I have to be honest, I wasn’t in the mood to listen to another speaker on mindfulness today especially one I never heard of, Jono Fisher of the WakeUpProject.com.au, a community of over 100,000 people celebrating mindful leadership and living, which he founded. But it’s only day four, too early to skip a day. Boy I’m glad I tuned in. I loved hearing what he had to say. Plus, he and the interviewer, Melli O’Brien, are both from Australia and have the coolest accents!
They both talked about how mindfulness and meditation are so experiential and often hard to translate into words. He said he experiences a great sense of rest, really sinking into his body, and feeling more grounded overall. Things become simple and manageable and there’s a sense of more space and his heart is much more open. He’s more kind to self and then feels more integrated and whole and more connected.
They both also talked about how mindfulness can be accessed in many different ways. For example, he said when he hears people (mostly men) talk about their experiences fishing, it sounds like a form of mindfulness, or for some people, swimming. He said that he finds that animals, just by nature, are very present. When he has his arm around a dog he can feel himself synching up and being very present. All of these– forms of mindfulness.
He talked about going from the corporate world to being a nanny for twin 6-year old boys for five years to creating the WakeUpProject community. He said there came a time when he said, “I feel like we’re sleepwalking and I wanna be a part of our not being that way.” He said he felt like many people were hungry for something deeper in their lives and believed the lie that if they got something outside themselves, they’d feel good. In actuality, it’s the opposite. He wanted the community to be a celebration of the good and best qualities of human beings.
Ok, I got this far in my blog yesterday and my back went out so I stopped here but want to tell you that he went on to talk about “mindful masculinity” and “conscious capitalism” — worth checking out.
We are all in this together 