I'm All About That Space

Looks like you have a lot on your mind.

Folks, I am very concerned about us.  Society has gone off-the-rails crazy. We are ruining ourselves with busy-ness and stress.  We're over-scheduled and we hardly sleep. Obsessing over worries and troubles has become a national pastime. And we wear this madness like a badge of honor. When did it all go to heck in a hand basket? What ever happened to naps and sittin' a spell and boredom?

As a person who likes downtime, this level of chaos makes me jumpy. There's too much pressure to be an over-achieving insomniac and I simply can't compete.


How will I survive these times? I'm a horrible multitasker. I can't work circles around anyone. I freak out if I don't get eight hours of sleep. I stay home if I'm sick. And I'm easily distracted by shiny objects and tons of other objects. My resume reads like a Top 10 list of reasons not to hire me.

This is why I teach meditation. For one thing, I get to sit around and meditate a lot. But I also teach people how to create space - space in their heads, space in their hearts, and more space in their lives. If there's one thing people these days need more of, it's space. A space of a few seconds before responding to a coworker can reduce conflict. A space of time before replying to an email can be a game-changer. Space in your head helps you think more clearly, and space in your heart makes you more compassionate.

You see, space is a good thing. Downtime is healthy. Rest is rejuvenating. Take it from me, the girl with zero war stories about long days and sleepless nights. Sure, occasionally someone will draw a circle around me to see if I'm moving at all, but I'm not offended. Because I'm all about that space, 'bout that space, no troubles.

Me.  Not so much.

6 Reasons to Keep Meditating, Baby!

Like other healthy habits, meditation gets bumped down our to-do lists by crises, must-dos and have-tos. Here are 6 important reasons to keep going. 

1.  Exponential Benefits 
The health improvements of meditation are vast and grow like compound interest, but only if you meditate regularly. 

2.  Brain Power  
Neuroscience, the study of the brain, tells us meditation improves brain function, increasing clarity, compassion and positive mental attitude.

 3.  Heart Health 
Research shows meditation lowers blood pressure, reducing the chances of heart disease. 

4.  A Good Night's Sleep  
Meditation raises levels of melatonin, a hormone crucial for healthy sleep patterns. 

5.  Anger Management 
Because it increases compassion and emotional intelligence, research suggests meditation might actually make you a nicer person - less reactive, more responsive. 

6.  Inner Peace
When you meditate regularly, you become addicted to the relaxation, inner peace, and clarity that permeate your days.  It feels so good, and the benefits are so life-changing, you won't want to skip a day.

I promise, if you'll just hang in there, push through the excuses and distractions, and commit to a daily practice of meditation, you will be thrilled with the results. You'll never know unless you try!  Prove it to yourself.    

Will Meditation at Work Become a Thing?

Once upon a time, there was no such thing as a wellness program at work.  Even though there were a lot of health and wellness people saying health and wellness should be supported at work, work did not care, so work did not have wellness programs. 

Then, work began to notice that lots of dollars were being thrown at health problems related to unhealthy workers, and work started to care about health.  Hence, workplace wellness programs were born. 

Flash forward to now and you’re hard pressed to find a company without some kind of wellness plan in place.  In fact, 92% of larger companies have wellness programs.  HR departments have wellness budgets, even wellness specialists!  And, as employees get fatter, sicker and unhealthier, these wellness programs must expand and grow to combat the ever-skyrocketing cost of health care and all things related to employees being unhealthy.

While smoking cessation and weight loss have been the prevalent wellness programs in recent years, there is a new (really not so new) health concern rocking the HR world, and it’s wreaking havoc on health care costs, absenteeism, employee turnover and productivity. 

Stress 

Stress is killing work.  Not only is it making people sick, depressed and anxious, but the higher stress levels rise, the lower employee engagement plummets.  Disengaged employees are poor producers.  That is a one-two punch to the gut of the bottom line, and bad news for work.

Guess what?  Now work cares about stress, so work must find ways to reduce it.  Enter, meditation! 

There have been over 1,000 scientific papers written about the benefits of meditation in the past twenty years.  Research shows meditation reduces stress and improves mental, emotional, and physical health.  Additionally, Harvard Business School has stated, “The two most effective business tools for twenty-first century executives are meditation and intuition.”

Many companies across the country have launched stress reduction initiatives such as meditation instruction and support, with good results.  The trend is catching on and gaining in popularity.  Since stress has been identified as the number one contributor to illness, it must be dealt with.  So yes, meditation at work will become a thing.  It’s well on its way. 

Employee Empowerment: Benevolence or Good Business Sense?

Recent research shows that roughly half of Americans hate their job, and according to Gallup, fewer than three in 10 workers say they’re engaged at work.

EmployEES be like:

 EmployERS be like:

I have one word for you:  empowerment.  

When workers feel empowered, they are more engaged, dedicated, and innovative.

"Treat employees like they make a difference, and they will."  This is a quote from Jim Goodnight, co-founder and CEO of North Carolina-based business analytics software giant, SAS.  In the height of the 2009 recession, while other companies were cutting jobs like crazy, Goodnight stated publicly that SAS would absolutely not have any layoffs, and he kept his promise.  Can you imagine the collective sigh of relief at SAS that year?

Goodnight's company is known for treating employees well and offering perks such as flextime, childcare, and on-site medical care.  They're big on work-life balance and measuring productivity by what workers accomplish instead of how many hours they're chained to a desk.

Wondering if all the warm fuzzies get in the way of success?  In 2009, while other companies were tanking, SAS saw a 2.2 percent increase in revenues over the previous year's, and the company is regularly voted, "world's best place to work."  Additionally, since the 1970's, SAS has seen consecutive revenue growth every year.

