Mindfulness @ Work E-Book

Anna Black

• Herausgeber: Ryland Peters & Small
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Flourish in the workplace with mindfulness meditation. Work-related stress is an all-too-common part of modern life.The rise of digital media means that many people never really "switch off" from work and the culture of presenteeism causes us to spend more time at work than ever before. Many workers spend a lot of time either ruminating on past work stress or worrying about future work-related problems. By applying the principles of mindfulness – an ancient Buddhist practice – to our working lives, we can become aware of our habitual negative thoughts and behaviours and learn to recognise and manage the warning signs of stress. Anna Black suggests short and simple meditations that can be used throughout the working day to strengthen focus and concentration, enhance working relationships and improve empathy – all of which help you to perform well and keep calm at work, whatever your job. Anna's suggestions are applicable to both office-based workers and those who work from home and she covers a range of topics including working mindfully with others, paying mindful attention in meetings and using meditation to cope with stressful situations.

Leseprobe

MINDFULNESS

@

WORK

MINDFULNESS

@

WORK

Reduce stress, live in the moment, and be happier and more productive at work

ANNA BLACK

For Catherine, with thanks for your continuing friendship, wisdom, and support.

Published in 2014 by CICO Books

An imprint of Ryland Peters & Small Ltd

20–21 Jockey's Fields    519 Broadway, 5th Floor

London WC1R 4BW      New York, NY 10012

www.rylandpeters.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Text © Anna Black 2014

Design and illustration © CICO Books 2014

The author's moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress and the British Library.

eISBN: 978 1 78249 515 4

ISBN: 978 1 78249 169 9

Printed in China

Editor: Jennifer Jahn

Designer: Manisha Patel

Illustrator: Amy Louise Evans

For digital editions, visit www.cicobooks.com/apps.php

CONTENTS

Introduction: Discovering Mindfulness

chapter one:

LIVING IN THE MOMENT @ WORK

chapter two:

YOU @ WORK

chapter three:

YOU AND OTHERS @ WORK

chapter four:

@ HOME

Where to go Next

Further Reading

Index

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

DISCOVERING MINDFULNESS

People often think meditation is not possible for them, however, mindfulness is accessible to every single one of us and chances are that you have already experienced being fully present in the moment at some point in time. Practicing mindfulness meditation is about learning how to do this intentionally—and reaping the myriad benefits.

I discovered mindfulness at a time when I was experiencing chronic stress, a good part of which was generated by work. A promotion had led to greater responsibility that, although initially exciting, became increasingly stressful as staff cuts meant that everyone was asked to do much more. A change in management caused new procedures to be implemented, and while they might have been good for the overall benefit of the company, they were less helpful for those of us who were expected to deliver them. Everyday tasks felt increasingly difficult. The more stressed we became, the more short-tempered and demanding we all grew to be; work became a place to be endured.

I was aware of the long-term health consequences of stress so I wanted to find a way to manage it. I had flirted with meditation at a local Buddhist group but I didn’t want to be part of an order. I struggled with the practicalities of meditating—sitting crosslegged in lotus position was beyond me and I didn’t understand what I was supposed to be doing when a teacher said to watch my mind. I had no idea how to do that so I decided that meditation must only work for certain people, and my mind must just be too busy (we always think we are special!).

By chance I stumbled across Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living, and this was how I first came across the term “mindfulness meditation.” Reading Full Catastrophe Living made me realize that it was possible to establish a meditation practice outside of a spiritual framework, and I became aware of the myriad health benefits of meditation. As I began practicing mindfulness meditation, I discovered how small changes led to bigger shifts and that, if I let go of having a particular outcome in mind and instead trusted in the process, all kinds of unforeseen possibilities could emerge.

Learning to Meditate

I discovered that there was more than one way to sit while meditating and that our posture is simply a means to an end. Gradually I learned that meditation was not about stopping to think or about emptying the mind, but allowing one’s thoughts to come and go without obsessing about them. I learned that my mind would always wander and that it was repeatedly bringing back my attention to a point of focus that was important. Over time I was able to sit still for longer periods of time. I also realized that it was not so much the length of time that was important, but rather the regularity and quality of my attention; a little and often was better than an hour once a month. I practiced tuning into my body—a place that had become unfamiliar to me over the years—and I started to notice how my body was constantly giving me accurate feedback about how I really felt. I became aware of how I would go into a meeting at work in a positive mood and how, within the space of an hour, my energy levels would plummet, my posture would change, and my neck and shoulders would become tight and stiff. I could see a direct relationship between my environment and my physical and emotional well-being.

