I've often examined that if we can study our mind -- then we are not the mind. I can further state that if we can still our mind -- we are not our mind. Because if we have control over a certain function of our physiology -- then we are not that function. We are separate from it. And as the mind is the main driver of our experiences - our world becomes the Cartesian screen. (Descartes': "I think therefore I am"). Hence, what we experience could simply be explained as the data that is gathered by our senses, translated by our brain and projected onto the lucid screen -- Life.
Mindfulness does not simply arise from moments of stillness or steady breathing; mindfulness is self-awareness. Self-awareness arises from knowing we are not our mind. It is to study the nature of the mind. What is the mind? What potentially constitutes the mind? Is it a fragment of our persona? Is it the "I" in our experiences? From this act, we begin to lift the almost-permanent veil that shields us from surrendering and accepting that we are beyond the mind - the thoughts.
Awareness is our ability to know that we can Be without the mind -- and Be OK. With awareness we reach our source. And that source carries all meaning, all ecstasies, and all blessings. To be mindful is to be mind-less; it is to fully drop the mind and embrace our being. To be mind-less is not to be use-less; it is being empowered.
In leadership when we reach the state of mindless-ness our potential increases ten-fold, our creativity sky rockets, we become fulfilled, un-bound, un-limited, and the loyalty of our peers and followers grows stronger - because they also see the transformation. It becomes contagious!
Mindfulness is the state of self-awareness, of dropping the mind; it is the act of de-constructing the old mind to create a new, fresh, self-full reality. This new reality is now heart-based. Because to be a great leader just like it is to be a great warrior -- this requires -- most importantly -- a heart of Gold!