You’re struggling to balance work and life. Can mindfulness help you find the right equilibrium?

3. **Yoga**: Combining physical postures, breathing exercises, and mindfulness to enhance body awareness and mental focus. 4. **Mindful Observation**: Simply noticing and appreciating the details of your surroundings, such as the colors, sounds, and textures. By incorporating mindfulness into your daily life, you can improve your ability to handle stress, enhance concentration, and foster a greater sense of peace and contentment.

Mindfulness is the practice of paying focused, non-judgmental attention to the present moment. It involves being fully aware of your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and the environment around you, accepting them without trying to change or judge them. This practice helps you stay grounded, reduce stress, and improve overall well-being. Mindfulness can be cultivated through various techniques, including: 1. **Meditation**: Sitting quietly and focusing on your breath, a mantra, or a particular sensation, allowing thoughts to come and go without attachment. 2. **Breathing Exercises**: Paying attention to your breath, taking slow, deep breaths to anchor yourself in the present.

What I've found to be helpful with mindfulness is that it goes beyond a "practice" into a way of being in the world. It isn't something we need to sit on a cushion to do. We can practice mindfulness in the shower, eating a meal, or in a conversation and witness an immediately enhanced and deepened experience of life. Mindfulness injects life affirming texture into even the most mundane of tasks - it's what turns walking into strolling.

To feel balanced between work and home life, one must feel as though they are giving appropriate time and attention to each. Not equal, but APPROPRIATE. There will be times when one necessarily demands more than the other. However, you can be totally present with each, whether or not you're giving the same amount of your personal energy and resources. For example, it's extremely common to be worried about work at home, and then worried about home at work. This means that you're not totally present in either. By learning how to focus completely on the tasks in front of you, on what's happening right here, right now, you can become fully present no matter the setting. This, in turn, leads to much greater equilibrium and much less stress.

Thich Nacht Hahn, such a wonderful master of mindfulness, once taught a technique to strengthen our mindfulness. The technique he shared had to do with focusing upon the person you're with as though this time with them would be your last. Some time after being exposed to this concept, my daughter called me while I was at work. A few minutes into the conversation, she said that I must be on my computer because I clearly wasn't listening to her. Busted! She was absolutely right, and that teaching of the above imagery came to mind. From then on, when I spoke to a loved one, I imagined that it was my last opportunity to speak with them. And that assured that mindfulness, i.e., my full attention, was at the heart of the interaction.

Work life balance is a myth. We all know that. It does not exist. Being fully present to the moment at hand is what can do be able to experience a sort of a balance and better senses of being. This can be achieved by practising mindfulness. It is about being 100% available and present to where you are without being worried or day dreaming about the next task, the previous meeting or the emails sitting in your inbox. Building a practice of mindfulness trains our mind to train our attention to the task at hand and be able to fully enjoy, experience it. Thus creating a better sense of balance impacting our well being.

Mindfulness exercises can be a helpful tool in this effort but it alone can't solve the problem. You have to first define what "work-life balance" means for you. You have to also understand how you got "off-balance" in the first place. Related: W-L balance is a poor phrase. It implies that permanent balance is possible and that work is not a part of life. Try thinking of it as work/non-work "balance" or personal-professional integration. If you skip the self-awareness work, you're just putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg.

Mindfulness can be a great way to tune into what you need so you can make time to help yourself. Many tend to push themselves harder when stressed and/or faced with deadlines. Doing so often decreases productivity and efficiency. By being mindful of your experience of stress symptoms you can be proactive & take the necessary time to help yourself first. Feeling calm allows for clearer thinking and aids you in completing your task.

Mindfulness practice on a regular basis can help both with our self-awareness and with our ability to control our focus of attention. Therefore, it can both help us to be aware of our emotional states & needs, as well as help us to get a genuine break from work when engaging in leisure activities or spending time with friends/family by being able to fully focus on the experience without being drawn into worrying about work. The ability to be aware of & respond to our needs plus be fully in the moment can help us to feel more balanced.

One project where I applied mindfulness techniques was during a high-pressure deadline-driven project. Amidst the chaos, I introduced mindfulness practices to the team, emphasizing the importance of present moment awareness and self-care. The method of "Mindful Time Blocking" stands out as an effective approach. This involves allocating specific blocks of time for work tasks, personal activities, and mindful breaks throughout the day. Incorporating mindfulness practices such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, and mindful movement into daily routines can promote stress reduction and enhance overall resilience, fostering well-being and fulfillment in both domains.

a couple of strategies you can deploy at work: - minimise back to back meetings - schedule micro-blocks in your calendar between meetings to mentally close out on one agenda, before starting another. - create a habit loop for "taking a breath" - attach simple breathing techniques to common at-work moments. i.e. before you start a call, before a meeting commences, before you arrive at the office etc. a few deep breaths or a technique such as 'box breathing' can help ground you and make you calmer and more present.

If you feel overwhelmed at work, take a moment to notice your breathing. If you are able, focus on slowing your breathing down. Breathe in slowly, and exhale slowly. Picture breathing in everything good, and exhale all things negative. Practicing mindfulness can help ease work stressors.

Mindfulness may help as part of a consistent and daily practice. When we start to become familiar with our minds, we can start to prioritise what we need to do each day and better organise our thoughts. The key then is to identify what you need to do, amongst all the mental chatter, and focus on that exclusively. In doing so, we create more time, and achieve a better balance in our overall life.

Debemos ser conscientes de nuestro trabajo para no automatizar las tareas y así cometer fallos o llegar a la desidia. Cada paso en nuestro trabajo ha de estar acompa?ado de un fin que tener presente, hacer bien nuestra tarea y con ella ayudar al cliente y por ende a la empresa y a nosotros mismos como buenos profesionales.

