When John Milton wrote “the mind is a universe that can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven” I think he was having a glimpse into 2020 / 21.

 

Working from home can be heaven to some people and hell to others. How you choose to handle it depends on your mindset and your mindset is, fortunately, subject to change. 

 

Merely becoming more mindful of how you’re feeling, thinking, communicating, or behaving can bring immediate benefits to you by helping you reframe what’s happening to you and to take positive action to increase your resilience to the stresses inflicted by fear of COVID, lockdowns, working from and the myriad other pressures and stresses that come with it. 

 

And if you’re feeling stressed or anxious or perhaps isolated and alone you have access to and control over some of the neurobiological systems that determine why you feel that way.

 

Mindfulness is simply attending to your own experience in the here and now. Sounds simple enough but it is surprisingly elusive to many of us because of the brain’s distracting habit of wandering off and ruminating about the past or prognosticating about the future. 

 

And, as simple as it sounds, it is also very powerful. For instance, simply attending to your breathing can lower your blood pressure - no other action involved. 

 

In addition to calming us down and re-balancing us emotionally (something we could all do with at some point, but especially these days) mindfulness helps us reframe and reassess internal and external events, helping us better communicate, solve problems or even be more creative. 

 

Forced working from home and lockdowns can produce their own set of stressors and to ensure we’re not physically, mentally or emotionally side-lined by them we can implement mindfulness. 

 

Here’s 5 tips to get you started:  

 

1. Be mindful that you are under stress. Learn to recognize the tell-tale signs eg, loss of focus, excessive irritation with your partner, lack of sleep, feelings of anxiety. Become mindful of your breathing, take a few deep breaths in and out and then do a four count breath in and four count breath out. This breathing pattern resets you to a state of physiological and emotional equilibrium.

 

1. Be mindful that you’ve been locked up or sedentary for a long period. Get some oxytocin flowing to counteract the stress-induced cortisol by getting out into nature, and walk with awareness of what you are seeing, hearing, smelling  and feeling.

 

1. Be mindful that you need social interaction and just because you’re locked down at home, you do not have to suffer alone. Connect with someone - friend, family or colleague, give them a hug (virtually if needs be)  or helping hand. Give them a compliment. It will make you feel more human again, because that’s what we’re like, and that’s what we really, really need to stay whole. 

 

1. Be mindful that you’re being hard on yourself, that you’re judging your self or self-criticising in the language that you are using on yourself. Be kind to yourself and change the language you use - emphasising the positive in your situation and the things you’re doing that have meaning for you and give you joy. 

 

1. Be mindful of the journey you’re on and that to progress means you will need to continue to learn things. Be mindful if you’re starting to stagnate in your curiosity for the world and make an effort to create a habit of learning or creating or discovering. 

 

One action that I’ve implemented in my own life that I’ve found that is very powerful is to start a one sentence a day journal. I know journal writing can be daunting for some (it was for me), so just commit to one sentence a day. To make it a habit attach it to something else you do every day. I chose my first morning coffee ritual.  This will increase the likelihood you’ll do it. 

 

Also, you’ll soon find that one sentence will turn into two then three or more, but even if it stays at one sentence quite a few things begin to happen. What happened to me were things like  starting to be more mindful of how I'm  really feeling, becoming more observant and cognizant of the environment, curiosity is piqued and interest in learning new things re-ignited. 

 

Overall mindfulness was boosted as stress and anxiety abated creating a positive circle of meaning, engagement and happiness. 

 

Mindfulness changes everything.