Compassionate Mindfulness – Loving Yourself and Increasing Productivity
What we hear you ask does appreciating oneself do with increasing productivity or indeed work? What is in it for any corporation to spend their hard-earned resources on compassionate mindfulness? As it turns out – a huge amount. As with all these things it takes time to understand – but once we do we appreciate the amount of time and energy we save when we’re using it properly.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could achieve a better sense of focus and calm? If we could let go of our constant, nagging, negative thoughts, emotions and daily stresses like balloons and watch them drift through the sky?
Well, we can start to learn to through the practice of compassionate mindfulness. It’s been proven to not only enhance working relationships but to allow people to become more focused – and to improve mental and emotional health. What’s more, practising compassionate mindfulness can simply lead to a much happier way of life, at work and at home.
Learn to be Kind to Yourself
Compassionate Mindfulness is about observing bruising self-negativity with curiosity. Instead of taking unhappiness or stress personally, mindfulness enables you to respond difficult emotions (like sadness, anger and disappointment) with your own kindness and understanding.
Learning to be kinder to yourself takes time but mindfulness teaches simple, daily steps to put you on the path to happiness. It teaches you how to be more aware of your feelings, and the impact they are having on your day. When you learn to care for yourself as you do for others, and start accepting yourself as you are – you will find this will lead you to a much greater sense of wellbeing.
Accept and appreciate the person you are and stop doing to yourself what you would never dream of doing to others.
Be Kinder and Become More Productive
When you’re kinder to yourself, you’re also far more likely to be more productive in the workplace. A study by the University of Warwick found that happiness led to a spike in productivity, while unhappy workers were 10% less productive.
So, what steps can we take to be kinder? Having self-compassion can be much trickier than having compassion for others but that doesn’t mean it’s unachievable. Taking good care of yourself, and giving yourself the recognition you deserve, will point you towards the direction of self-love. When you find yourself struggling, ask yourself how you would treat someone in a similar situation. What advice would you give them? What positive can be taking from the negative? Don’t feel bad for feeling bad, we’re all human and we all face challenges every day.
Give Yourself a Confidence Boost
We’re all our own worst critics. A bad day at work can leave you feeling stressed and, before you know it, you’re plaguing yourself with criticism and self-doubt.
Being aware of stress symptoms and managing your mind, can work wonders when it comes to boosting your confidence and self-esteem. As soon as a negative thought comes creeping in, replace it with a positive one. It’s ok to pay yourself a compliment every now and then! Look at what you’ve achieved so far and where you want to go. Focus on your strengths instead of your weaknesses and think about what’s important to you.
Take a step back, start listening to your thoughts and get to know you…the more you understand about how your own mind judges you we guarantee the more things there will be to appreciate and value.