By Dave Wine, President & CEO

In an earlier mindfulness communication I shared that I would write more about “letting go” which is also tied very closely to forgiveness.  Probably the most important area we can ‘let go’ is our need to change everything and everybody, even those things we can’t possible change!  We seem to have a particularly hard time of letting go of the need to change others whether it be our parents, children, spouse, co-workers, or others.

It is very important to understand the difference between influence and control.  We can influence others.   We can’t change them, however.  Only we can change ourselves.  Our spouse, co-workers and others can certainly influence us and we can influence them.  The owner of change, however, is each person and if someone doesn’t want to change, nothing we do can change that!  Indeed, the harder we try to change someone, the more likely they will not!  We spend inordinate amounts of energy trying to do the impossible!

So a huge step towards peace is to let go of wanting to control others and wanting to change others.  We are rowing upstream.  Instead “flow with current” which means focusing first on ourselves, the only person we can change.  As we become more compassionate, affirming, loving, and helpful our influence with others grows but remember the difference between influence and control/change.

Oh if I could only learn the lessons I teach!

Dave

David Wine

David is the President and CEO of the MAX enterprise, having served in that capacity since its formation in 2001.   He has forty plus years of  leadership experience in the business and faith-based worlds, being an ordained minister, having been elected to the highest position in his denomination,  and receiving numerous awards and recognition for his leadership in the insurance industry. He currently serves on numerous boards in the church and insurance sectors.  His hobbies include hiking, biking, skiing and snowshoeing as well as being an avid reader.  David and his wife, Sharon, have three daughters, a son, and five grandchildren.

by David Wine, President & CEO

What mindfulness really comes down to is our ability and willingness to step outside of our usual daily patterns and world.  It is moving from the externals we usually feel (telephones; email; meetings; conversations; tasks; demands; etc.) to the inner part of ourselves where we find peace and relieve the stresses of the externals.  I like to say it feels divine and leads to the Divine!

Moving to this place is easy and hard at the same time.  It requires only one thing from us- our willingness to take a few minutes (just a couple!) from time to time in our daily routines and move to a state of non-doing.  That is why mindfulness teaches us breathing techniques or other things I have shared in my past writings.  It is really for one goal- to help us get to a place of inner stillness and non-doing for brief periods in our day.  It is at those times, when we reach inner stillness and let go of the externals, that we can find peace, calm, and relaxation.  We get refocused and recharged.

It is also moving to the present moment.  Our minds love to worry about the future and spend time regretting the past.  Those fears and regrets sneak up on us all the time in both our conscious and subconscious.  Letting go for just two minutes, doing nothing, trying to think nothing, is one of the most restful and relaxing times we can have and it is one of the greatest favors we can do for our physical, mental and emotional wellness.  And that is wholeness!  At MAX, when our team creates wholeness for ourselves, that in turn creates wholeness throughout the company, which creates even more wholeness as our team interacts with each other and our agents, brokers, and members in a relaxed, loving, affirming way.

When you step out of this world it creates a new pattern and this new pattern is called mindfulness.  So I encourage you to take some time to do nothing in the coming week!  In doing nothing, you are doing something really important – for yourself!

David Wine

David is the President and CEO of the MAX enterprise, having served in that capacity since its formation in 2001.   He has forty plus years of  leadership experience in the business and faith-based worlds, being an ordained minister, having been elected to the highest position in his denomination,  and receiving numerous awards and recognition for his leadership in the insurance industry. He currently serves on numerous boards in the church and insurance sectors.  His hobbies include hiking, biking, skiing and snowshoeing as well as being an avid reader.  David and his wife, Sharon, have three daughters, a son, and four grandchildren.

by David Wine, President & CEO

In an earlier mindfulness communication I shared that I would write more about “letting go” which is also tied very closely to forgiveness.  Probably the most important area we can ‘let go’ is our need to change everything and everybody, even those things we can’t possible change!  We seem to have a particularly hard time of letting go of the need to change others whether it be our parents, children, spouse, co-workers, or others.

It is very important to understand the difference between influence and control.  We can influence others.   We can’t change them, however.  Only we can change ourselves.  Our spouse, co-workers and others can certainly influence us and we can influence them.  The owner of change, however, is each person and if someone doesn’t want to change, nothing we do can change that!  Indeed, the harder we try to change someone, the more likely they will not!  We spend inordinate amounts of energy trying to do the impossible!

So a huge step towards peace is to let go of wanting to control others and wanting to change others.  We are rowing upstream.  Instead “flow with current” which means focusing first on ourselves, the only person we can change.  As we become more compassionate, affirming, loving, and helpful our influence with others grows but remember the difference between influence and control/change.

Oh if I could only learn the lessons I teach!

David Wine

David is the President and CEO of the MAX enterprise, having served in that capacity since its formation in 2001.   He has forty plus years of  leadership experience in the business and faith-based worlds, being an ordained minister, having been elected to the highest position in his denomination,  and receiving numerous awards and recognition for his leadership in the insurance industry. He currently serves on numerous boards in the church and insurance sectors.  His hobbies include hiking, biking, skiing and snowshoeing as well as being an avid reader.  David and his wife, Sharon, have three daughters, a son, and four grandchildren.