How can you be your mindful best at work? Hear it from businesswoman Bhavna Toor

I was in my early thirties when I started asking myself certain existential questions with greater intensity than ever before—questions like who am I, what is truly important to me, and how do I make a bigger impact in the world. I didn’t have clear answers to any of these questions.

What I did have was the spiritual zeal to keep on searching through any means possible because I believed those questions held the keys to a life of greater meaning. That search eventually led me to a Vipassana meditation retreat, where you meditate for 10 hours a day, and for 10 days straight.

As I sat on the meditation mat, one thing became clear to me—that the quality of my life is going to be directly proportional to the quality of my mind. I can either let my mind wander wherever it wishes to go, or I can train my mind to focus on the present, and in particular, to bring awareness to how I am using each moment to either become a better version of myself, or to serve others. That is mindfulness.

Also, read: Here’s everything you should know about mindfulness and how to practice it

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You show up as your best self when everything about you—your actions, your thoughts and your beliefs—are in alignment with your highest ideals and values.

The process of clarifying your values is at the heart of mindful leadership, and requires a lot of deep introspection and contemplation, but once you have that clarity, your values become your anchor, your north star, because they keep showing you which direction you should move in. If we view everything in our lives as a potential vehicle of our growth, including and especially our work, not only does that imbue our work itself with greater meaning, it makes it more joyful as well.

At Shenomics, where my work is focused on supporting women to live and lead from within, being mindful has meant that both individually and collectively as a team we consistently take actions that align with our values.

Also, read: Meditation or exercise: What’s better for your mental health?

I deeply value my personal growth, because I know that unless I am not pushing myself to go higher, I cannot talk about or encourage others to do the same. Integrity, therefore, is the foundation I have built my company on.

How we do one thing is how we do anything, and for me, it is about approaching everything with the same spirit with which I approach my mindfulness practice – with the awareness of each breath and each moment, and with the choice to use each moment to elevate myself and others around me.