Ethical Business Archives | Ahimsa Meditation

Meditation: Entrepreneurial Mindset

We have spoken with so many people who are early on their entrepreneurial journey. They are stressed out, report lack of energy and complain about having no time to eat properly.

All these things can negatively affect new businesses and people around small business owners too.

Surely, these symptoms of an overworked person can also describe a modern-day office worker. Pressure for a constant business growth, increased demands from peers and multitude of marketing messages that are stimulating us to consume.

It doesn’t matter whether you are an entrepreneur or an employee, all these triggers lead to feelings of personal deficiency and lowering down our confidence levels.

Tired of your ‘I’m never enough’ feelings?

We’ve teamed up with Peace of Mind School to help entrepreneurs to get enough peace of mind, overcome extreme busyness and stress. They feature a simple but straightforward peace of mind course online and the course book just went live (Kindle format and in print) on Amazon.

Using this course and your free time allocated to some self-discovery, you can learn how to fight excessive business and stress. This course also showcases how to live healthily but without strenuous diets.

It is very useful for business people as when you are stressed out, you can’t focus or pay attention to what matters most. YOu cannot make best possible business decisions. Yet almost all successful people know where exactly to pay attention. As a result, when you are stressed out for a long time, you start hating what you are doing. Prolonged exposure to stress changes your neural pathways. It all ends up with your business or career path to feel like an impossible climb.

Consider enrolling to this course or simply buying this peace of mind coursebook on Amazon (UK version is here) so you can reclaim your feeling of Enough and enjoy your life journey.

Peace of Mind School is on the mission to empower your entrepreneurship, business, body and mind. We love this!

With this course book you can easily create a plan for your peace of mind.

The Importance of Nonviolent Communication

What is Nonviolent Communication

Basic principles of healthy relationships rely on nonviolent communication. Being non-violent doesn’t only mean that you don’t want to strangle the person you’re talking with. Nonviolent communication also has to be nonviolent in the verbal sense, meaning that there are no insults, threats, etc. According to some authors, verbal violence can sometimes be equally as bad as physical violence. Bullying is the best example of this possibility- children oftentimes aren’t physically but verbally abused, and this can leave a deep mark in their character.

According to Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg, who is the founder of the Center for Nonviolent Communication, nonviolent communication (NVC) isn’t only characterized by the lack of violence (The Center for NVC, n.d.). Compassion is the chief ingredient of NVC.

Moreover, Rosenberg believes that values and role-models of a society influence the prominence of violent behaviors. Therefore, we can minimize violent communication by changing the situational factors individuals are exposed to. Later, we will talk about specific interventions that sought to ameliorate communication skills in prison inmates, which is essentially an attempt to violent communication (and violence altogether) by changing situational variables (prison treatment). Most programs seeking to improve people’s communication skills rely on the concepts of empathy and compassion.

Furthermore, Rosenberg believes that we are all inherently compassionate and nonviolent beings. This is true, for most people. But psychologists agree that some forms of psychopathy are caused by a pure lack of anything that could even resemble empathy.

We will talk about this at the end of the text when we’ll give you a quick psychopathy checklist.

Nonviolent Communication In Everyday Life

Communication is a two-way process. A good way to make a neutral dialogue potentially violent is to not listen properly.

Experts who organized programs for the improvement of social skills in inmates and parolees noticed that one of the first things that people learn is the so-called empathic listening (Marlow et al. 2011). By listening empathically, you lay the ground for good, compassionate communication. Moreover, by doing this first, you show that you are ready to “make the first move” in terms of empathy, that you are ready to give (empathy) before others give anything to you.

It is not hard to listen empathically. You simply have to stay silent and listen while the other person is talking. To show that you’re listening, you can sometimes paraphrase what others say to you.

For instance, let’s take an everyday example: your friend comes to you with a mix of sadness and hostility over his recent breakup. Instead of saying to him “oh, just forget about it, you’ll find another girl”, or “come on man, buck up”, you should first stay silent and listen what he has to say. Then you’ll seek the right opportunity to show an emphatic reaction- paraphrasing. For instance, if your friend says “in the past I sometimes felt so indifferent to her”, you can paraphrase it as “So, after all, you know how it is not to care about someone. How does that make you feel?”.

Note that paraphrasing is in itself an act of interpretation. You can never (nor would this be useful) “completely” paraphrase someone’s statements, you can only give your subjective interpretation. By interpreting, you help the other person understand their emotions and thoughts.

A good tool to develop empathy for oneself and others is vipassana meditation (insight meditation) that incorporates principles of loving-kindness.