Empowerment Begets Engagement

Everyone wants to feel like they matter.  Nobody wants to be micro-managed.  Here are some tips to increase employee empowerment:

• Let them do their job.  People need autonomy not babysitting.
• Support them.  Make sure they have all the resources they need to be successful.
• Give them time.  Flextime is a cheap way to keep employees happy.
• Insist on work-life balance.  
• Increase your wellness budget.  Help them take charge of their health.

How to Initiate Employee Empowerment

I believe offering and supporting meditation in the workplace is the place to start.  It's sort of like the "teach a man to fish" theory.  External incentives are great, but if you teach a person to go to the inner, reduce their own stress and tap their intuition, you are empowering them to make better personal and professional choices.  Studies show meditation not only reduces stress, it increases mental clarity, enhances compassion, and improves productivity and innovation.  This translates into better lifestyle choices, increased collaboration, better conflict resolution and more engaged employees.

We are stepping into the era of the individual. Companies who care about each employee will thrive.  Just ask Jim Goodnight, who oh by the way happens to be one of America's wealthiest people, with a net worth of over $7 billion.

 

Sunk Cost - Prospective Cost (Or Why Meditation Should Be Your Company’s Next Wellness Program)

Sunk Cost

A simple definition of sunk cost:  money spent and permanently lost. 

A good example of sunk cost:  stress in the workplace. 

Workplace stress impacts health care costs, absenteeism, productivity, job satisfaction, and employee turnover – costing companies billions each year.  The cost of workplace stress can never be recovered.

Prospective Cost

A simple definition of prospective cost:  costs that may be changed if an action is taken.

A good example of prospective cost:  a meditation in the workplace wellness program.

Meditation has been proven to boost mental, emotional and physical health by reducing stress, improving brain function, and balancing the body’s biological systems.  In the workplace, this translates to mental clarity, improved emotional intelligence, better overall health, and enhanced work-life balance. 

 Meditation at Work

According to the American Institute of Stress, stress costs American businesses an estimated 300 billion a year.  300 billion dollars.  Sunk cost.  Money spent and permanently lost.  This is why meditation should be your company’s next wellness program.    

FYI – Companies That Meditate

I live in the Midwest.  We are not exactly known for blazing trails and setting trends.  However, some surprisingly conservative local companies are starting to take a look at a leading edge practice, formerly reserved for hippies, gurus, and a handful of super cool West Coast businesses.

Meditation might seem like the new kid on the block in corporate wellness, but many big US companies have been offering the practice to employees for years, and with some impressive results. 

No Surprises Here

Okay, so you’re not exactly shocked to hear Apple, Google and Facebook employees meditate.  I know, right?  Of course companies that provide playgrounds, shuttle service and sleep pods for their workers are going to encourage new age-y stuff like meditation and mindfulness training.  But what other heavy hitters have embraced the silence?

9 Big Companies That Encourage Meditation and Mindfulness

General Mills

Intel

Form Motor Company

Prentice Hall Publishing

Nike

Target

Proctor & Gamble

Aetna

JP Morgan

Fluff and Nonsense or Serious Brain Training?

“All that woo-woo mystical stuff is so retrograde. This is training the brain.”  - Kenneth Folk, meditation teacher, San Francisco.

With over 1,000 scientific papers in recent years to back up the benefits of meditation, mainstream researchers are singing its praises for stress relief and better mental clarity, and serious US companies are getting on board. 

Om My Goodness, Wall Street is Meditating

Think only wacky, hipster companies like Google are meditating?  Think again.

A recent article on CNN Money reports Wall Street companies are implementing meditation to reduce workplace stress and keep employees happy and productive.  It seems meditation has emerged from the shadowy corners of the new age movement, and stepped smack dab in the middle of the mainstream. 

“Meditation, contemplation -- it’s not just for monks and hermits. They’re really for people to improve all our lives and business,"  Daniel Loeb said recently in an American Enterprise Institute panel discussion.  Loeb is the billionaire founder of activist hedge-fund firm Third Point LLC, and a meditator.

Other noted, high-profile meditators include: Ray Dalio, billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, Bill Ford, Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company, and Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corp.  Without a whole lot of analysis, one can glean a common thread amongst these folks - success.  

The corporate landscape is changing.  According to Harvard Business School, "The two most effective business tools for twenty-first century executives are meditation and intuition."  Innovative companies - the trendsetters and industry leaders - already know this, and they're creating cultures that reflect it.  

In business, the new in-thing is a quiet mind.

What is a mindful leader?

A mindful leader is a listener. 

A mindful leader is compassionate.

A mindful leader collaborates, pauses, considers, feels and responds.

A mindful leader takes responsibility.

And shares glory.

They make everyone around them better.

A mindful leader knows the power of quieting the mind and consulting intuition.

Mindful leaders are uplifters, thinkers, doers, and feelers.

Mindful leaders foster healthy, innovative, successful businesses. 

A mindful leader is a company’s greatest asset.

When I am Mindful

When I am mindful, I shave my legs without incident.

When I am not mindful, I must set off my own car alarm to remember where I parked.

When I am mindful, I dot every i and cross each t.

When I am not mindful, I send a text message (meant for my son) to a business associate saying, "Stop fighting with your sister and let the dog out to potty." 

When I am mindful, I hear what you say.

When I am not mindful, I plan what I'm going to say while you're talking to me.

A mindful workplace listens, focuses, has compassion, is productive, and thrives.