When I felt the cold water under my feet, my first reaction was panic. It was dark, five minutes past 5:00 am, as I went to the kitchen to prepare some tea. This is my routine every morning–enjoy a cup of tea before sitting for forty five minutes in meditation. All I felt in that moment, however, was a cold floor, wetness everywhere, and a terrible sense of danger in the deep darkness. Only much later I realized what had happened. In the middle of the night, a pipe had burst, transforming my kitchen into a swimming pool.
In that morning darkness, in the state in between dreaming and awakening, I wanted to scream. My first reaction, without a clear picture of where I was and what happened, was to run out of the kitchen. After catching my breath, I turned on the light and investigated the origins of that mess. I saw the leak, turned off the key to the water, and slowly proceeded to clean up. By the early light of dawn, things were looking like a normal morning again. The more I investigated, the more I realized I could now take care of the rest of the day. I got dressed and went to work.
At work, I thought about the many times in our lives when a bursting pipe, an unpredictable mess, sends us into a moment of panic. How easily we tend to make rushed decisions, overreact and press the “fear” button even before we can clearly see what happened. Fear is a main obstacle to clarity. A mindful leader can see when an unpredictable event has clouded his/her view, and overcome reactivity with a pause and then right action. Mindfulness can help us see where to go and how to work with the unpredictable accidents of life. How do you cultivate clarity in your life?
To begin, try this exercise:
1. Take a few minutes of mindful breathing. Acknowledge your fears. Pay attention to the different aspects of the feeling and what triggers the hot energy of the emotion.
2. After a short period of meditation, write down the list of events, people or situations that trigger fear in your life.
3. End with a few minutes of breathing, and slowly reclaim the clarity that comes when you are open to the present moment.
Juan