Principles of Nonviolent Communication

There is one very useful nonviolent communication guide (Lee et al. 2003), which was first used by healthcare providers. According to these authors, there are three basic principles of nonviolent communication:

1. Observing others’ emotions without evaluating them

2. Expressing oneself without judging others

3. Making clear requests, the presenting of which is respectful

Analogous to these principles, there are three basic principles of emphatic reception of information:

1. Paying attention to what the other person is observing

2. Knowing what others feel and need

3. Knowing others’ requests

We can see the utility of these last three points in a typical situation that is so frustrating to everybody. Imagine that you are trying to find a parking spot in the middle of a big city. As we all know, this is sometimes all but impossible. After a 15-minutes search, you finally find an empty spot and rush to take it. However, just as you prepare to park it, another car rushes in and takes the spot. Needless to say, you are completely furious. Most people would perhaps start an argument over the parking spot, but these kinds of arguments lead nowhere.

How To Apply These Principles

What you can do is analyze the behavior of the person who took your spot, through the prism of the three aforementioned principles- knowing what the other person is observing; knowing others’ feelings and needs; knowing others’ requests. First of all, you might conclude that the other person simply didn’t see you (here, you’re using the first principle). Even if the other individual saw you, it is possible that he is anxious and upset about something, and that he did this automatically, without wanting to do this on purpose (principle 2). And finally, you can suppose that he needed this spot very badly, for some reason (principle 3). Only once you do this analysis can you engage in good, healthy communication. In these situations, even if the other person is nervous and hostile, he or she will most probably see that you are just seeking to have a normal conversation.

Nonviolent Communication At Work

There is one important thing when it comes to communication at the workplace- criticism. Regarding this topic, it should be noted that evaluating other’s performance, and other’s personality traits are two completely different things. We tend to generalize our conclusions far too much, and these generalizations are often linked with the so-called inner attribution– we think that the cause of someone’s behavior lies chiefly in personality traits. For instance, when someone makes a mistake, we might say “oh, he’s stupid”. Needless to say, this is blatant, and most possibly wrong, overgeneralization.

Nonviolent communication refrains from these kinds of generalizations, and only evaluates performance. Instead of saying “he’s stupid”, we can say “sure, he did a stupid thing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s stupid altogether”. In a way, this is the most important thing regarding constructive criticism.

Criticism must not be avoided. Just like empathy, it is an essential part of communication.

Simply do it skillfully by means of nonviolent communication.

A few references cited in this article:

Lee, A.C, Kessler, M.C., Varon, D., Martinowitz, U., Heim, M., Rosenberg, M. & Molho, P. (2003). Nonviolent (emphatic) communication for health care providers. Wiley Online Library. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2516.1998.440335.x

Marlow, E., Nyamathi, A., Grajeda, W.T. (2011). Nonviolent Communication Training and Empathy in Male Parolees. Journal of Correctional Health Care. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1078345811420979

The Center For Nonviolent Communication (n.d.). What is NVC? Available at: https://www.cnvc.org/node/6856

A Talk About Meditation, Nonviolence and Mindful Living

This is a talk that our Ahimsa Meditation teacher gave to newcomers to meditation that were interested in his views on how to approach meditation practice. This talk combines knowledge of Buddhist teachers but also medical professionals, so both spiritual and scientific expertise. Though even if you are practising meditation already, you can also relate to misconceptions of meditation that are discussed below. Do you find ‘mindful living’ a bit vague? We discuss some specific steps of how you can live with mindfulness today.

‘Killing may be a part of nature.. but as moral, responsible human beings, although we might have murderous impulses, we do not act upon them.

If you can’t love someone, just be kind to them. If you feel a lot of anger or hatred towards me, at least refrain from hitting or killing me.’

by Ajahn Sumedho in “Peace is a simple step”

Meditation doesn’t ask us to get rid of something or to become someone else, better or smarter. It simply promotes looking at the very nature of ourselves, others and the world more clearly.

The delusions of hatred and greed, our aversion to physical discomfort and pleasure seeking ‘hedonic treadmill’ are just a few of the defilements that truly run our lives.

We live in a world full of desire. It is being masterfully maintained not just by our own delusions and aspirations to live like ‘kings and queens’, but also by outside triggers like marketing and advertising messages, social pressure.

Start your meditation practice

Just 8 weeks of moderate meditation practice (we are talking about 20-30 minutes a day) start bringing incredible benefits for every one of you.