I had assumed that a promotion was a positive thing—after all aren’t we all looking for more money and greater responsibilities? Through mindfulness I learned to distinguish between what I thought was right and what I really felt and wanted at a visceral level. I realized that perhaps the responsibilities that came with the new role weren’t for me as they took me further away from what I loved best about my job. When I was growing up, I had a reputation for indecisiveness. Through mindfulness and meditation I’ve developed trust and confidence in myself and the decisions I make—and this has been life-changing.

Accepting Our True Feelings

Acknowledging how we really feel, rather than how we think we should feel, is an important element of mindfulness practice. Accepting all aspects of ourselves—even the parts that we don’t like or think are inappropriate—means that we are in a much stronger position to make informed decisions. We can only decide where we want to go once we have an accurate understanding of where we are right now. My mindfulness practice has taught me that nothing stays the same—I still get stressed but now I am able to recognize and so take wise action to manage it.

In my experience, practicing mindfulness at work is challenging as the workplace is often very cerebral—it is where we solve problems and fix things. The workplace is driven by goals and we have professional expectations (and people have them of us). When we feel hijacked by our emotions at work we often suppress them and distract ourselves with unhelpful strategies such as over-working, eating too much or not enough, drinking too much, or taking drugs. Or we may blow a fuse from time to time, which can create a climate of fear and uncertainty with our colleagues. We often try and apply our problem-solving skills to emotional challenges that arise but discover that what might work operationally can actually work against us emotionally, and we get caught up in unhelpful cycles of repetitive thinking or rumination.

This is a book for individuals wanting to learn about mindfulness in the workplace, rather than a guide for introducing mindfulness training into the workplace (but you can find further reading about this on page 141). I hope you will experiment with some of the more formal practices on pages 110–134 as these will help you cultivate valuable skills for applying mindfulness in the workplace. This book can only give you a taster of the possibilities that mindfulness meditation can bring into your own work and home life. If you find the practices here useful, I would encourage you to explore the subject further. There are suggestions on page 140 on how you can go about this.

MAKING THE MOST OF MINDFULNESS @ WORK

Any activity can be done mindfully — more often, the challenge is remembering to do so, particularly when we get caught up in the distractions of daily life. To help remind us and to make mindfulness an intrinsic part of our life, it is helpful to set aside a short period of time as often as you can when you can simply be with yourself—watching the breath (see page 102) or doing any of the other practices in this book. The attitudes and skills we cultivate through regular practice provide a foundation that gives us the steadiness and confidence to practice mindfulness when we are caught up in the challenges of everyday life. It is one thing to remain calm when watching the breath at home, but quite another when faced with a crisis at work or a customer losing their temper with us.

Acknowledging that what we are doing is difficult is important. We are working to change patterns of behavior that have been laid down over many years, with repeated activation. The only way we can reverse these patterns is to counteract them with multiple small actions that are positive, and thus we lay down new pathways of thinking and behavior. However, it is never a consistent path of improvement but, rather, one of ups and downs, switchbacks and fits and starts, and it’s important to realize that that’s okay. It really is the journey that is the process. It is a journey that requires patience as well as huge dollops of gentleness and kindness towards yourself. Let go of any goals to be a particular way and simply have the intention to practice as best as you can, when you can. That is all you can ask of yourself.

I recommend reading Living in the Moment @ Work (page 12) to find out more about stress and how it affects you and then move on to the two main sections of the book, which include practices and suggestions for bringing mindfulness into the workplace: You @ Work (see page 44) and You and Others @ Work (see page 80), and because how we are at work affects how we behave at home, there is also a section on @ Home (see page 100). I strongly recommend that you try some of the more “formal” practices in the @ Home chapter, as the skills cultivated will stand you in good stead in helping you to apply mindfulness to your day-to-day working life.

You can read from cover to cover or randomly choose a practice to try. If the practices resonate with you, you may find yourself gradually incorporating more and more of them into your daily life. Be creative about how you apply mindfulness to your work; many of the practices here could easily be adapted to different scenarios, so don’t assume that there is only one way to do something.

If you are interested, explore the subject further with the suggestions on Where to Go Next (page 140) and Further Reading (page 141)

Do It Your Way

The practices are predominantly informal practices and they are a good place to start if you are a beginner. If you have an adverse reaction to any of the practices please stop and get advice from a mindfulness teacher or healthcare professional before continuing.

