We were really impressed with the February 27 New York Times article on Aetna's CEO, Mark Bertolini and his commitment to making mindfulness a part of Aetna. We were struck by the fact that his movement toward meditation and mindfulness was informed, in part, by a life-changing event - which is the origin of our move toward mindfulness as well. Let's hope that's not what it takes for the rest of us to consider a topic we frequently talk with clients about which is, "How do we bring Buddha into the workplace?" Mr. Bertolini seems to be doing a nice job of that at Aetna and we applaud the commitment while also ensuring that employee participation is purely voluntary.

That's basically table stakes for whether or not you want to make mindfulness a part of your workplace. If you make mindfulness a part of your work environment, just make sure you leave the choice of whether or not folks participate up to them. It has to be their choice. With that said, we remain deeply committed to ensuring that mindfulness is part of our workplace and world view. But that's our choice. We're committed to mindfulness because we have found that when we take time during the day to pause and think deeply about what we're trying to accomplish, we can really focus on what we can affect - and that moment has the potential to change everything. This is that.