Leaarning to be Present

I tend to spend most of "no external demand" time thinking about things that I've seen and heard, or things that I've just dreamed up. My good friend, Dr. Tom Horn who works with The Navigators, just sent me a book summary he wrote on the book, Leadership Agility by B. Joiner, and S. Josephs. ( 2007). Tucked in near the end of his summary was this quotation which caught my eye:

Two modes of awareness help develop the personal capacities needed for leadership agility: reflection and attention. As we use these terms, reflection is a mental process that occurs after an experience has occurred, allowing you to recall and think about previous thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Attention refers to direct, nonconceptual awareness of physical, mental, and emotional experience in the present moment. Attention, which develops progressively as you move through the post-conventional stages, brings you into an intimate relationship with your present experience, which paradoxically gives you more perspective. (p. 261)

What this reminded me of was the emphasis of two books I'm reading to enhance my ability to coach others. Both books, Coaching for Excellence, Jane Creswell and Coaching for Christian Leaders, Linda Miller and Chad Hall, emphasize the importance of really, REALLY, REALLY, making a conscious effort not just to begin to listen to another, but to use a number of deliberate mental processes to help you stay engaged.

Of course at it's core, this is just a simple serving skill, rooted in the Pauline admonition to "consider others better than yourself." no matter how well I feel that I think, loving others, serving others, means using whatever skills I can learn and gain to pay attention to what others are saying.

I really want this to be true of my life and ministry.