Stillness by Francine Campone

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Stillness by Francine Campone

There is a Zen story about a teacher who was passing two monks pointing at a flapping flag and arguing.  One monk insisted that the flag was moving, the other monk insisted that it was the wind that was moving, and the flag was carried along.  The teacher stopped and looked at the two monks, saying “you are both wrong.  It is your mind that is moving.”  Why was the teacher right?

Perceiving flags and wind, monks, trees, fruit, or anything else is a matter of mind.  It is mind that leaps from hearing a newscast to embroidering a chain of meanings, interpretations, emotional reactions, and responses.  It is mind that says “hurry, hurry- you have a deadline, an overlong to-do list, a bad hair day.”  Seeing mind chatter as the source of movement is the first step toward stillness.  

And yet, thousands of times each day, we have an opportunity to connect with a moment of absolute stillness.  All that is required is intention and attention.  There is a still point in the moment when one breath has departed, before the next breath enters- between the exhale and inhale.  Notice that moment.  It is absolute and still.  Attend to this- the air entering your nostrils, the air exhaled and that sweet suspension, the second of stillness before the stream begins again. Over and over, in an unceasing chain of moments, there is just stillness.

Articles by: Francine Campone

Francine Campone, Ed.D., MCC, Diploma Coaching Supervision

Francine Campone, Ed.D, MCC, coaches mature professionals making mid-life and mid-career transitions, including leaders in the corporate, education and nonprofit sectors. She served as Director of Fielding University’s Evidence-Based Coaching certificate program for twelve years and is a founding faculty member of the coaching program at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is a PCC and MCC assessor for the ICF and an approved ICF Mentor for those certifications. Francine holds a Diploma in Coaching Supervision and offers supervision for coaches seeking to deepen their learning and skills. Francine’s approach to coach mentoring and development is based on her orientation to reflective adult learning. She partners with coaches to learn from experiences and fosters their sense of self-development.

Dr. Campone co-chaired the review process and co-edited the Proceedings of the ICF Research Symposium in 2004, 2005 and 2006. She hosted the ICF Research Special Interest Group for four years and was chair of the ICF Research Committee. Her recent publications include a case study on the coaching/psychotherapy boundary; the impact of life events on coaches and their coaching; and book chapters on adult learning theories in coaching, reflective learning for coaches, coaching in the adult workplace and trends in coaching related research. She co-edited Innovations in Leadership Coaching Research and Practice and is currently the Research Lead for the Americas Coaching Supervision Network.
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