Savor life, don’t devour it without appreciation. In their best-selling business book, “The Republic of Tea: Letters to a Young Zentrepreneur,” authors
 Mel Ziegler, Sill Rosenzweig, and Patricia Ziegler suggest that we live life “sip by sip” rather than “gulp by gulp,” as most of us do.

Mel and Pat Ziegler and entrepreneur Bill Rosenzweig are the founders of the successful clothing chain Banana Republic. Their book tells the story of the birthing of a business designed to sell tea in an entirely new way.

“We were in a highly charged no-man’s-land, outside space and time, where The Source of an Idea was revealing itself to us in its as yet unborn state,” Mel Ziegler explains

One reviewer on www.tricycle.com said that “The Republic of Tea” reflects “a very Taoist vision that we are only creative vehicles who serve a cosmic Idea, an idea that waits patiently for the right people and circumstances to align, so that it can manifest itself in the world.”

The authors propose that business has become the “dominant metaphor of our time,” and that the powerful changes we want to make in this world will be made through our businesses. This future business, however, won’t be the business that we once knew. Instead, our work will be discernible by community service, authenticity, communication, personal growth, creativity and relationships.

The Zieglers founded The Republic of Tea and Banana Republic and developed it into a massive venture based on mindfulness, with the intent of having a business that serves inner peace and enlightenment, through simple acts of credibility. It is a story of mindfulness and aesthetic sensitivity, of business that serves inner peace and enlightenment, not through social or political action but through simple acts of buying and selling.

High tech embraces mindful practices.

It’s no surprise that because mindfulness increases creativity, many high-tech companies have embraced mindful practices. Silicon Valley is a hotbed for mindfulness at work. The annual conference, Wisdom 2.0, draws together thousands of spiritually minded technologists from, among others, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, who trade tips on how to stay calm in the digital age.

What do you think of mindfulness as a business practice? Have you made a decision to shop at or frequent those establishments that are more about authenticity, communication and relationships?

Thanks for sharing.

For questions about this post or for information on becoming a fearless leader, contact Dr. Cathy Greenberg and The Fearless Leader Group at (888) 320-1299 or by email at hello@fearlessequalsfreedom.com.