Mindful Meditation

As society continues to head towards faster living, through the advance of science and technology, it is easy for individuals to become stressed and fatigued, causing both health and psychological problems. Often it is heard that many individuals simply do not ‘have enough time’. Extensive research has been conducted regarding this issue in attempts to provide methods to reducing anxiety and stress levels where mindfulness is one of many contributors to aim to resolve the plethora of stress-related matters. Mindfulness is a process in which an individual pay’s attention to their surroundings rather than defaulting to systematic and routine movements of everyday tasks (Langer, 2014). Mindful meditation is often overlooked, although it is such …show more content…
As mindful meditation has been proven to be very effective, it should be argued that it be implemented as a rudimentary practice all workplaces should engage in. However, it is not something that could be mastered overnight, as with all skills it should be with systematic and intentional refining (Kabat-Zinn, 2015). Consider the practice of simple, everyday tasks such as learning a new skill for your work, or studying a subject at university. Often it is said that ‘practice makes perfect’ and hence in a similar context, an individual, through practice, would have the capacity to observe his or her own mental processes, either intentionally or unintentionally. Mindfulness practice promotes a metacognitive ability that allows individuals to perceive their thoughts as purely ‘thoughts’ and not ‘reality’. This is an effective meditative tool that potentially allows the meditator to ‘respond’ rather than ‘react’ in a high-stress, high-anxiety situation (Snyder, Shapiro & Treleaven, …show more content…
Mindful meditation is considered as a state of awareness that is non-judgmental, non-reactive and open hearted (Kabat-Zinn, 2015). In many situations, both within the context of business or outside, decisions must be made without irrationality, and made with logical reasoning. Being able to mindfully assess situations allows for a more coherent outcome. An example may be, that as a human resources manager, you may be under heavy stress and have an abundance of other tasks your boss wants you to complete. Decision-making alone is not the point of this argument – that mindful meditation helps to correctly assess situations and make a rational decision – but rather that stress has an inescapable effect on your final decision. Often an individual would ‘react’ in a situation that would require them to defend themselves. Under high intensity tasks this could most definitely be a downfall. However, one may argue that an individual should ‘respond’ under such circumstances, allowing them to analyse and hence choose the appropriate action. The cultivation of our capacity to respond versus react is directly impacted by mindfulness (Snyder, Shapiro & Treleaven, 2011). In addition to the example above, you are required to make a decision on an individual who has been performing poorly, despite having some sort of emotional or relational attachment to the employee. Both the

Show More