In recent years, interest in mindfulness has mushroomed. It is currently being used in schools, companies and even in congress. To date, however, the focus has often been on personal growth. I think that individual change is necessary but not sufficient to support the types of changes we need to make to survive together amicably on this planet. While reducing stress in difficult situations is a necessary part of social change efforts, I believe mindfulness has a much larger role to play.
To address the world’s problems we must find a way to come together across polarized positions. We need to find a way to do this with compassion, care and sensitivity while at the same time not giving up on our most cherished values. A mindfulness practice can support this intention.
This site aims to provide a forum for collaboration and a source for resources in the following areas:
- using mindfulness skills to support self care for those on the front lines.
- helping individuals use mindfulness skills to gain insight by becoming more aware of their own biases and blind spots.
- supporting communication across boundaries
- developing effective and skillful social change efforts that create change without demonizing others
- exploring the role mindfulness can play in organizations and systems including mindful leadership.
About the author:
Jean Meier M.Ed.
I’ve worked as a teacher, trainer and Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor for over 30 years and currently teach Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and other mindfulness workshops.
I’ve had the good fortune to be born into a most amazing time in our country’s history, a time of ferment and also a time of great change. For me it started in ninth grade. I caught the end of the McCarthy era when two of my favorite teachers were hounded out of town after being accused of being communists. This controversy pitted parents against their own children for virtually the whole town. It opened my eyes to what was happening in the wider world, far outside my door, and started me on a life long journey of wanting to be a positive force in this world.
Major influences for me since high school have been Insight Meditation, Taoism and Process Work, nonviolence as practiced by Gandhi, Martin Luther King and others, Nonviolent Communication (NVC) developed by Marshall Rosenberg, and all my experiences living and working in nature.
Please contact us with your thoughts, comments, insights or questions. We want to hear from you.
Consider joining us in making this a lively and meaningful forum for those who want to bring mindfulness into the world in a powerful way. This is a group effort and we need your support and energy.