Wake up. Take a shower. Commute to work. Traffic, traffic, traffic. Clock in. Coffee. Work. Deadline. Lunch. Go back to your desk. Get expecting looks from your boss. Deadline, deadline, deadline. Coffee. Work late. Dinner. Commute back home. Set alarm. Sleep.<\/p>\n
If this routine sounds all too familiar to you, then you probably know how much the daily rise and grind can wear you down. You don\u2019t need science to tell you that stress can make you irritable, unproductive, and downright unhealthy. The good news is, you’ve got a way out: through the breath.<\/p>\n
Specifically, all you\u2019ve got to do is meditate. Research shows that with regular meditation, the areas of our brains involved with emotional control gain more density of neurons<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 in other words, you can end up managing stress and everything that comes with it better. Keeping a habit of meditation has also proven to improve focus, response and memory<\/a>\u00a0– things we all need to be effective at our jobs. Think of it as mental hygiene.<\/p>\n For many people, the idea of sitting quietly, trying to think about absolutely nothing at all sounds scary, boring, or impossible. Meditation doesn\u2019t have to be this way. There are different ways to meditate and all you need to figure out is what works for you. Meditation is simply bringing your complete focus to one thing. Disclaimer: this won’t happen in a blink but you can definitely work on it.<\/p>\n On the next 15-minute break you\u2019ve got to spare, instead of spending it eating, chatting, or smoking, try and use it to meditate in any of the ways below. See what happens.<\/p>\n For all the\u00a0techniques, if you feel like your workmates might start looking at you weird, it wouldn\u2019t be a bad idea to give them a heads up about your new attempts to center yourself. This way you can get their questioning looks out of your head space and get precious time with yourself.<\/p>\n