Meditation.. how to..

Many clients recognise that meditation is a way to increase balance, happiness, well-being, productivity, health etc.. but are not quite sure how to proceed.  Here are a few suggestions to get started:

These are things you can do anywhere (including office)

1. Breathe:  Sit or lie comfortably, and focus on your breathing. Perhaps use some words like "Breathe in, breathe out" to accompany the breathing. At work, just taking a few moments when one is ultra stressed, getting angry etc. to focus on this can be a real help!
2. Go to You Tube and find a relaxing video with ocean waves or other sounds / visuals.  Watch for 5-10 minutes. Also- focus on breathing at the same time.
3. Do an "appreciation exericse":  You think about (and feel) the gratitude you have for (a) all that you have, (b) all that you are, (c) all that is, (d) all that will be.

There are a million opportunities to learn about meditation... 

• Buy a book!  There are lots of books on meditation and how to do.  
• Buy a CD!  This can be just music (look up music that mentions Deep Alpha for example) or it can be an actual meditation/relaxation excericse like "Deep Alpha Relaxation Cycle" by Robert Kendall.
• Go to You Tube and type in "Meditation".  There are lots and lots of examples, training, guided meditation in all sorts of languages. 

If you have a favourite support for effective meditation, please do share! 

How to flourish!

4 main categories of Mental Health

According to a report created by NEF (www.neweconomics.org), the general population's mental health is broken into 4 categories:

1. Flourishing
2. Moderate Mental Health
3. Languishing
4. Mental Disorder 

There are 5 steps to move from languishing up to flourishing and to maintain a flourishing state:

1. Connect: With the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.
2. Be Active:  Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness.
3. Take notice: Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.
4. Keep Learning:  Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.
5. Give:  Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

Exercise:

Look back at your last week.  On a scale of 1-5 (1= did little or nothing, 5=did tons in this area, would be almost impossible to do more), evaluate how much time you spent doing each of the actions above. Choose one area (with a clear action) to improve for next week.  Be very clear what action you will take, when, and what you need to make it successful). 

How might you incorporate this into your 10 daily habits?

Update on Six Sigma Green Belt Training

Yes.. there is a plan to hold Six Sigma Green Belt Training in Switzerland in 2012!

If you are interested, please leave me your email address or telephone number or
contact Michaela Müller at MM@Process-Insight.co.uk / +44 (0) 7738313499.

Freedom - is it a disappearing ideal?

As I listen/read the news, I am increasingly frightened at how freedom seems to be a disappearing ideal. 

• Have the governments of our western countries forgotten they are here to serve the people and not the other way around? More of our taxes go to supporting our governements, who are getting bigger, not smaller. More and more laws are being created. Most of the laws create more and more restrictions on us. One piles on top of the other to justify even more people being hired by goverments to control it's people...  By the way... have you ever seen a socialist government that actually downsizes or creates more freedom?
• Have us, the people, forgottent there is only one person that can ensure we have a successful and happy life, and that is ourselves?  With freedom of choice - comes responsibility for the consequences  and morality of those choices. It is not the company that I work for, nor the government, or anything else that is responsible for my happy (or lack there of) life...  It is me and only me. There is also a civic responsibility that comes with freedom of choice. and most of us (me included) seem to have forgotten this..  
• Have our religious leaders forgotten that it is our personal choice in which religion we put believe .. or not...  And it is a huge sign of civil and moral responsibility to chose to respect others beliefs.   

I am not sure what to do with these thoughts. However.. they are bubbling around in my head, heart and gut... so, perhaps they just need a bit more time on the back burner of the "thought stove" to come together in some clear course of action. 

It is obvious there is a price for freedom, but the price of lack of freedom seems to me to be far greater.

The philisophical definition of Freedom: the power to exercise choice and make decisions without constraint from within or without; autonomy; self-determination. (From the dictionary.com)

Black Horses: Now we are free

Six Sigma Green Belt Certification in Switzerland!

I have had about 6-7 calls in the last month asking for Green Belt Certification in Switzerland.  This is rather strange as I have not had any such calls in years.  

If you are interested in attending a week long 6 Sigma Green Belt Certification program in Switzerland, please do let me know by responding below.

I personally do not run such courses but there is a LEAN Six Sigma company who would be interested in running such a course this year, if there are 8-10 participants.

Interesting discussion on motivation and engagement

Interesting video on you tube...  all about motivation.  Basically, once we have enough money where money is not a a major issue, we are motivated by three things.  These things also therefore drive up engagement...

1. Autonomy (self direction)
2. Mastery (becoming better at something)
3. Purpose (working toward some huge ideal - not only profit).

Dan Pink's speech on Motivation

Hmmm....  what might this mean for us individuall, as a team, as a company, as a society?

Interesting food for thought.

Changing your decision making style

Have just read " The seasoned executive's decision making style" published in the Harvard Business Review in Feb 2006.  Wow... how I could have used this insight when I was a manager. 

It basically states that when we are a first time supervisor, success is helped along by being very decisive and action orientated.  As we move up the ladder... there is a point where that style of deciding is no longer the most effective. Being flexible (adapting to the situation) and integrative (involving others more) becomes more useful. 

So, lesson to learn... when you are beign promoted - think very carefully about what got you promoted and then think about what you need to be successful at this new level and be very wary of answers that say "more of the same".

There is a lot in this article that could help in one own's career development, in hiring, and in developing leadership over time.

Rambling thoughts from Australia...

I am really gratefull to have been invited and to have been able to do this trip with my sister-in-law. Great experience all round and I met some fantastic people (in our group and in Australia!).

• Learning about other cultures is RICH if one is open (I really enjoyed learning about the aborigonal culture).
• The east is where it is at! Singapore is a solution place, not a problem place... If I was younger... I might want to work there for a few years (although it would be hard to ski tour from there...).

It does seem possible to combine a relaxed approach to work and productivity/value creation.

 

It is hard to take in Australia:  It is huge, it is really different, yet sometimes it is really similar to what we know.  We get lulled into thinking we know it!

 

The young person's working VISA is a great idea!  Wish I had taken advantage of something like this when I was young.

 

Bad health (at least the impression of it) does not disappear when one has a state run health system.. 

 

I was surprised at how EXPENSIVE Australia appeared to me.

 

I think we should all travel around the world as part of our education...  that would be a good part of globalisation. 

 

All airline staff should be made to travel on Singapore Airlines in Economy Class and then compare that experience to their own service... 

 



Link of space and communication

On one side, space is being reduced...

• The average m2 per employee is currently 8.5.
• This is expected to drop to 4.5 m2 per employee in the next 10 years.
• Studies show that the less space people have, conflict soars.

On the other hand,

• Studies show that closeness in offices increases collaboration and employee satisfaction

So how close is good and how close is too close?
Are we managing this proactively for ultimate results or are we victims of not paying attention?

Wow! A trully new approach to Performance Management!

Check out this product! It is really a super idea!  Do performance management all the time, instead of just once, twice and if you are really lucky, 3 times per year!  I think this would tackle many problems with performance management and motivation/engagement!

http://rypple.com/

If anyone has used it, would love to hear about how it works!