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SoulCo: Lead mindfully—with clarity for purpose, people, and priorities that matter

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July 2018

Dear Friends,

We hope you’re well and enjoying the summer!

For the past two years, we (Jung and Charles) at SoulCo have deepened our learning, reflection, and growth through mindfulness practices. The initial inspiration came when Jung attended the 2-day Search Inside Yourself (SIY) program on mindfulness-based emotional intelligence in May 2016. A few months later, Jung and Charles both attended a 5-day workshop taught by a wonderful teacher, Jonathan Foust: “The Still Small Voice Within: Meditation, Focusing, and Intuition Training.”

With the clarity and focus gained from these workshops, Jung has been training in two mindfulness certification programs. As of June 30, she successfully completed the SIY Teacher Training Program and is now a SIY Certified Teacher. We are deeply grateful to all of you who supported Jung with your time, presence, and encouragement.

She continues with her 2-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program co-led and taught by Jack Kornfield, PhD and Tara Brach, PhD, and expects to complete it in May 2019 for certification by the Awareness Training Institute and UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center.

SoulCo’s vision is a world where people come alive at work and in life while sustaining vibrant and resilient learning and sharing communities through education, connection, and inspiration.

To achieve this vision, SoulCo has shifted its focus (from consulting and advising) to facilitating learning and growth for change leaders who want to make a difference that matters to them and to the world. We launched SoulCo Learning Lab this spring to mark this shift.

Drawing on research from the fields of neuroscience and emotional intelligence, the Learning Lab curriculum is designed for participants to learn how their minds work in an experiential way through mindfulness practices. In the Learning Lab, they can explore and experience how mindfulness practices and emotional intelligence skills can help develop healthy mental habits for stronger leadership presence, focus, resilience, and relationships.

We cannot buy or borrow, hire or outsource these practical and powerful skills. Yet, we often overlook and underestimate what internal resources lie within us, especially when we feel pressured in our busy, distracted, and stressed environment.

It doesn’t have to be that way. We can learn to develop “the ability to recognize and understand emotions in ourselves and others, and use this awareness to manage our behavior and relationships” (see the article on Google referenced below). With this heightened sense of self-awareness, we can be leaders who inspire people to trust, follow, and work with us; focus on what matters and accomplish our goals effectively; and have meaningful relationships with ease, balance, and joy.

SoulCo Learning Lab invites all of its participants to see, feel, sense, and know the possibility of coming alive with meaning, purpose, and happiness at work and in life.

Thank you for reading. We look forward to engaging in conversations that can ignite all of us to be awake, aware, and alive as we move through constant and persistent changes in our lives.

Sincerely,

Jung and Charles
Co-Founders, SoulCo LLC

P.S. If you enjoyed this email, please share it with a friend.


 

Updates on SoulCo

 

SoulCo Learning Lab

SoulCo co-creates learning communities through its Learning Lab, designed for experiencing and practicing mindfulness and emotional intelligence skills. In the lab, participants come together to explore, experience, and experiment with radical and powerful ways of being out of which their doing will unfold towards sustainable success and well-being from the inside out.

SoulCo's Learning Lab is a safe and supportive space for learners to expand their inner capacity so that they can respond skillfully with their innate wisdom and compassion to the 21st century challenges of the PAID (Pressured, Always-on, Information overload, Distracted) and VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world. Participants learn and take away practical tools, tips, and techniques for day-to-day challenges and opportunities.

SoulCo's highest aspiration is that self-sustaining learning communities will form in and across the learning labs so that participants may continue to learn and grow together. This is how SoulCo scales—by each participant carrying a seed of wisdom and compassion for positive impact in their communities.

 

Recent Events

In May and June, SoulCo ran an 8-week, live, online program with muru-D, a startup accelerator in Australia. We were inspired by the many startup founders courageously facing fear, doubt, uncertainty, and overwhelming demands just like many of us (but on steroids due to the nature of starting a new venture), and still showing up weekly to hone their skills to be present and make intentional choices based on their core values and goals.

