Intention Sets The Tone.
Without Right Intention we miss the target. We stress over why some things just don't work. Our intentions change from situation to situation and we go off track. Having clarified an overarching intention for various aspects of our lives help us get back on track quicker, with more ease and self-compassion.

On Sunday January 12, our teachers will guide us as we spend the day to meditate, contemplate and clarify our overarching intentions in any of all of these six areas of our lives:
1. Social
2. Physical
3. Play
4. Finance
5. Community
6. Career
Join us to start the year with the Right Intention and tools to help you get yourself back to it when you veer off.

For more information and to register click below:
http://mindfulvalley.org/calendar/set-your-intention-2014-daylong-mindfulness-retreat

About Mindful Business Institute and Dr. Manijeh Motaghy

About Mindful Business Institute and Dr. Manijeh Motaghy

Enhancing Quality of Life, All Around!

Enhancing
Quality of Life,
All Around! 

Have you thought about what it would take to enhance every aspect of your life from health & wellness to focus and relationships and even productivity?  Brain experts such as Daniel Siegel tell us that mind can change the brain.  Studies indicate how much the quality of life changes when we make efforts to cultivate a mind that is able to be in the moment without being in conflict with the moment.  Living this conventional life can delude us to believe conventions set by mankind as the truth about life.  Having to work, to make deadlines, to perform obligations, to please others, to conform to structure and on and on.  These are conventions and not facts nor are they good enough reasons for us to suffer.

When we have mindfulness and are mentally healthy there can be peace, joy and stability of the heart and mind regardless of the circumstance. 

According to Daniel Siegel , the definition of metal health can be found in this acronym.  FACES: Flexibility, Adaptiveness, Coherence, Energy (engagement) and Stability.  This is a sign of a well integrated brain, which if you don't feel you quiet have, you can actually develop by practicing in very specific and accessible ways.

Living with peace, joy and good health is truly worth making the effort.

Manijeh 

How to Identify Change Makers in Your Organization & Leverage Their Talent:

How to Identify Change Makers in Your Organization & Leverage Their Talent:

Do you know who the change makers in your organization are?  Take a minute and see. Often these are lower-level supervisors and or mid-level managers, not the top-level executives, VPs and other high positioned leaders. Change is often generated and lead by those you might least expect to make huge differences.   

Last week, I conducted a six hour Strengths Training session for yet another Health Net department.  Thanks to the input and generosity of one their Supervisors, Diane Baxter, the training turned out to be most effective.  The rate of learning went beyond the VP's and even my own expectations.  Diane started the Strength Finder test and training for herself and her staff less than two years ago.  Due to her initiative and passion for this very effective training, Health Net has trained many department heads and team members and gained more effectiveness and team cohesiveness. Diane leads a team of about 16 people and with her busy schedule she offered to provide input to make my latest training for Health Net, which was for a completely different department than hers, much more focused and effective.  To emphasize her strong belief in the Strengths training, with excitement in her eyes, she said, "Manijeh if the training has tangible results, it will take on like wild fire.  All departments will see that they would work so much more effectively together and will bring you in."

Hence, with her input, I made sure the results are measurable and tangible.  Read more about our Strengths Finder Training 

Here is How to Identify Change Makers in Your Organization & Leverage Their Talent:

The first step is identification.  If you are a top level executive, take time to look below and across the chart.  As teams and departments are tasked with deliverables and specific goals, they also must come up with effective ways to achieve them.  Many teams often find ways to do it faster, better, with higher quality and least amount of waste or stress.  Unfortunately, many of these ways go undocumented and unshared.

(Don't tell, Ask)- Ask questions about what extra curricular activities are going on in each department.  What mid-level managers are doing to motivate and engage their people to do better and reach their goals.  Bring a few of them in and ask what their secret to success is.  You may be surprised to find that the secrete to their success may be an adjunct to what the organization prescribed.
 

Evaluate if the kind of training or method they are using is duplicable, such as the Strength Finder training in Diane Baxter's case.
 

Ask if they are willing to make themselves formal agents of change and promote the implementation of their findings to other departments, like Diane has done.  This may be done as formally or informally as possible.  If you decide to announce the change and have the whole organization to implement it, have the person who tried it first and made it work to be the voice for it.  For, she has proof and feels confident in the change.
 

And finally, if you are mid-level managers and supervisors, do make friends with others at your level in other departments, even if you do not directly work with those departments.  Find out what they are doing that makes their work higher quality, faster or creates Trust, Compassion, Hope and Stability for their team.  According to Gallup findings Trust, Compassion, Hope and Stability are the top four needs followers have from their leaders to fulfill.  

