Self-discovery and empowerment are two powerful components of mindful leadership. Through empowerment you can achieve your greatest potential. Through self-discovery you become aware of your true potential, values, character, and motives. Mindfulness strengthens these two powerful tools of leadership and management.
The sacred spirit or life force energy is within us and around us. You can tap into the power of the universe, draw it in and use it to awaken our inner capacity for value based mindful leadership. We are not separated isolated beings, we are part of One Energy, connected to the vast universe. Mindfulness is our capacity to be touched by nature and beauty of the moment. Through mindfulness, we learn to see the wonder in small things—from a new leaf to a child’s smile.
Mindful Leadership and Self-Discovery
Self has many layers. Knowing the self is the beginning of mindfulness. What are my thoughts now? What are my feelings now? What is my experience now? Who am I? What are my dreams, and strengths? Experiencing these powers of the truth with minute to minute honesty with self is the core practice of mindfulness.
Mindfulness creates a positive mood, integrity, inner peace, inner strength, determination, and a warm heart. Researchers have identified that mindfulness enhances strengths, such as self-compassion, emotional intelligence, learned optimism, the relaxation response, self-esteem, distress tolerance, self-regulation, resilience, and executive functions.
Self-discovery is trying to discover who you are, your true potential, your purpose in life, and your core principles of life. It gives you the deeper sense of yourself and your unique role in the world. Self-discovery is a journey form unconsciousness to consciousness. As you are mindful about your true values and potentials, you will build up a great confidence and inner strength.
Mindful Leadership and Empowerment
Mindfulness based empowerment is the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights. Good leaders are characterized by their ability to empower themselves and their team members to achieve maximum success. Empowerment is gaining control over your own life. It is a process that fosters power in people for use in their own lives, their communities, and their society.
Mindful leaders have a more optimistic view of the ability to get good work from the team members. This belief makes them more likely to implement empowerment. Based on the recent studies of neuroscience, we can say that the brain takes its shape from what the mind rests upon. If you keep resting your mind on less-empowerment like self-criticism, worries, grumbling about others, hurts, and stress, then your brain will be shaped into greater reactivity, vulnerability to anxiety and depressed mood, a narrow focus on threats and losses, and inclinations toward anger, sadness, and guilt.
On the other hand, if you keep resting your mind, mindfully on self-empowerment of response, good intentions and positive qualities, then over time your brain will take a different shape. Strength and resilience will be hardwired into it. A positive mood, confidence, a realistically optimistic outlook, and a sense of worth will be developed.
Sometimes, it is important to challenge yourself mindfully so that you can demonstrate and achieve your full potential. Self-challenge, positive thinking, positive self-image, growth mindset and learning new things are the basic tools to enhance mindfulness and empowerment.
Key Points:
The mind plays an incredible role in leadership. Mindfulness improves your capacity for self-discovery and empowerment. Self-discovery will help you to know your thoughts, actions, preferences, feeling, values, beliefs, emotions, and tendencies. Developing mindfulness is a lifelong practice. If done rightly, it will improve your inner strength, resilience and leadership capacity, it will become your habit, and eventually a part of your identity.
Source:
1. Mindfulness Meditation for Corporate Leadership and Management by Dr. Amit Ray, Inner Light Publishers, 2017.