Meeting Mindfulness

There is a difference between being mindful and practising mindfulness. One is a state. The other is a skill.

Self-awareness in a professional setting starts with a simple question: how am I showing up right now, and what is that communicating to the person in front of me?

Think about the last meeting you were in. Someone was presenting an idea they had clearly worked hard on. You were thinking about the next agenda item. Your face showed it. They kept talking but something shifted; they started wrapping up faster, qualifying more, taking up less space. You never said a word. You didn't need to.

That's facial expression. Unintentional, unspoken, and completely felt.

You reach the item you were mentally already at. A colleague raises a concern you have heard before. Your response is measured and the words are appropriate, but the pace is clipped and the tone has an edge. They heard the words. They felt something else entirely. Two different messages delivered at the same time.

That's voice. And most of us don't hear our own.

The meeting moves on. Someone is walking you through a problem they have been sitting with for days. Except you are already ahead, composing your solution while they are still explaining. They can feel it. They start leaving things out, shortening the story, wrapping up before they have finished. You miss the most important part because you were listening to respond, not listening to understand.

Now run the same meeting with one small adjustment to each.

You hold your expression open and present through the first presentation. They finish the thought they were building toward. You reach the next item and your words and tone are even and patient - your colleague says what they actually came to say. Further down the agenda you stay with the person explaining the problem, asking questions to better understand before thinking about a response. When they get to the part they were nervous to share, you look intently and smile encouragingly. They share it at their best.

Same meeting. Same agenda. Completely different room.

Small adjustments compound. The same mindfulness philosophy you have read a hundred times still holds, it just looks different in a boardroom than on a meditation cushion.

"As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life." - Buddha

These take practice. Real, deliberate practice. And they're worth it.

Which of these do you find hardest in a professional setting?