Starting the Day
Starting your mindfulness right when you wake up requires taking stock of yourself. Hear the sounds outside, notice your breath, look around the room.
Dial your senses into the sensations you encounter as you shower, get dressed, and eat breakfast; all of the things that we do in the morning. Mindfulness incorporates a keen attention to the little details. Make your morning count, be present in it. Don’t think about that meeting at 11 or the presentation this afternoon. Taste the eggs and toast on your plate in front of you at this very moment. You are laying the groundwork for the rest of your day.
Arriving at Work
When you get to the office, don’t get distracted by the inevitable bombardment of information and distractions that are inherent in a workplace environment. Emails, files, voicemails, phone calls, your boss and co-workers, all of them provide continuous, multi-layered stimuli that can affect your mood from one minute to the next. Even the nature of the work that you’re tasked with completing can bring on large amounts of stress quickly.
But try not to get caught up in all of it. Stop periodically. Take a deep breath. Check in with all of your senses. Do some quiet meditations from time to time, it can take the form of a short walk to the break room, sitting upright quietly at your desk for a brief minute, or listening to a calming piece of music in a pair of earphones.
Remaining centered throughout the day will go a long way towards improving your mood and productivity.
Stop and Think First
The fast-paced nature of a successful workplace can threaten to overwhelm anyone into a stressed rhythm. This may cause undue amounts of pressure and force us to react hastily. How you respond to things is a large part of practicing mindfulness in your daily life. Being more conscious of your practice at work will probably take a greater commitment at first, but the more you remain aware of yourself and your surroundings the easier it will come.
Many of us tend to react quickly to stimuli, because we automatically feel that is the required action in certain situations. Instead, take pause and deal with the stimuli around you in measured answers. The same goes for solving difficult challenges and problems that might occur during the day. A crisis is not an excuse for you to stop being mindful, in fact it’s a call for you to focus on your training even harder.
The Little Things
Mindfulness comes at all times and in all things. It’s not only about staying in the present and focusing on your behavior when people or situations become intense, it’s also about noticing the minute details and remaining present in them constantly. The way you respond to stress starts in how you react to the little things.
Take pause and just notice the hum of the computer, the way the coffee tastes as you sip, re-read that email because you may have missed something the first time. Remain attentive in everything that you do. It will make the difference between having a good day at the office and one you’ll want to forget. Try it right now as you’re reading this article. Look around you. What do you see, hear, and feel?
These are the building blocks to becoming more mindful.
Research studies have found that people who practice mindfulness irrespective of whether they had practised meditation before or not reports:
Feeling less stressed, anxious and depressed, happier, inspired, satisfied with life.
https://www.wiseblueowl.co.uk/employee-welfare-health