There is one simple mindfulness exercise called STOP. You can put the alarm clock for every two hours during work. And then just stop, whatever you are doing, close your eyes and take several breaths. Then notice how your body is feeling, what your thoughts are in that moment and what are the emotions present. Just become mindful of the moment and accept your experience with non judgement. After 30 seconds, open your eyes and continue to work.

Practicar el mindfulness en casa es sencillo, simplemente tienes que poner atención plena en la actividad que realices, te ayudará a estar en calma y mejorará tus relaciones familiares. - Ducha consciente: a menudo mientras estamos en la ducha estamos repasando las tareas pendientes o lo ocurrido a lo largo del día. Te invito a que pongas atención a la temperatura del agua, cómo corre ese agua por tu piel, cuando te enjabones pon atención a cada parte de tu cuerpo que estás cuidando es ese momento, cuando te seques hazlo con suavidad... - Comida consciente: qué sabor tiene la comida, la temperatura, la textura, su olor, puedes jugar con tu familia a adivinar los ingredientes que lleva esa comida.

Hemos de darnos nuestro tiempo para meditar y para reconocernos. Tener conciencia plena de nosotros mismos y cuidarnos mentalmente.

Mindfulness can be easy incorporated in every activity. For beginning, you can choose at least two activities per day. For example, cooking, brushing your teeths, eating, washing the dishes. Just being present in the moment and being fully aware of the activity you do. Focus on senses ( smell, taste, touch,...) and body movement. Being fully connected with yourself and the experience. Being present. Being here and now. That's life.

In my experience taking care of my indoor plants helps me to focus on the present moment and relax at home or read my favorite books about art

The main challenge with our busy and ever-connected lives is simply to find the time to practice. If you can carve out some time for formal practice with a traditional method (such as paying attention to your breath) that's fantastic. If not, you can integrate mindfulness with your daily life and activities. The end game is simply to be able to be present on demand - so you might as well try to be present right away. Start simple, start small, with tasks that do not consume much of your cognitive bandwith: like brushing your teeth. Try noticing how many times your mind will wander while doing it. And when it does, very gently bring back your attention to the task at hand. Build your capacity in small steps, one mindful moment at a time.

Start with a small, even tiny, nano-level mindfulness habit. Like just three breaths twice a day. Those who struggle with mindfulness habits are typically productivity-obsessed (insecure) overachievers. When constant business and problem solving is the natural comfort zone, 10 minutes to just sit in presentness seems too precious. So choose something so effortless that you would be happy to commit to it for a lifetime. The smaller the perceived effort to your brain (ideally 0), the more likely you are to maintain the habit. Allow yourself 30 seconds of mindfulness twice a day. That's (probably) less than half the time you spend brushing your teeth, but which is more important to you, healthy teeth or a healthy mind?

Making mindfulness a habit will follow the habit loop like any other behaviour that we want to build i.e. cue, routine reward. Cue - be intentional about practising mindfulness and identify a trigger that initiates your practice. Your phone wall paper or screensaver can act as a reminder, time of the day (e.g. before you start your work day). Start small. You may also choose to start practising when facing a tough situation or preparing for something challenging. Routine - Similar to brushing your teeth, set a routine around it. You may do the following: set a time of the day, place if possible or a ritual associated with it. Reward - If habits need to stick, you need to build in reward. Choose something that motivates you.

is consciousness. Awareness: Being conscious means being fully aware of what is happening both internally (our thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations) and externally (our surroundings, interactions with others). Mindfulness helps us develop this awareness by paying attention to the present moment without getting caught up in past regrets or future worries. Non-judgment: Conscious mindfulness involves observing our experiences without judgment or criticism. Instead of labeling our thoughts or emotions as good or bad, we simply acknowledge them as they are, allowing us to cultivate a more compassionate and accepting attitude towards ourselves and others.

Debemos buscar nuestro momento diario a poder ser, el hábito se crea sobreponiendonos a la procrastinación hasta "necesitar" dicha búsqueda.

One effective method to make mindfulness a habit is through "Mindful Morning Routines." Begin each day with a mindful practice, such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, or gratitude journaling. To illustrate, during a project characterized by tight deadlines, I introduced the team to mindful morning rituals. We allocated the first 10 minutes of our workday to mindfulness activities, fostering a collective sense of calm and focus. Leveraging technology tools like mindfulness apps can facilitate habit formation. Apps like Headspace or Calm offer guided meditations and mindfulness exercises tailored to busy professionals.

As a People Business Partner nearly all the work I do depends upon partnerships. Which means that I cannot deliver till my partners do the job timely. Of course that means it is high stress and high pressure. In order to be effective I practice mindfulness, these are a few statements I practice regularly: 1. If I have no control on the process, where else can I focus? 2. If an item risks a delay, let’s timely attempt to nudge all parties 3. If none of my timelines are meeting. Let’s do an engagement that can help me refocus on why I love what I do. 4. If I am feeling frustrated at work, where in my life can I bring a little ease? 5. List down things I am grateful for. 6. I keep motivation cards to keep me focused

If you struggle with this, you are not alone! This is especially true if you're a parent and have many responsibilities in your personal life. Struggling to find balance often means having too much on your plate, and mindfulness can help you simplify by attuning to your body, breathing, and emotional state moment by moment. As we slow down internally, we can become more organized and aware of what needs to be done in a day. We will also be more efficient and less scattered, allowing us to do more in less time.

Mindfulness reaches and benefits all aspects of our lives, whether at work or at home. Develop and hone your skill for reflection, self awareness, being honest with your self and act to adjust and set time for the things you want to do outside work to lead a more balanced life.