Be Trouble Free :: October 2007

By Andrew Burnham - October 18, 2007

Product Resouces

The Miracle of Mindfulness

Reserving your Attention

Reserve some of your attention to what you are thinking particularly as you notice stress, your buttons pushed, or agitation arising in you. You will find that these thoughts indicate no true intention to do anything about "it", "him", "her" or "them". Or you will find that no action is possible at this time. You will also see that these thoughts are creating stress, agitation, worry and negativity in you.

Pause & Reflect

Until we have developed our awareness and attention so that we can be present in difficult situations it is useful to pause and reflect just after the charged event or stressful situation. If this is not possible then at the end of your day recall what you were thinking (you may still be dwelling on it anyway). Then apply the test. What did this way of thinking do for you? Do you see any real benefits, changes or results?

Be Present

Seeing what is going on in our minds is most important for our effectiveness, power and well being. Situations and people come and go and the bad invariably follows the good. Since we cannot always change what happens on the outside, let us work on gaining more insight and power over how we process what we encounter day to day. In this way, no matter what happens, we avoid creating trouble for ourselves and stay focused on action.

In the next article we’ll learn how a customer service representative applied Mind Tools so that she could be calm and centred in the face of challenging behaviour.