Always, do your work with curiosity and openness.

Dr. Manijeh Motaghy, PsyD. OMC

For information on Strength Finder Training and other employee training contact us via:

email:  info@mindfulbusinessinstitute.com

or call us: (818) 835-3848

For more information visit: www.MindfulBusinessInstitute.com

Three Tips to Make Your Speech More Effective

Tips offered by Carolyn Cousins-Goldman, Distinguished Toastmaster & District Governor

Tip #1: Tell Stories!
Stories can make an otherwise dull subject much more interesting. Spoken from the speaker’s experience or that of someone else, well told stories enhance any speech. Of course, this does not mean just randomly telling tales. The stories need to make points which you, as a speaker, want to convey to your audience.
There’s an “old saying” among speakers and that is, “Tell a story, make a point. Tell another story, make another point.” The mind makes a connection between a well told story and the point of that story. Your audience will not only be entertained, but will remember your speech and the points you want to convey.


Tip #2: Use Humor!

Not only do we want our audiences to learn from us, we also want our audiences to enjoy hearing us. Humor is a way to do that. And you don’t even have to be a comedian, giving one liners. A chuckle here and a chuckle there can make people want to come back to your seminars.

Just like stores, humor can be used to make points. And just like stories, your audience will remember your points and come back for more.


Tip #3: Be Yourself!

When I first started speaking, I listened to other speakers and admired their styles. I thought, “I want to be like him! He’s so dynamic! I want to be like her! She’s so intellectual!” I soon found out that trying to be someone else, just as in everyday life, comes off as phony and not credible.


Miscellaneous Points:

• Why not just be yourself? Look within your own personality and bring that to your audiences. People will come to listen to you because you are real. 
• Credibility counts tremendously in public speaking. Credibility is not just having the prestigious diploma or writing the right books. Credibility is how real you are!

Author: Carolyn Cousins-Goldman, Distinguished Toastmaster & District Governor

For more information on on Presentation skills and Mindfulness and Strength Finder training for organizations visit:  http://MindfulBusinessInstitute.com  or Write to us at: info@mindfulbusinessinstitute.com

 For more information  Mindfulness training for individuals visit:  http://mindfulvalley.org

Why do the Strengths Work the Way They Do?

Why is it that I who have accomplished so much in life regardless of challenges, worked so hard at my dream and did actually accomplish it would not be recognized at an Achiever? The answer is if we become our Strengths fully and utilize them properly and move towards ever self-actualization then we all would be achievers.  But the reason one might be identified an Achiever has nothing to do with their actual achievements.  It has to do with the natural tendency one has towards a talent, which if practiced and exhibited constantly, then that talent becomes a Strength.  It is in the way we experience our Strengths. The way we exhibit them. The way we constantly perform them with near perfect performance, that sets a Strength apart from another.

I did accomplish a Doctorate Degree and became a successful consultant and trainer but not because I was an Achiever.  But because I trusted and practiced what I was naturally good at.  This includes being a Relator, a Learner, an Inluder and a Command.  And moving forward through all the life's difficulties and having faith that there must be a better system, a system that is functional and peaceful.  That was due to my Connectedness Strength not an Achiever Strength. In fact, an Achiever is never satisfied. Always on the go, finish this and on to the next project.  It will never end.  Where as my accomplishment is enough for me and I don't have to achieve another thing as long as I live and I'll be happy.  But the Learner in me keeps me going like an Achiever.  The Learner makes me want to know more, to create more, and to pass it on to others which is the reason I still go on to achieve more.  Again, the experience of achieving through Learner is different than the experience of achieving through the strength of Achiever.  It is so fascinating how these Strengths work.  It truly is.


For more information on Mindfulness & Strength Finder training for organizations visit:  http://MindfulBusinessInstitute.com  or Write to us at: info@mindfulbusinessinstitute.com
For more information on Mindfulness training for individuals visit:  http://mindfulvalley.org

Mindfulness in Leadership - Growth & Optimism

Jon Kabat-Zinn:Mindfulness in Leadership

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Growth and Optimism

 

Jon Kabat-Zinn: The Stars of Our Own Movie

For more information on Mindfulness training for individuals visit:  http://mindfulvalley.org
For more information on Mindfulness & Strength Finder training for organizations visit:  http://MindfulBusinessInstitute.com  or Write to us at: info@mindfulbusinessinstitute.com