MARY E. VANDENACK Mary Vandenack, while a lawyer by profession, has studied extensively in mind/body areas of fitness and wellness. She is Yoga Alliance RYT-200, Power Pilates certified and ACE certified.
PRACTICING mindfulness TO ENHANCE
leadership skills
THERE ARE A LOT OF QUALITIES THAT MAKE GOOD LEADERS. PRACTICING MINDFULNESS CAN CULTIVATE THESE QUALITIES. ~ William Shakespeare Mindfulness is a practice of being fully aware in the present moment. Most mindfulness practices focus on paying attention to the breath, but the key to mindfulness is finding a way to be fully present in the current moment. Practicing mindfulness does not require that you have an hour to sit on a cushion or go to a yoga class. Mindfulness is all about focus and can be practiced anytime and anywhere. If you get stuck in a traffic jam, consider using that moment to simply focus. The benefits of mindfulness practice include improved mental focus, self-insight, cognitive flexibility, stress reduction, improved relationship satisfaction, and less emotional reactivity. You can learn to be more positive about activities and situations that are negative to you. Some suggest that we need to turn off all our devices to practice mindfulness. There are many proponents of “digital detox.” While there is research to support that turning off your devices now and then has a positive effect, the fact is that you can still get distracted when all your devices are turned off. That is, your cell phone likely isn’t the only possible cause of distraction. Once the phone is off, you might get distracted by any number of other things. You simply find space and focus despite incoming texts, emails and calls. There are a lot of qualities that make good leaders. Some of those qualities are focus, confidence, emotional intelligence, transparency, integrity and passion; and being inspirational, innovative, patient, decisive, open-minded, authentic, empowering, flexible and personable. No one leader is likely to have all of these qualities but practicing mindfulness can cultivate these qualities. Research provides significant support for the positive effects of mindfulness practices on emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence involves the ability to recognize one’s emotions and those of others and to distinguish among feelings and then use such information to guide thinking and behavior in a non-reactive fashion. Three key skills are emotional awareness, ability to harness emotions and apply them to tasks like thinking and problem solving, and the ability to regulate emotions of self as well as support others in regulating their emotions.
To achieve a mindfulness practice, it is important to make some type of commitment. Many of us don’t have an hour every day but we can set an app on our phone to remind us to breathe every few hours and commit to responding when the app alerts us. A key benefit to the leader practicing mindfulness is complete awareness of the situation as it exists presently. Often, goals are set without such awareness and assessment. Goals set in the absence of present awareness can be unachievable or unrealistic. A leader who sees the situation as it is can set reasonable and achievable goals and set up a situation where success can be achieved.
ENVISION YOUR FUTURE: PREVENT DISEASE DISCOVER HEALTH! YOU DESERVE A BEAUTIFUL, HEALTHY SMILE!
Dr. Stephanie Vondrak • Dr. Ashley Rainbolt Vondrak Dental (402) 289-2313 info@drvondrak.com
THE CHOICE IS YOURS! 37
mquarterly • SuMMer 2018