During the winter months, if you’re looking for a quieter mind, a way to reduce job stress and increase workplace performance and well-being, you came to the right place. Chances are if you’re like most wage earners, you buzz through the day and skip the present moment to get to the next item on your agenda. But through regular micro-mindfulness practices that I call Micro-chillers, you gain a big payoff. You become more in charge of your mind instead of it being in charge of you. The starting point is learning to cultivate present-moment awareness. There’s always time for three to five minutes of micro self-care to refresh your mind without getting up from your workstation. The practice of these simple exercises right at your desk can enhance your work health, well-being and productivity. Here’s how to put your awareness into action:
Sounds
Sit in a comfortable place with your eyes open or shut for one minute. Focus on all the different sounds you hear around you, and see how many you can identify: the heating/air conditioning unit, a ticking clock, the click of a keyboard, voices in the background, your own gurgling stomach, traffic outside your office, a siren, an airplane overhead or someone using a leaf blower. After one minute, instead of trying to remember the sounds, go inside and notice how much more calm, relaxed and clear-minded you feel. Why? Because you’re fully in the present moment.
Thoughts
At your desk, close your eyes for three to five minutes and focus on each thought streaming through your mind without attempting to change anything. Simply observe the thought the way you might notice a blemish on your hand—with curiosity, not judgment. After completing the exercise, go inside and pay attention to your body sensations. Perhaps your muscles are looser, heartbeat slower and breathing softer. Don’t be surprised if you gain aha moments that can help you approach your job and respond to hard-hitting stressors in more effective ways.
Chair Yoga
You can recharge your batteries with yoga right at your desk in the very chair you’re in as long as it has a back. Place your left hand over on your right knee. Place your right arm on the back of the chair. Stretch lightly with eyes open or closed. Notice the stretch and what happens inside. After 60 seconds, bring your body back to center. Then reverse the stretch. Place your right hand over your left knee. Put your left arm on the back of the chair. Stretch lightly again with eyes open or closed. Pay attention to the stretch, and notice what happens inside. After 60 seconds, bring your body back to center. If you want to continue, you can repeat the cycle. Today In: Careers
Feelings
Identify a disappointment or dissatisfaction that pops up regularly or one that has stuck with you lately. Instead of avoiding or ignoring it as many busy people do, go inward and welcome it then sit with it in nonjudgmental awareness just as you might provide bedside company for a sick friend. Get to know this part of you with as much compassion as you can. Don’t try to get rid of it or fix it. Simply be present with as much awareness as possible and discover what you can learn about the feeling. Every time a thought or body sensation pulls you away, gently bring your attention back to the feeling again. After a few minutes, you might notice that the bothersome feeling isn’t as strong as before.
Breath
Close your eyes and breathe in and out, focusing on each in-breath and each out-breath. Follow your breath through to a full cycle from the beginning of an inhalation where the lungs are full back down to where they’re empty. Then start over again. As you stay with this cycle for five minutes, thoughts usually arise. You might wonder if you’re doing the exercise right, worry about an unfinished project or question if it’s worth your time with everything on your to-do list. Accept anything that arises with open-hardheartedness. Each time your mind wanders off and gets caught in a chain of thought (that’s part of the meditation process), simply step out of the thought stream and gently come back to the sensations of your breath. After five minutes, slowly open your eyelids and take in the colors and textures. Then stretch and breathe into your vivid awareness and notice how much more connected you feel to the moment and how calm, clear-minded and recharged you are to get back to work.
Body
The pendulum exercise refers to the natural swing of your nervous system between sensations of well-being and body stress. With your eyes closed, notice a place in your body where you feel stress. It can show up as pain, an ache or a constriction. Then swing your attention to a place inside where you feel less stress or no stress. Focus there on the absence of stress, noticing your bodily sensations: steady heartbeat, softened jaw or relaxed muscles. Remain focused there and note the sensation for 10 seconds. Then visualize that sensation spreading to other parts of your body for another 10 seconds. Now shift back to the place where you originally felt stress. If it has changed, focus on the sensation of the change. Continue moving your attention back and forth between what is left of the stress and the relaxed parts of your body. As you shift, notice where stress has lessened and savor the lessening so it can spread to other parts of your body. When you have unpleasant body sensations during your busy, sometimes stressful workday, get in the habit of pendulating to the parts of your body where you have pleasant sensations and spend time there to offset the unpleasantness.
Mind
An activity known as “resourcing” harnesses your innate ability to override reactivity. A resource is anything that helps you feel better, calm your nerves or provide comfort. An internal resource is something positive inside such as a talent, trait or ability. An external resource is something outside of you such as a loved one, place, memory or pet. Resourcing puts the brakes on your fight-or-flight response and shifts you into your rest-and-digest response. The first step is to bring to mind something that sustains and nurtures you–a positive memory, person, place, pet or spiritual guide. Or a talent or trait inside that you value about yourself. Bring the resource up as vividly as you can for several minutes. Then redirect your attention to the accompanying pleasant or calming sensations inside. Focus on those sensations for another minute or two. Savor the felt sense of calm for as long as possible and acknowledge how your breathing and heart rate slow down and your muscles loosen.
A final Word
During inclement weather when you get overwhelmed or frustrated at work or things don’t turn out the way you hoped, get in the habit of bringing your awareness to the present moment. After regular practice, these micro-chillers inhibit your automatic negative reactions and give you the space to feel calm, clarity, confidence and compassion for yourself and others in the workplace. The mindfulness with which you walk that line between job stress and personal well-being determines your happiness, wellness and ability to thrive in the workplace.