#sitforce

[householdersgazette]

Sitforce 2: A pilgrim's progress

Since hosting David Gelles at Salesforce to discuss his book Mindful Work, I have been involved in a new small number of efforts on the same path. Specifically, I was contacted with the opportunity to bring Matthieu Ricard to Salesforce to discuss his latest book, Altruism, which is highly consistent with the Salesforce 1-1-1 philanthropy directive each and every employee is required to participate in. A big corporation being what it is, finding an appropriate venue for an "extracurricular" event has been challenging, but I'm in the able hands of Valerie Garcia, who helped me secure a great space for Mr. Gelles. We should have something locked up soon.

There are encouraging steps on the SitForce front, too. I was contacted by one of our Employee Benefits and Success people to discuss the implementation of an official meditation program here, and it's looking as if we will have a program in place in the next few months. While it's unclear how my role will flesh out, I'm apparently wearing the "meditation guy" moniker, which I'll accept, as it's something I'm committed to (one of the SVPs I met called me the "meditation guru" which I laughingly had to discourage the use of...lest I barf on myself every time I hear the phrase.)

I possess the perseverance to help shepherd it to reality, which means it's my responsibility.

I think now that there are rumors of a Salesforce buyout, too, we need a meditation program all the more. It would be a shame to come to work next month or so and be called Oracle, SAP, or Microsoft. Stand steady, Marc!

Salesforce as it is is far better than OK, and I hope to be here a long time.

[householdersgazette]

SitForce

I am working on bringing an institutionally-supported meditation practice to Salesforce. I meditate and find benefit and value in it: the participants in the yoga classes I lead second my direction; and the founder of Salesforce--where I work--Marc Benioff, is a meditator himself.

The benefits I no longer have to persuade anyone of: seemingly weekly a new leading-science-or-academic-institution comes out with a paper or study that supports the meditation legend, with hard science and data behind it. It lowers cortisol levels; it increases focus; it helps people succeed in social relationships where they previously had failed; people feel better in general, and bring a more positive, contribution-minded approach to the workplace, when they're involved in a regular (ie. not casual) practice of sitting and doing seemingly nothing.

The truth is that "doing nothing" is quite difficult, and yet it reaps as many rewards as running several miles a day. More books, more studies, more personal  journeys and anecdotes appear monthly in which the celebrated topic is  a practice in which one sits with their eyes closed for fifteen minutes a day and thinks of nothing, is not productive, and is free from judgement (I am reluctant to use the word "judgement" because, "in my judgement" the term is too often disparaged as something entirely arbitrary, when it is actually more accurately put as the foundation of our society, and all societies around the world. It has become a taboo word in this please-everybody, offend nobody "politically-correct" environment we live in. In the context of meditation, 'judgement' is not a good vs. evil proposition, but more an abstinence from the sexiness of taking sides. During meditation, all thoughts are equal, and meaningless, because they exist either in the past or the future, when neither of them is the difficult thing to attain. Meditation is about here and now, down to the millisecond, and tying all those moments together into a quilt of deep experience that surpasses the dreams, expectations, and regrets of the ordinary human, which is to say, the human.)  

As a first measure, I started SitForce. We’re a small group who meet to meditate. Next, this Friday, I’m hosting David Gelles to speak about his book, Mindful Work: How Meditation is Changing the Workplace.