Economic fields of practice: Concrete applications

In a time when artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming part of our everyday and working lives, a mindful approach to this technology is crucial.

How can we use AI meaningfully without losing our humanity, compassion, and emotional intelligence?

Can mindfulness and Buddhist wisdom teachings help us shape the AI ​​challenge constructively?

How will organizations and companies change?

Together, we will explore how AI will impact our working lives, our personal skills, relationships, and can influence and change our knowledge.

The following topics are addressed in our retreats:

• AI in the workplace: How will my job change due to AI? What opportunities and challenges do we see? How can managers and teams use AI effectively to create a more mindful, stress-free work environment?

• Emotions and AI: What thoughts and feelings does AI awaken in me? Do I feel fear, anger, curiosity, or relief? How does mindfulness practice help me deal with these mental states and beliefs in a healing way?

AI as a trainer: Can AI promote our emotional intelligence and support empathic behavior? What role does mindfulness play in the development and use of AI?
Setting boundaries: How far do I allow AI into my life? Where is the line between helpful support and unwanted takeover? Where do I feel overwhelmed? How can the practice help me to consciously set boundaries?
Working in mindless environments: How do we maintain calm, compassion, and clarity in mindless environments? Which exercises support our meditation practice?
Ethics and awareness in AI development: What responsibility do developers and users bear? Can there be an AI based on Buddhist ethics?
Do we lose skills through AI? Does AI promote creative freedom, or does it weaken our autonomy?

The insights, inspirations, and questions of a Buddhist-inspired business ethic permeate all our events and discussions. With the Mindful Business Commitment, we have formulated a pragmatic, practical ethic for everyday business life, which we regularly recite and discuss at our events.

Furthermore, in a multi-year process, we have formulated a more comprehensive mindfulness-based work and business ethic. This manifesto summarizes the long-standing experience of the Mindful Business Network in a concise text.

Our business ethic formulates alternatives to central economic theories and assumptions of correlation, and sheds new light on leading economic concepts, problems, and "normalities." This document is an offer and a call to participate together in the manifestation of a more wholesome, compassionate, and fraternal economy. Economic activity does not follow immutable natural laws and constraints, but arises from the interplay of many forces. Our manifesto offers a pragmatic ethics of practice, a proven training program for the mind that invites mental exercise, reflection, self-transformation, and experimentation. In this understanding, ethics is not a declaration of intent or an intellectual endorsement, but a comprehensive process of knowledge acquisition and development that involves the whole person. The manifesto is not an ideology that seeks to compete intellectually with other ethical systems. To practice or learn them, all that is needed is an open mind and a joy in experimenting and learning.

Much has been written and taught about “good” leaders and still many of us struggled with their own relationship to leaders or leading. 

You don’t have to be a CEO or the chair of a big organization to be a leader. We are all leaders in certain areas of our life. We maybe involved in the leadership of a bigger, smaller, or very small company. We may take responsibility in other organizations, like charities, schools, clubs, or sangha. There are many realms of leadership, like leading people, teams, projects, workshops, opinions, and most important – leading ourselves.

Leadership is about vision, values, direction, decisions and much more. It becomes a topic whenever we want to make a difference in the world and take – or don’t take – responsibility.

In retreats on this topic, we are exploring on the following topics: 

• What can we learn from the historic Buddha and his ancestors about wholesome leadership? 

• How does mindfulness change our way of leadership?

•  In which ways can the Buddhist teachings inspire our way of engaging in the world? 

• Which other mindskills do we need to develop, and how can we train them? 

• What is our motivation to lead or not to lead? 

• Which challenges do we face as leaders?

• How can we handle difficult emotions and deal with loneliness, pressure, conflicts and ambiguity? 

• How do the teachings of interbeing enrich our way of thinking and acting in the field? What is True Success (for us)? 

• How does a happy leader look like? 

• How do we relate to “suffering” in people of our organization? How do ethical commitments like the Five and the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings as well as the Mindful Business Commitment help us on our path? 

• What experiences have we made with new leadership and work concepts like self organization, holocracy, agile organization, IDG (Individual Development Goals), etc.? 

• Which Dharma Doors have been helpful for us?

• How does our practice change us? 

