How Can Mindfulness Help Your Corporate Wellness?

 

Recently, mindfulness has become more prominent in Western society, with companies even adopting mindful techniques as part of their corporate wellness programmes. Not only does mindfulness aid your mental and physical wellness, it also helps your work performance and leadership skills. Mindfulness also instills a greater sense of meaning and satisfaction in your life, meaning you’ll be happier when hump day rolls around.

 

According to Rachel Clements, BSc Hons, M Psych, MAPS, co-founder and Director of Psychological Services and Principal Organisational Psychologist at the Centre for Corporate Health, ‘Mindfulness is focused awareness of the present moment. It allows us to live our life fully conscious as to what is going on around us, such as a simple sensation like feeling the warmth of the sunlight or noticing the complex interplay between our internal dialogue of our thoughts and emerging feelings. By tuning in to our internal thought processes and by having a greater insight in to them, we are able to recognise that our thoughts are just thoughts and that they don’t necessarily represent reality.’ So how can you live your life more mindfully?

 

1. Observe: Clements recommends, ‘Try to bring the focus of your attention to the present moment and tune in to what is going on in the present i.e. focus on what your body position is, what it feels like, identifying any thoughts or feelings that may be present, or simply grounding yourself in what is going on around you at the moment. Mindfulness aims to shift one’s attention away from analytical thinking to observing thoughts, feelings, and one’s bodily reactions as activated by the five senses (e.g., sight, sound, taste, touch, smell).’

 

2. Describe: ‘Tune in to the small details of what you are observing and simply describe these to yourself,’ Clements instructs. ‘For example, you may observe and describe the contours of the chair in which you are currently sitting, against your body. When eating a strawberry you may observe and describe what the texture feels like in your mouth as you take a bite or you may savour the sweet taste which you may never have taken the time to notice before. When in a meeting you may focus on the person in front of you and really listen to what he or she is saying, being present to every word. When walking, you may notice and describe what your body feels like as you are putting one foot in front of the other, noticing the position and weight of your body as you balance etc.’

 

3. Reduce: Clements details, ‘Studies have revealed that multi-tasking places so much of a cognitive load on ourselves that our performance deteriorates. Therefore, in order to save time, maintain performance and wellbeing we are better off practicing mindfulness by doing one thing at a time and being fully present in that experience. Task switching in which we alternate tasks however remain fully present when undertaking each one, is often a better alternative for us.’

 

4. Accept: ‘It is important to be open and accepting of how you are thinking, feeling or behaving in the present moment,’ Clements asserts. ‘Adopting a witness perspective of you observing yourself in a situation allows some distance from a situation which we may be entwined in, allowing us to perhaps view the situation from another perspective. When practicing mindfulness, try to refrain from making comment or evaluating experiences as good, bad, right, or wrong, and try not to control or avoid the experience even if it seems unpleasant at the time. In mindfulness an experience simply “is what it is”.’

Categories: Acceptance, clements, corporate wellness, fully present, mindfulness, moment, multitasking, nbsp, practicing mindfulness, present, present moment

Getting the Balance: How to Be a Realistic Optimist at Work

When you think of work, “optimism” might not be the first word that comes to mind, but it plays a huge role in your corporate wellness, and overall wellbeing. In his book Learned Optimism, world renowned psychologist Martin Seligman notes that optimistic people:

 

• Are physically healthier and suffer less depression.


• Are persistent, resilient and get better results.


• Are not overwhelmed by adversity.


• Rebound quickly following defeats.


• Cope well with frustration, rejection and stress.


• Do not dwell on or punish themselves over failures.


• Maintain confidence and determination following setbacks.

 

However, Rachel Clements, BSc Hons, M Psych, MAPS, co-founder and Director of Psychological Services and Principal Organisational Psychologist at the Centre for Corporate Health, points out that a balance is needed between seeing the glass as half-full, and overfilling the glass with cheery expectations. According to Clements, being overly optimistic isn’t useful as ‘we may not see a potential problem, not take responsibility for things that we should or rely too much on wishful thinking. The extreme optimist may also view themselves as having no faults and brilliant in every respect. What we aim for instead is a level of “healthy optimism” where the “healthy optimist” is able to balance taking on too much or too little responsibility and balance being pessimistic and optimistic when it is useful, depending on the situation.’

 

So how do you achieve the right balance of optimism and pessimism?

 

1. Take up relaxing activities: Clements explains, ‘Undertaking activities such as regular exercise, yoga, pilates, mindfulness or mediation can provide us with a sense of space whereby we are not processing intellectual information so quickly, we are less distracted by the external world and we are able to tune in to our body and listen to what it is telling us. This assists us in moving our attention from our head to our heart. In making this shift we may be able to more easily detect how we are feeling and what we need to do get back on track.’

