Serenity Now: 6 Tips To Incorporate Mindfulness At Work

By Emily Morrow, Director of Editorial Content, SAP Customer Experience

Mindfulness at work is something we’re hearing a lot about these days. It’s supposed to make our lives better, but what is it?

We associate mindfulness with things like meditation, yoga, and deep breathing, and know that it’s supposed to make us less stressed and more productive. But nailing down a practical, tangible explanation of what it means to be mindful, live mindfully, or practice mindfulness on a day-to-day basis can be challenging.

Let’s take a few minutes to define this seemingly nebulous topic and learn how you can actually work it into your already busy life.

Mindfulness explained: What it is, what it isn’t, and how to get there

Lots of explanations go something like: Mindfulness is the practice of being in the present moment, and accepting it in a non-judgmental way.

This sounds nice, but doesn’t provide much clarity.

Let’s start with what mindfulness isn’t.

Mindfulness isn’t yoga, and it isn’t meditation. Those are both extremely useful methods to improving mindfulness, but are not the thing itself. While “mindfulness” feels a bit harder to nail down, most people understand what it means to be mindless.

When someone is acting mindlessly, they’re usually lacking purpose, direction, or attention. We all know what it feels like to mindlessly scroll through our social media feeds, or mindlessly binge a series on Netflix. We’re there, but maybe only halfway. Our minds are wandering, without purpose or focus, and we become disengaged. We’re running on auto-pilot.

Mindfulness means the opposite: Being present and engaged with what’s happening in the moment. It’s engaging with purpose and attention....Click here to continue reading