In our retreats on “How does a Buddha lead?” We are inviting everyone who is taking active responsibility for our world – starting with oneself. Together we explore our experiences and challenges in the broad field of leadership (and followship).

The way we communicate has a massive impact on the quality of our relationships, our work, and our connection to the world. Mindfulness gives us a fresh perspective on our own communication behavior, the continuous exchange of information both internally and externally. What power do my words have? How do I communicate in my professional life? In NAW seminars on this topic, we turn our gaze inward. What sound do my words have? In what state of mind do I speak them? What expectations and intentions are associated with them? We see how, through deep listening, we can elevate a conversation to a different, more essential, and more insightful level. We see the dangers of superficial, unconscious, or irritated communication for our relationships, our work, and our family.

Each of us consumes in both a material and a mental way.

Material consumption involves taking physical objects (food, drink, "luxuries," products, etc.) into our bodies or homes.

Mental consumption involves taking thoughts, ideas, theories, or sensory perceptions into our minds.

Those who consume fear and anger strengthen the seeds of fear and anger in their own minds.

Mindfulness is the guardian that helps us distinguish between what is wholesome and what is unwholesome and to choose consciously.

Mindfulness sees the motivation and the effects of our consumption. Mindfulness recognizes the quality of inputs – mental and material. Mindfulness points the way to a healthy and moderate diet. Mindfulness reveals the interactions between individual consumption and macroeconomic processes. Thus, mindfulness is a medicine that can heal individual and collective wastefulness, excess, addictive behavior, and mental pollution.

We choose more freely and strengthen beneficial processes, economic actors, and product types.

Whether buying, gifting, renting, owning, investing, inheriting, saving, or earning – financial processes permeate our everyday lives and are multifaceted. Mindful money management raises many questions and is complex, sometimes confusing. Money affects us all. Money is a great shape-shifter. We can use it for a wide variety of purposes; it permeates all areas of life, including the spiritual. What does money represent in our lives? How does it work? When is it enough/too little? Financial processes and actions often occur unconsciously. We talk (too) little about the financial dimension of our lives; it's difficult for us. Money and possessions can be associated with a wide range of emotions: desire, envy, shame, or anger, but also joy, compassion, and generosity. Money can be warm and life-affirming, or cold and destructive. In our workshops on the financial dimension of our lives and work, we use mindfulness practices to take a clear look at our financial actions and the underlying beliefs, judgments, and emotions. This helps us shed light on our complex relationship with money and gain a deeper personal understanding of it. When our relationship with money becomes more conscious and free, we can readjust our financial "normality," transform it in a healing way, and thus patiently and positively influence other financial processes in our environment. In a spirit of mutual support, we explore a powerful dimension of our lives and our society—one that often operates in the shadows—and share our experiences and challenges in this area.

Rarely is our work just about the work itself.

We add a lot of extras to the task at hand. This can create tension, dissatisfaction, stress, and mistakes.

In work meditation, we remain in contact with our breath while performing the task. We regularly pause and concentrate fully on the task at hand. When we do something wholeheartedly, when we are completely present, joy arises all by itself. It is this unconditional joy that we so often miss in our daily work. We notice all the extras and smile at them. We see how responsible we are for the quality of our work and that even seemingly unpleasant things can bring us joy. We feel the Joy that arises from collaborative work and offers us an alternative to rivalry and competition.

 

What would change if we didn't burden our work with brooding, comparing, speculating, and evaluating, but instead focused entirely on the task at hand?

Market relationships are increasingly permeating wider circles of our society. This leads to more and more of us becoming sellers (whether we like it or not). How do we navigate this role without selling ourselves and our values? What opportunities and challenges lie in the relationship between seller and buyer? How can we cultivate this relationship mindfully? In our events on this topic, we exchange ideas, learn from each other, and address questions like these:

• What emotions accompany me and the other party in the process of selling and buying? Where do I feel fear? Where do I feel free? Where am I suffering?

What prevents me from enthusiastically offering my services/products?
What role do money and prices play in this?
What constitutes (true) success for me in the sales process?
How can I draw attention to my products and myself in a positive way – without selling out and without resorting to exaggeration, deception, or emotional exploitation?
What impact does cultivating mindfulness have on goal systems, ethical principles, and my relationships in market environments?

