Monday Meditation: How self-talk influences leadership behaviour
Today’s meditation is a tested client favourite. For those with chatty minds, this one gives relief. This one feels like a salve — a go-to inner safe space for others with more active emotional or visual thoughts.
If you can hone in on self-talk, you can train yourself to be less distracted by yourself and more present for others. Following old narratives, a leader who remains in their head can’t be present or open enough to have a presence or vision.
Why this technique is important for leaders
What holds most people back from experiencing contentment and clarity is activity in the inner senses. No matter how much you want to do something, if you have voices in your head that don't help support action, you'll show up as less than you want.
Leadership requires presence, deep listening, and vision. This is hard to do meaningfully if you only pay attention to your inner talk space. Especially if you aren’t aware, you’re doing that.
This technique helps you notice how often you talk to yourself. And, instead of noticing it's happening and judging it (which usually leads to more unpleasant self-talk), you learn how to notice and have equanimity with yourself.
As your skills develop, you'll notice that mental talk has less of a pull on you. It doesn't add to the suffering. Right now, we are simply investigating whether there is mental talk and greeting, both experiences with neutrality, which builds equanimity. Equanimity supports deepening leadership skills.
HEAR IN also builds concentration through momentary concentration. Whenever you focus on a sound and label it, you build concentration. It's like a rep at the gym. It builds sensory clarity through discernment and detection; you’re aware of it happening instead of reacting unartfully without knowing why.
If you can artfully discern and detect sensory events, they have less of a hold on you.
In only 10 minutes a day, this technique (audio and written guidance shared below) helps you to focus on what you want to focus on, catch distracting inner dialogues before they root, and help you have equanimity in your leadership role.
Technique: HEAR IN
Focus - Inner talk space/mental talk
Practice type - Appreciation (appreciating things as they are)