Are You Paying Attention?

In your daily life, do you find your mind wandering? Are you often so caught up in checking your phone or “doing” so many things that you’re not engaging with those around you? It can be difficult to be in the moment when you have a full schedule or other things on your mind. But if you’re not aware of what’s going on around you, are you spending your time wisely?

The essence of mindfulness practice is focusing on one thing in the moment—the breaths you take, the steps you walk, the sights or sounds around you. Mindfulness is a simple and very powerful practice of training our attention. There’s a moment of choice before we react to stress, emotions or pain. However, most of us are unaware of this stillness or space because we get caught in habitual patterns of reacting to life.

Practicing mindfulness helps us become more aware of our reactions and to relate to ourselves in a new way to interrupt these cycles, stop the chatter in our mind and create more choice in life. In doing the work, we can begin to realize we can break through patterns that may have held us back from living the lives we want.

BALANCE, an Open Enrollment Program by GAIA Insights, develops and engrains positive habits for your health and well-being, which help you deal with intense periods at work, and still have energy left for the activities and the people you love. Being present in your life is not just important for you – it’s important for your relationships. Your family will feel heard; you’ll spark emotional connection with your partner and friends when you turn off your phone or other distractions; and you’ll have more focus on living in the moment.

BALANCE will show you how to develop the vital leadership skill of striking and sustaining your individual balance, through a highly personalized journey with experts in physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Create and maintain your vision of balanced ways of living and working, for improved effectiveness and physical as well as mental resilience. Learning how to be present allows you to focus your energy on the task at hand, and when you focus on what you want, you can achieve it more effectively and efficiently.

BALANCE is also an opportunity to make a commitment to building new habits over a period of months. It takes this kind of repetition over time to form new patterns of thinking, working and living. BALANCE helps cultivate new ways of dealing with what goes on in your body, mind and life, and how to apply mindfulness to interpersonal communication. Beyond the program, living a balanced life means applying these skills to each part of your daily life.

By being an active participant in your life more often, instead of a bystander, you can develop a greater sense of purpose in your actions and connectedness to those around you. When you think about it, you realize that finding more joy in your everyday life is a reason in and of itself to start practicing being present. Learn how to be present – and live with passion and purpose!

Would you like a conversation about what BALANCE powered by GAIA Insights could look like in your organization? Contact James or Jus at transforming.leaders@gaia-insights.com

Authored by Claire Coulson, Executive Assistant
If you are curious to learn more about GAIA Insights, read about the world we’re dreaming of at Why Do We Do What We Do