the tone for my day. If this is new to you, I recommend starting with 5 minutes while progressing to 20 minutes or more.

In my morning practice, I’ll be quiet and mindful for an hour. Several of my client’s and colleague's do likewise. We find it's a difference maker. So we create the time to do it. As with anything new, it’s necessary to get started, into progressing 1 step at a time.

I’ll repeat a mindfulness practice for a few minutes throughout the day. For example, I’ll focus quietly for a moment of mindfulness before every appointment, as well as before every meal.

I’ve found doing this consistently reinforces a mindfulness foundation throughout the day for being refreshed and maintaining clarity.

It also creates reference points for noticing when being preoccupied or unsettled about something. This alerts me to engage in one of the many practices for dealing with whatever I’m experiencing. For example, simply getting up and moving around for several minutes, while breathing mindfully and fully, helps restore clarity. So I schedule 3 walks of 15 minutes every day.

Becoming consistently mindful, regardless of circumstances, requires an ongoing commitment and discipline. It is a process that is developed and matured over time, step by step.

5. Going deeper … let’s glimpse into 3 of a series of practices for going deeper in developing the capacity to be calm and clear when facing challenging situations.

NOTE 1: These successive practices are simple yet not easy, requiring consistency and support to master.

First practice: Sit facing another person. You both have your eyes closed. With awareness of each other, continue to sit for an extended period w/o movement or drowsiness. It will be surprising to discover the various reactions you experience until you develop the alertness and stillness to complete this practice.

Second practice: Sit facing the other person. This time you both have your eyes open while simply looking at each other. To begin, you might do this in brief cycles. Continue until you can do this practice w/o loss of attention, excessive blinking or movement, for 2 hours. As with the first exercise, you will be more than surprised to discover your multitude of mental, emotional and physical reactions until you master this process.

Third practice: Sit facing the other person. They say things to you to provoke a reaction. Your focus is to sit and watch them with alertness, w/o getting distracted in any way. The other person attempts to find your “buttons”, things that cause a reaction. The purpose is to learn to be fully attentive and calm w/o getting distracted.

NOTE 2: Completing these, and the successive practices, enables your “personal presence” for progressively facing your situation with calm and clarity.

NOTE 3: Personally, I continue to apply these practices weekly. For several years, I've facilitated these practices virtually.

6. When overwhelmed … we are fully absorbed in our concerns and fears about our situation.

Decompressing in the heat of the moment-hour-day is a vital cornerstone for the Samurai Community / Business Leader. You are human and being on the front lines can create ongoing stress.

When overwhelmed, your body is tense and breathing is restricted. For many community leaders, this is their "normal condition”. When you need the clarity for seeing yourself and the playing field clearly, you are locked in tunnel vision. Your focus is a blur and overwhelm demands your attention.

So what to do?

The first step is to get out of the environment where you are experiencing overwhelm, even if for a few minutes.

The key point is to do things to get your mind out of the fixed focus on your concerns and fears. It can seem impossible to let it go. You can be so deep inside your preoccupation that it’s difficult to even see what’s in front of you when walking across the room.

There are several strategies I’ve found useful for breaking through being severely stuck about something.

My first action of choice is going for a walk, in a very focused!! and structured!! way. This process is so simple but initially requires discipline and support. When practiced consistently, it can be surprisingly effective.

Simply said, it involves going outside and walking slowly - the walking part is important - while simply looking at things. Just look and sense the solidness of what you are looking at, w/o thinking about it.

Here’s a Personal Illustration to describe this practice.

Some years ago, I was going through a crisis of transitions. It involved both my marriage and my work. It seemed like nothing was unaffected. I was deeply wrapped up in think-think-think about all of it. My emotions were frozen and my body was tense.

What I did every day was go for a long walk. As best I could, I looked at the trees, buildings, big rocks, and things that had a big physical mass. I did this 2x a day for 30 minutes, doing my best for simply being mindful of the physical objects, w/o thinking about them.

This outer focus helped release the inner intensity of my attachment to the think-think-think about my situation.

Initially, during these walks, I felt emotionally and mentally dull from the overall pressure I had been experiencing. Often I didn’t feel like continuing this practice. But from experience, both personal as well as with clients,I knew this process worked, though not overnight. It's a progressive process. So I scheduled these practices daily as needed, and disciplined myself to do them.

There are variations to this practice.

For example, when feeling especially overwhelmed,, I’d have a colleague or friend walk with me. They would direct me to “look around and find something that is not overwhelming”. With this structure and support, I would look around until I found something that was not overwhelming to me. They would repeat this directive until I progressively let go of the preoccupation of what was overwhelming me. I would schedule these practices as needed.

These simple practices make a difference.

For community leaders in ongoing crisis situations, I recommend doing these practices on a daily basis.

I continue doing them myself when going through stressful situations.

Also recommended is a high level of personal self care, as well as strategies for dealing with difficult or impossible situations, along with creating a circle of support based in trust and alignment of purpose (… illustrated in several prior articles).

7. The biggest challenge … is actually applying this information.

I often hear from new clients that, for years, they have been wanting to incorporate mindfulness into their lives. They’ve read about it and have wanted to do it. But they haven’t done it.

They describe being too busy with the endless demands they feel about helping people in their personal and work lives.

The challenge of generating needed change, while stuck in dealing with daunting situations, can seem impossible

“When doctors tell their patients they will die if they don’t change their habits, only 1 in 7 will be able to do so”, per Robert Kegan’s book, Immunity to Change.

Remaining stuck when something is screaming at you to change, or else, is not rational or life maintaining. But it is a perverse dilemma, and it is more common than we may realize.

Which one are you? Are you the 1 in 7?

8. Creating the bridge … for generating the mindfulness of a samurai leader in your personal and work life.

Decide to do it … 100% commitment.

Reach out for support, including someone in your inner circle, as well as someone with experience in mindfulness practice.

What continues or intensifies in your challenging situation if you don’t change in some way? This is a necessary step for fully realizing the actual impact on you and your situation if nothing changes. When you can do this, you can change.

Continue using your supports as a sounding board, with accountability, as you start and progress through the steps for developing the mindfulness of a samurai leader in your personal and work life.

I hope these articles inspire and guide you to create changes that will make a difference in your life.

I look forward to your comments and questions which can help shape future articles.

Email is the best way to communicate with me.

The FORTHCOMING ARTICLE, Follow Your Heart .. Through Life’s Challenges, Part 2, will be posted on September 13th. It will speak about life-changing challenges I faced several years ago - describing ways that enabled me to walk through the challenges, along with demonstrating practices that guided me to realize and follow my heart’s intelligence. These practices are illustrated in my second book, Unwavering Heart: 5 Keys to Living Your Destiny.

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Unwavering Heart: 5 Keys to Living with Fierce Authenticity, 2014

Unwavering Heart: 5 Keys to Becoming your Destiny, 2017