Meditating for a few minutes during work hours can make a big difference in your energy … [+]
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it’s the perfect time to list one thing everyone can do to improve their mental health. One of them is to go inward where you can know yourself better. Each of us is like his two-lane highway, with an outside lane and an inside lane. We spend most of our time in the outside lane, where it’s the most stressful. But the key to increasing mental well-being is spending more time in the inside lane. And meditation is one of the best ways to access your inner lane and observe what excites you.
Whether you’re a harried parent, a busy businessman, an anxious retiree, or an anxious job seeker dealing with an uncertain future, stress The factors catch up with you and your mind is forced to make the only negative adaptation it can. You may worry about unpaid bills or unfinished projects, worry about whether you’ll find work, how you’ll meet deadlines, and so on. You may have repeated disagreements with your boss. Or you may try to distract your mind from worry with little success. Negativity creates obstacles to work engagement, career success, and earning potential. Neuroscientists say that’s because our minds are like Velcro on the negative side and Teflon on the positive side to keep us alive.
Meditation is easier than you think
Meditation taps your brain’s social circuits to reset and recharge your mind during the work day. Numerous science-backed studies show that it makes us more efficient and productive, allowing us to calmly navigate challenges at work with clarity, self-compassion, courage, and creativity. . In your daily workflow, meditation improves mental health and cognitive processes, reduces stress, and prevents work burnout.
The purpose of meditation is not to focus and empty your thoughts, to withdraw from the world, or to get high on life. The goal is to observe the habitual workings of your mind, like observing a wound on your hand. As you do this, other thoughts will distract you, which is actually part of the meditation process.
If you try to meditate and beat yourself up because you can’t, don’t give up. It’s easier than you think. Perhaps the reason is that you approach your practice like it’s a job, putting too much effort and pressure on yourself. Or you may require yourself to sit for long periods of time, even if it doesn’t clear your mind. But meditation doesn’t work like that. The real secret is that he can concentrate on something and give it his full attention for no more than 5 minutes.
open awareness meditation
Open awareness meditation (peacefully observing what’s happening around you in the present moment) allows you to meditate while working. Relax, clear your mind, and boost your energy levels in just 60 seconds. We’ll show you how it works in four quick and easy steps.
1- Sit somewhere comfortable for one minute with your eyes open or closed.
2- Set the timer for 60 seconds.
3- Listen with curiosity and identify as many different sounds as possible. You might notice the heating or air conditioning system, distant traffic jams, voices from other areas of the building, airplanes, the ticking of a clock, or your own stomach rumbling.
4- After a minute, instead of trying to remember the sound, turn your attention inward and notice if you are calm and clear-headed. Imagine how she would feel if she continued this exercise for 5 or 10 minutes.
When you fully engage your curiosity in the present moment, you find that your previous worries and stressful thoughts are no longer present. You may notice that your heart rate and breathing rate have slowed, and your tight muscles are relaxing. That’s because you removed the red flags of your thoughts, brought them into the present moment, and activated your rest and digest response.
You can incorporate open awareness meditation into your daily life without adding to your time on the go. On your way from the parking lot to your office, instead of going over your plans for the day in your head, try focusing on the sensation of your feet touching the ground, the sense of the open sky, and the sights and sounds around you. please. While you’re going to the bathroom or waiting for a Zoom meeting to start, you can listen to the sounds around you and listen to the sensations in your body.
insight meditation
If you want to let go of control and judgment and experiment, just like examining a wound on your hand, you can simply go within yourself and focus on your breathing with curiosity rather than judgment.2 You can work on the second exercise. . Sit in a comfortable position in a relaxed position.
1. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Concentrate on each inhalation and exhalation.
2- Continue breathing through the entire cycle from when your lungs are full to when they are empty. Then repeat the cycle, paying careful attention to your breathing.
3- Thoughts can come in the form of judgments. You might wonder if you’re doing it right, think about tasks you have to do later, and debate whether it’s worth your time. Just allow them to rise, open up and acknowledge them, then gently bring your attention back to your breathing.
4- Every time your attention wanders from your breathing (and it will), just notice it and bring your awareness back to your breathing.
5- If your mind gets stuck in a train of thought, gently pull yourself out of the train of thought and return to your breath.
6- After 3-5 minutes, notice how much calmer and more connected you are to the present moment.
If your mind is still after these two exercises, you may be meditating correctly. If you regularly practice meditation for 5 minutes once or twice a day, you will begin to notice a difference. You will likely feel relaxed and rested and will be able to approach your work more calmly. In the long run, you’ll find that meditation is more effective when you’re more grounded in the here and now, rather than mentally getting caught up in bad memories from the past or uncertainties about the future. And your engagement, productivity, and career performance will begin to improve.
