Choose to listen.
Hello, Jackson Whole.
This week we get to hear from Dan Baker, an early champion of Becoming Jackson Whole and member of our Board of Directors. Thank you, Dan, for so generously sharing this powerful moment of mindfulness.
That’s absolutely ridiculous!!!!!
This was my first response to a very provocative statement made by a speaker at a seminar I attended recently. My next thought was how wrong and unfair this pronouncement was. Immediately my brain shifted gears into rebuttal mode. I became aware that I was getting warm, and my heart rate was rising.
Once aware, I settled myself and took several deep calming breaths, as I had been instructed to do at a recent Becoming Jackson Whole mindfulness training. As I calmed myself, my focus returned to the speaker, and I was listening once again. For what seemed like minutes, but was only seconds, I lost touch with the conversation. I was now able to return to it and listen to the remainder of the speaker's remarks. By listening, I was able to put the provocative remark into context, and although I was not in complete agreement at the end, I understood the point and appreciated it.
In the past, I would have been so absorbed in crafting a response for the speaker during Q&A, that I would not have heard much, if any, of what followed the offending remark. This would have denied me the opportunity to process what she had to say, eventually understanding the point being made. I would have lost a valuable opportunity to learn.
This was one of the first practical applications of mindfulness I experienced. It was a wonderful feeling, realizing I could affect change in myself. Who would have thought that my longstanding hearing impairment could be cured by simply breathing!
Dan Baker currently serves as Chairman of Tate Engineering Systems, an industrial equipment service provider in the mid-Atlantic area. He serves on the advisory board of the R G Group, an industrial supplier of fluid and motion control devices, in York, PA, as well as Brenton Communities, an owner/operator of manufactured home communities in Iowa.
Dan served on the Board of Directors of the Baltimore Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank from 1993-1999, including two as Chairman. He has served as a director and chairman of several non-profit organizations including St. Paul’s School, Baltimore, MD, Normative Services, Inc., Sheridan, WY, Pride of Baltimore, Inc., Baltimore International Visitors Center, and the Washington-Baltimore Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization. Mr. Baker is a graduate of Hobart College, Geneva, NY, Bachelors of Arts, ’72. Before entering business, he was a 9th grade history teacher and has retained a life-long interest in education.