If you already have some experience with mindfulness meditation, I hope this book will encourage you to bring it more into your work life. The more we can weave mindfulness into the fabric of our daily life, the more we will reap the benefits.

CHAPTER ONE

LIVING IN THE MOMENT

@

WORK

Stress at work is a leading cause of absenteeism and can have long-term health consequences. This chapter looks at stress, how it affects us, and how regularly practicing mindfulness can help, both physiologically and psychologically. When we feel well, we are more likely to perform at our best.

Through regularly practicing mindfulness meditation we become used to noticing what we are feeling in the head, heart, and body. This awareness can cultivate a pause that is long enough for us to stop and stand back, thereby turning an automatic reaction into a considered response, which can have a valuable practical application:

“It was the last day before the holidays and I had been exchanging e–mails with a client who, I thought, was being needlessly obstructive about something I’d been hoping to finalize that day. As I typed a reply to him I was aware of how annoyed I was—I could feel it in the way I hammered the keyboard! Noticing this was enough to make me pause—I knew I was angry, so I decided to do nothing for the time being and deleted my intended reply. A few hours later I had an email from the client conceding that their original request was unnecessary and I could go ahead as I had originally suggested. I was pleased that I had used my mindfulness practice to notice how I was reacting and so to pause and reflect, and stop the situation from escalating and potentially damaging my relationship with the client.”

Alex’s awareness of what was happening in her body as well as of the rising irritation and frustration had been cultivated through regularly practicing mindfulness. Her awareness acted like a red flag,and giving her the ability to stop and pause. Rather than react impulsively and potentially damage a relationship, she responded differently, resulting in a positive outcome for all concerned. This is just one example of how regular mindfulness practice influences our behavior.

MINDFULNESS IN THE WORKPLACE

The “workplace” can take different forms—for many of us it is an office, but for you the workplace could also be a hospital or clinic, a school or college, a prison or law enforcement agency, a shop, a supermarket, or an establishment in the service industry. You might work at a desk or in the outdoors, within a team of people or perhaps remotely from home, interacting rarely with others. You might go to the same place every day for years or your workplace may be changing all the time; you may work on land, sea, or in the air. Whatever you do and wherever you do it, the bottom line is that the workplace is where all of us spend the majority of time as adults and, regardless of whether we enjoy it or not, we work to earn a living and contribute to society. When we meet new people one of the first bits of information we often share is what we do professionally. Work gives us an identity and often a particular status in society. This is significant because if our identity is defined by what we do, and we spend the majority of our waking life at work, when something goes wrong or becomes challenging in our work environment, the effect on us can be devastating.

Evidence suggests that many of us find the workplace challenging. The Health and Safety Executive in the UK reports that one in five employees feels very or extremely stressed at work (that’s the equivalent of five million people in the UK). Work-induced stress is now the most common reason for-long term sickness absence. The cost of this is estimated to be £3.7 billion per year. In the USA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reports that stress-related ailments cost companies $200 billion per year, with 70—90 percent of hospital visits by employees linked to stress.

A 2010 report on mindfulness by the UK’s Mental Health Foundation includes survey results showing that:

•   81% of those surveyed agree that “the fast pace of life and the number of things we have to do and worry about these days is a major cause of stress, unhappiness and illness in UK society;”

•   86% agree that “people would be much happier and healthier if they knew how to slow down and live in the moment;”

•   53% agree that “I find it difficult to relax or switch off, and can’t stop myself thinking about things I have to do or nagging worries.”

But how can we learn to switch off? How can we slow down and avoid getting swept up in the fast-paced world of work and home-life? How do we balance “living in the moment” with making sure that we are looking after our family’s future? One way we can do this is by practicing mindfulness meditation, through which we can cultivate and learn these skills.

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?

Mindfulness is a term that is frequently used in the media but there are often misconceptions about what it actually means. Mindfulness is commonly defined as: Deliberately paying attention to your experience as it arises without judgment.

The key elements are:

•   Intentionality—we are deliberately paying attention.

•   We are noticing in a particular way,without judging our experience, that it is what it is, and that there is no right or wrong.

•   We are doing this moment by moment—noticing how our experience is constantly changing. Our experience encompasses thoughts, physical sensations, and emotions.

Paying Attention