OUGD603: Thailand* - Mindfullness Quotes

"The Little things? The little moments? They arne't little"

"Mindfullness is a way of befriending ourselves and our experience" - Jon Kabat-Zinn

"The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness" - Jon Kabat-Zinn

"Mindfullness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing" - Jon Kabat-Zinn

"To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is." - Thich Nhat Hanh

"Many people are alive but don't touch the miracle of being alive." - Thich Nhat Hanh


To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment. ...

In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you

So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing - TS Elliott

So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing. 

I've never meditated in my life. I don't practice yoga nor any religion. I'm a tourist on the realm of stillness. - Pico Iyer

“Everything takes time. Bees have to move very fast to stay still.”  - David Wallace

“Space and silence are two aspects of the same thing. The same no-thing. They are externalization of inner space and inner silence, which is stillness: the infinitely creative womb of all existence.” 
― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

“Time passes so fast. Make time to be still.” 

To realize the Self is to be still. ~Ramana Maharshi

The self must know stillness before it can discover its true song. ~Ralph Blum

If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation. ~Chuang Tzu

When mind is still, then truth gets her chance to be heard in the purity of the silence. ~Sri Aurobindo

Like water which can clearly mirror the sky and the trees only so long as its surface is undisturbed, the mind can only reflect the true image of the Self when it is tranquil and wholly relaxed. ~Indra Dev

Be still, quiet and patient. There is only you. How can there be a distance between you and you? ~Jac O’Keefe

OUGD603: Just Chill - Causes of Stress / Interviews

According to The Telegraph Business - 26 Feb 2018,

- The most common causes of work-related stress was long working hours, the report found, with office politics and customer/client satisfaction levels and other statistics contributing factors.

- The research found that higher earners (those earning more than £40,000) are the most likely to experience work-related stress.

- Long-term stress that goes unresolved can have a detrimental impact on the health of workers, the report said, with one in 10 respondents admitting to losing weight as a result of stress, while almost one in five said that they would turn to stimulants (including caffeine, nicotine and alcohol) in order to manage stress.

(Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/02/26/revealed-stressed-city-uk-not-london)

The Holmes and Race Stress Scale

https://paindoctor.com/top-10-stressful-life-events-holmes-rahe-stress-scale/

In terms of creating a calming solution for print, it is important to understand psychologically what creates the stress in a workplace environment, and how to effectively diffuse these stresses without needing to run a marathon or have 10 pints of vodka.

I decided to interview a range of people who I know, working in different business sectors, but sharing the commonality of 9 to 5 work. 


My questions: "What are the main things in your job/working day that stress you out the most, can be anything no matter how big/small/specific to your company/ unspecific; and what do you do to not let these stresses get to you?"

Interviewee 01: Robert Lea, 54, Senior Aerospace Engineer

People with less experience than you telling you how to do something, unrealistic time / task restraints, unreasonable behaviour by others which affects you, you experience counts for nothing (until your needed to get them out of the shit!), lack of respect, people being favoured for doing little over those who are delivering tasks, changing rules to suite themselves and not telling you they've 'changed'. Poor managers. Lack of money is a stress raiser. Lack of time for yourselves to 'chill down' or being made to feel like you're waiting time, even though you've bust a gut to deliver. Bad driving. 

I normally take half an hour out to have a walk around outside, as well as a nap on my lunch break  Other things like hourly water/toilet breaks help break the day up. I also take my guitar magazines into work so when I need to have some 'chill time' its slightly easier. You can only control (so reducing your stress) what you're in control of. 

Interviewee 02: Linda Lightfoot, 51, NHS Secretary - Part Time Worker

My main workplace stress is the volume of work and the time available to do it.  Technology is supposed to help make things easier, however what it does now is to make you feel overwhelmed by the amount of work that you can physically see as a number.  An example is clinical letters used to be typed at the hospital and were posted to GP practices via the internal mail system. However more and more information is now being sent down a computer link, at the moment it is blood results and x-rays  it will soon be clinical letters that will also be sent electronically. So previously even though you saw that a lot of letters and results were being received and dealt with within a timely manner, now you see a physical number, perhaps 200, and because you see the number you feel under pressure to deal with that ASAP because you know that perhaps another 200 may be received tomorrow.

Emails! another time consuming activity for little productivity. An example is for every referral I send I get 3 emails back, one to say they have received the referral, another to say it has been sent to clinical triage team and then a third email to say it has gone to the appointment team.  What a waste of time and effort.


The volume of work seems to increase year on year and yet there is no money in the NHS to employ extra staff to deal with this. I feel as though I have to work an hours extra time everyday just to keep on top of the workload.