Hardly anything has changed our lives and work more profoundly than the triumph of the internet, smartphones, social media, and other companions of the digital revolution. We live in a world where media are omnipresent and constantly available. Dealing with media content in a healthy way is one of the greatest challenges of our time.

Media constantly vie for our attention; their ideas, topics, and emotions color our minds. They exert a pull, inviting us to enter their world and spend a lot of time there. Screens become our primary relationship, and the world fades away. As practitioners, we know the vulnerability of our minds and the necessity of mindful engagement with all facets of our digital environment.

We ask ourselves: How can we effectively protect our minds? How do we make laptops and the like... to partners on the path of awakening? What does mindful work at the computer look like? How do we transform our bad habits? How do we develop a healthy approach to all kinds of input? How do we cultivate impulse control and inner freedom amidst manifold temptations? How do we find the balance between media excess and media fasting? What states of mind and emotions shape our relationship with media? How can I free myself from the pull of my smartphone?

Mindfulness practice and Buddhist wisdom teachings offer us a range of tools and insights with which we can positively transform our work in digital environments and our interaction with media. Working principles such as impulse control, transition, and singletasking strengthen our focus and inner freedom. Effective meditation exercises help us to maintain focus on what is essential in times of inner and outer information overload. If we understand our habits and beliefs, media can become a powerful companion on our path of practice.

More and more organizations and companies are discovering mindfulness for themselves. An increasing number of people in the business world are meditating. How can we cultivate understanding and compassion in our daily work? What approaches does Buddhist wisdom teaching – the Dharma – offer us? And what opportunities exist to share our experiences with our work environment and thus sow seeds of mindfulness? When we practice the Buddha's teachings and cultivate mindfulness, our perspective on the organizations to which we give our life force changes. We hope that beneficial change will begin there as well. In our work environment, we want to contribute to a culture where people treat each other with respect, listen to one another, and pursue meaningful goals together. The following topics are addressed in our retreats: What are the ingredients for a healthy and compassionate corporate culture? How and where do we begin? Which methods of mental training have proven effective in companies? What are some successful examples of mindful practice in companies? What role does artificial intelligence (AI) play in the world of mindfulness? And conversely: What role does mindfulness play in the world of AI?

What does it mean when Thich Nhat Hanh teaches: "You are your environment"? What does "interbeing" mean in the context of organizations?

How do we, as practitioners, behave in mindless environments? How do we keep our own joy in meditation practice alive?

How do we find support and fellow travelers?

Which Dharmatore do we choose? How do we address "suffering" in organizations?

What can mindfulness achieve collectively? How do we illustrate its usefulness?

How do we deal with frustrations and disappointed expectations? What are realistic goals?

How spiritual can mindfulness in organizations become?

In NAW retreats on this topic, we learn about paths, methods, practice areas, work attitudes, and ethical orientations, and experience within the community how these support us in the meaningful design and transformation of organizations.

"Less is more!" "I want to simplify my life." "Traveling light, that would be perfect." We all know these yearning phrases that express the deep desire for a simpler, simpler, more streamlined life – they taste of freedom. How can we deeply embed simplicity, moderation, and joyful contentment in our lives? How can we touch the joy and freedom of a simple life?

The Dharma offers us many paths to insight and understanding, which we will explore and deepen on our practice day.

Some of us practice fasting, go on pilgrimages with a small backpack, or leave worldly life behind during retreats.

We meditate on our impermanence, learn to appreciate the beauty of simple things, and gradually relinquish the belief that happiness is hidden somewhere in the future and can be hunted down through accumulation of all kinds.

Mindfulness and concentration help us to recognize our true needs.

We learn that the accumulation of knowledge does not bring us wisdom must be bestowed. We see that possessions, fame, power, or pleasant sensory experiences cannot permanently fulfill us.

In NAW events on the topic of "Simple Living," we delve deeply into the question "When is enough?" and openly share our experiences on the path to simplification. We share our successes and insights as well as our stumbles, contradictions, and shame.

Together, we examine our habitual energies of wanting and holding on, as well as the mental states that accompany them. And we share our experiences with the practice that helps us see what we truly need.

Approaching one's own right measure is a great happiness and profoundly liberating. Releasing oneself from the inner feeling of lack is a great happiness.