Five days a week most of us go to the same places to do basically the same things. The same co-workers share the space, the same snacks are in the break room. Whether or not you love your job, and no matter how novel and exciting everyday might be, incorporating mindfulness practice into one’s daily routine is easy and will show immediate benefits.
Finding time to be aware of yourself actually being at work is easy, the busier and more stressful your day is the more opportunities you will have and the more beneficial the practice will be. Stress is a well known physiological instigator for many disorders and injuries off and on the job. If you pour molten steel or ponder policy in a think tank forty hours a week, being aware of your breathing is going to keep down injuries and keep you a lot happier Monday mornings.
Why do so many of us prefer to zone out and go on auto-pilot (shameless) at work, fast-forwarding to 5:00, and most importantly, what effect does this have on our professional personal and emotion lives? Awareness of our surroundings and especially of our body as an physical, emotional entity is crucial to being productive and genuinely enjoying yourself and ‘the daily grind’. That reminds me The Daily Mind is a great resource for more corporate inspired mindfulness.
Step One Remember to Breathe And remember that you are breathing, take a moment to remind yourself that you are alive. feel the air moving through you nose, experience your chest rising and falling. Take stock of yourself as an organism, not a cog, if just for a moment.
Inhale, let the phone ring an extra time, exhale, let the copier masticate your memo.
Sleep Well: How To Relax Using Deep Breathing Techniques
Step Two Be Mindful of Your Surroundings The work place are a home away from home for many of us, not in the quaint ‘home sweet home’ sense, but rather that we sped a large percentage of our waking hours there financing a place we seem to see less and less of. When it comes to your desk or work space keep it simple, manageable, and come to the understanding that your immediate space might be a factor in your overall sense of well being. Getting organized is a start.
Sunlight and air is the final ingredient, easy for those in a corner office with big windows, or if you work in construction. Anybody locked in a cube or under florescent lights may not easily attain this luxury. In this case you have to make breaks a priority, sunlight provides vital vitamin d, a deficiency of which can lead to neurological and physical ailments, so if you or your boss need a reason, there it is.
Step Three Accept Your Co-Workers Much in the same way we cannot choose our family, most of us cant choose our co-workers. We can, however come to accept and respect even the most obnoxious of them. Really listen to them. Find areas of agreement. Relate to them as people not the image of them you see every day, judge them in the moment without the emotional anchors you have associated with them, identify those anchors and take control.
We all spend way too much time at work to be miserable or even cress-fallen. No one will ever pay you what your time is really worth so you have to make it worth every second.
**Special note to those who work in retail or customer service**
Hell doesn’t have to be other people, take these steps, retreat and repeat.
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Matthew Callaway is currently a senior trainer with Focused Awareness Inc., an organization which teaches mindfulness and contemplative practices to facilitate personal self growth. Focused Awareness uses relaxation techniques, taught through individual instruction and group interaction. Our mission is to bring mindfulness into everyday life for personal development, emotional well-being, and self empowerment.