I will habitually step into the book store at the Singapore Changi Airport to browse and look out for any interesting reads that I can bring along for my trips. It was interesting to note that a book titled, “Mindfulness” was the #1 best seller in the book store for the two different times I was at the airport in the last two month.
With curiosity heightened, especially after attending a seminar which spoke about mindfulness, I decided to read up and find out more about this topic. I realized that due to the increasing stress levels in modern society, there has been a trend in organizations and for leadership to have a balanced approach. In the U.S. business world, interest in mindfulness is rising dramatically with mindfulness being taught and practiced in a growing number of organizations worldwide (including organizations like Proctor & Gamble, Apple, Unilever, etc.); in an effort to improve personal and professional effectiveness and overall organizational productivity. This practice involves being aware of your thoughts, emotions and understanding yourself and others through their perspectives.
This movement towards Mindfulness, has garnered over 300,000 peer reviewed scientific research papers showing benefits of mindfulness published by universities such as UCLA, Harvard, Oxford and Monash. In fact, the interest is so high that a Mindfulness in Business Initiative (by NYU Stern, NYU Global Spiritual Life and in partnership with the Institute for Mindful Leadership) has been set up to transform business leadership in the 21st century on a national and global level by integrating mindfulness into the core of how business schools train their students.
On the general education front, Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio published A Mindful Nation, and has received a $1 million federal grant to teach mindfulness in schools in his home district in 2012. Separately, in the year 2000, The Inner Kids Program, a mindfulness-based program developed for children, was introduced into public and private school curricula in the greater Los Angeles area.
“Mindfulness is that state of mind which reflects upon itself not to get caught in greed, hatred and ignorance, which cause suffering to yourself, to others or to both…” (mindful.org, 2015)
Being involved for the last decade with the 2000 year-old Asian metaphysical study of Bazi and Feng Shui which has similar roots to Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is intriguing to note that Mindfulness practice originates from the Asian culture. When I first wrote “Being Happy and Successful at Work and in your Career”, it was also encouraged by my mentors to explore from the angle of Asian vs Western Personality Profiling Systems, in the process I found astounding similarities in both the Asian and Western way of personality profiling….what a testament to “Great Minds Think Alike”.
If you would like to know your unique personality profile based on the time-tested Bazi – Asian personality profiling system, you can get the following personalized reports online:
Janet Yung (amazon.com/author/janetyung)
Feng Shui and Bazi Consultant. Author. Harmony Adviser.
