The Benefits of Meditation for Entrepreneurs (and Everyone)

Stone Balance
The holidays are all over now.  Time to put away the Christmas tree and stop eating holiday treats (yes, really). Time to get back to normal everyday life.  However, for those of us who run businesses, hustle and bustle is normal everyday life.  I was busy the last couple of weeks redesigning this website, that website and creating content and digital strategies for clients.  Also, Global Wire Books released its latest ebook this week and Global Wire Design launched a new year’s marketing campaign.  On top of that, I have to start working on 2014 tax returns for my staff.

Yes, I am very busy and sometimes it can be stressful.  A few years ago a good friend of mine recommended that I take up yoga and meditation to bring some relief to my life.  This was one of the best recommendations I could have ever received.

Yoga is great as a physical exercise.  Taking a 90-minute weekly yoga class has really helped me get fit over the last few years.  However, I really appreciate the breathing and meditation exercises in these classes, as it has made such a difference in my work and personal lives.

We all know the health benefits of meditation, such as decreased blood pressure and anxiety and increased energy, self awareness and peace of mind, but many of us get so wrapped up in our busy lives that we don’t take the time to breathe, literally.

So here is how I meditate and I hope you will find this useful in your own life.

Logistics:

  • Find time – This is very important.  This could be five minutes a day.  I like to meditate first thing in the morning, as it is a great way to start the day on the right foot.  If you are not a morning person, do it just before you go to bed to whine down.  Also, you can meditate many times during the day, like if you are waiting to pick up your kid at school or during lunch break, or for that matter, any break you can take during the day.  I like to meditate during my commute on the train or bus.
  • Find a quiet place – This is why I recommend meditating in the morning or evening when your living space is at its quietest, but you can close the door in your office or sit in your car.  If you have an office cubicle or commuting on public transit or anywhere that is noisy, put your headphones on and listen to some soothing audio, either chill/downtempo/lounge/yoga music like Thievery Corporation, MC Yogi, Enya or natural sound effects like waterfalls or waves crashing or birds singing.

Practice:

  1. Position yourself – sit down in a chair or cross your legs on the ground.  You can also do this standing if you are not in the position to sit.  Then close your eyes, try to forget about what is happening in your life at that moment and concentrate on breathing.
  1. Sama Vritti – this is the ancient Ayurvedic practice of “equal breathing”, where you inhale the same amount of air that you will exhale.  First concentrate on your natural breathing first.   Begin a slow count to four as you inhale through your nose. Then also count to four as you exhale out the noise.  Some people practice inhaling in the nose and exhaling out the mouth.  Others inhale, keep the air in for a few seconds, and then exhale.  As you feel comfortable you can increase the count time.
  1. Nadi Shodhana – or “alternate nostril breathing” is when you hold the right thumb over the right nostril and inhale deeply through the left nostril. At the peak of your inhalation, close off the left nostril with the ring or pinky finger, then exhale through the right nostril.
  1. Guided Happy Thinking – go back to Sama Vritti or normal breathing and think of a positive thought or image.  Maybe think of an inspiring quote by your favorite philosopher or poet.

When I started doing this practice a few years ago, I thought this was kooky, hippie stuff.  But after doing this breathing and meditating for the first couple of weeks, I started to feel less stress,  make better decisions, and think out things more rationally when dealing with work and family.

Today I try to do this practice at least 10 minutes a day.  You know I don’t do new year’s resolutions, but if you want to try doing something about reducing life stresses with a simple plan that can be immediately implemented, try meditation.  You will thank me later.

Resolve To Not Resolve This New Year

new-years-resolution-listThis week over at Global Wire Associates, we launched our latest marketing campaign, “New Year, New Digital You.”  I am a strong believer in starting off with a clean slate, whether it is your digital life or your regular everyday life.  A new year is a time when people set up resolutions, like losing weight, giving up meat or spending more time with the family.  Most people fail at their resolutions because they are either unrealistic and/or poorly planned and executed.  Many of my own friends and family members have gone down the resolution rut as well, and as a result, created more stress and heartache in their lives.
 
I’m not into resolutions, per se.  Instead, I am more of the mentality that if you want to change something about your life, then just do something about it now.  Figure out what is the one most important thing you want to change about yourself, your lifestyle and/or your environment now and make a plan of action for how you will implement that change.
 
Over the last few months I have had a couple of friends who were dealing with some serious life issues and I have acted as a support cushion through their crises.  So for the next few weeks or months, I will occasionally write posts about making structured life changes for the better, like the power of meditation, fitness, healthy eating and other topics that I see fit for conversation and help you think about creating a realistic plan that works for you.
 
I’m not a life coach nor a therapist, and my life is not perfect.  I have my own trials and tribulations.  But what I do have is experience that might be useful for someone else needing support.
 
I hope you will join me on the journey.

What Robert Frost Teaches Us About The Holidays & Life In General

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Snowy Woods

When I was in the 5th grade, I remember my teacher requiring us to memorize a poem and recite it in front of the class.  He selected Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” for me to recite and he gave me a month to memorize it.  At the time, I was glad to get that poem because it was only 16 lines long.  But I do remember my teacher telling me that I am probably too young to understand the beauty of the poem, but I will when I am older.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

By Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

 

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

 

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Now I am older and I understand what my teacher was trying to tell me.  The poem is simple but profound.  There have been many interpretations of it over the years, including these interesting analysis here and here.
The poem was written in the summer of 1922, but was inspired by an incident in 1905 when Frost went to town on his horse to sell eggs and make enough money to purchase Christmas gifts for his children.  The trip was unsuccessful and he became deeply depressed and stopped his horse in the woods on his way home to cry.  Apparently, the horse shook his bell and Frost smiled and continued on home.

