What went well?

The progress I made; what was achieved and done

          During the first half of this week, I was down with a pretty dismal cold. On top of the physical discomfort of my symptoms, I ruminated over the precious time that I was losing out on my LIA.

          While my week began with a felt loss of power, the rest of my week ended up being vigorously empowering. On Wednesday, I smoothly ran my session on imaginative visualization meditation. I spoke about tapping into the childhood adventures in make-believe. One of the strong upsides of teaching this course is that which every session, I begin letting my brain marinate in important spiritual themes. These include the likes of gratitude, curiosity, and patience. As a result, in just doing my work, I end up experiencing an array of therapeutic insights that help me cope with my own neuroses. As I practiced visualization with the class, I found myself letting go of the stress that I’d bottled up during sickness.

          After my meditation session, I had the privilege of attending a community film screen from participants at the charity’s therapeutic film-making program. The program’s cohort was tasked with making short films to capture their mental health struggles, exercising agency in designed how to share their story. I was moved by all of the films, their harrowing content and inspiring creators. I could see how much this platform and forum meant to the participants, and I left that night with a fresh set of insights surrounding the importance community and empowerment.

          The other major highlight from the week was attending the Green Minds program (pictures seen below)—a monthly charity-wide trip to one of London’s parks, wherein we do a nature-themed activity together. This month, we ventured off to Kensington Gardens to do meadow sweeping. There are more insects involved than the name gives away!

          We used some nifty nets to sweep the meadows for insects to analyze under a magnifier. We learned about many of the insects that contribute to the choir of buzzing around natural spaces. While the insects were independently fascinating, my favourite part was learning about the plants species present. The latin name for yarrow is Achillea millefolium, as the park leader cued me in. Achillea refers to Achilles in the trojan war, who used yarrow to heal wounds from battle. Millefolium—which sounds awfully like the decadent French dessert mille feuille—refers to the thousands of leaves lacing its stem.

          When meeting the plants and insects, I experienced the same joy and feeling of being on my toes, as with meeting all the participants besides me. It’s as if my sense of community had extended further, now encompassing the flora and fauna around us.

.  . 

What could have been done differently?

Things that did not get done and/or could be changed

          I’m noticing that I have a slight resistance to completing me reflections, as evidenced by the date I’ve published this one. This is highly uncharacteristic of me, because I love documenting the gems of experience and ornaments of thought that emerge in my life. The reason that I’m struggling now is that life has aimed a firehose of meaningful experiences and thoughts at me. I don’t know where to start or end, as the stream comes in, because there is just too much to process.

          Because so many of my experiences carry a sense of sanctity, I feel a responsibility to do them justice in my reflections. Perhaps so much so that I feel guilty for letting highlights pass by without entering my analytical lens. I also put pressure on myself to be articulate and lucid in all my communication. Going forward, I need to become more realistic about the fact that sometimes there just is not enough time to compose a dazzling reflection. Having a cold is a one good way to learn that some times all coherence will fly out the window.

          I should remind myself: it’s okay to savor some moments in the present moment, without demanding that they last forever in your detailed records and reflections.

What did I learn about myself when working with others?

Contributions, behaviours and values I exhibited

          On Friday, I ran a virtual meditation session to reinforce the concepts discussed on the official Wednesday session. Since our week’s theme was visualization, I used an older guided meditation script aimed at resting within our body and space. It starts with the image of the subject chained to the ground by grass tendrils at all loci of tension. As they scan their body, imaginally snipping away at the grass, they are able to float up towards the sky, absorbing the restful starry plane. They return to the ground by the end, no longer chained, instead as freer version of themselves.

          Two of the participants attended this session and really sunk into the visualization. We spent the last half an hour debriefing, and we found ourselves having a profound exchange about therapeutic freedom and the addressing the guilt that may come with being well-rested. I’ve realize that as a course instructor, these kinds of honest discussions help keep ideas fresh and alive within your mind.

          I had no idea that one of the participants would be concurrently suffering from insomnia and workaholism. This restful meditation ended up being more appropriate for her context than I’d ever imagined when I composed the script before my time an Mind-BWW. The fact that we cannot always pre-empt the impact we have on others gives me lots more confidence in getting creative projects started.

What did I learn about leadership?

Leadership attributes and insights I developed

          Leaders need to be flexible and compassionate with themselves. A sick leader, especially so. When put in a position with responsibilities, it can be easy to feel guilty about taking breaks and rebelling against your schedule. It’s important to realize that being an under-rested overworked human being will not enhance your leadership, but primarily detract from it. Being sustainable with your work in the most important.

          The second takeaway that I have had surrounding leadership is also related to sustainability. Leadership becomes effortless when you begin to see the impact that you are having. Several of the participants recognized me this week, and felt comfortable enough to share that they enjoyed me company. These rewarding interactions make leadership feel like just being a human being.

          Put together, I’ve learned that the flavour of leadership that I’m interest in is: humane and sustainable.

What do I want to develop or focus on next?

What I still need to develop

          Going forward, I want to develop the skill of leading group meditations. Alina, my co-facilitator, is a trained yoga therapist, and it’s been incredibly useful to have her lead live meditations with the group. While online guided meditations have their place, when in a group, it’s best to hear the intonations and bodied vocals of three-dimensional human being.

          Like Alina, most meditation instructors do not use a script. They sit at the precipice of their mind, offering cues and prompts that emerge second before they speak. Yet, it all comes together in forming the basis for a robust meditative journey. This skill has the potential to expand my spiritual horizons and ability to connect with my fellow learners.