21 Ways to Be Mindful During the Workday

from Mindfulness and Money: The Buddhist Path of Abundance.  Kulananda and Dominic Houlder

1. Take between five and forty minutes in the morning to be quiet and meditate.  Sit or lie down and be with yourself.  Gaze out the window, listen to the sounds of nature or the city, take a slow quiet walk where you won’t be too disturbed.
2. While your car is warming up, take a minute quietly paying attention to your breathing.
3. While driving, become aware of bodily tension, such as your hands wrapped tightly around the steering wheel, your shoulders raised and stomach tight.  Consciously work at releasing and dissolving that tension. After all, does being tense help you to drive better?  What does it feel like to relax and drive?
4. Don’t play the radio or put on any music.  Just be with the sounds that are going on.
5. If you do highway driving, experiment with riding in the right lane, going five miles per hour below the speed limit.
6. When stopped at a red light or toll plaza, pay attention to your breathing and to the sky, the trees or your quality of mind.
7. Once you park at your workplace, take a moment to orient yourself to your workday.  Use the walk across the parking lot to step into your working life, to know where you are and where you are going.
8. While sitting at your desk or other workspace, pay attention to bodily sensations, again consciously attempt to relax and rid yourself of excess tension.
9. Use your breaks to really relax rather than simply to pause.  Instead of having coffee or a cigarette, or reading, try taking a short walk or just sit quietly in your workspace renewing yourself.
10. At lunchtime, don’t stay at your workspace, instead try changing your environment.
11. If you have one, try closing your door and take some time to consciously relax.
12. Stop for one to three minutes every hour during the workday.  Become aware of your breathing and bodily sensations, allowing your mind to settle.  Use it as a time to regroup and recoup.
13. Use the everyday cues in your environment as reminders to “center” yourself.  Eg.  Try using the first ring of the telephone or cell phone as a reminder to take one deep breath, return to yourself and then take the call.
14. Take some time at lunch or other moments in the day to speak with some of the people you work with.  Try choosing topics that are not work related.
15. Choose to eat one or two lunches every week in silence.  Use the time to eat slowly and just be with yourself.
16. At the end of the workday, try retracing your day’s activities, acknowledge and congratulate yourself for what you’ve accomplished.  Then make a list for tomorrow.  You’ve done enough today!
17. During the walk to your car, pay attention to your environment.  Become aware of yourself breathing the crisp or warm air, feel the cold or warmth of your body.  What might happen if you opened up to these environmental conditions and bodily sensations rather than resisting them?  Listen to the sounds around you. Can you walk without feeling rushed?  What happens when you slow down?
18. At the end of the workday, while your car is warming up, sit quietly and consciously make the transition from work to home.  Take a moment to simple be. Enjoy it for a moment.  Like most people, you’re probably heading into your next full-time job—home!
19. While driving, notice if you are rushing.  What does that feel like?  What could you do about it?  After all, you’re in control.
20. When you pull into your driveway or park on the street, take a minute to orient yourself to being with your family again or to entering your home.
21. Try changing out of your work clothes when you get home.  This simple act may help you make a smoother transition into your next “role” —most days you can probably spare five minutes to do this.  Greet each of your family members or the people you live with.  Take a moment to look into their eyes.  Try making the time to take five to ten minutes to be quiet and still.  If you live alone, feel what it is like to enter the quiet space of your home, the feeling entering your environment.