Sitting in Stillness with Mimi Bland
BY PAMELA ZEMBANI
“When you have lived long enough in noise, silence becomes sacred.”
There is a quality to Mimi Bland’s presence that makes the air slow down. When she speaks, silence doesn’t feel empty — it feels alive. She is sitting in a light-filled room just outside London. Everything about the space, the soft linen, the scent of sandalwood, the stillness feels intentional. So does she. Once, Mimi lived her life in noise — performance, perfection, protection. Now, at sixty-one, she embodies something altogether different: calm that hums with power.
Pamela: You talk about presence as something sacred. Where did that understanding come from?
Mimi: From chaos.My early years were shaped by fear, unworthiness, and deep emotional and physical pain. I was constantly reacting, defending, performing and I didn’t even realize how far I’d drifted from myself. The chaos became my greatest teacher. When you’ve lived long enough in noise, silence becomes sacred. Presence was born the moment I could no longer outrun my pain, when stillness was the only thing left. That’s when I discovered that peace isn’t the absence of chaos; it’s the mastery of it.
Pamela: What was the first shift that changed everything for you?
Mimi:Realizing that nothing external was ever going to save me. For years, I tried to achieve my way into peace. Control, success, validation — I chased it all. But peace only arrived when I turned inward and took radical responsibility for my energy. I understood that I was both the cause and the cure. When I stopped trying to change the world and began to recalibrate myself, everything changed.
“True power doesn’t need to prove, perform, or persuade — it simply is.”
Pamela: You often use the phrase “quiet power.” What does that mean in your world?
Mimi: Quiet power is alignment. It doesn’t need to prove, perform, or persuade, it simply is.
We have been conditioned to think power must be loud or dominant. But true power is stable. It moves through presence, through clarity, through energetic consistency. When you no longer need to convince the world of who you are, the world begins to listen in silence.
Pamela: That’s beautifully said. Where does empathy fit into that vision of power?
Mimi: Empathy is everything. You can’t lead what you don’t understand. Empathy allows leaders to see beyond behaviour into the emotional architecture beneath it. It’s not about fixing or rescuing; it’s about feeling with, not for. Empathy grounds leadership in humanity. True influence begins in connection, not control.
Pamela: You work with high-performing leaders. When someone is in deep struggle, what’s your first step in holding space for them?
Mimi: I meet them where they are. No judgment, no rush to fix. Presence heals more than advice ever can.
When someone feels deeply seen and safe, their nervous system begins to regulate — and healing happens naturally. I remind them that nothing is broken; it’s simply waiting to be recalibrated.
Pamela: You said earlier, “You can’t take someone where you haven’t gone.” How do you ensure you’re leading from truth, not ego?
Mimi: By asking myself one question every day: Am I leading from alignment, or from ego? If I’m not anchored in stillness, I pause. I breathe. I return to my center. You can’t guide anyone into peace if you are still at war with yourself.
“Pain was never my enemy. It was my invitation back to myself.”
Pamela: Many people spend their lives searching for purpose. How do you help them turn inward?
Mimi: I tell them that purpose isn’t something you find — it’s something you remember. It’s already inside you, beneath the noise and conditioning, beneath the identities you built to survive. My work isn’t about telling people who they are, it’s about helping them remember who they were before the world told them otherwise.
Pamela: What does presence look like in your daily life?
Mimi: Presence is my practice. I start every morning in silence — no phone, no noise, just breath. I reconnect to my energy before I give it away to the world. Throughout the day, I pause often to listen, to notice, to reset. Presence isn’t a place I visit; it’s the foundation I live from.
Pamela: What’s one truth you once resisted but now fully embrace?
Mimi: That pain was never my enemy. For years, I ran from it, judged it, numbed it. But pain was always trying to guide me back to myself.
When I stopped resisting and allowed it to teach me, it became my portal to peace. Pain was never the punishment — it was the invitation.
Pamela: That sounds like alchemy — turning pain into wisdom.
Mimi: That’s exactly what it is. Pain is transformation in disguise. When you meet it with awareness instead of resistance, it becomes gold.
Pamela: Leadership often means navigating uncertainty. How do you stay grounded when things feel unknown?
Mimi: I trust. Control is an illusion, but alignment is real. When I trust myself, I don’t need to know what comes next. I no longer chase certainty — I embody it. The unknown becomes sacred space for creation, not fear.
Pamela: You turned sixty-one this year. You look more radiant than ever. What’s your secret to longevity and thriving?
Mimi: Gratitude, love, and growth. Every year is another initiation, another chance to evolve. The secret is never to stop becoming. Youth fades from the body, but not from the spirit. I feel more alive, more aligned, and more powerful now than ever — because I live from truth, not survival.
“Master yourself, and you master life.”
Pamela: What reflection would you leave our readers with — especially those leading through change?
Mimi: Master yourself, and you master life. Every obstacle, every delay, every challenge is an invitation to remember your power.
The world doesn’t need more leaders performing strength, it needs leaders who embody truth. When you lead from that place, everything aligns — because reality always mirrors the energy of the one creating it.
She pauses. The room is quiet again, but the air feels electric.
As I gather my notes, Mimi smiles — not the kind of smile that closes a conversation, but the kind that opens something deeper.
“Stillness,” she says softly, “isn’t what happens when the noise stops. It’s what happens when you stop running from yourself.”
And for a moment, silence feels like the loudest thing in the world.
Mimi Bland is a Speaker, author, and Elite Mindset Strategist
Find her work @ www.mimibland.london
Author of The Answer Is You