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10 Weeks of Mindfulness at Work

June 15, 2023

Welcome to week three of “10 Weeks of Mindfulness at Work” where you’ll discover simple tips and techniques to enrich your day with mindfulness. I hope you find inspiration from this 10-week series!

– How to Meditate

Meditation is a proven way to become mindful. To practice, set a timer for a few minutes and follow these simple steps for a short meditation break at work — or anywhere else you’d like!

Step #1. Sit up straight, without being rigid. Keep your spine aligned with your head and neck. Gently close your eyes. Try to release physical tension, keeping your body relaxed but your mind alert. (Note: see Week 2 of this series for tips on releasing physical tension.)

Step #2. Choose an anchor — a neutral object to focus on that doesn’t stimulate your mind. Examples of commonly used anchors are: your breath; the feeling of your body; a word repeated silently, such as “peace”; sounds, such as ocean waves; or an object to hold, such as a smooth stone. 

Step #3. Rest your attention on your anchor. Every time your mind wanders, often each second or two for beginners, gently refocus on your anchor. Continue refocusing on your anchor for the rest of your practice time.

– Exercising Your Mind’s Muscle

Meditation is a practice of returning to your immediate experience in the present moment. Again and again and again. Notice when your attention wanders, and then return your attention to your anchor, as in Step #3 above.

This process is key to the practice of meditation, since it exercises your mind’s “muscle.” Just as the repetitive motion of abdominal crunches can build your core strength, the repetitive noticing and returning builds your power of awareness.

– Accepting Your Wandering Mind

Meditation isn’t a practice of stopping your thoughts. Thoughts will continue to arise, since it’s the nature of the mind to generate STUFF (an acronym I use for Stories, Thoughts, Urges, Frustrations and Feelings).

The intent of meditation isn’t to suppress thoughts and feelings. Consider anything that draws attention from your anchor to be like a cloud passing or like a boat floating by as you watch from the riverbank. Allow it to pass without judgment, and gently refocus on your anchor. The repetitive action of refocusing trains you to become mindful.

WEEK THREE PRACTICE SUGGESTION: Focus on just three breaths (or more if you’d like). Notice your chest or belly rising and falling — or the coolness of the air as you breathe in and its warmth as you breathe out. If your mind wanders, gently refocus on your breath, without judgment or internal comment.

**Celebrating a 10th Anniversary

Be on the lookout for a 99¢ Kindle promotion in July to celebrate the 10th anniversary of “Meditation Illuminated: Simple Ways to Manage Your Busy Mind,” a step-by-step book for beginning meditators. Available in Kindle, paperback and audiobook.

Managing Social Media Distractions

March 9, 2023

Do social media distractions affect your productivity?

Social media use can drain your productive time — and it can be addictive. Every time you check social media, it reinforces the neural pathways in the brain that crave this distraction. As a result, checking your device for the latest post can become a habitual behavior. If you’d like to break the habit of social media distractions, here are some tips to get you started.

First, realize that urges are part of the human experience. Everyone has STUFF — the Stories, Thoughts, Urges, Frustrations and Feelings that cycle in the mind. But just because you experience an urge, doesn’t mean that you have to immediately answer its call. This is where awareness comes in.

Often people act upon their STUFF unconsciously. So, the second step in breaking this habit is to notice your urge to check social media. Perhaps you could keep a tally in the notes section of your phone, indicating each time you check social media. Or perhaps you could stand up when checking social media, if you’re typically sitting down. Most importantly, try to do something different, so your habitual behavior isn’t automatic.

Next, add space between your urge and your response. Let’s say you check social media every half hour. Try to gradually increase the times you check your device, until you’re checking on a manageable schedule — such as the morning before work, lunchtime and the evening after work.

And finally, notice your experience. Rather than forcefully pushing the urge away, become aware of what it’s like to take charge of your urges. Are you experiencing agitation in your mind? Tightness in your body? Again, awareness is key. As the old saying goes, “If you can name it, you can tame it.”

If you like this post, please consider sharing it — as long as sharing isn’t a social media distraction that affects your productivity!

Walking Meditation at Work

June 6, 2016

Many people find that managing stress at work can be helped with regular meditation. One effective tool to use in the workplace is a walking meditation. Here’s a situation where a busy executive uses walking meditation to deal with a challenging situation:

While this executive is getting ready for a big presentation in her workplace, her top client calls and says he’s taking his business to another company. The executive is overcome with a whirlwind of emotion. Yet, knowing that she needs to focus for her upcoming presentation, she decides to practice a walking meditation. She knows that walking from one point to the next offers her an opportunity to take a meditation break.

She begins a process of walking mindfully down the corridor of her office building, noticing where her feet connect with the ground. She becomes aware of feelings each time they arise, then shifts her awareness back to her feet. She still has many mixed emotions, but the practice of shifting her awareness to her feet helps her feel more balanced and centered.

She uses a process of walking while silently repeating the words lifting, moving, placing, shifting to help keep her focused in the present moment. As she lifts her right leg, she silently says to herself, “lifting.” As she moves her right leg forward, she silently says, “moving,” as she places her foot on the ground she silently says, “placing,” and as she shifts all her weight to her right foot, she silently says, “shifting.” Then she begins the process again with her left leg: lifting, moving, placing, shifting. She continues silently repeating these words to herself as she continues to walk.

A walking meditation can be done most anywhere, anytime, even for just a couple of minutes. By using simple techniques to help manage stress at work, employee well-being and productivity can dramatically increase.

managing stress at work

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