🧭 Why Mindfulness is the Answer, But Not a Silver Bullet

Good Day, and welcome to The Growth Compass. We are that favorite song that comes on the radio reminding you to be grateful, be present, and to have some joy today.

Here’s Where We Are Headed Today:

• Oprah on the Power of Mindfulness

• What Mindfulness Really Means

• How LeBron James, Arianna Huffington, and a School in Tennessee Practice Mindfulness

• Kobe Bryant and Other Experts on Mindfulness

• Free Mental Fitness Links 👇

• Quick Takeaways from Today’s Newsletter (TLDR) 👇

What Mindfulness Really Means

What it is: Mindfulness, at its core, means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and the surrounding environment. It involves acceptance, meaning you pay attention to your thoughts and feelings without judging them.

Why it matters: In today's fast-paced world, the ability to remain grounded and maintain a sense of calm and balance is invaluable. Mindfulness offers a way to reconnect with yourself, enhancing your ability to manage stress and fostering a greater appreciation for life's moments. The benefits include:

• Reduced Stress

• Enhanced Emotional Health

• Improved Focus and Concentration

• Boosted Immune System

• Improved Relationships

What the science says: The reference and passage below is from the Axios article How Tiny Stresses Pile Up

“One fascinating study found that if even a relatively minor social stress is experienced within two hours of a meal, your metabolism of that meal is disrupted, and the effect is equivalent to adding 104 calories to that meal. If that happens every day, it adds up to 11 pounds in a year, per Harvard Business Review.”

How to Make Mindfulness Real For You

Mindfulness is a muscle, just like any other muscle in your body. You can’t expect to sit down and start a meditation or mindfulness practice and be great immediately. It takes time. But by practicing mindfulness, you improve the actions you take in all other areas of your life because you are more self-aware and more equipped to perform.

1. Sports: LeBron James

• Lebron James uses meditation before games and during games to maintain focus, manage stress, and improve his concentration. It helps him stay centered and composed, both on and off the court.

• LeBron James also focuses a lot on sleep and his preparation for sleep. He has to get 8-9 hours of sleep every day. He will darken the room, shut electronics off 1 hour before bed, and use the Calm app to help him sleep. 2 of his performance pillars are:

  • Mental Preparation - How does anything outside of basketball have an effect on what he does on the court?

  • Recovery - “What are we doing today - and what are we doing now - to perform even better tomorrow?"

“Meditating helps a lot for me personally by taking a lot of deep breaths, closing my eyes and just centering myself and listening to my inner self.” - LeBron James

2. Schools: Warner Arts Magnet Elementary School

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in five American children struggles with anxiety. The information sourced on Warner Arts came from a NPR Article titled Schools Are Embracing Mindfulness, But Practice Doesn't Always Make Perfect.

• Warner Arts Magnet Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee is taking an innovative approach to mindfulness, where students are directed to a “BeWell” room instead of the principal’s office for misbehavior.

• The “BeWell” room, managed by teacher and yoga instructor Riki Rattner, is designed to be calming and includes yoga mats, toys, and soothing music. It serves as a space for students to practice deep breathing and emotional self-awareness.

• Riki Rattner also leads the school in breathing exercises twice per day. Warner Arts has seen improvement: Behavior referrals are down 80% compared to the same time last year.

"We've given them avenues to work on mindfulness," Principal Gibbs says, "to work on just calming themselves, getting to their center place where they can just be children."

3. Business: Arianna Huffington

• Huffington advocates for taking short breaks from the digital world to engage in meditation, suggesting that this can lead to significant insights and ideas.

• “I wish I’d appreciated just how powerful it can be to introduce just five minutes of meditation to your day. Eventually, you can build up to fifteen or twenty minutes a day (or more), but even just a few minutes will open the door to creating a new habit— and all the many proven benefits it brings.

• “I wish I’d known much sooner that sleep is a non-negotiable human need.”

This is great, but what are some simple ways to start a mindfulness practice?

Pro Tip: With any habit for yourself, your child, or your team, to make it stick you need to start small, make it easy, make it attractive, and have a specific trigger time. Don’t try to start with a 30 minute meditation, if you don’t think it will be sustainable.

Some ideas to get started:

• 5 minutes of body scan meditation in the morning

• 5 minutes of mindful walking outside in the morning

• 5 minutes of walking meditation after breakfast

• 2 minutes of focused breathing before you eat

• 1 minute of focused breathing before a meeting

• 5 minutes of focused breathing after work or school

• 5 minutes of meditation after work

• 5 minutes of mindful yoga or stretching after work

There are many great videos online to assist and some free apps to use are Calm, Headspace, and Insight Timer.

Summary: The purpose of mindfulness is to center you in the present moment, clearing away the clutter of past and future worries, allowing you to focus more clearly on the now.

Kobe Bryant and Other Experts on Mindfulness

That's a wrap for today. If you want to spread the joy, make sure to refer the newsletter to someone you think would benefit!