Embodied Clarity

1.  Develop a calm readiness that allows you to respond appropriately and remain resilient in the face of stress.  Anxiety is stored and expressed through your body, breathing and posture. When your nervous system and body are calm the mind, emotions and thoughts have can be calm and clear. Help yourself stay calm and clear headed when you are stressed by taking long deep out breaths, and looking for areas of tension that you can release to reverse the anxiety response in the body.  Unclench your jaw, soften your chest, soften your gaze and work on regulating your breathing.

2.  Remember to take regular breaks to switch gears and renew yourself. Renewal is the key to high performance.  Coaches working with world-class athletes found that the key to gaining the winning edge in high-level sports usually has more to do with adequate rest and renewal than differences in skill.  Muscle fibers and the brain grow best when they are challenged slightly beyond their limits and then given a period of rest and recovery. Therefore, just as a marathon runner needs a break after a marathon, so does the corporate workforce.  The body has a natural 90-120 minute cycle, called the ultradian rhythm, in which the body craves a period of recovery.  You can quickly and effectively renew yourself in conjunction with the ultradian rhythms by working to release tension in the body and switching gears for a few minutes to take a few deep breaths, listen to a song on your iPod or walk around the block. Also remember to give yourself longer breaks after periods of intense mental focus such as going to trial or writing a brief.

3. Focus on being present for each unique situation.  Don’t bring the previous meeting into an unrelated meeting. Focus on the people in front of you—whether it be a team of associates or your loved ones.  Create routines to help refresh yourself and help you switch gears. Try a simple practice of taking 3 deep breaths before you start to launch into the business or content of the meeting.  Consciously decide to be present and connected to the people in front of you. Then begin your agenda.

4.  Learn to recognize your emotional state and take actions to defuse negative emotions.  Many people are unaware of their emotional states.  They operate at a high level of irritation without recognizing it.  They end up blowing up at others without recognizing the warning signs leading up to the explosion.  When you become aware of your emotions, including irritation and annoyance, you can take steps to defuse the emotion before it gets out of control. Practice noting your emotional states a few times a day to get in the practice of knowing your emotional state.  To make this practice even more powerful, notice what the emotional state feels like in your body.

5.  Don’t infect others with your negative emotional states.   In addition to noticing what you are feeling, you can start to notice the ways you take out your bad mood on others and infect others with your negativity.  Do people have to walk on eggshells around you?  Or do you bring other people down with your bad attitude and irritation?  When you notice yourself being irritable, stop and do something to refresh yourself and snap out of the bad mood. The most powerful way to process an emotion quickly is to notice how the emotion is showing up in your body.  So, a powerful practice is to become conscious of your breath and bodily sensations.  Stay with these sensations for 90 seconds.  Finish with long out breaths that you imagine traveling through your body, down through your legs and into the earth.  You can also practice the Balancing on the Skeleton Exercise.

6. Find ways to make your job an expression of your deepest held values and take actions aligned with you values.  For example, if you value respect, take actions that demonstrate respect for other people’s time and effort.  Give timely and constructive feedback.  Show up on time for meetings.  Avoid assigning work over the weekend if possible. Start by making a list of your values.  Then list ways that you can express these values at work.

7. Stay actively connected to your passions and hobbies by Scheduling time for them.  Don’t lose connection to the activities that feed you.  Make sure you regularly carve out time for your hobbies and passions.  If you are a musician, schedule a lesson or time to play weekly or monthly.  Join a singing class or drawing class.  Don’t let this time get eaten away by the never-ending list of things to do.  The list will always be there, but if you lose your connection to the things you love, you won’t be able to resource yourself to be fully engaged when you are working.

8.  Focus on what is important to you instead of what is frustrating or dissatisfying.  At work it is easy to focus on what is not going well, who is not performing up to par, the systems that are broken and need fixing.  But underneath each thing we’d like to fix or change, there is an often unstated, commitment to something else.  For example, if you’re upset that Susie is always late for work and never corrected, you probably have a commitment to fairness or respect.  If you are pissed because Jenny never gives timely reviews or feedback, you may be trying to express your commitment to mentoring and open communication.  When you find yourself getting upset over the actions of others, try to reframe your annoyance into the underlying commitment that you have.  Focus then on taking actions in line with those commitments instead of focusing on the annoyance.

9. Exercise regularly to keep the mind alert. Exercise has been proven to have immense benefits in increasing brain cognition and producing a substance that could be likened to “Miracle Grow” for the brain.  Getting regular exercise also helps diffuse the build up of stress chemicals in the body.