Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com | CC BY-NC
Common element in Steve Jobs, Arianna Huffington, Millie Grenough, Karen Gomez:
a) creativity
b) crazy-busy schedules
c) meditation practice
d) all the above
If you answered d, you got it right.
Steve? Here's what he told his biographer Walter Isaacson:
If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there's room to hear more subtle things -- that's when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It's a discipline; you have to practice it.
Arianna confesses that she didn't recognize the craziness of her lifestyle till she woke up in in a pool of blood in her own office. Cause? Exhaustion and lack of sleep. Result? Arianna radically redefined her work schedule -- and her definition of success. The queen of social media now unplugs and builds mindfulness practice into her everyday schedule.
Millie -- that's hard-headed me -- didn't get it till a near-death bicycle accident cracked my head open. During months of recuperation I realized that unless I made changes in my frantic pace I wouldn't be around much longer. As I lay in my hammock to heal, the seeds of OASIS in the Overwhelm: 60-second strategies for Balance in a Busy World sprouted. Doing those simple strategies on a daily basis now helps me stay relatively sane in this crazy world.
Who is Karen Gomez? A Holistic Life & Wellness Coach and graduate of my OASIS Training Program. Karen teaches practical mindfulness to all kinds of people, from troubled teenagers and hard-driving entrepreneurs to elders with Alzheimer's.
And you? If meditation is not yet part of your daily routine, you can get a good start by following these tips offered by Karen:
- Select a place where you can sit, uninterrupted.
- Practice meditation for at least five to ten minutes in the morning and five to ten minutes at night.
- Sit in an erect and upright position on a chair or on a meditation cushion.
- Either close your eyes, or softly focus them on a spot on the floor about three to four feet in front of you.
- Heighten attention particularly to the out-breath, as you practice letting go of all thoughts and feelings.
- Repeat the process of maintaining attention on the breath, as it naturally comes in and goes out.
- Set aside time each day to develop a personal meditation practice. When undertaken with discipline, meditation can lead to clarity and peace of mind.
When you do this, you'll join the ranks of creative powerhouses like Steve, Arianna, Oprah, Soledad O'Brien, Jeff Weiner, and multiple others.
Don't have time even for five minutes?
No problem. You can pause anytime during a frantic day to do a 60-second strategy. As Rick Hanson says, a moment of awakening in the midst of overwhelm can ease you out of agita and open you to the big picture.
Unplug chaos. Plug in calm.
Give it a shot. Right now. Exhale...
Do it. You'll want more --