Mindfulness At Work... Everybody's doing it.

From Google to the NHS and Transport for London. Even Harvard Business School includes mindfulness principles in its leadership programmes.

So what is mindfulness?

In its simplest form, mindfulness means awareness.

Practising mindfulness offers a way to pay attention to the present moment, without judgement. The origins of mindfulness sit firmly in Buddhism but it's increasingly taught in a secular form.

Mindfulness can help to reduce stress and anxiety and conflict, and increase resilience and emotional intelligence, while improving communication in the workplace.

When trying to decide whether you are mindful, consider the following points.

In the last week have you found yourself:

• Unable to remember what others have said during conversations?

• With no recollection of your daily commute?

• Eating at your desk without tasting your food?

• Paying more attention to your iPhone than to your nearest and dearest?

• Dwelling on past events or dreading what the future holds?

• Are you skim reading this article?

If you answered yes, the chances are that you're zoning out on a regular basis, spending at least some time on autopilot.

"We can spend so much time rushing from one task to another. We may think we're working more efficiently, but as far as the brain is concerned, we are working against the grain.

No wonder we get exhausted."

The neurological benefits of mindfulness have been linked to an increase in emotional intelligence, specifically empathy and self regulation.

Introducing mindfulness into the workplace does not prevent conflict from arising or difficult issues from coming up. But when difficult issues do arise... they are more likely to be skilfully acknowledged, held and responded to by the group. Over time with mindfulness, we learn to develop the inner resources that will help us navigate through difficult, trying and stressful situations with more ease, comfort, and grace.

Mindfulness helps you become more aware of an arising emotion by noticing the sensation in the body.

Then you can follow these guidelines:

• Stop what you are doing.

• Breathe deeply.

• Notice how you are experiencing the emotion in your body.

• Reflect on where the emotion is coming from in your mind (personal history, insecurity, etc).

• Respond in the most compassionate way.

Namaste

Sent with light and blessings

Sharon x