Whether it’s a meeting with another business owner, a coffee with a new friend, just dinner with family or perhaps you have to meet someone who always manages to rub you up the wrong way… Meditation Comes First..

Don’t misunderstand.. if the house is on fire, I won’t make you wait until my medication bell rings to come and rescue you … I mean to say that meditating prior to a social engagement changes it’s course, in a really good way.

How and why?

If I was to ask, most of you would say that meditation makes you feel calmer, slows your thoughts down, slows your heart rate down, right? So then it makes sense that going into a difficult meeting or meeting a person you don’t necessarily see eye to eye with would see a calmer a person bringing a different energy to a negatively charged room. That’s one good thing!

But the real benefit, when practicing Vipassana is that it more than calms you, it addresses the actual feeling and thoughts arising right before your meeting and gives you the chance to deal with them outside of the meeting rather than inside.. and this is where you see the outcome of the meeting very different to the ones you didn’t meditate before.

Let’s put it in another way.. what benefit does feeling anger towards a person in a business meeting have? I’ll let you think on that and move straight onto this..

If you weren’t feeling anger towards someone in a meeting, what could you be feeling instead? Could you be having a good idea? Could you be appreciating an opportunity? Could you be allowing someone else to speak and show you can listen? We could go on..

So right before I meet up with someone who I guess, doesn’t always get my best side… I sit and note my feelings… frustration arises, I note the frustration, anger arises, I note the anger, anxiety arises, I note the anxiety. Every feeling that arises.. also falls.. every thought that comes, also leaves.. leaving me open and aware, allowing space and capacity for insight. Letting me find the right words, the right effort and the right mindset.

Vipassana, insight practice cultivates Goodness, Grows wisdom and makes room for Liberation.

So what are you going to bring to your next meeting? Anger, Frustration and Anxiety?

Or Goodness, Wisdom and Freedom?

Here’s a couple of ways to get started:

Living Meditation

How To Meditate by Yuttadhammo Bhikku