Be Well at Work, Learn to Pause…Erase that Blur!
Apr 2, 2010
We live and work in a different world today. I work for AT&T, the 29th largest company on the planet. I often hear this phrase from our leaders: “blur the line between work and personal life.”
I don’t know about you – but I want to do anything EXCEPT blur that line between work and my personal life! In fact, I do everything I can to increase the size of that line – I want boundaries…thank you very much!
A few years ago, I allowed my work to define who I was…this was not good. When you allow your work to dictate who you are in this world, your core values are out of whack. Fortunately I was able to get out of that rut and learn from it on a long journey to ultimate wellness. Once I was able to determine what my problem was, I searched for solutions. It took a few years, but I am happy to say that I am the most fulfilled I have ever been.
You see, I rushed through my 10 hour day in full work mode. Work, work, work….how can that ever be healthy? I figured out that I was not connected to anything “important” during the day (talk about blurred). What does “important” mean to me? It means connecting to things that are critical to my well being – physically and mentally.
I still needed to work hard but I also felt the need to break the day up into sessions, where in between I could connect to things that are special to me – Cindy – that have nothing to do with work. The solution needed to be something that I could easily add to my insanely busy day. I tried a few things that worked for a day or two, but I needed something that was constant, reliable and offered a sense of meaning and fulfillment.
I began to deliberately pause several times in the day. I used the pauses for many different things – most importantly, these “things” were important to ME. Sometimes I would take several deep relaxing breathes, or step away from my desk and walk around the building (outside of course), go into a bathroom stall and stretch, or I would go talk to a co-worker that was down or going through something horrible. I would call my husband out of the blue to check in and talk about nothing, I would say a prayer, I would be in the present moment, or would REALLY LISTEN to the person talking to me. And the best was if I could, I would perform a random act of kindness for someone.
Once I committed to regular pausing, I felt the power of it after the first day! Pausing gave me a sense of deep connectedness to my life outside of work. I could now really soar and be the person I wanted to be and still be at work. I could now savor the grace and beauty of life while at work. Not only did this help me to embrace a life of deeper meaning, but it also gave me a new sense of worth in my work life. I can now give more to people around me – because I was fulfilled mentally and physically.
Do not allow the lines of work and personal to blur! This is unhealthy and unsustainable. Pause. Learn how to embrace a healthy balance between work and personal life.
About Author:
Cindy Graham is also part owner of an on-line company; meaning to pause®. The company helps people to create meaningful moments in their busy days by using a bracelet with private reminder technology (patent pending). After several failed attempts to create visual reminders to pause throughout the day, the owners recognized that they required gentle prompting to stop, pause and refocus. The meaning to pause® bracelet fills the requirement perfectly. Its gentle vibration is a private but deliberate reminder that helps wearers redirect their thoughts on what is important to them. Thoughtful and meaningful actions can be anything; deep breathing, stretching, prayer, meditation, mindfulness of the present, being grateful or forgiving. At the end of the day, the wearer will have lived their best and most purposeful day by giving meaning to their pauses.
For more about meaning to pause® go to: www.meaningtopause.com