One of the benefits meditators start to notice early is the possibility to regulate their response. They are simply able to take a pause before taking an action. That’s how it’s possible to avoid taking life or harming any living being, to avoid stealing or taking what’s not ours, not to engage in sexual misconduct. We no longer need to lie or engage in divisive speech and definitely not to intoxicate our bodies with drugs or excessive alcohol that bring heedlessness to our actions.

Jon Kabat-Zinn said wonderfully about peace in his book ‘Mindfulness is not what you think’:

‘Peace is not farther than this very moment. Peace is something that we can bring about if we actually learn to wake up a bit more as individuals and a lot more as species; if we can learn to be fully what we actually already are; to reside in the inherent potential of what is possible for us being human.’

The foundation for meditation practice, for all meditative inquiry and exploration, lies in ethics and morality, and above all, in the motivation of non-harming.

Surely, regular practice is important. Don’t you think your life is worth it to allocate just half an hour a day for yourself? It’s easy to postpone or to make a valid excuse. Yet it is just half an hour for something that important! Make it regular and it will become the most important habit of yours (well, after breathing of course!)

Non-meditator’s brain is like an unworked dough. If you think about it, you need to persistently work on your dough and have a lot of patience for it to prove.

Definition of Meditation

Evidently, there are of course a lot of misconceptions of meditation. You are probably asking yourself whether it is religious? Is it just to relax or calm oneself? Is it about achieving some paranormal states like floating? Well, it doesn’t need to be. Yes, it could be religious, you can find it as a basis of many Buddhist traditions. It could be based on medical studies like Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Therapy. It could, unfortunately, be utilized by some people who try to perform some sort of mystery act out of it.

Yet, as someone said, ‘life is exactly what you think it is’, meditation is simply a practice of cultivating your mind. And our task at Ahimsa Meditation is to introduce you to nonviolence and meditative practices where you learn how to be kind to yourself and others.

Being in touch with reality is what meditation is about, not the mystical states or going away from it. It is actually being and feeling the reality rather than surrendering to media/external influence.

Mindfulness

In our meditation practice we work to understand and live better with our desires, occasional ill inclinations, being too passive, restless or having too many doubts. Cultivating your mind by means of meditation helps everyone to be more self-aware.

Meditation is a practice that cultivates a beneficial state of mindfulness. Hence, meditation is a process, how you can achieve a state of mindfulness.

What’s the most common definition of mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the awareness that arises from paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.

(Kabat-Zinn, 1996)

Knowing about all those physical, mental and emotional benefits of meditation practice, why mindfulness? It is a state that enables you to live happily, with acceptance, non-judgmentally and by a strong set of intrinsic values. You do not need to be religious to know that there are universal teachings that govern almost all aspects of our lives.

Clarification of your own values for mindful living

This re-discovering of your own values doesn’t need to be painful – the goodness is already inside of every one of us. Yet we need to practice it.

Therefore, here is a short list of ethical actions that can become a guide for your own mindful livelihood:

Protect the lives of all living beings. To protect other beings is to protect ourselves.
Prevent the exploitation by humans of other living beings and of nature. This is a practice of generosity.
Protect everyone from abuse, preserve the happiness of individuals and families.
Practice deep listening and loving speech.
Consume mindfully (the provenance of produce is important for your well-being).

Thank you for your attention, hopefully, you find it useful and may want to use some of it for your own contemplation. Have a good meditation practice!

Livelihood of Nonviolence

We all want to live happily.

We have seen from meditation practices and plant-based nutrition approach that it is possible to do right here and right now, there is nothing to wait for.

Everyone can do it, there are no requirements on high income or some equipment that is difficult to get. That’s the main point – we are capable to live happy right at this moment provided that have “enough” of our basic needs.

The latter is quite simply enough food, shelter, clothing and medicine. It would be irrational to ask a man to be virtuous if they cannot get at least this right for their livelihood. Hence it is very important that we all strive to achieve some sort of universal income, it will allow to be kind to ourselves and others, do not overwork, have guaranteed income, have a choice and a liberty to engage in volunteering to help others. Everything else is an extra. Surely, these extras are our “wants”, not needs. Other marketers are working hard to make us believe that we need the stuff they are trying to sell.

The livelihood of nonviolence is a concept of “economy of enough” for every person.

It doesn’t mean every one of us will love to become an entrepreneur and own their own business. We are trying to achieve a life in which earning a living can be mindful and ethical. How grateful it would be not to stress out of a constant need to grow? After all, there is a point where your needs are met and your business is striving!

We want to hear from entrepreneurs, businesses and governments – what could be that ‘economy of enough’ for you? Is there a number or a formula in mind?

Category: Ethical Business