Today, the workplace is now encouraging employees to practice mindfulness more than ever before. This is an act of intentional attention. Mindfulness means living in the present moment and using techniques to explore thoughts and emotions without judgment. It is also incredibly convenient, improving the scope of attention and reducing stress in both the brain and behavior of a person who practices consistently.
In busy offices where it’s easy to get lost with overly scheduled shuffles, employees accept these exercises and fight against leading a life that accidentally “blinked, and you missed it.” But what about entrepreneurs who work from home?
Being at home means reducing the stressful attributes of going to the office, such as long meetings, difficult coworkers, or commutes. Inbox Pinging by Email. Open a tab to Twitter and Facebook on your desktop.
Just like people in a physical office, remote workers need mindfulness to create inner peace that allows them to be productive in the present.
If you’re ready to narrow your mindfulness a bit while working from home, here are five simple exercises that will fit your schedule and help you stay on track with your workload.
Five ways to practice mindfulness while working from home
1. Deep breathing
Most mindfulness lists start with breathing exercises and for good reason. This technique is universal and can be performed no matter where you are, how long you have or where you are. Clear your head and concentrate on your breath. Slowly come and go and count into three. Relax your whole body as you inhale and exhale. Relax, close your eyes and focus on bringing your thoughts still. Let go of your to-do list and take a minute or two to breathe peacefully and go in and out deeply.
Among the teachings of yoga is the belief that if you breathe longer, you will live longer. Breathing is part of the energy that burns you and the world around you. Let it relax naturally.
2. Delete the app
Of course, consider apps on your smartphone that aren’t all of them, but you might not be using them. If you don’t need them, remove them. Instead of removing these apps and immediately downloading other things to fill up the place, enjoy the extra space.
3. Be careful about what you eat
It’s easy to make food blurry when working from home. Maybe you’ll skip breakfast, eat leftovers from lunch, in between, snack and take out for dinner. Food is one of our biggest mindfulness opportunities, and eating too much or too little can have a negative impact on how productive we are.
What does your week of food look like? Keep a diary with notes on the food you ate throughout the week and how it made you feel along with your actions.
- Have you got a small bite or a big bite?
- Have you multitasked while eating?
- What time did you eat the food on the day?
- Have you gone outside or were you inside?
- How about the food itself?
- Was it fresh?
- Is it salty?
- Is it rich in flavor?
Whether it was a tomato grown in your backyard patch or a log of mozzarella cheese picked up at a farmer’s market, you might be wary of food journeys when it makes a path towards your plate. If you look closely at what you eat and how you do it, you will ultimately be satisfied and you will be able to feed your body with food that will pass through in the next 8 hours or later.
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4. Create a daily gratitude and achievement journal
Mindfulness may be about your current life, but there are things you have to say about evaluating everything you have already done and evaluating everything you have in your life.
Create a journal with two columns. One is for the results, the other is for the gratitude. Add one item to each row each day. These don’t have to be any other outcome. Finishing work 30 minutes early and volunteering in your local soup kitchen or thanking the package that arrived earlier than planned is simple but soulful and worth writing down.
By the end of the week, the journal’s pages should be filled with extraordinary normals that they might otherwise have forgotten. Now you are mindful of their presence and appreciate how much they contribute to your life.
5. Please listen
Mindful listening allows you to listen without judgment, just as you force yourself to let go and focus on inhaling and exhaling. If Pandora or Spotify has background noise on, shuffle it and listen to the next song that appears without skipping first. Listen thoughtfully to the lyrics, instruments, artist voices, rhythms, and more, and accept the sounds inside.
If you are about to meet someone to discuss an assignment, or if you are about to join a meeting via Skype, try to clear up the distractions and focus on the person in front of you. Give them your undivided attention. Listen carefully, ask questions, use body language to communicate, take notes and show you that you are here and invest in the conversation.
Conclusion
Working from home provides a less stressful environment than traditional office counterparts, but it is still important to keep an eye on your actions. To help you use these simple tips, try scheduling in time for each activity. As you begin to develop healthy habits, you will notice an increased sense of inner peace and productivity.
Do you encourage mindfulness in your daily routine? Please drop a note. We look forward to hearing from you!