Getting The UK Parliament To Stop -- And Meditate!

Jun 17, 2017 | permalink

How do you get the government to make society more mindful?  That's the question that Jamie's been holding for many years now.  We had dinner tonight, and it was beautiful to learn more about his journey from advertising to the biggest online platforms for mindfulness (HeadSpace) to now transforming government.  As a start, here's what he got the entire UK parliament to do -- meditate!



His remarkable report, Mindful Nation, provides very lucid policy recommendation for governments to adopt -- in healthcare, education, workplace and criminal justice.  Given it's wild success, more than 40 countries(!) have reached out to him to start the dialogue with their government leaders.

Mindfulness means paying attention to what’s happening in the present moment in the mind, body and external environment, with an attitude of curiosity and kindness. There has been a huge increase in academic research on the subject with more than 500 peer-reviewed scientific journal papers now being published every year. Meanwhile developments in neuroscience and psychology are illuminating the mechanisms of mindfulness.

Most recently, they (as Mindfulness Initiative) have come out with Mindful Workplace report -- which zooms into sensitizing our workplaces with mindfulness.

We spend more of our time working than doing anything else, and researchers have found that these hours are on average the least happy of our lives. Endemic stress in knowledge-based industries accounts for a large proportion of workplace absence and represents a huge loss of national productivity. Meanwhile, success in most organisations relies on the very things that unhappiness and stress erode – collaboration, creativity, cognitive flexibility and effective decision-making. New perspectives from psychology and neuroscience are increasingly helping leaders to see that the cognitive and emotional resources of their colleagues determine the health, resilience and future performance of their businesses and institutions.

Jamie is keen to get more engaged in various ServiceSpace conversations and also visit India soon.