Tranquility Workshops Blog

According to a new survey, 45% of Americans are dissatisfied with their work.  This is the lowest level recorded by the Conference Board research group in more than 22 years.  Some of the reasons cited for this are:

• The recession makes it difficult to find suitable, secure, interesting and challenging work.
• Incomes have not kept up with inflation, and health care costs keep soaring (making take home pays smaller).
• Difficulty with bosses and coworkers cause an unpleasant work environment.
• Longer commutes mean a longer work day.

Since people spend so much of their day at work, it makes sense that day-to- day dissatisfaction with it can negatively impact one's emotions, ambition, relationships, health and overall well-being.  Using mindfulness techniques may help in coping with a less-than-satisfactory employment situation, that can't be changed right away.

Mindfulness involves accepting current situations as they truly are (reality), vs. wanting them to be different than they are (fantasy).  This would involve accepting the economy, your job, your income, your benefits, your boss, your coworkers, and your commute. Non acceptance only leads to hot thoughts, criticism, negative emotions and increased suffering. Of course, if you have the ability to make positive changes in any of these areas, do so immediately.  If not, you may want to work on acceptance.

Another aspect of mindfulness involves allowing things to unfold as the day goes on, trying to stay in the present moment, and being alert to the "whole picture".  Sometimes we only focus on the negative things about our job, and if that's what we're looking for, that's what we'll see.  Hopefully, everyone has some positive things that occur during their work day.  If we're on auto pilot mode, we can fail to attend to some of the nice things that happen during the day:  having breakfast/coffee, seeing family before work, a reasonable commute while listening to music or audio books, nice weather, positive interactions with friends/coworkers/clients, sense of accomplishment/mastery, someone offering their help, enjoying some simple comforts in the work environment, breaks, snacks/meals.  If negative things occur, deal with them or distract from them, and then move on.  Don't dwell on past negative situations all day.  Most importantly, don't take them home with you!

One other way to help pick up your spirits is to focus on things that you're grateful for:  the job, income, benefits, coworkers, health, ability to work, etc.  Think of others who are unable to find a job right now in this economy, and are worried about supporting their families.

Mindfulness is an excellent tool to help cope in these tough economic times, reminding us to keep things in perspective, take one thing at a time, accept the things that we can't change right away, pay attention to things that make us feel good, and be grateful for the things that we do have.