Practicing mindfulness at work has become a mainstream conversation recently and rapidly, yet how many of us are actually able to take up some of the practices suggested? For instance, not every workplace allows their staff to meditate for twenty minutes a day. While the fact that a quarter of major U.S. companies have stress-reduction initiatives in place is encouraging, it’s not the day-to-day reality of most workplaces.
A recent post on the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute blog—a program developed at Google—suggests small ways to bring mindfulness to work without raising eyebrows.
In particular, the blog tackles the topic of bringing mindfulness to meetings. While Mirabai Bush and others who have worked with major companies suggest practicing two or three minutes of mindful meditation before a meeting, Search Inside Yourself tries a modification of that: taking a moment to pause before meetings. From the blog:
Instead of jumping straight into meetings with technical conversations, start with a pause. Ask people to take a moment to just notice where they’re at. If everyone in the room is feeling wired and stressed, jumping straight into the meeting will naturally make the meeting feel…
