Chapter 1

Exploring Mindfulness in the Workplace

In This Chapter

Identifying what mindfulness is and is not

Retraining your brain

Introducing mindfulness into the workplace

I n tough economic times, many organisations are looking for new ways to deliver better products and services to customers while simultaneously reducing costs. Carrying on as normal isn't an option. Organisations are looking for sustainable ways to be more innovative. Leaders must really engage staff, and everyone needs to become more resilient in the face of ongoing change. For these reasons, more and more organisations are offering staff training in mindfulness.

This chapter talks about what mindfulness is and why so many leading organisations are investing in it.

Becoming More Mindful at Work

In this section you discover what mindfulness is. More importantly, you also discover what mindfulness is not! You also find out why mindfulness has become so important in the modern-day workplace.

Clarifying what mindfulness is

Have you ever driven somewhere and arrived at your destination remembering nothing about your journey? Or grabbed a snack and noticed a few moments later that all you have left is an empty packet? Most people have! These are common examples of 'mindlessness', or 'going on auto-pilot'.

Like many humans, you're probably 'not present' for much of your own life. You may fail to notice the good things in your life or hear what your body is telling you. You probably also make your life harder than it needs to be by poisoning yourself with toxic self-criticism.

Mindfulness can help you to become more aware of your thoughts, feelings and sensations in a way that suspends judgement and self-criticism. Developing the ability to pay attention to and see clearly whatever is happening moment by moment does not eliminate life's pressures, but it can help you respond to them in a more productive, calmer manner.

Learning and practising mindfulness can help you to recognise and step away from habitual, often unconscious emotional and physiological reactions to everyday events. Practising mindfulness allows you to be fully present in your life and work and improves your quality of life.

Mindfulness can help you to recognise, slow down or stop automatic and habitual reactions, and see situations with greater focus and clarity.

Mindfulness at work is all about developing awareness of thoughts, emotions and physiology and how they interact with one another. Mindfulness is also about being aware of your surroundings, helping you better understand the needs of those around you.

Mindfulness training is like going to the gym. In the same way as training a muscle, you can train your brain to direct your attention to where you want it to be. In simple terms, mindfulness is all about managing your mind.

Recognising what mindfulness isn't

Misleading myths about mindfulness abound. Here are a few:

Myth 1: 'I will need to visit a Buddhist centre, go on a retreat or travel to the Far East to learn mindfulness.'

Experienced mindfulness instructors are operating all over the world. Many teachers now teach mindfulness to groups of staff in the workplace. One-to-one mindfulness teaching can be delivered in the office, in hotel meeting rooms or even via the web. Some people do attend retreats after learning mindfulness if they want to deepen their knowledge, experience peace and quiet, or gain further tuition, but doing so isn't essential.

Myth 2: 'Practising mindfulness will conflict with my religious beliefs.'

Mindfulness isn't a religion. For example, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) are entirely secular - as are most workplace programmes. No religious belief of any kind is necessary. Mindfulness can help you step back from your mental noise and tune in to your own innate wisdom. Mindfulness is practised by people of all faiths and by those with no spiritual beliefs.

Myth 3: 'I'm too busy to sit and be quiet for any length of time.'

When you're busy, the thought of sitting and 'doing nothing' may seem like the last thing you want to do. Just 15 minutes a day spent practising mindfulness can help you to become more productive and less distracted. Then you'll be able to make the most of your busy day and get more done in less time. When you first start practising mindfulness, you'll almost certainly experience mental distractions, but if you persevere you'll find it easier to tune out distractions and to manage your mind. As time goes on, your ability to concentrate increases as does your sense of wellbeing and feeling of control over your life.

Myth 4: 'Mindfulness and meditation are one and the same. Mindfulness is just a trendy new name.'

Fact: Mindfulness often involves specific meditation practices.
Fiction: All meditation is the same.

Many popular forms of meditation are all about relaxation - leaving your troubles behind and imagining yourself in a calm and tranquil 'special place' Mindfulness helps you to find out how to live with your life in the present moment rather than run away from it. Mindfulness is about approaching life and things that you find difficult and exploring them with openness, rather than avoiding them. Most people find that practising mindfulness does help them to relax, but that this relaxation is a welcome by-product, not the objective.

Training your attention: The power of focus

Are you one of the millions of workers who routinely put in long hours, often for little or no extra pay? In the current climate of cutbacks, job losses and 'business efficiencies', many people feel the need to work longer hours just to keep on top of their workload. However, research shows that working longer hours does not mean that you get more done. Actually, if you continue to work when past your peak, your performance slackens off and continues to do so as time goes on (see Chapter 4).

Discovering how to focus and concentrate better is the key to maintaining peak performance. Recognising when you've slipped past peak performance and then taking steps to bring yourself back to peak is also vital. Mindfulness comes in at this point. Over time, it helps you focus your attention to where you want it to be.

Applying mindful attitudes

Practising mindfulness involves more than just training your brain to focus. It also teaches you some alternative mindful attitudes to life's challenges. You discover the links between your thoughts, emotions and physiology. You find out that what's important isn't what happens to you, but how you choose to respond. This statement may sound simple, but most people respond to situations based on their mental programming (past experiences and predictions of what will happen next). Practising mindfulness makes you more aware of how your thoughts, emotions and physiology impact on your responses to people and situations. This awareness then enables you to choose how to respond rather than reacting on auto-pilot. You may well find that you respond in a different manner.

By gaining a better understanding of your brain's response to life events, you can use mindfulness techniques to reduce your fight-or-flight response and regain your body's 'rest and relaxation' state. You will see things more clearly and get more done.

Mindfulness also brings you face to face with your inner bully - the voice in your head that says you're not talented enough, not smart enough or not good enough. By learning to treat thoughts like these as 'just mental processes and not facts', the inner bully loses its grip on your life and you become free to reach your full potential.

These examples are just a few of the many ways that a mindful attitude can have a positive impact on your life and career prospects.

Finding Out Why Your Brain Needs Mindfulness

Recent advances in brain-scanning technology are helping us to understand why our brain needs mindfulness. In this section you discover powerful things about your brain - its evolution, its hidden rules, how thoughts shape your brain structure, and the basics of how your brain operates at work.

Discovering your brain's hidden rules

Imagine yourself as one of your ancient ancestors - a cave dweller. In ancient times you had to make life-or-death decisions every day. You had to decide whether it was best to approach a reward (such as killing a deer for food) or avoid a threat (such as a fierce predator charging at you). If you failed to gain your reward, in this example a deer to eat, you'd probably live to hunt another day. But, if you failed to avoid the threat, you'd be dead, never to hunt again.

As a result of facing these daily dangers, your brain has evolved to minimise threat. Unfortunately, this has led to the brain spending much more time looking for potential risks and problems than seeking rewards and embracing new opportunities. This tendency is called 'the human negativity bias'.

When your brain detects a potential threat, it floods your system with powerful hormones designed to help you evade mortal danger. The sudden flood of dozens of hormones into your...