Happy 2018! Many of you may have noticed a theme of mindfulness in our holiday cards—just the beginning of our year-long focus. We see mindfulness and our IG value of thoughtfulness as being closely related: to be thoughtful is to be reflective and present, in both relationships and our work. We plan to incorporate mindfulness in different ways throughout the year, including …
In our office. A cohort of IG-ers who are especially passionate about mindfulness are leading these efforts. Our “Mindfulness Group” recently attended a conference on mindfulness and will provide different opportunities for staff to learn about what this practice looks like. The group is bringing more awareness, open-mindedness, and compassion to our everyday interactions with each other. For example, they spearheaded “Meditation Mondays” here at our office. IG-ers gather for a short, guided meditation to start the week off right! These team members also infused mindfulness into our staff retreat earlier this month, with a primer on what mindfulness is and infused guided mindfulness activities as part of our agenda!
In our work. Mindfulness goes beyond how we interact in our office—it informs our work as evaluators. Being mindful can make us more present to both our own and others’ experience, and we think our focus on mindfulness and our Community-Responsive Approach serve each other. Being mindful means being more sensitive and perceptive, and listening better. We build time for mindfulness into our work, for example by taking time to reflect with clients on success, challenges, and lessons learned at the end of projects.
In our community. We will emphasize mindfulness at our open house on February 20 with meditation, improv, and art. Throughout the year, we will incorporate mindfulness in our interactions out in the community.
We’re excited for this journey of learning and look forward to sharing our reflections throughout 2018!