On November 13, 2018, attendees of the ULI Philadelphia Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) got the experience of feeling refreshed and centered thanks to the guidance of Jillian McFadden, Regional Manager at lululemon and founder of Living You. As leaders in business, we have many competing demands for our time and energy that we try to balance. Jill shared insights and practical steps on the benefits of incorporating mindfulness to help integrate our work and life in a healthy way. This definition of mindfulness that Jillian gave us is helpful to understanding what this word means:

“Mindfulness is the practice of being aware and conscious in the present moment while acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts and emotions without judgment.”

By allowing a few minutes to practice mindfulness between meetings or at convenient times in the day (such as your work commute or when the home is quiet), you can experience the benefit of clearer thought and more effective action. Jill led us on a guided meditation and an exercise of truly listening without talking. It was eye-opening how little time is actually needed to get a benefit and how much more you hear when you don’t talk.

WLI is grateful to Jillian McFadden and to Saxby’s Coffee for generously hosting the event.

The mission of WLI is to  is to raise the visibility and number of women leaders in ULI and the real estate industry. Our council endeavors to promote that mission by offering opportunities for skills building, networking and community engagement. For more information on WLI contact [email protected] or click here.

This article was contributed by Charlene Drake. Charlene is an Environmental Redevelopment Specialist at Langan Engineering and one of the Co-Chairs for ULI Philadelphia WLI.