Reflections on Practices of Everyday Awareness and Mindfulness with Colleagues and Students

Everyday awareness is an important life skill that examines relationships of all kinds. The first part of this chapter focuses on these relationships within the emerging organisational context of higher education. Recent examples from practitioner experience illustrate how everyday awareness can assist in establishing a more compassionate pedagogic stance in learning and broader environments. Key realisations are confirmed through the paradigm of systems psychodynamics and further explored in a creatively spiritual manner. In addition, an exploration into what we might do differently once a personal mindfulness practice has been established will be reflected upon. The second part of the chapter draws upon research addressing the question of how we can apply mindfulness in the workplace. The focus here is on teaching mindfulness to students and staff, illustrating how throwing a metaphorical ‘mindful stone into the water’ creates ripples and waves of influence of helpful wellbeing for others in the wider community. The question of ‘how useful mindfulness really is’ (which many ask) will also be explored. An overview of varying types of mindfulness will also be detailed, including how a teaching programme of mindfulness was adapted and delivered. Using feedback from students who participated in the research, the chapter concludes with consideration of how useful mindfulness might really be and the implications for future research.