In many conversations and experiences in recent weeks I’ve been reminded that there are as many pathways to developing mindfulness awareness in the workplace as there are people. Of course this make sense: how can being conscious of the details of your own experience result from anything but profoundly individual ways of approach? It may be because the most visible form of mindfulness practice is silent meditation that we gain the erroneous impression that everyone’s doing just the same thing when they sit there with their eyes closed. Nothing could be further from the truth!

In my teaching and coaching, and in many recent conversations, it’s getting clearer to me every day: the practice of mindfulness really only thrives when it’s deeply rooted in who you are: the contours of your personality; your personal history; what you believe in; what your purpose is. The path to bringing mindfulness into your work, then, is to gain the intimate self-knowledge you need to find your ground. And then build a practice on top of that ground, so it can stabilize, and thrive, and grow.

On December 6 I’m offering my two-hour workshop on the basics of mindfulness for folks involved in technology delivery. In two hours we can cover some fundamental and important territory: what mindfulness is, why it’s so powerfully helpful, a few experiences to start with. But the most important question I can ask my students is “what foundation will you build mindfulness on?”

• Last weekend I participated in a lovely Day of Mindfulness taught by Richard Johnson of Mindfulness Northwest at Seattle’s Good Shepherd Center. Over 40 of us spent the day practicing a variety of forms of mindfulness, including sitting and walking meditation, gentle yoga, visualization, and sending compassionate intentions into the world. Layered on top of these varied forms of practice was the diversity of people participating: each of us had our own unique way of engaging in these activities, and the community experience was collaborative in the deepest sense.
• Last month I began a professional coaching certification program with the wise folks at Seattle Coach. Though this is not a mindfulness practice per se, I’m finding that coaching is very much focused on paying attention to what’s happening in the present moment, with myself and with my coachees. I selected this coaching program because it has an in-person cohort – I’m part of a group of eight that meets weekly for several months. Though we are just getting under way with peer coaching and group sessions, I can see already that the unique contours of each individual are very much coming to the fore. And through this experience I’m reminded again of the deeply unique, individual stories each person brings to their work, and to whatever practices they adopt to assist them in waking up.