Imagine a world where every negative thought was caught in its tracks and rerouted. Statistically, our brain processes 60K+ thoughts and guess what, 80% are negative. They linger and eat away at us, hurt our productivity and destroy relationships. Many of course creep into our lives outside of our formal work environment, but in a world that carries work in our “pocket”, it’s nearly impossible to take these emotions out the workplace. Therefore, it’s even more important to create self-awareness around our reactions and interactions. Turning a potentially negative situation into a reflective or positive one is actually disarming in a good way. This is the thinking behind the 1-hour introductory session I attended last night at the Hollister Institute - Unlocking the Mind, facilitated by Kip Hollister and Zlatko Kanda. Zlatko, who traveled from Cyprus to join the session has many gifts and in this session played the role of an intuitive coach using his own life experience as a backdrop to the role play. In this exercise (just a tease) we are first asked to share a negative experience with our nearby participant – whoops, the floodgates open!
Thankfully there is a cure. We can choose to reframe the situation be exercising higher awareness and consciousness in our approach or response. As Kip Hollister reminded the group last night, the heart is the only organ that is not subject to cancer – a statement that resonates in both the physical and metaphysical sense.
On top of that, conflict is uncomfortable. Albeit, it is sometimes necessary, but the exercise in which I was a participant, demonstrates that pushing back and finding a positive framework can yield surprising results. Full disclosure, I am not a formal meditator, nor have I studied the psychological aspects of this type of exercise, but the logic and experience are there to support moving our society in this direction through coaching and workshops such as this one. This workshop continuously moves from the comfort zone of a meditation room to the reality of what we face every day in our work and personal lives – making it actionable.
Unlocking the Mind – Intro Session
A key point that resonated with me is that there is no one size fits all for how to execute a form of meditation. It does, however, take a leap of faith to give this a try. Not everyone will get on board, but for those who hold back, they are missing an opportunity to grow. As part marketer, part artist, I do get great opportunities to meditate in my walks on the beach, nighttime hours creating in my studio, and days in the kitchen pulling together all the pieces of a dinner party. I also highly value my yoga practice several times a week. In this session, I was glad to see a roomful of professionals who were willing to put aside their normal end of day rush home through traffic and spend an hour reflecting on how to put the right brain in full gear!
In a world that carries work in our “pocket”, it’s nearly impossible to take negative emotions, regardless of where they originated, out of the workplace. Re-framing our actions, reactions, and interactions requires a conscious effort. This is the core of the Hollister Institute “Unlocking the Mind” workshop.
