Mindfulness At Work: 5 Tips to 'Get Into The Zone'

How do we access mindfulness in our busy workday? Sure, it’s easy to be mindful when are standing in the middle of nature with the sun on our face and birds flying overhead. It’s easy to be mindful when we are sitting on the Greek Islands marveling at the glorious holiday you are on. But what about the daily grind of real life when you have a roaring deadline to make or your boss just handed you the crappiest review you have had? Or, perhaps you aren’t meeting sales targets and your job is on the line. A big fight with a co-worker who has a big ego? Meditating probably isn’t going to cut it!

Mindfulness Training will obviously gear you up for being more resilient or for coping better day today at work or home, but here are some mindfulness techniques and tips to call into action when a bomb goes off at work or in your home.

Mindfulness Training: Ideas for when things go off the rails:

Shift your focus immediately. Get yourself outside the office or home and go walking. Take some deep breaths in and think about 3 things you are grateful for. Really choose people, animals, or places where you have a strong connection to/with. Those positive feelings immediately change the energetic flow of your body and replace negative vibes with positive feelings that saturate your cells.

Use the “First World Problem” mantra. I love this one because it immediately puts all things into perspective in about 1 minute. This is a first-world problem” statement is another way of saying:

“Let go of the drama - I’m not starving, in danger, dying, under threat or have no home to live in”.

Don’t give it any power. Pretty much 100% of the problems we face today don’t involve a potential death or serious life-threatening situation. This mantra creates internal & grateful mindfulness that puts our life problems into a world perspective.

Scream Therapy. Yes, you heard it right! It’s quite incredible to just find a quiet space somewhere or in the car driving on your own and scream your lungs out. This allows the pent-up stress to release through the throat energy point (expression and truth) and bring you back to your body and self. Many indigenous cultures used singing and dancing to release shadows and heal. There is something very primal about screaming and you start to feel connected back to your truth.

Receive. Mindfulness training needs to include a good dose of giving and receive. You are conscious when both listen and speak in balance. Most people in a workplace focus on the giving (yang, logical) part of the equation and that is why people become out of balance. If you can learn to receive (yin, creative) when you feel wound up, this will restore your energy so you can stay harmonious. Knowing when to oscillate between yin (receiving in) and yang (giving out) is a seriously useful skill.

 Receiving includes asking for support, accepting help, being nurtured, taking time out for yourself (such as getting a massage at lunchtime), having a friendly ear listen to your challenges and offer advice, or perhaps asking to take a day off.

Connect to nature. Whether it is your dog, a bird outside, a beautiful tree, a flower, the earth beneath your feet, all forms of nature are non-judgemental and graceful. Focusing on nature does three core things for the busy mind. It gives you the feeling of “getting away” from it all, the vastness of nature makes you realise you are but one cog in the wheel and to not feel so alone in the world and science has now proven that it is one of the few things we can mentally focus on but not get fatigued.

Nature connects us to a peaceful and mindful part of ourselves automatically without us trying. What a brilliant design hey!

You might find it easy to implement these 5 Steps of Mindfulness Training, you may be interested in my online course called The Master Your Intuition Program.