Barre with Justine

“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

It’s midafternoon on a quiet day on campus and I’ve been looking at a screen for far too long. Pulling out a small bottle of essential oil, I add a few drops to my palms, close my eyes and take a deep breath feeling the floral blend instantly bring me into the present moment and into my body. Our sense of smell is designed in such a way that scents skip over skip rational thought and go directly to the limbic system, the part of our brains devoted to emotion and memory. In this way, using essential oils is a quick and easy way to relieve stress and anxiety at work. You could do the same with a fresh cup of coffee, pausing for a few moments to close your eyes and breathe in the aroma before taking a sip.

There are many ways that we can bring mindfulness into our work, but building these opportunities into the day can be challenging. Where we once had many moments at work to bring us into the present, such as in-person meetings that we needed to walk across campus to attend or the yoga classes we did with a colleague, there may not be as many mini ‘breaks’ in the day as there once were.

Consciously building mindful moments can be one way of promoting creativity, building connections with others, and ensuring we don’t burn out.

How to craft your day with mindfulness in mind – the pomodoro technique

If you know me, you will know how much I love the Pomodoro technique. I was first introduced to it by a lovely Music Professor (and productivity expert!), Karin Di Bella in a workshop she offered. Essentially, it’s a period of time (typically 30 minutes) that you devote to a task (writing, practicing, etc.), without distractions, followed by a break. I’m a bit of a procrastinator, so I’ve found it useful to block time and tackle a writing project in 30 minute blocks and then take a break (I use the White Cube Timer to ensure I’m not looking at my phone for the duration.)

My interpretation of the Pomodoro technique has always been to do something offline during the time, meaning no emails, texts, social media, etc. That means my phone goes to ‘me time’ mode, MS Teams and email is shut down, and I close my office door. Cal Newport discusses this in his 2016 book Deep Work, describing the mental focus that you can build by setting aside time for “deep tasks” and then carving out specific time for ‘online’ work (which can be incredibly time draining). “…there should be only one possibly way to get the deep task done in time: no email breaks, no daydreaming, no Facebook browsing, no repeated trips to the coffee machine.” (168)

One thing that I didn’t find in Newport’s admittedly excellent book, is the suggestion to add in the easy mindful breaks to the day. He talks about adding 2-3 “productive meditation” sessions to your week where you occupy your body physically but not mentally (e.g. exercising) to help with thinking deeply. This is where my own thoughts diverge from those of Newport’s.

I think it’s important and valuable to daydream and let your mind wander, even building breaks into the day that could include things like colouring, crosswords or browsing Pinterest.

Before beginning a block of work or at the end, you could take a few minutes to incorporate a mindful moment before beginning another block. Similarly, you could take the five minutes before a meeting to practice breathwork or the 5 minutes after to do a few stretches. Keep things simple by adding a few ‘mindful moments’ to your calendar or using your Smart watch to remind yourself to take a moment.

Benefits of Mindful Moments

In an interview for Psychology Today, neuroscientist David Vago eloquently outlines the benefits of mindfulness, specifically meditation:

“Often our thoughts can have the quality of ‘stickiness.’ For many of us our most common thought is some version of ‘I’m not good enough.’ We spend half of our lives in our heads, repeating to ourselves the various ways how we are not enough…mindfulness meditation helps develop the capacity to toggle between our thoughts and what’s happening in the world.”

Mindful moments can take us out of our ruminations about work and into the present moment, even if just for a few minutes.

Other benefits can include enhanced creativity, decreased stress and increased empathy.

What could a mindful moment be?

• a short breathwork exercise (Calm’s YouTube channel has many free videos to watch!
• an aromatherapy break, using a blend or just a cup of tea
• desk stretches (Google chair yoga or check out the Brock Library YouTube channel for so many great Library Yoga videos from Chelsea, our former librarian!)
• a coffee break where you chat with the barista (proven to raise happiness according to a 2014 UBC study!)
• a walk outdoors (bonus points if you can walk in nature!)

How do you build mindfulness into your own day at work or home?

References

Henriksen D, Richardson C, Shack K. Mindfulness and creativity: Implications for thinking and learning. Think Skills Creat. 2020 Sep;37:100689. doi: 10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100689. Epub 2020 Aug 1. PMID: 32834868; PMCID: PMC7395604. *I love that this article talks about intentional ‘mind wandering’!

Newport, Cal. Deep Work : Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. First edition. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016. Print.