1. Forgiveness
Being competitive and proactive might be your tool to deal with your present situation and achieve excellence. But how to deal with the baggage of the past? That’s where forgiveness becomes important. Forgiveness is just like dropping away a heavy metal of ball from your hands and walking forward! The formula is to let go…
Forgiveness is a process of freeing ourselves from our past and living peacefully in the moment. This could mean be forgiving yourself or forgiving others. When we fail to forgive, we are caught up in past unpleasant events that may affect our performance and relationships. When we fail to forgive, we fail to work towards reconciliation. And we cultivate an atmosphere of blame, which cripples creativity. Or we become defensive, which hampers trust-building in the workplace.
Let’s see it with this example: David, the project manager, missed the deadline to submit his work along with the team. He’d had some problems that took more time to resolve. When the CEO found out about the missed deadline, instead of blaming, she offered special assistance to David and explained how to resolve the problem. David was grateful for the CEO’s gesture and came away with a sense of togetherness with the company.
When people work in a forgiving culture, they expand creativity, foster compassion, and build a sense of togetherness and team spirit. By the same token, when we forgive others, we free ourselves and move ahead with a clear conscience and without the weight of anger. Fred Luskin, in his Stanford Forgiveness Project, concluded that “Forgiveness may prove effective in reducing anger as a coping strategy.”
In her scientific article, Emma Seppala urges that forgiveness can bring deeper satisfaction. When we demonstrate forgiveness at our workplace, we create a friendly environment, an environment of creativity and innovation.
2. Meditation and Breathing Techniques
Science has proved that practicing meditation and certain breathing techniques nurtures both alertness and a relaxed state of mind. A growing number of studies show breathing techniques are effective for anxiety and insomnia. These techniques influence:
- Physiological (by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system) and
- Psychological factors (by deflecting attention from thoughts).
Speed and haste might get more work done, but it might be at the expense of our health. By contrast, a peaceful and calm mind can achieve more as it has elements of both peacefulness of mind and excellence in action. Practicing techniques for a relaxed and peaceful mind helps us achieve mental focus and heightened awareness. Meditation is the means through which you can strike a balance between activity and rest. If you decide to meditate even for ten minutes each day, accompanied by breathing practices, the meditation will start to calm your mind, discipline your brain and bring you joy. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, creator of the Happiness Program says, “The secret lies in our own breath. Through breathing exercises, certain breathing techniques and some practice of meditation, we can rekindle positive vibrations within and around us.”