How can we navigate emotions in the workplace?

In today’s world of remote work, resulting in blurred lines between work and personal life, it seems to be harder than ever before to manage and control our emotions either during our work day or even in our personal lives.

In this article, we’ll focus on how we can start navigating our emotions during the work day as it is reported that over 50% of working adults in America today are seeking help in managing work stress according to a 2019 study by The American Institute of Stress.

Learn to accept instead of reacting

Yes, this one is tough but if you can take the first step to achieving this, you’ll be on your way to workplace bliss and success.

Start by labeling your emotions, both good and bad. Emotions are basically signals our brains are giving us and it’s our job as mindful individuals to recognize these signals, label them and use them to our advantage.

Reacting to our emotions isn't a recipe for workplace success

Once you are able to label your emotions, categorize them into 2 buckets: things you can act on and change, and things that are out of your control. Learn to accept and move on from things that you are unable to control as trying to react upon these will only drain your energy since there is virtually nothing we can do about these.

Instead, accept them and channel your energy into the first bucket of emotions that you are able to act on and control.

Practicing compassion for others and yourself

After accepting your emotions, the next step to take is to show some compassion for yourself and then extend the same to others.

Compassion for others and ourselves is an important step in managing our own emotions

We’re usually very hard on ourselves in today’s world, always striving for perfection and comparing ourselves to others’ crazy unrealistic achievements on social media. Sometimes, it is totally fine to simply say ‘I need a break’ or ‘I’m tired, and that’s okay with me’.

Likewise, extend the same compassion to others by asking how they are and offering a listening ear should they wish to open up to you.

Speaking of lending a listening ear....

Practice mindful listening

We all tend to tune out the people we may not want to listen to but you might want to change that moving forward.

Practicing mindful listening helps us strengthen workplace relations

Mindful listening involves not just listening to what a person is saying, but also ensuring you are free from bias and judgement. Mindful listening will also help us build stronger relationships with our co-workers while also minimizing the chances of conflicts through misunderstandings.

We have a full mindfulness session dedicated to helping you achieve the fundamentals of mindful listening. Do check it out right now on the Lifebeats app.