Inner Peace and Advocacy: How mindfulness can improve your communication and advocacy skills
Written by Anna Oleshkevych from UNOY member World Peace Initiative
In recent years, numerous studies have shown that mindfulness and meditation practices can benefit both body and mind, by reducing emotional instability, anxiety, and stress, improving memory and cognitive functions, strengthening intellectual and professional performance, and improving the immune system.
Mindfulness & advocacy work
But, how can mindfulness help improve your advocacy and communication skills? Mindfulness practice trains us to be fully present in the moment. This makes it a powerful tool at every stage of advocacy, from building a network to advocating for a cause.
To be a successful advocate it is important to be aware of one’s environment, to have a good sense of the opportune moment, and to be an attentive listener with excellent communication skills. All these qualities can be increased through a simple mindfulness routine. Several online services and apps can help you kick-start your routine, and support you with your mindfulness practice. Here is a brief overview and some simple tips on how to establish and maintain your routine.
Make meditation a habit
Through mindfulness practices and meditation, we train our mind to be fully present and focused when we need it. This can be achieved through various ways, either by meditating, or by implementing mindfulness into everyday activities. Meditation and mindfulness practices are easily incorporated into our everyday routines and there are a number of useful tools out there that can help you with that – even if you are a complete beginner.
- A popular resource is a platform by the Peace Revolution Project (www.peacerevolution.net). You can sign up for free for a 42-day-long online programme, which guides you step-by-step into meditation practice. Peace Revolution is also a community of people from all over the world—you can join many of their events and even apply for two-week meditation training in Thailand.
- The free app Enlighten Me is designed to help boost mindfulness and concentration of users through meditation. Whether you have a lot of time or just a couple of minutes, whether you are a beginner or an advanced meditator, this app can help you to disconnect from outside noises and connect with inner peace (on-the-go or at home). The planning and the development of this app was done with the help of Buddhist monks who have guided meditation worldwide for over a decade.
- Another popular app is Headspace, providing short, guided meditation sessions and mindfulness training. The first days are free of charge, signing up for one of their plans is, unfortunately, a bit pricey.
- Simple Habit is an app best suitable for busy people with little free time on their hands, as it features short 5-minute guidance sessions and the opportunity to track your progress.
Useful tips:
- Once you become familiar with guided meditations, you will become more confident to practice on your own.
- The best time to practice meditation will vary for everyone, depending on your preferences. Most people prefer to either meditate in the morning to welcome the day or in the evening to reflect on the day. Try out different times to see what works for you. What is important is that it fits into your routine—if there seems to be no time, try to make some. It’s only a few more minutes!
- Apart from making meditation a habit, you may also want to try implementing mindfulness into your daily life. This can simply be done by taking a moment and concentrating on your breath or at any point inside your body. You can easily do it as you perform your daily activities, such as eating, walking, talking, brushing teeth, or making the bed.
Meditation does not require specific skills, it is not a religious or spiritual practice—everyone can try it out and benefit from it. Just follow one of these simple tips and you will soon start to see changes!
