Natalie Rekstad, founder and CEO of Black Fox Philanthropy. Delegate and contributor to the Skoll World Forum; Ashoka Arab World; the World Economic Forum, and chosen to be a delegate at TED 2022 in Vancouver, B.C.
We are human ‘doings’ – we like action, we are wired for action – but at our core, in our stillness, we are human BEINGS and is where we recharge. It has been my slow learning, decades-long learning, to trust just ‘BEING’ and the magic is that doing so (being so) has enabled me to be far more effective on so many levels, most of all as a visionary and one who can lead vs. being in some of the trenches where I have no business being.
Part of my awareness and one of the most unexpectedly rewarding practices in my life has been the practice of meditation. The benefits have been felt in my personal and professional lives. Many people who don’t meditate write the practice off as New Age hippy stuff, but meditation, in many forms, including mindfulness meditation is said to come with a host of benefits to wellness and productivity. Today mindfulness is quickly becoming a billion-dollar industry and it’s no surprise, that the popularity of meditation – one way to practice mindfulness – is growing among CEOs and senior executives. Meditation is becoming a daily habit for many of the most successful people in the creative and business worlds.
Leadership in the social sector frequently demands hard work and long hours, which can result in diminished effectiveness and burnout. In response to this, we produced a session for the 2021 Skoll World Forum’s Wellness Hub entitled ‘From Burnout to Bliss’. The session focused on how to shift your mind-set and approach, and accomplish more for your mission in a sustainable way.
The session also featured a guided meditation designed to help participants attract the funder/grantee alliances you seek, while grounding you in sustainable practices to maintain both your mental and physical health. While the meditation is focused upon and mentions the Skoll World Forum, it can be repurposed to any environment or situation.
Meditation comes through daily practice, where the consistency turns meditation into second nature. The research on mindfulness suggests that meditation sharpens skills like attention, memory, and emotional intelligence. There have been many research studies that have shown that meditation has the potential to decrease anxiety, thereby potentially boosting resilience and performance under stress. Regular mindful meditation among project teams, offices and departments has lasting benefits, including building stronger bonds between employees, increasing productivity and increasing prosocial behaviour.
There are many other business benefits of mediation:
- Meditation has recommended for enhancing empathy and compassion. It boosts emotional intelligence and brain-imaging research suggests that meditation can help strengthen your ability to regulate your emotions. Research in the US is being conducted about its positive affect on prosocial behaviours, leading to reduced prejudice; the initial findings are positive.
- Studies on creativity suggests that we come up with our greatest insights and biggest breakthroughs when we are in a more meditative and relaxed state of mind. This is likely because meditation encourages divergent thinking, a key component of creativity.
- We are also learning more about how group meditation builds community and compassion for others. This awareness of others is incredibly important in managing a team and making smart business decisions that positively impact your industry and society as a whole.
- An immediate and long-proven benefit of meditation is reduced stress and a decreased level of cortisol in our brains and bodies, this means it can reduce burnout.
From my experience meditation is a core part of being human and it has been practiced and handed down for centuries. We should not undervalue how important even a short and simple engagement in meditation practice can be, especially within our current, hectic daily lives; it will help us to live a fuller, more sustainable life!
Read More from Sangeeta Waldron
