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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.

10 Weeks of Mindfulness at Work

June 15, 2023

Welcome to week two 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!

– Starting with the Body

During my college years, I volunteered on a crisis-intervention telephone hotline. One evening, a preteen girl called, crying uncontrollably. She had just run away from home. Thankfully, she called the hotline, and thankfully she agreed to do a Progressive Muscle Relaxation exercise with me. As she began to release tension in her body, her breathing slowed and her mind settled — enabling us to discuss her next steps. 

– Shifting from Unconscious to Conscious

This exercise helped her relax, since it enabled her to become aware of the difference between how a muscle feels when it’s tensed vs. how a muscle feels when it’s relaxed. As the old saying goes, “If you can name it, you can tame it.”

But awareness of the body doesn’t always come naturally. People often ignore their bodies and instead, solely focus on the STUFF (Stories, Thoughts, Urges, Frustrations, Feelings) in their minds — like their head is a balloon with a knot tied at their throat, and that’s where consciousness ends. 

The Progressive Muscle Relaxation exercise gives you a tool to “untie the knot” and bring consciousness to your entire body. Try this while sitting in a chair for a short relaxation break during the day — or while lying in bed to help you sleep at night.

– Using a Simple Tool to Reduce Stress

To practice, start with your feet and work your way up to the top of your head. (Alternatively, start with the top of your head and work your way down to your feet.) Tense each muscle group for about five seconds, and then release it completely. Be careful not to strain. Pay attention to your muscles and notice how they feel tensed vs. relaxed. If you’d like, repeat tensing the muscle group a second time. Then move on to the next muscle group until you’ve relaxed your entire body. 

Any time your mind wanders, gently bring it back to noticing how your body feels. Take as much time as needed.

When you’ve finished practicing, try to develop a muscle memory of how it feels to relax, so you can call on this memory in the days and months ahead. 

WEEK TWO PRACTICE SUGGESTION: Try a Progressive Muscle Relaxation exercise at work or home. Here’s a guided version on the Insight Timer app.

** 99¢ Special

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.

10 Weeks of Mindfulness at Work

June 14, 2023

Welcome to week one 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!

– Learning to surf the waves

I credit my dad, an accomplished swimmer, with teaching me how to bodysurf ocean waves. We’d venture far from the shore to catch a wave — then swim briskly away from the wave as it broke over us, taking us on an exhilarating ride back to shore. If the wave looked like it would break too soon to catch a ride, I learned to dive into it and pop up on the other side.

Just as the ocean is filled with waves, the mind is also filled with waves — thought waves. And just as you can learn to surf ocean waves, you can also learn to surf the waves of the mind.

– The benefits of mindfulness at work

Here’s where mindfulness comes in. “Mindfulness” refers to a state of being aware of the present moment with an open, non-judgmental attitude. And it’s this open state of awareness that allows you to “surf” the waves of the mind.

For example, imagine someone’s thoughts are spinning because of upcoming deadlines. Mindfulness skills can help them release anxious thoughts and focus on the task at hand. Or, let’s say they’re meeting with a colleague who has a different approach than theirs. Mindfulness can help them release their idea of the way things “should be” and instead, listen to their coworker with an open mind.

In addition to the ability to focus and to listen, other benefits of mindfulness at work include reduced stress, enhanced well-being, stronger interpersonal relationships, increased capacity for compassion — and more.

– Simple ways to become mindful

One way to become mindful is by practicing meditation. In a future post, I’ll share easy ways to meditate, even if you have a busy mind.  You can also become mindful by weaving “mindful moments” into your day.

For example, pause and notice what you’re experiencing with your senses. As you breathe, notice the feeling of your chest or belly rising and falling. As you wash your hands, notice the smell of the soap or the sound of the water flowing.

WEEK ONE PRACTICE SUGGESTION: Pause and notice what you hear. Focus your attention on a repetitive sound, such as birds chirping or water flowing (recorded or live). You don’t have to do anything to make the sound come and go; it comes and goes on its own. Any time your mind wanders, gently redirect it to the sound, even if it’s every second or two. Practice for a few minutes or longer.

**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!

De-stressing During the Holidays

December 14, 2015

No time to meditate? If you are coming upon the busy holiday season, and you can’t imagine adding one more thing to your lengthy “to do” list, no problem! Simply by keeping your awareness in the present moment, instead of caught up in thoughts about the past or the future, you can relieve stress. You don’t need to sit in a quiet place with your eyes closed to meditate. You can practice anytime simply by noticing what you experience through your five senses.

Shopping: Notice what you hear in the store, including the sounds of shoppers, salespeople, music and even holiday volunteers, ringing their bells for charity outside the store’s entrance.

Holiday gatherings: See if you can be fully present to those you interact with, listening to them fully without your mind wandering to past and future events.

Unwrapping presents: Notice the color or pattern of the wrapping, how tightly or loosely it is wrapped and the sound it makes as you tear the paper.

Holiday baking: See if you can take your time baking, being fully present with your five senses, noticing sounds, smells, tastes, textures, colors and shapes.

Holiday rituals: See if you can be fully present to any holiday rituals you and your family may have, taking your time with them, and fully experiencing their meaning.

Lighting holiday candles: Notice how long it takes the wick of the candle to light. Notice the color and shape of the flame and any heat emanating from it.

Mindfulness is about coming into the present moment with full awareness. If you find yourself getting caught up in regrets about the past or worries about the future, see if you can gently bring your awareness to what you are experiencing in the here and now. Consider giving yourself a wonderful present this holiday season: the gift of presence.

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