Give the gift of mindfulness this Christmas
The best gift you could give this holiday season may be mindfulness.
A new mindfulness study out of the UBC Sauder School of Business shows that just five minutes of mindfulness practice a day can make those awful people in your life, well, nicer. Give the gift of mindfulness, and your worst enemies could become your best friends.
Dr. Geoff Soloway, a founder of Mindwell U, an online mindfulness training organization, partnered with researchers from Sauder to evaluate a mindfulness in the workplace program they offer.
The data showed that after 30 days and a commitment of about five minutes a day, participants reported higher levels of emotional regulation, happiness, resilience and job satisfaction, but perhaps more significantly, they reported lower levels of narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy — the so-called “dark personality” tendencies, also known as outright meanness, that can make a toxic workplace.
“Negative workplace behaviour was one of the focuses of this study. We wondered, would training in mindfulness actually decrease behaviours which are framed as negative … ?” said Soloway. The study showed it can. So, how do you get employees exhibiting the negative behaviours to practice mindfulness?
Soloway suggests running the training as a workplace initiative. “It’s not something that needs to be framed as something to help bullying and harassment. Frame it as performance training, or as team building, as leadership or wellness. People can do it together.”
While mindfulness — meditating, noticing what’s around you — is often a solitary practice, Soloway said teaching mindfulness in that traditional way presented barriers in the workplace. He designed a program he calls “Take Five,” or “mindfulness in action.”
No retiring to a quiet space required. Using daily videos, cues, reflective questions and mini-challenges, the program teaches participants to integrate the practices into daily work life: meetings, difficult phone calls, emails, eating lunch. The idea is to catch yourself in moments of stress, said Soloway, so you become aware in that moment. The program is designed for workplaces, but individuals can also sign on and invite a buddy. You choose your own buddy, or give it as a secret Santa gift to that jerk down the hallway.
Since launching in 2016, Soloway said they’ve had organizations like Coca-Cola, West Jet and universities and financial institutions take up the challenge.