Body Lessons for Leaders: Communication
If you’ve ever heard “That meeting could have been an email,” you know that HOW messages are communicated within the organization is often more important than the message itself.
It can challenging to discern when and how to best communicate, and this becomes even more complicated as we layer in our own personal difficulties around communication and feelings around potential conflict. I’d love to offer one possibility to discern what communication is needed, which comes from our bodies. How does our body communicate with itself?
Our primary systems of communication within our bodies are the Nervous System and the Endocrine System. Before you schedule your next meeting or send the next email, I invite you to ask yourself “Does my message need Nervous System or Endocrine System communication?”
10 minute Mindfulness
We know practice is important to self-development and growth. But I know from personal experience, questions of "How do I structure the practice?"; "How long is the practice?"; "How do I find time to practice?" have kept me from just practicing. I'm experimenting now with creating tiny practices - here is the first in that experiment. 10 minutes to practice somatic awareness. This video includes a 6 minute guided meditation and 3 minute writing practice. Its a great way to start the day or the week; or to reset during the day when things have gotten challenging.
The Heart Feeds Itself First
TL;DR - right before your blood goes all around your body, enriched by oxygen it picked up on its trip to the lungs, the first exit ramp are coronary arteries - those are, the vessels that supply your heart muscle. What can we learn from the heart's design to feed itself first?
When you take a deep breath in, your lungs expand and your blood has an opportunity to let go of what is no longer needed - the residue of cellular processes, CO2 - and to take on Oxygen, the essential molecule for all of our cellular processes. The blood is moved into and out of the lungs by the heart. The story you know is that the heart takes that oxygen-rich blood and pumps it throughout our body*, attempting to reach every cell we have to deliver this essential package. What you may not know, is that the first place that receives this oxygen-rich blood is the heart, itself. That's right. Via the coronary arteries, the heart feeds itself first. Your heart ensures that it has all that it needs as a first order of business.
Two-track mind: how a neuroscience discovery can make you a better leader
"How can I take the time to show care for others when there is simply too much to do?" We are good people, and -- of course! -- we care about others, but the to-do lists get longer and time seems to fly by, as meeting after meeting makes it almost impossible to take care of ourselves, let alone the others on our team. It may be baffling to figure out how we can do the relating necessary to develop and sustain good working relationships while also getting all of our tasks done. I am here to tell you -- it feels impossible because it is impossible.