Interviewee 03: Jenny Kennedy, 31, Retail Manager

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Interviewee 04: Deborah Stuart-Robers, 59, White Goods Imports Manager

Unrealistic time constraints; lack of communication; poor or incomplete information (hey, I'm not psychic!); favouritism (boss's son getting away with doing half a job for twice the salary); incompetence (see previous); being disrespected; being ignored; being blamed for causing problems when all you are doing is raising valid concerns;  people who talk over you; having to go along with decisions made by idiots; people who walk in and take over your job, then do it badly and inefficiently (see boss's son); having to stop myself from saying "I told you so" a dozen times a day; not being in a position (yet) to just walk away...

Interviewe 05: Michael Lightfoot, 49, Recruitment for The Royal Navy

<transcribe>

Interviewe 06: Kelvin Keeley, 32, Financial Analyst

The commute to work, bad driving and people being everywhere. Short deadlines or short deadlines being put on you in short notice, not knowing the full picture of something - especially when a client is involved. Incorrect data or a team-member inputting incorrect data, even the worry of not knowing if figures are 100% means I need to be constantly double checking which doubles my work load. When I'm really looking forward to lunch and they don't have what I'm wanting. Tax. To de-stress I have a great app called Headspace, it just lets me take 5 mins out to be calm and not think about anything. Also breathing techniques are great, I'm really trying to avoiding getting high blood pressure *laughs*.

Interviewee 07: Olivia Rainwood, 30, Marketing Executive

<transcribe>

Interviewee 08: Tamsyn Glover, 28, Hospital Worker

<transcribe>

Drawing on personal experience in the workplace: 

What stresses me out the most? Bad drivers/traffic in the morning, being late and having to rush, printers or technology not working properly, managers/supervisors being patronising when the task is completely under control. Rude customers and bad manners. What helps me destress? Any form of escapism from here and now - TV, Movies, Music, Cigarettes & Alcohol.

OUGD603: Just Chill - Survey

In order to get a wider body of research, I emailed a survey out to connections I had made in industry who were working in high pressured jobs.

This included:

- a lawyer

- accountants

- engineers

- financial advisors

- lawyers

- medics

- creative professionals and designers

- business people

- other people I know dealing with stress or who has experienced stress

OUGD603: Just Chill - Initial Statement (The Brief)

The brief is a personal brief set 

Drawing on personal experience suffering from anxiety and stress, I found lots of comfort looking at photo-books, magazines and imagery of any kind which was immersive and allowing escape even for a second or so. The idea of going away is something most people wish to be a possibility to every day life, which is why re-looking at holiday photo's (or personal photographs of any kind) can be comforting. 

OUGD603: Just Chill - What Makes Us Calm?

1. Attempt Cognitive Distancing

Try to see your anxious thoughts as guesses not facts. Your mind is trying to protect you by predicting what could happen, but just because something could happen doesn’t mean it will. Look at objective evidence: How likely is it that the negative outcome will actually happen? Is there anything good that might happen instead? And which do you think is most likely to happen, based on past experience and other information you have about the situation?

2. Try Cognitive De-fusion

Stop being fused with your thoughts. Think of your thoughts as moving data passing through your mind, rather than the objective truth about a situation.Our brains are hypersensitive to threat and danger because this kept our ancestors alive in the wild. Some of your thoughts may just be automatic conditioned reactions generated by a brain that is oriented to survival. Choose whether or not to believe these thoughts, rather than just accepting them.

3. Practice MindfulnessPractice observing your thoughts, rather than reacting automatically to them. Think of your thoughts as clouds floating by. Which draw you in and which make you want to run away? Is there a way you can untangle yourself and just observe your thoughts, rather than reacting? 

4. Focus on Direct Experience

Your mind makes up stories about who you are, and about your safety and lovability. Not all of these stories are accurate. Sometimes our minds are biased by negative past experiences. What is your experience in the present moment? Is this something that is actually happening or something that might happen? Notice that they are not the same thing, even though your mind may treat them as the same.

5. Label Things

Label the type of thought you are having, rather than paying attention to its content. Watch your thoughts and when you notice a judgment (e.g., how good or bad the situation is), go ahead and label it as Judging. If you notice a worry (e.g., that you are going to fail or experience a loss) label it as Worrying. If you are criticizing yourself, label it as Criticizing. This gets you away from the literal content of your thoughts and gives you more awareness of your mental processes. Do you want to be spending your time judging and worrying? Are there less judgmental or worried ways to see the situation? 

6. Stay in the Present

Is your mind regurgitating the past? Just because something negative happened in the past doesn’t mean it has to happen today. Ask yourself if the circumstances, or your knowledge and coping abilities, have changed since the last time. As an adult, you have more choice about whom to associate with and more ability to identify, preempt, or leave a bad situation than when you were a child or teenager.

7. Broaden Your View

Are you focusing too narrowly on the threatening aspects of a situation, rather than seeing the whole picture? Anxiety makes our minds contract and focus on the immediate threat without considering the broader context. Is this situation really as important as your anxiety says it is? Will you still care about this problem in 5 or 10 years? If not, then ease up on the worry.