We are at an historic moment in the fight against racism, inequality, and exclusion. The brutal killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black people; the resulting uprising in cities across the world, the stark statistics about how much worse COVID-19 has affected communities of color—all these have highlighted how systemic racism and hate continue to permeate our societies. In the midst of so much pain, it is also inspiring to see so many stepping up.
At Mindful and the Foundation for a Mindful Society, we’ve presented mindfulness as a practice that goes far beyond de-stressing and self-care. As a foundational tool, it can enable us to be more aware of how we hate, of our biases, of what we ignore. Being mindful also means being accountable for our actions and inactions. And taking steps to counteract bias and to change—to reduce suffering in every way possible.
Flourishing Together
Mindful made a commitment four years ago to more frequently feature the important work of mindfulness teachers and community leaders of color. Our readers, our partners, our staff, and the communities we engage with through our foundation work, all benefit from the wise counsel of these thought leaders. The Mindful community has grown in powerful ways because of these relationships, and we plan to continue expanding this work and looking for more ways to uplift teachers and leaders of color, and to widely encourage anti-bias learning in our programs and products.
Taking Action
We need to do more, however, and we will do more to address racism and unconscious bias and its damaging effects—within our organization and within the mindfulness community at large. We will take additional concrete steps, now, and in the coming months and years.
We are committed to increasing the diversity of our staff, our leadership, and our board. We also commit to a more robust Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program to bake into our organization a practice of ongoing self-examination, which can uncover ways we contribute to structural racism and inequality. We will update statements of our principles and our mission to explicitly include counteracting bias and racism. We will also listen and learn from emerging voices in the anti-racism and anti-bias communities.
We look forward to working together with all of you—our audience, our many contributing teachers and writers, and our institutional supporters—to make real change within and inspire real change in the world at large.
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A Guided Meditation for Turning Awareness into Action
Michelle Maldonado shares a practice for strengthening our ability to be self-aware, self-actualized, and self-determined as we co-create our emerging new reality and world together. Read More
4 Lessons on Anti-Racism from Brené Brown and Ibram X. Kendi
Brené Brown and professor Ibram X. Kendi explore how the root of racism is self-interest and offer insights on how to be an anti-racist. Read More
How Being Held Accountable Is an Experience of Vulnerability
Amanda Hester, Director of Operations and Business Development at Mindful, explores why mindfulness is key to sitting with feelings of shame and blame. Read More
How Your Mindfulness Practice Can Support the World Right Now
Mindfulness equips us for times when we’re asked to listen and act. Here are three ways you can bring your practice to moments of social unrest. Read More