The challenges of meditation at work:
Forget meditation at work, for most of us, meditation in general can be a challenge at the best of times. At home, even at night when it is quiet and tranquil, dragging myself to meditate on some days just appears to be impossible. The phone, laptop, or television beckon enticingly. The bed sends out its siren call, “come, sleep off”. My favourite books beg me to “give them company” ?.
Meditating at work is a whole different beast, challenging at another level. Sure, it depends on what kind of work you do. If you work at a stock-broking firm or a hospital with crazy hours, a chaotic atmosphere, and lots of noise, meditation may appear downright impossible. On the other hand, it isn’t as if it becomes much easier, even when you have a relatively relaxed workplace.
Have you faced any of these difficulties while trying to meditate at work?
- No fixed time for meditation: Not having a fixed time for meditation, means that you may not be able to establish a habit association for meditating at work.
- No place to meditate: Unless you’re willing to meditate at your desk, your office may not have the facilities of a quiet room and floor space dedicated to meditation. If you do, lucky you! Make the most of it.
- Too much activity, too many distractions: If you have an open office plan or your work involves a lot of interaction, you may find that uninterrupted meditating is difficult at best.
- Not sure meditation is useful: This could probably be reason #1. Don’t want to get involved in the voodoo, mumbo-jumbo, cult stuff
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The benefits of meditation at work:
Despite all the challenges that accompany meditation at work, the benefits of meditation and mindfulness are well established. Multiple studies have established that meditation and mindfulness offer tremendous benefits.
BENEFIT 1 – Better stress management:
Workplace stress is by far the biggest stressor in our lives. Stress leads to many negative effects including poor health, lost pay, lower productivity, and an inability to concentrate. Meditation, when practiced regularly, can help you to manage this stress.
Lower stress immediately translates into several health benefits including better heart health, lower blood pressure, better immunity, reduced aches and pains. And all these are proven benefits, supported by many studies.
BENEFIT 2 – Better focus and higher productivity:
All meditation practices involve some form of focussing. The more you meditate, the better you’re able to calm the waves of thoughts jostling inside your head. And all that practice spills over to other areas of your life, including work. You’ll find that you have better focus at work, you’re less scattered, and less prone to distractions.
BENEFIT 3 – Higher creativity:
When you achieve inner silence, your creative and intuitive voice will become loud enough for you to hear clearly. Some of the difficulties that you face at work simply need you to engage your creativity and think outside the box. Creativity can produce higher order solutions that eliminate the problem altogether. Even if the problem is not eliminated, it may become more manageable.
BENEFIT 4 – Higher threshold for challenges:
Challenging work, colleagues, or situations are the main reason for workplace stress. With meditation, you’ll find that you have a higher threshold for all challenges. You will be more compassionate towards colleagues and customers, and therefore better able to cope.
BENEFIT 5 – Fearless calm:
You will find that meditation either reduces your fear, or eliminates it entirely, making you fearless. Fear is a major inhibitor of workplace success, so you’ll find that you approach difficult situations or conversations will less fear.
Being calmer, you’ll be able to listen calmly and without the obsessive need to figure out what to say in response. That itself will eliminate or head-off a host of potential problems.
The ultimate proof of the pudding:
When it comes to meditation, there is a ton of research promoting its benefits in life and specifically at work. However, the easiest way to check whether meditation is beneficial or not is to meditate daily for 4 weeks and see whether meditation works for you.
In my next article, Meditation at work: The 5 different ways you can meditate at work – Part 2, I deal with the following topics:
- The most effective types of meditation that can be done at work
- When to meditate at work
- Find others who meditate at work
- What to do if your company does not look kindly upon meditation.
