James Nowlin is a successful businessman, author and mindful entrepreneur. At age 26 as a corporate attorney, he walked away from a six-figure practice as an attorney to start his own business, Excel Global Partners. Later he faced the challenge of dealing with the economic downturn, but forged ahead, becoming even stronger and wiser while growing the company to greater successes. In 2012 he barely made it through a near-death drowning accident on a stormy lake while kayaking with a friend. That was a major change-point in his life and he has not only become stronger, he now helps others live lives that are more purposeful, abundant, and epic than they ever imagined.
Contact Info
Website: www.JamesNowlin.com
Book: The Purposeful Millionaire: 52 Rules For Creating a Life of Wealth and Happiness Now by James Nowlin
Most Influential Person
Dr. Robert S. Brown (University of Virginia College Professor and Mentor)
Effect on Emotions
Mindfulness has affected my emotions in such a way that there is control. In business, I feel that I had a competitive advantage when it comes to negotiating because I bring mindfulness to the table. (See Thoughts on Breathing below).
So mindfulness is not about ignoring emotions or putting those emotions in your pocket, it's about controlling things for the situation. For me, it's manifested itself in such a way that I can take control of the situation and end up being in the position of power and the universe and others respond to me because of my control of those emotions.
I bring mindfulness to everything that I do in order to, not ignore emotions, but to tap in to a higher purpose and a greater understanding of how emotions can serve us. They can serve us very poorly or they can serve us very well. I want my emotions to serve me well.
Thoughts on Breathing
When somebody wants something out of a negotiation and I want something out of a negotiation, I will take a second at that boardroom table and breathe, to inhale for ten seconds, to hold it, to exhale for ten seconds.
To slow down my thought process and to move from the reactive which is in the emotional part of the brain to the rational side of the brain.
By doing that I am elevating the conversation and I'm changing the tone that I'm speaking in and the other person elevates their conversation and I'm changing  their tone. So the entire conversation changes.
Mindfulness in traffic means breathing as well. When someone cuts me off now, I can laugh, instead of wanting to curse or flick that person off. I even talk about road rage in the book and about distracted drivers.
Suggested Resources
Book: The Prayer of Jebez by Bruce Wilkinson
Book: The Purposeful Millionaire: 52 Rules For Creating a Life of Wealth and Happiness Now by James Nowlin
App: Three Minute Mindfulness
Bullying Story
Mindfulness started for me at a very young age. The bullying taught me to be mindful.
Being in a household in which some of the circumstances were just dreadful forced me to be mindful. I didn't know what it was called back then but I knew that if I spent time alone, if I closed the door to the room, and if I just sat in silence, that something about me changed.
The vibrations within my body and the vibrations within my mind actually changed.
That practice has translated into other areas of my life including when I went to college I had the opportunity to study under Dr. Robert S. Brown who is a mentor to me to this day.