 

2. Be conscious of balancing your energy levels throughout the day: ‘If you have had a busy day with long hours and demanding work,’ Clements details. ‘Make sure you do something during the day (such as getting out of the office at lunch time, even if it’s for only 15-30 minutes) or doing something after work (such as exercise, meeting up with a friend or a going to bed early) to replenish your energy levels.’

 

3. Choose your words: Clements warns, ‘Be careful of perfectionistic self-talk such as when using phrases like “I must” or “I should” or “he has to” or “she needs to”. Ask yourself, are implicit expectations and inflexible rules dominating your thinking? How else could you frame your statements so that they are less emotionally charged (for example “I prefer” or “I choose” or “he could consider” or “she may like to know”).

 

4. Be realistic, but notice good things: ‘Learn to set realistic goals and recognise and celebrate your successes,’ Clements advises. ‘Become an expert on knowing what you can control and what you can’t. Save your energy for the things you can influence, such as how you go about your work, and learn to let go of the things you cannot control such as other people’s behaviour. Let’s face it, much of what we actually experience in life is outside of our control.’

 

5. Practise makes perfect: Clements recommends, ‘Practise optimistic thinking by making a conscious effort to think of one positive thing every time you find yourself focused on a negative thought or judgement. Or, keep a diary of the positive things that you did or that happened today, to help develop a broader thinking style.’

Categories: Balance, clements, energy levels, nbsp, optimism, realistic, Thinking, work

New Year’s Stressolutions: How to Unwind in 2014

What New Year’s resolutions did you set this year? Maybe you decided to lose weight, or perhaps protecting your health against smoking habit was on the agenda – but what about stress? Did you resolve to be less stressed in 2014, or is the idea of making resolutions too stressful to even contemplate? Stress doesn’t only play a part in your corporate wellness; it impacts every aspect of your wellbeing, but how do you achieve the seemingly impossible goal of reducing stress?

 

There are many ways of coping with stress, but some are less healthy than others. Unhealthy ways for managing stress include smoking, drinking too much, over or under eating, zoning out for hours in front of the television or computer, withdrawing from friends or family, using medication or drugs to relax, sleeping too much, procrastinating, filling up your day to avoid facing problems, and taking your stress out on others by lashing out. If that sounds all-too familiar, let’s take a look at healthy ways to manage your stress:

 

1. Avoid unnecessary stress. Rachel Clements, BSc Hons, M Psych, MAPS, co-founder and Director of Psychological Services and Principal Organisational Psychologist at the Centre for Corporate Health, you need to learn how to say “no.” Clements urges, ‘Know your limits and stick to them. Taking on more than you can handle is a sure-fire recipe for stress, so be realistic in your personal capacity.’ The same goes for people who stress you out. Clements advises, ‘If someone consistently causes stress in your life and you can’t turn the relationship around, limit the amount of time your spend with that person or end the relationship.’

 

2. Reduce your to-do list: ‘Look at your schedule, responsibilities and daily tasks,’ Clements instructs. ‘If you have too much on your plate, distinguish between the “musts”, the “shoulds” and the most urgent. Drop the tasks that aren’t a priority to the bottom of the list or eliminate, delegate or delay doing them.’

 

3. Change the situation: Clements recommends, ‘Express your feelings instead of bottling them up. If something or someone is bothering you, communicate your concerns in an open and respectful way. If you don’t voice your feelings, resentment will build and the situation will likely remain the same…When you ask someone to change their behaviour, be willing to do the same. If you both are willing to bend at least a little, you’ll have a good chance of finding a happy middle ground.’

 

4. Be more assertive: ‘Don’t take a backseat in your own life,’ Clements insists. ‘Deal with problems head on, doing your best to anticipate and prevent them. If you’ve got an exam to study for and your chatty roommate just got home, say up front that you only have five minutes to talk.’

 

5. Improve your time management: Isn’t it often the case that you’re the most stressed right before a big deadline? ‘Poor time management can cause a lot of stress,’ Clements notes. ‘When you’re stretched too thin and running behind, it’s hard to stay calm and focused. But if you plan ahead and make sure you don’t overextend yourself, you can alter the amount of stress your under.’

 

6. Step back and adapt: ‘Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective,’ Clements suggests. ‘Rather than fuming about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, listen to your favourite music, or enjoy some alone time…Take perspective of the stressful situation. Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? Is it really worth getting upset over? If the answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere.’

Categories: avoid stressors, clements, nbsp, Stress, stress nbsp, time, Time Management, To Do List, year