When I talk about mindfulness as a means of reducing stress for working moms, I am not talking about meditation. As a woman and a mother who is working, it is very important that you do not allow stress to take a hold on you. Do you know why? The reason is that if this happens, you would see yourself where you would not want to be – the hospital. An author who also happens to be a medical doctor specialized in stress management, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn came to the realization that a higher number of cases he was handling were as a result of stress and this prompted him into developing a method of treatment.
This method of treatment developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn is the form of an 8-week course which combines, meditation, yoga and mindfulness to achieve treatment for those patients suffering from stress-related disorders. Before the end of the 8-week period, the doctor noticed significant improvement in those patients. Since you are lucky enough to be reading this information either from the comfort of your office or home and not from a hospital bed, we can put aside the meditation and yoga aspect and dwell more on mindfulness. What really is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the unique art of paying close attention to what is happening around you in the present moment. In this case, you stop for a minute and become vividly aware of your thoughts but you don’t judge such thoughts. You simply allow them to play out. When this happens, you begin to notice things that have always been there but you neither noticed nor even appreciated them. It’s a form of unfocused thinking which tends to bring about a new and unique perspective on all those things you have never seen as being adequate. It gives you a form of guidance which is somewhat refreshing and inspiring.
When you engage in the art of mindfulness, you are indirectly reducing stress in a form that can be said to be concentrated. It is something you can engage in at any time of the day. It does not make any difference whether you are sitting in the comfort of your home, being driven in a car or even sitting down at your desk right inside your office. Are you stressed out in the office or at home? Then let just a minute of focus do that magic in your system through mindfulness. It is a minute you would come to realize was actually well spent, especially when it helps to keep you away from the hospital.