Here’s my “I’m not a poet” poetry interpretation.  The poem is about life (“woods”) and death (“frozen lake”).  It’s about contemplating life under duress, or in this case, taking in the scenery.  This time of the year brings a lot of stress, pain and misery for many people.  Some other people believe Frost was insinuating suicide in the poem, as his family was plagued by tragedy and mental illness throughout his life.  I think the horse is a metaphor for God or some other higher being of moral authority reminding his owner that life goes on (“promises to keep”) and now is not your time to die (“miles to go before I sleep”).

Okay, so I guess some of you reading this are asking why I am being such a “Debbie Downer” on Christmas Eve.  I bring this poem up because of its meaning. A lot of us have been stressed out by all the breaking news lately. Sometimes you have to put life stresses in perspective, and keep moving forward.

Breaking News, Fallen Heroes & New Business: My Year In Review

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2014

Breaking News

I first decided to become a journalist when I was a kid.  I just loved breaking news.  Whenever there was a big story happening, my eyes and ears would be glued to the television or radio.  I would ferociously devour every articles about that story in newspapers and magazines.  Whether it was the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal or the 9/11 terror attacks, I became a news addict.

But something changed this year.  2014 was just full of bad news, starting with the MH370 disappearance.  How does a plane just disappear into thin air?  It really hit home with me because I once flew Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur years ago on business and know of at least one person who has actually flown on that flight to Beijing within the last year.  At first I was addicted to that “breaking news,” for the first month, although there hadn’t been any real news about MH370 since the day it disappeared.  But after that month it became so clear that the plane may never be found and it just made me sad to watch the story play out.

And then after that, it just became one depressing story after another.  Another Malaysia Airlines plane is shot down over Ukraine, airstrikes in Gaza, school shootings, Ebola, Boko Haram, the CIA torture report and the ongoing war on black males.

This year we lost some really great people like Maya Angelou, Ruby Dee, Amiri Baraka, Nadine Gordimer, Pete Seeger, Tom Menino, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and most sadly Robin Williams.  One of my heroes Stuart Hall also passed away this year.  He was one of the reasons I minored in post colonial studies in college and his communications theory even influenced my ideas around branding and marketing for my business.
However, when I heard about the beheading of Jim Foley by some “aspiring rapper” in ISIS, I had to just stop looking at the TV because I literally felt sick to my stomach that something like that could happen to a fellow journalist.

Now I just try to meditate to take my mind away from the horrors happening on this planet, even if it is just for a few minutes.

Fallen Heroes

I grew up watching the Cosby Show literally.  I remember when I was a kid, I was only allowed to watch TV one night during the school week and that was on Thursday nights when the show was on in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  My parents were big supporters of Bill Cosby’s family values philosophy.  Sometimes I would wonder what it would be like to be Rudy or Vanessa and have Dr. Huxtable as my dad.  I would still watch reruns of the show well into adulthood because the show is the most enjoyable, family oriented thing to watch on TV these days, compared to the sea of garbage reality TV shows.

But this all changed in a matter of days when I saw video of Hannibal Buress’ now infamous rant.  And then came all of the women.  All of them had the same story of being drugged and raped.  So many women.  How did I not know about this when a woman sued him in 2005?  Maybe I wasn’t paying attention back then or maybe I was in denial that he would do such a thing.  As more women come forward, I say to myself “Who is this man?”  This is not something the morally upstanding Dr. Huxtable would do.  Or would he?  Dr. Huxtable was also a gynaecologist, which makes the whole rape thing even more creepy.

I really want the charges to be false, but if they are true, I hope the women get justice and can find closure.  But, if they are true, my childhood is ruined.

New Business

In business news, it’s been a good year for me.  This new journalism startup I have been working on for the last two years is starting to pick up steam with the possibility of going live in mid to late 2015.  The project will be focused on economic development in the Caribbean.  I also had the opportunity to work on two documentaries and instructed three media development courses for journalists from Senegal, Lebanon and Cambodia.
 

I got my certification in web design this year after months of learning and mastering four programming languages.  I created a test prototype Women Talking which gave me the opportunity to combine my journalism and programming skills.  I was invited to speak about interaction design at Columbia University and teach a web design class for a group of journalists from developing countries at UN Week.  I am also developing a brand new media development project that I will be announcing next year.

I also presented an instructional web design prototype at ATE PI, a conference for educators and policymakers looking for new ways to improve STEM education in community colleges nationwide.  It was an honor to be invited and play a role in how STEM is taught to future leaders in the field.

I launched a creative design studio within my company called Global Wire Design over the summer.  I hired three new employees for it.  Global Wire Associates as a whole is doing very well.  We have seen our highest profits ever this year.

As I go into my tenth year of running this business, I am grateful for my success and all the great people who helped me get to this point.  There were a lot of “haters” at the beginning who didn’t think I could do this, but I have proved them wrong.  When you put your mind to it, you can be successful at anything.  I am here and ready for whatever new challenge comes in the new year!

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