If you told me 4 years ago that I would be sitting down writing an article on the power of mindfulness I would have fallen around the place laughing but looking back now I was the exact person that needed it. I was highly stressed, impatient, judgemental, multitasking, jealous at times of other peoples success and racing through my day thinking I had it all worked out and that my way was the best way. Little did I know!
It took burnout for me to make the change that my heart and soul so desperately needed for years. I pushed my body with coffee, cans of coke and at times throughout the years little sleep. It really was inevitable that my body was eventually going to say enough. I was making mistakes on orders, my decision making wasn’t clear, my energy dropped, my relationships suffered and my leadership skills were questionable. All signs that my bodies battery was in the red and much needed rest and recharging was needed. I was ready at that stage for what would be a life changing experience.
When the student is ready the teacher appears and a mindfulness teaching and positive psychology course entered my life that was to be a game changer. With the body and mind getting the much needed rest it required things started to change. Daily meditation, journaling, gratitude, wholesome food, exercise, sleep and rewiring the brain through neuroplasticity really started to work.
Through daily mindful practice the brain fog started to lift, the impatience eased, the stress levels lowered and the judging and sometimes jealous Eric all retreated to the shadows. Mindfulness helped with me to take down the walls, be open and honest with myself and others.
I was lost and I didn’t know what my true purpose on Earth was. Thankfully I relented to the universe and the answers came through teachers, mentors and listening to the whispering voice that I would hear from time to time. The answers we all require are always there but the key is slow down and do the inner work. The old Eric was always trying to hide the true me but it’s only when I gave the new me the chance I really liked who I saw. When we are in the thick of it we become unaware of how bad the situation really is, we can become so transfixed on the end goal that we forgot to enjoy the journey.
Our bodies are amazing vehicles that transport us through our time here on earth but you have to ask the question why do we neglect it and not cherish it. We push them with stimulates and neglect our sleep to keep reaching, but what are we reaching for.
In business, sport and everyday life mindfulness is a must in my opinion to really bring the best out in you, it’s so simple but highly effective. Mindfulness changed my life from a burned out, lonely and unhappy man to the new man I see every day in the mirror with energy, passion and new love for life that I once taught was gone forever.
We all get the warning signs to slow down, please pay heed to the signs because if you don’t the chain will eventually snap. Mindfulness will give you the daily tools can you need for a better life, a better you.
