Chances are that if you’ve lived past age 20, you’ve experienced some instance of several problems cropping up at the same time and threatening to derail your focus. This becomes especially challenging when big problems come up all at once: accidents, injury, illness, eviction, and so on. However, if big life issues come up during an important project, how do you remain mindful and focused while at the same time doing your part in solving the problems? Let’s explore this from a deeper perspective.
When you’re dealing with chaotic life situations, sometimes it can be difficult to stay focused and on track toward your intended destination. However, with a few tricks, you can become more and more adept at remaining mindful even during highly stressful and challenging times. This is partially doable through meditation and yoga practices, but it is also doable through understanding your emotional process once you know about whatever problem has come up.
Did you know that the acceptance process during major life changes is almost identical to the grieving process when someone passes away? It isn’t exactly the same, of course, because no one has passed on, but the emotional stages are extremely similar.
· Shock. The initial shock phase is probably accompanied by denial or disbelief about what is happening.
· Anger is likely to be next, and there isn’t much you can do about it except for feeling your emotions and managing them through meditation.
· The next stage is bargaining, but this feels like desperation to make things go back to the way they were before. There probably isn’t much you’ll be able to do to facilitate that, so the sooner you can get to the next stage, the sooner you’ll be able to completely solve the problems at hand.
· The next phase is depression about the situation, and you will probably find yourself feeling very blah and lethargic. This is normal, too, and now you’re almost done; once you snap out of this part, you’ll be ready to keep moving forward with your work.
· Last but not least is acceptance. I love this part because this is where hope returns and the problems you’re facing don’t seem quite as insurmountable as they may have at first.
Knowing this, how do you think you would feel about paying attention to your emotional process during a time of crisis? That’s something many people have had to do over the last several weeks due to various hardships, deaths, illnesses, accidents, and other challenges. Now that the February storm is over and has left a mess in its wake, it’s time to clean up, rebuild, and restore. Remaining strong in challenging times is important as it will help to keep you and everyone around you functioning and focused, not to mention emotionally stable.
3 Tips for Staying Mindful During a Crisis
1. Because of the volatile nature of stress, people tend to have much shorter fuses during hard times. If you find yourself noticing that your own temper is flaring within the moment, use that awareness to pause, take a few deep breaths, and regroup. Not only will this save you from creating more problems by starting arguments, but it will also help you to stay calm the majority of the time while also being able to continue functioning at full capacity.
2. Meditation can help you immensely in many different ways. For example, did you know that meditation improves your immune system? If you want to be at your absolute best during a time of crisis, either begin meditating for 5-10 minutes a day or continue and maybe step it up a notch. The benefits of meditation will be extremely apparent when you’re dealing with difficult situations and circumstances.
3. Keep taking care of yourself, even if you’re stressed and scatter-brained temporarily. Don’t skimp on meals, eating healthy foods, exercising, and maintaining your hygiene and appearance. The more normal things remain during massive changes, the easier problems are to handle one at a time.
No matter what you’re working through, mindfulness and being aware of yourself, your stage in the acceptance process, and your stress levels will help you to keep everyone level-headed and functioning well. If you need to, have your whole team sit down at the beginning of the day for a quick meditation session, that way everyone begins their day in a calm, elevated, and harmonious mood.
Being surrounded by stress from all angles during challenging times doesn’t help anyone, so if you can successfully make your workplace harmonious during massive changes, you should pat yourself on the back and keep doing what you’re doing. Be proud of your people skills!
As always, continue leading mindfully, and if you’d like more information about mindful leadership and the Mindfulness Movement, please click the link below:
http://executivecoachinguniversity.com/mindfulness-movement
Need some help with your mindfulness practice? The Mindful Moments can certainly help!