We were humbled to hear some of the words they generously shared to express how they felt at the end of each session:

Calm, Connected, Supported, Grounded, Energized, New Beginning, Ready for Today, Stillness, Hopeful, Aware, Present

The sense of “We are in this together” was palpable in each session, and that spirit created a community that SoulCo was honored to be part of.

As a bonus, we were delighted to meet with one of the founders, Jeremy Hurst, right here in Boston after his one-week MassChallenge boot camp. Jeremy is Co-Founder and Director of SpacetoCo: a platform for the short-term hire of space. (See his article below for more.) We didn’t know him a few months ago, and now we have a dear friend in Perth, Australia.

On May 30, SoulCo ran a half-day session of the SIY (Search Inside Yourself) program at The Village Works in Brookline Village. We are grateful for the participants who engaged so fully with the SIY content and experience. One of the participants, a data scientist, mentioned that she had been meditating with Headspace by herself, and this was her first time practicing mindfulness in a group. We were inspired to hear that she left wanting more opportunities for practicing and learning in community.

On June 19, SoulCo launched an 8-week, live, online series for women entrepreneurs in the Greater Boston area who are innovating in the fields of healthcare and well-being. This group came together after a breakfast meeting that Jung attended in May, and revealed the power of alignment: when like-hearted women come together with a yearning to lead from the inside out, the possibilities are boundless. As these sessions progress, participants are learning and developing practical skills while getting to know each other through practicing mindfulness, reflecting on their experience, and sharing challenges and rewards together.

 

Upcoming Events

SoulCo invites you to explore our programming and keep an eye out for new offerings that run virtually via Zoom or in person at various locations throughout the Boston/Cambridge area. One upcoming series is Kindness Cafe—a weekly gathering to share experiences of kindness, gratitude, and grace in our everyday lives. The inaugural Kindness Cafe will be on Wednesday, July 11, 2:30 pm at The Village Works.

SoulCo is creating more offerings, including an introductory course on mindfulness meditation, and new Learning Lab programs to deepen participants’ knowledge and experience of emotional intelligence skills such as self-awareness (understanding your thoughts, emotions, and habits), self-management (managing your impulses and reactions), motivation (aligning your values and work), empathy (understanding others’ experiences and perspectives), and leadership (influencing with wisdom and compassion).

Last but not least, Jung is certified and available to teach the SIY (Search Inside Yourself) program in varied lengths: 2 days, 1 day, ½ day (3.5 hours), keynote (60 minutes), four 3.5-hour sessions, or eight 90-minute sessions. If you know of anyone who might be interested in the SIY program for increased team effectiveness, enhanced employee engagement, and a thriving workplace culture, please connect them with either Jung (jung@soulcoleader.com) or Charles (charles@soulcoleader.com) at SoulCo.


 

3 Resources We Recommend

People Management | Emotional Intelligence | Manager Transition
Google Spent Years Studying Effective Bosses. Now They Teach New Managers These 6 Things
The transition to management requires a transformation of thought
https://www-inc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.inc.com/amp/170651.html

Neuroscience | Mindfulness | Meditation
Don’t Buy into the Backlash—the Science on Meditation Is Clear
One flawed study can’t diminish the benefits of meditation in the workplace.
https://www.thriveglobal.com/stories/34555-don-t-buy-into-the-backlash-the-science-on-meditation-is-clear

Startup | Community | Inspiration
A Mass Challenge in Boston
SpacetoCo’s intrepid co-founder Jeremy Hurst recently spent a week at the MassChallenge 2018 Accelerator in Boston. Here is his report…
https://www.startupnews.com.au/2018/07/04/a-mass-challenge-in-boston/
(Jeremy Hurst is Co-Founder and Director of SpacetoCo: a platform for the short-term hire of space. He was also a participant in SoulCo's Learning Lab for muru-D.)

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