Wellbeing: A Mindfulness Approach

Burn-out and stress related illnesses are an ever-increasing cost for employers.  How is it possible in our task-focused, goal-driven lives to maintain psychological wellbeing in the workplace?  Mindfulness may well be the answer.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness simply means awareness.  In essence, Mindfulness is the practice of breaking free from the mind’s addiction to over-thinking.  Our attention is rarely where we need it to be.  We spend so much of our time either re-living and regretting the past or worrying about the future.  Hence we lose focus in the present and often end up exhausted, anxious or even depressed.  Mindfulness is about bringing awareness and acceptance to what is going on around us moment to moment so that we can respond from a place of trust rather than react from a place of fear.

 

Common Mindfulness practices include:

Becoming aware of how the mind jumps into the future and

   back to the past, and rarely stays in the now

Separating an event from our reaction to that event

Guided meditation that helps quieten the busy mind

Common benefits arising from Mindfulness practices include:

Calmer - better ability to handle stress

Easier to “switch off”, less prone to needless worrying

More focused; better decision-making capacity

Improved empathy and compassion

Improved relationships and communication skills

More energy, drive and motivation

Higher levels of self-awareness

Improved sleep patterns

Improved overall levels of wellbeing

 

 

Fiona Hoban (MA) Corporate Wellbeing & Private Counselling. Telephone: 087 2337109  info@fionahoban.ie