10 Ways to Bring Your Whole Self to Work

7. Inject Mindfulness into Every Day

Sure, you can go to a silent retreat for eight days and meditate with the best guru on the planet and experience great peace and self-awareness. And why not? We all need the rejuvenating power of a nice break. But this is not our everyday reality. Ever leave church or yoga class only to feel angry about traffic, poor service, or cross words with another? The true teachers in our lives are not the gurus--our teachers are the events that throw us off center and circumvent our mindful journey. The next time you find yourself thrown by an event at work, ask yourself, "How is this my teacher? What would be the enlightened or transformative way of viewing this?"

8. Take Teeny-Tiny Steps Toward Your Big Goal

Decide what you'd like in your life and how you can break those goals into little, teeny-tiny steps that you can move forward with every single day. Maybe you haven't run a marathon, but you're moving forward with your goal to be more fit by getting off the bus two stops early and walking the rest of the way to work. You must express some mastery of your choices every single day. Think through your top goals in every area of your life and put action behind what you most want for yourself. In doing so you are practicing mastery of your life, moving in the direction you want AND getting the added confidence boost of feeling your power to do both!

10. Adopt a New Attitude

Work is spiritual. What isn't spiritual, really? But we're looking at business, which is normally looked at as a stripped down version of life, and unfortunately it's like, "One! Two! Three! Get it all done! Rush! Stress! Grab coffee on your way to work!" These robotic patterns can be mind-numbing. But if work is spiritual, these moments are the ritual to the practice. Try viewing the moments of your day with ritual awareness, reminding yourself even in Starbucks or the conference room: "Wow, this is another moment in my life that gets to be an expression of who I am." Since we work an average of 9.1 hours per day, you will reclaim half of your life when you see these moments as part of you.

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