Practicing Mindfulness in the Workplace

Practicing Mindfulness in the Workplace
by Joni Jones
www.KoalaCares.com

Can you imagine what life would be like if we did not develop habits? For example what if we had to learn how to feed or dress ourselves every single day? We complete such tasks without really thinking about them because we have developed habits. Habits become automatic and therefore set us in an auto-pilot mode.

Old habits may no longer be effective and therefore need to change. Practicing mindfulness creates an awareness which allows us to be in the moment and conscious of an event. We can then gain control of our responses by not impulsively reacting and weigh the consequences of our actions.

Self awareness is when we are consciously aware of our self. We can learn to live in the moment, free ourselves from the past and the “what ifs” of the future, release the negative thoughts and create an environment where we are more likely to take responsibility for our decisions and be open to change for better outcomes.

Practicing mindfulness in the workplace may help:
• Balance home life and work
• Reduce Stress
• Control Impulsivity
• Reduce Gossip
• Enhance coping skills and management of challenging situations
• Increase energy / performance

Practicing mindfulness can unleash so many other benefits and is certainly not limited to the workplace. It can help make a person’s life more organized and less hectic which paves the way for increased productivity and successful outcomes. Being able to decrease the mind wandering to stressors and other negative thinking can certainly improve life all around.

Freeing ourselves from thinking negatively can help break through the single greatest obstacle to achieving success. If a person wants to find balance between their work and personal life then acquiring the ability to rid the mind of negative thoughts becomes essential. The stressors and demands in our personal life certainly are not erased simply because we walk through the doors of employment. It is common as humans to be drawn to bad conclusions and this is referred to as destructive thinking.

Destructive thinking only adds to stress and anxiety in the workplace. It can easily become a habit, however habits can be changed. Developing healthy habits can influence outcomes in all areas of one’s life. Practicing focus and controlling responses of the mind and body connection can change the way we think. Changing the way we think and feel can change the way we react. Through practice, when keeping negative thoughts out of our mind becomes easier, a new habit is in the process of forming.

Once an employee recognizes that mindfulness connects the brain and the body and has committed to making a change, learning how to separate from the negative thoughts by changing them into positive thoughts will train the brain to think differently. Techniques such as writing down the negative thought and making a positive statement or simply crumbling it up and tossing it aside can be helpful in changing the thoughts from negative to more positive ones. Just thinking of the consequence to the negative thinking can help an employee accept the need for change.

Employees as well as their bosses have reported gains such as reduced anxiety and associated responses, improved sleep patterns and increase in energy and performance levels, decreased obsessive thinking with increase in focus and improved memory, improvement in skill acquisition, assuming responsibility, better outcomes in reaching goals and obtaining conflict resolution, reduced callouts, improvement in work performance evaluation scores, promotions, building relationships and the production of a more positive work environment.

Practicing mindfulness can promote effective communication in the workplace and develop more leadership qualities. If conflicts in the workplace do not come to a resolution they are likely to just make things worse. It takes a positive work environment to be successful. Offering a non-judgment zone, accepting another person’s viewpoint and having a healthy self-esteem and confidence level can be achieved through the art of mindfulness.