17 Hints and Suggestions For Reducing Your Work Stress Now

1. When you wake up, take a few quiet moments to affirm that you are choosing to go to work today. If you can, briefly review what you think you will be doing and remind yourself that it mayor may not happen that way.

2. Bring awareness to the whole process of preparing to go to work. This might include showering, dressing, eating, and relating to the people you live with. Tune in to your breathing

and your body from time to time.

3. Don't say good-bye mechanically to people.  Make eye contact with them, touch them, really be "in" those moments, slow them down just a bit.  If you leave before other people wake up,you might try writing them a brief note to say good morning and express your feelings toward them.

4. If you walk to public transportation, be aware of your body walking, standing and waiting, riding, and getting off. Walk into work mindfully. Breathe. Try smiling inwardly. If driving, take a moment or two to come to your breathing before you start the car. Remind yourself that you are about to drive off to work now. Some days at least try driving without the radio on. Just drive and be with yourself, moment by moment. When you park, take a moment or two to just sit and breathe before you leave the car. Walk into work mindfully. Breathe. If your face is already tense and grim, try smiling, or try a half smile if that is too much. 

At work, take a moment from time to time to monitor your bodily sensations. Is there tension in your shoulders, face, hands, or back? How are you sitting or standing in this moment? What is your body language saying? Consciously let go of any tension as best you can as you exhale and shift your posture to one that expresses balance, dignity, and alertness. When you find yourself walking at work, take the edge off it. Walk mindfully. Don't rush unless you have to. If you have to,know that you are rushing. Rush mindfully.

7. Use any breaks you get to truly relax. Instead of drinking coffee or smoking a cigarette, try going outside the building for three minutes and walking or standing and breathing. Or do neck and shoulder rolls at your desk . Or shut your office door if you can and sit quietly for five minutes or so, following your breathing.

8. Spend your breaks and lunchtime with people you feel comfortable with. Otherwise, maybe it would be better for you to be alone. Changing your environment at lunch can be helpful. Choose to eat one or two lunches per week in silence, mindfully.

9. Alternatively don't eat lunch. Go out and exercise, every day if you can, or a few days per week. Exercise is a great way of reducing stress. Your ability to do this will depend on how much flexibility you have in your job. If you can do it, it is a wonderful way of clearing the mind, reducing your tension, and starting the afternoon refreshed and with a lot of energy. I try to get out of the hospital and run in the middle of the day for from half an hour to an hour, depending on my schedule.

Many work places have organized employee exercise programs,such as aerobics, weight lifting, yoga, and dance, both at lunchtime and before and after work. If you have the opportunity to exercise at work, take it! But remember, an exercise program takes the same kind of commitment that the formal meditation takes. And when you do it, do it mindfully.

10. Try to stop for one minute every hour and become aware of your breathing. We waste far more time than this day dreaming at work. Use these mini-meditations to tune in to the present and just be. Use them as moments in which to regroup and recoup. All it takes is remembering to do it. This one is not easy, since we so easily get carried away by the momentum of all the doing.

11. Use everyday cues in your environment as reminders to center yourself and relax-the telephone ringing, down time at the computer terminal, waiting for someone else to finish something before you can start. Instead of relaxing by "spacing out," relax by tuning in.

12. Be mindful of your communications with people during the work day. Are they  satisfactory? Are some problematic? Think about how you might improve them. Be aware of people who tend to operate in a passive mode or a hostile mode with you. Think about how you might approach them more effectively. Think about how you might be more sensitive to other people's feelings and needs. How might you help others at 'work by being more mindful? How might awareness of tone of voice and body language help you when communicating?

13. At the end of the day, review what you have accomplished and make a list of what needs to be done tomorrow. Prioritize the items on your list so that you know what is most important.

14. As you are leaving, bring your awareness to walking and breathing again. Be aware of the transition we call "leaving work." Monitor your body. Are you exhausted? Are you standing erect or bent over? What expression is on your'face?

15. If you are taking public transportation, bring your attention to your walking, standing, and sitting. Notice if you are rushing. Can you "back it down a bit" and own those moments between work and home as much as any of your other moments to live? Or, if you are driving, take a moment or two once again to sit in your car before you start it up. Drive home mindfully.

16. Before you walk in the door, realize that you are about to do so. Be aware of this transition we call "coming home." Try greeting people mindfully and making eye contact rather than shouting to announce your arrival.

17. As soon as you can, take your shoes off and get out of your work clothes. Changing to other clothes can complete the transition from work to home and allow you to integrate more quickly and consciously into your non-work roles. If you can make the time, take five minutes or so to meditate before you do anything else, even cooking or eating dinner. The foregoing re offered as hints and suggestions, not as a  daily program. Ultimately the challenge is yours to decide what might best help you to reduce your work stress.

These tips can help you earn dollars online too.

Book excerpt from:

Full Catastrophe Living: Using The Wisdom of your Body and Mind to Face

By Jon Kabat-Zinn, University of Massachusetts Medical Center/Worcester Stress Reduction Clinic