As Mindfulness Keeps Marching Mainstream…

On CNBC recently, Deepak Chopra, MD, described the usefulness of meditation for people on Wall Street.

Yes, Wall Street. Just like its use is growing in police departments, military units, classrooms, and workplaces.

Speaking about a friend who manages a hedge fund, he said, “His entire staff meditates. I know many others now on Wall Street that we teach, actually. It makes them much more productive, because they’re centered, they’re not distracted.”

Mindfulness isn’t the latest trick in how to make more money. But if your workday is about making money, it can help, just as Dr. Chopra says. It can help with the annoying distractions that can nibble away at your concentration.

If your job is to make money, you can make money more mindfully. You can spend it more mindfully. Or do whatever you want with it more mindfully (donate it, invest it, share it with someone you love).

You can manage people more mindfully. Or relax more mindfully. (That is, turn off the cell phone, close the laptop, put away the tablet, and just pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, and sensations of relaxing.)

Mindfulness is becoming more mainstream because it’s effective. At improving immune function, sleep, how we eat, our stress levels, how we communicate. There’s a burgeoning scientific literature on mindfulness, and scientific journals published more than 500 research papers on mindfulness last year. That’s a ten-fold growth over the past decade.

Mindfulness is real. It’s here now. And here to stay. Enjoy the read…

http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-long-marriage-of-mindfulness-and-money