Using Meditation and Awareness to Improve Decision-making and Productivity
By Janet Taylor
Having been a Corporate Executive for over 20 years, I know firsthand the excitement and the challenges of managing an ever-changing workplace. I started studying meditation in college, but it wasn’t until I was working long hours in a company that was growing rapidly that I started to take meditation seriously. In a constantly changing environment, I experienced both exhilaration and great stress.
After years of not enough sleep and too much work, I was wearing down, but also terrified to take a break—if I stopped for a moment, someone else would get ahead. It is ironic that the opposite is true–there is scientific research to confirm that taking time to take a deep focused breath (or three), or meditate for even as little as five minutes, can actually help us make better decisions and enables everyone to be more productive.
Over several years, I tried many different meditation methods, looking for something I could easily integrate into everyday life. In 1998, I met a meditation teacher who taught a method that caused a radical, positive difference in the way I experienced myself and the world around me. Meditation not only helped relieve my stress, but actually got me promoted. It significantly increased my ability to make better decisions and to relate to others in more positive and impactful ways. Meditation can now be found in many companies, like Google, Yahoo, Ford and Cisco. They are finding that making meditation easily available is a great company benefit for healthier, happier and more productive employees.
I loved meditation so much, that I gave up the corporate life for a full-time job as meditation teacher—I’m passionate about the power of integrating meditation into the corporate experience. I have spent the last five years studying and practicing meditation with a diverse group of people. These studies, my own practice, and researching the top experts in the field has yielded an easy to teach and practice meditation technique.
This practice is NOT about trying to reach some exalted state or trying to make your mind stop thinking. It is about learning how to hit the pause button, to rest in the present moment, without getting so entangled in the sensations, judgments, opinions, ideas, worries, stories, sounds, sights, fears or whatever else arises within us or around us.
Here are some common misconceptions about meditation:
- I have to sit on the floor, in the lotus position. (sitting in a chair works just as well)
- I have to sit still a long time (the amount of time is not important; simply giving yourself permission to do absolutely nothing for a few moments can create a positive impact)
- I have to stop thinking (we are not trying to stop thoughts; just disentangle from them)
- Meditating will interfere with my religious beliefs (meditation can be done in a completely non-religious way)
- I don’t have time (To breathe? Really?)
I recommend starting with these three easy-to-learn methods:
- Concentration: This practice helps calm the mind and helps create a gap between stimulus and response. Begin by focusing awareness on the tiny sensations of breathing in and breathing out. Thoughts, feelings, even sounds arise—include those into the meditation by imagining them to be just clouds in the sky. There will be moments when you realize that you are distracted–celebrate them! Those are moments of awareness. Then return your attention, again and again, to the sensation of breathing. Research shows that even if you think you are doing it wrong, just trying has a positive physiological impact.
- Natural Awareness: Similar to mindfulness, but we can go beyond thinking. Just practice being aware in the present moment, regardless of whatever thoughts, emotions, sensations, or situations might arise.
- Positive Visualization: Research shows that practicing positive states of mind, like loving-kindness and compassion, cause us to naturally experience those states of mind more often in everyday life. Guided meditations can be a good start. (Some can be downloaded at serenitypause.com)
You can use these practices in any moment of any day. We can practice awareness while we eat, walk, interact with others or do the dishes. When we train our mind to be present, all things can be done with more ease and less stress.
Here are some other practical ideas on how to integrate a little awareness into your life:
- Phone calls: Each time the phone rings, take one deep aware breath before you answer and one more after you hang up. How wonderful to have an awareness reminder so close at hand! You might reflect for a moment on how the contents of the call may have impacted your thoughts, emotions or feelings.
- A wristband: Wearing a wristband (like those plastic colored bracelets for some worthy cause) can be a visual reminder to take a few deep breaths throughout the day.
- Red lights or standing in line: Instead of letting irritation arise while you’re driving or waiting in line, imagine using that delay as an opportunity to be aware and breathe deeply, aware of internal sensations, emotions thoughts and externally, aware of the people and circumstances around you. To cultivate a positive state of mind, try wishing everyone around you more happiness in their life, simply by radiating out a sense of love and compassion for them.
