One of the many reasons I ran for my town’s first City Council in 2018 was to use my mindfulness training to bridge the divisiveness in our community. Earlier in the year, a majority of residents had voted for a 13-member City Council to replace the Select Board and 240-member Representative Town Meeting form of government that had been in place since the 1930s. The residents who relentlessly pushed for change pointed out a lack of accountability with 240 people making policy decisions in their meetings that were held twice a year. Those opposed to the change were apprehensive that replacing 240 elected members with just 13 elected members would squelch local democracy and promote the interests of people with power.
I realized that my daily meditation routine wasn’t enough to prepare me for the challenging conversations that lay ahead.
Very early in the campaign, I realized that my daily meditation routine wasn’t enough to prepare me for the challenging conversations that lay ahead. I’d need to hit reset several times a day, and especially before challenging meetings, in order to ensure that my choices and actions…
