Mindfulness, Work, and You!
by Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.
There is no doubt about it, today's business is a
round-the-clock atmosphere. We are hounded with external pressures, overwhelmed
with information overload, asked to deliver more with less, work longer hours,
and have less personal time for renewal activities. What is the result? Self-inflicted
attention deficit disorder, exhaustion, lack of focus, reduced health, and
burnout. This leads to lower job satisfaction, morale, and productivity. Hardly
the results we want.
Did you know that 50%+ of
the workforce in the US says Job Stress is a major problem in life? This is
twice as much as 10 years ago. We also have 50% greater healthcare expenditures
and corporations are losing over $300 Billion annually because of work-related stress!
What's going on here?
Let's look at stress. Stress
is simply a mental and often physical reaction to a perceived threat or change.
Guess what! Things are in a constant flow of change so that means that we will
always have stress. There are always unexpected life changes, performance
reviews, new product line roll outs, even stress from things that might be
perceived as a good thing, like a promotion.
Stress is less about the
actual event and more about our perception of the event or the way we relate to
it. For example, if your boss is walking down the hall at work and doesn't even
look at you, does that mean the boss is mad at you or having a bad day? You may
interpret this either way depending on how balanced you're feeling. So how do
we change our relationship to our stress at work?
If you have not heard of mindfulness,
the movement sweeping Western culture, I'm going to introduce it to you and
give you some tips on how to integrate it into the workplace. What is
Mindfulness? Mindfulness is the ability to intentionally paying attention to
the present moment without our filters of judgment (e.g., good/bad,
right/wrong, fair/unfair). In other words, it is the art of cultivating the
ability to be in control of our own minds instead of our minds being in control
of us. Some actually say it is the training for advanced living. Just think...how
has the inability to control attention gotten in the way at work for you (not
to mention in your personal relationships)? Often time we're spending time
worrying about a multiple future projects or dwelling on regrets past ones. This
makes it difficult to really concentrate on a task or another person at work.
When we multi-task we are paying attention to many things and while this may
seem like a good thing, we're actually losing quality, efficiency, and time.
In an age of so much
distraction the old approach of time management at work is being thrown out the
window in favor of attention management. Mindfulness is a practical way to get
this. Over 250 hospitals around the
country and many more around the world are using mindfulness to help people
with distress from anxiety, depression, pain, and more. What companies are
using this? How about Apple, Yahoo,
Texas Instruments, Nortel, Google, and Phil Jackson and the Lakers. This has
amazing results in clinical research in both Psychology and Medicine.
Some of the benefits of
cultivating this type of awareness and skill include:
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Stress-reduction
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Increased clarity of mind, balance, energy, zest
for life
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Improve complex problem-solving and
decision-making
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Enhanced leadership
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More emotional intelligence, less reactive
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Mood regulation and immune system enhancement
Ok, you're wondering, this sounds interesting, so how does
it work? It works by simply cultivating the ability to pay attention, on
purpose in the present moment, without judgment. Don't worry, there are
practices to help you get started. First it's important to understand how our
thoughts, emotions, and feelings are all interconnected and together they can
cause a stress reaction. For example, when driving a car and somebody cuts you
off the first thing you might notice is the thought "Oh my god I almost died,
what an (A-bleep)", followed by an awareness of the emotion of fear and anger,
and the physical sensations of sweat, tightening of the muscles, gripping the
steering wheel tight. Your body and mind are in fight or flight mode. If this
continues, you may start feeling like your breathing really fast and the
thought comes up that you're not getting enough air, this then increases the
fear, and physical symptoms and the cycle goes on and on.
In practicing mindfulness we learn to become aware of our
thoughts, emotions, feelings, and behavior so we can interrupt stress cycles
before they increase out of control. Try this: Sitting where you are right now,
close your eyes and just begin to notice if the mind is busy or calm, what
emotion is there if any, and if the body feels tense or loose. Then bring your
attention to your breathing, in your belly. Simply say to yourself, rising when
the belly rises, and falling when the belly falls. Do this for 3 minutes. When
the mind wanders off into thinking "how is this ever going to work" or "this is
silly" or "what do I have to do later" or "what was I doing earlier", just
notice what the mind is thinking about
without getting too caught up in the content and bring your attention back to
the breath. When done, notice if the mind is busy or calm (most people notice
how busy their mind actually is) and if the body seems more tense, more loose
or about the same. You can do this any time while sitting at your desk.
Here are some more tips on how to practice at work:
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As the
workday begins, slightly slow down as you walk to the car, check in with your
body and notice any tension. Try and soften it.
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Trying
driving to work a little slower today and let red lights be reminders to just
notice your breathing.
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As you
walk to the office, breathe in and out with every three steps. Notice the sensation
of walking, it took you over a year to learn how to do this.
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If you sit
at a desk, take a few breaths before checking the computer for emails or
updates
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If
possible, maybe once a week, eat by yourself in silence, eat slightly slower
and really tune into the sense of taste while eating.
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When
walking back to the car from work, practice the same way you walked to your car.
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No need to
‘rush' home to ‘relax', drive slightly slower and experiment with new radio
stations, maybe reflect on what you actually did that day. What was positive,
what was stuff you would like to do better?
-
When
getting home, if you have a family, take a few minutes in the car and keep your
breath company, notice if your body is tense, and if so, try to soften those
muscles by breathing in and out of them, with awareness, and just letting them
be.
May you be healthy, May you be happy, May you be safe from
harm, May you be at peace. Enjoy!
To Inquire about the upcoming Audio CD Mindful Solutions for Success and Stress Reduction at Work, Click Here Now!