Mindfulness at Work

 

By Hu Wo (Cuckoo’s Song)

There can be seen many different practices in any domain that will diminish work-related stress. Some people tend to drink coffee or tea to reduce stress; some have a short chat with anyone online or offline; some run errands for themselves;and others like to croon gently. Whatever it is, those practices often release stress from work to some extent. But among the practices which people have still been doing, practising mindfulness or meditation at work may be one of the best solutions to stress management. To my way of thinking, this practice is like yoga in sports and Vipassana in Buddhism, but not the same at all. Here, the four ways to practice mindfulness at work for controlling stress will be suggested below.

Make time for short mindfulness exercises – In `A Monk’s Guide to Happiness´, Gelong Thubten has recommended practising micro moments of mindfulness, like sitting with good posture and listening to the sounds around us. First of all, good posture means sitting up on the chair, leaning against the armchair with eyes closed, sitting cross-legged on the floor or maybe something like that. While doing so, we should feel free from care, smart and relaxed, without any tension, pain, or numbness in hands and legs, as though the whole world were still peaceful. And we can listen to pleasant music, only tunes, not songs, when suffering from work-related stress. Not only that, but we can also listen to little birds chirping sweetly or singing beautifully.

Be aware of what we are doing – In order to decrease stress at work, we need to stay present by paying attention to conversations and physical sensations. In other words, we should be living just in the present, not the past or the future. What are we talking about now? Is it about education, business, love affairs, social dealings, games, politics or even religion? No matter what we are discussing, we must focus our attention on that matter. Some people enjoy thinking back to memories, whether they are good or bad. This is not always worth doing. On the other hand, other people are given to daydreaming about the future as if they would be a trillionaire one day. In fact, past events have happened once; they will not happen the same way for certain, even though the saying goes that history repeats itself. In the same way, something new may or may not happen in the future, not for sure. We do not possess the past or future, but the present. Hence, when our mind wanders, we have to notice it and bring our focus back to the moment.

Make a list of things we are grateful for – Listing what we are thankful for shifts our focus from negativity to a balanced view, boosting motivation, creativity and productivity. Of course, since we have come to the world, we owe a debt of gratitude to all our mothers, fathers and the natural environment. We are born of our mothers and fathers only if they wish, or we have got a chance of being human. If not, we could not even know whether this world is black and white. Merely being a human does not come to an end in the world; so as to survive after birth, we must live on the earth and rely upon bodies of water, plantations and animals there for growth, energy and struggle. Because almost all our food, clothing and shelter depend on the world’s natural sources, we are deeply obliged to conserve this worldagain. Thus, even if we feel exhausted in the work domain to death, we ought to try harder and harder, considering a deep sense of mother’s, father’s and the earth’s gratitude.

Avoid multitasking – Multitasking lessens focus, efficiency, and happiness. Really, everybody is only able to stretch their physical energy to the limit. This means that nobody can do work beyond the limit, as in the elastic limit of a rubber band or spring. And it is impossible for anyone to do many things like the ubiquity in one sitting. Worst of all, multitasking will probably breed backlog and frustration before, during and after work. Instead, we are required to prioritize tasks and give each one our full attention to improve concentration.

Therefore, work and mindfulness should go hand in hand as often as possible. Only if so, will our work automatically lead to job satisfaction and career success, the ultimate goals of business. If there is work, there is also stress. Above all, mindfulness is a spiritual healer of stress-related work.

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