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The marvels of meditation

Success through Stillness: Meditation made Simple, by Russell Simmons with Chris Morrow

IMAGINE that your manager, supervisor or CEO was relaxed, calm and thoughtful. Imagine that he or she dealt with challenges, problems, disappointments and successes with an evenness of mind.

Most people are saddened when they lose and gladdened when they win. In life, both losses and gain are inevitable. The aim of meditation is not to eliminate thoughts or emotions, but rather to become more aware and learn how to adapt without becoming fixated.

The key is to treat winning and losing with the same mindful self-control.

This book is about meditation, and presents an alternative way to deal with the anxiety that comes from the inevitable challenges of life. Meditation aims to enable one to acknowledge what is happening in one’s life, instead of denying it, and to continue, instead of obsessing over it.

“This is the healthiest way to move through life,” contends author Russell Simmons.

Russell Simmons is a hip-hop mogul estimated to be worth $350m. This book is his attempt to get many more people to meditate. 

“If I hadn’t found meditation, the worry would have eventually knocked me off balance,” he confesses. Through regular meditation, “eventually all the distractions are going to settle down and you’ll be able to see clearly what’s inside of you.”

Russell attributes his success to having learned to meditate.

The meditation he espouses entails sitting for 20 minutes twice a day with your eyes closed. He uses a Hindu mantra, which he presents as a neutral sound. The word “mantra” derives from the Sanskrit words meaning “man,” “to think” and “tra” a “tool.”

Repeating this mind-tool for the duration of the session produces the results he describes.

At the end of a 20-minute session of meditation, one awakes to a pleasant feeling of tranquillity and peacefulness. This equanimity would be most useful to those we work with, and to ourselves. “You will not be punished for your anger,” Buddha taught.

“You will be punished by your anger.” The converse is true too; you will not be rewarded for your equanimity; you will be rewarded by your equanimity.

After a meditation session, what inevitably happens is a series of stressful meetings, or challenging staff, and the peace and tranquillity diminish rapidly. The guru Maharishi Masheh Yoga in an interview described meditation in terms of a white cloth dipped into a yellow dye. When you expose the dyed cloth to the sun, the yellow fades. Soaked repeatedly, however, the yellow dye becomes permanent.

The same is true of the tranquillity of meditation, the author asserts. “You’re not going to get muscles from one push-up. Just as you’re not going to lose twenty pounds just by skipping one meal.”

Simmons' commitment to meditation stemmed from his realisation that the lifestyle he pursued, and which everyone saw as a mark of success, was giving him pain, not joy. “Those rare moments of stillness, not the chaotic life I had created, were the foundations of my happiness and success… I can honestly say that without that stillness, there’s no way I’d be where I am today.”

Intuitively we can easily accept that if people we worked with were calmer, they would make better decisions. They would be more open to other ideas, they would be more creative, and they would be easier to work with. So would we.

It would be surprising if those who knew the purported benefits of meditation for their professional success (and personal lives) would resist the process, and yet they do. Simmons suggests a number of reasons, but the most compelling ones relate to time and philosophy.

“When they claim they don’t have time, I always come back at them with that old saying about meditation: If you don’t have twenty minutes to delve into yourself through meditation, then that means you really need two hours.” As compelling an argument is that we do spend time keeping our bodies in shape, and we do spend time maintaining our material possessions.

Philosophical barriers

However, there is also the philosophical perspective that creates a barrier. Practising a Hindu tradition can be an offence to one practising another religion. Most religions, in my experience, have some sort of meditation as part of their tradition. Judging from my readings in the field, it is unlikely that, measured physiologically, any one form of mediation produces better results than any other.

The litany of meditators mentioned in the book is impressive.

Steve Jobs had only one book on his iPad – The Autobiography of a Yogi, by Yogananda. It is worth noting that Jobs created his legacy, the iPod, iPad and iPhone, after he had been labelled a failure. Meditation, Simmons asserts, aims to see “losses” and “failure” as very important parts of the process.

Ray Dalio is a committed meditator. He runs Bridgewater Associates, one of the biggest investment funds in the world, responsible for billions of dollars in investment funds and hundreds of employees.

Then there are the many actors, musicians, directors and comedians who credit meditation with keeping their creativity and careers alive. They include Sheryl Crow, Clint Eastwood, Hugh Jackman, Lenny Kravitz, George Lucas, David Lynch, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Gwyneth Paltrow, Martin Scorsese, Jerry Seinfeld, Howard Stern, Forest Whitaker and many more.

Simmons' book is valuable for its reassertion of the value of meditation, complete with an overview of the physical and mental benefits of the practice. This, of course, is hardly new, but it is a welcome reminder for people with extremely busy and responsible careers.  

Readability:     Light +---- Serious
Insights:        High -+--- Low
Practical:        High ---+- Low

 - Fin24

*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy and is the author of Strategy that Works. Views expressed are his own.


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