We get it – you’re busy.
In fact, everyone’s busy.
Thus is life for the current young professional. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be at least trying to slow down. ‘Cause it’s only when we slow down that we might actually have a chance find some balance and some presence – even in the middle of a jam-packed day.
Which is why we were more than happy to recieve an invitation to a dinner hosted by lululemon and 1Karma, a not-for-profit charity organization run by Riaz Meghji of Breakfast Television and Jason Sarai, a fashion consultant and fitness pro.
The goal of the evening: celebrate a year of work and set your intentions for 2015.
Following the #givepresence holiday campaign lululemon launched in November, the brand has been connecting with the community, including a partnership with Earls Restaurant that led to patrons putting away their cell phones so as to fully enjoy a meal free from digital distractions.
Believe it or not, for many, this little challenge can be daunting.
Our intimate 1Karma dinner was at popular brunch spot Cafe Medina, which usually closes up shop at 3pm. Notable attendees in the room included Shelley Hayashi, Renu Bakshi, Mark Brand, Hannah Bernard, a crew of lululemon people, and many, many more.
As we settled into our seats with little packages in front of us that included a notebook, pen, and a copy of the Shawn Achor’s bestseller The Happiness Advantage, the speaking commenced.
Lululemon’s Learning & Development leaders shared their personal stories on what it means to ‘give presence’ and moments where they are completed disconnected from what’s happening around them simply because they are so glued to a device.
We went through a series of exercises finding our breath and how practicing meditative breathing for just two minutes a day heightens our focus and works wonders for creativity.
We closed our eyes and focused on our breathing. It was the best two minutes of our day.
We wrote down three goals we planned to commit to in 2015 in a card and then popped the card into a self-addressed envelope – lululemon plans to mail them to us about six months down the road for a reminder or “check-in” with our intentions.
We wrote down and discussed times we have fully given presence and times where we wish we had.
We talked about how important this is in our careers.
It was the exact evening we needed to further plan ahead for the year, to really commit to the goals we had set back in the first week of this month, and to take our careers to the next level.
#NOTABLE
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