5 ways in which Mindfulness can help you at work.
Many people have shared with me that when they think of mindfulness they can’t help but stifle a yawn. There is something about being “present” that sounds a bit boring doesn’t it? You might picture someone taking deep breaths, doing yoga or meditating by a lake. What I have come to learn is that mindfulness is actually more about helping your brain. More specifically, helping you with resilience, efficiency, reaching goals, communication & relationships, and neuroplasticity.
Thanks to the extensive research by neuroscientists such as Amishi Jha, we know that your brain is constantly working (and quite chaotic) until you pay attention to something, which then actively encourages it to focus, and engage specific parts of the brain. Basically, there are ways to excite or quiet down parts of your brain to suit you the best. Most importantly, mindfulness helps your brain switch from your emotional driver (the limbic system) to your cognitive driver (the prefrontal cortex).
As a reminder, your prefrontal cortex is right behind your forehead, and is the rational, planning and decision making part of your brain; the “CEO” of your brain as it were. See “Overwhelmed or demotivated? Blame your brain” for more details.
What do you need to know about the limbic system? It is the part of your brain that processes emotion and memory, and it is obsessed with safety and survival. That means that it is very sensitive to danger, and perceives physical danger to you life in the same way as it does a scary email from your boss, or an uncomfortable run in with an ex partner.
In fact, your amygdala (which functions like your internal red alarm bell, triggered most by fear and anger) is activated by things like:
Speaking to someone who you perceive as having a higher “status” as you.
Meeting someone for the first time when you don’t know what they look like.
Going to a party where you don’t know anyone.
When you feel you’ve been treated unfairly in some way.
When you feel you don’t have control over a situation.
When you are in this emotionally aroused state, you will be more likely to see danger when it’s not there. This because the amygdala takes in data at very low resolution (to be able to process quicker), causing you to perhaps see a snake when it’s actually just a rope. We make more assumptions and generalizations. In this state, you cannot hold in as much data, and your neurons don’t make as many connections (as you don’t need that for survival). This means that not only will you feel the effects of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline as your body goes into “fight or flight” mode, the data in your brain won’t be very detailed or even accurate.
This is of course the opposite of how you might want to be while dealing with a crisis at work for example, when you want to be able to stay in control of your emotions, take in information, learn, absorb, and make informed decisions. To have that kind of control over your behavior and your choices, you need your prefrontal cortex in charge. There are some tricks to re-activate your “CEO” by performing functions that will require its usage:
Re Focus.
Focus your attention on something else. Instead of focusing on the problem, whatever is stressing you or upsetting you, visualize what it will feel like once it’s calm and resolved (giving yourself a little hit of dopamine). Also see “Everything you need to know about dopamine and how to take advantage of it” You can practice this and add this tool to your short term memory by regularly asking yourself “what am I focusing on right now?”.
Labeling.
Summarize in a few words how you are feeling in that moment. For example, saying to yourself “this project scares me” or “I am angry at myself” is a more cognitive function, and thus already enough to activate the prefrontal cortex and in turn calm down the limbic system. You can practice this and keep the skill active in your short term memory by occasionally labeling your emotions throughout the day.
Re Assess.
Put on a different lens, by:
looking at it with another timeline (what might the situation be 6 months from now? 5 years from now?)
from someone else’s point of view (what might this be like from the client’s point of view? from my boss’s point of view?)
with another set of values (what might this be like if my priority was quality not quantity, or relationship building over revenue?)
You can practice this by regularly asking yourself about your sense of time, whose point of view you are using, and what your values are.
If your amygdala is already triggered and you are in a state of “fight or flight” however, these tricks are easier said than done. Here is where mindfulness comes in. We know this through the work of psychology researcher David Creswell among others; mindfulness deactivates the amygdala. When we switch to being more aware in the moment, we actually increase blood flow to our prefrontal cortex.
Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and author of numerous books on Buddhism, explains that our passing thoughts are like background music in a movie, manipulating our emotions without us even realizing it. He doesn’t necessarily suggest sitting down for a formal mindfulness practice, but suggests simply noticing your thoughts, and being aware of when you get lost in thought a few times a day.
Try this on a daily basis:
What are you thinking about when you’re in the shower?
When brushing your teeth?
When walking or driving somewhere?
When does your mind wander? What does it think about?
The more you practice it, the more time you create in between a stressful event and your reaction to it, and the more easily you are able to use the tools of refocusing, labeling and re-assessing to switch back to your prefrontal cortex. One of the most impressive examples I found personally was that Amishi Jha trained the US military on mindfulness skills, who were then more equipped to deal with the unknown and the high pressure they experience on a regular basis.
So what results can you expect at work as a result of practicing being more mindful on a daily basis?
1. Resilience.
Being more equipped to deal with stressful moments, uncertainty and pressure.
2. Efficiency.
The ability to switch back to your prefrontal cortex will allow you to make better decisions with more data.
3. Reaching goals.
The ability to calm your amygdala helps keep you focused, and the increased dopamine from focusing on results vs danger also keeps you motivated.
4. Communication & relationships.
Not getting hijacked by your emotions will allow you to communicate better with people at work and in your personal life, allowing you to “think before you speak” on a more regular basis.
5. Neuroplasticity.
You need a stress free brain to take advantage of neuroplasticity (the ability to change your brain by building new neural pathways), since a triggered limbic system will limit your neurons communicating with each other. So the ability to move away from “fight or flight” when desired, will allow you to make new neural connections and help you learn more.
Struggling with this? Or want to try some more bespoke mindfulness techniques? You know where to find me.
About the author:
Noreen Chadha is a transformational coach in the field of leadership and personal development, based out of Berlin. Using the concepts of mindfulness as well as basic neuroscience, she supports clients in their quest to grow and unlock their full potential.
