Meditation and a Stress-Free Work Environment

Rick: I congratulate you.

Victor: What for?

Rick: Your work.

Victor: I try.

Rick: We all try. You succeed.

— Casablanca

One area of our life which undoubtedly gives us stress is the workplace. So many of us are being told we need to leave the comforts of home behind and get back into the office and it is stressing us out. Despite the title of this post, I can’t promise you the secret to having a stress-free work environment, but there are ways to minimize our anxiety about work, to establish boundaries, and even to feel successful. Can we consider the workplace to be a part of our spiritual path, perhaps even an area wherein we can wake up to our innate wisdom? In a word, yes.

In American society, sometimes “success” is a term which denotes that someone is financially well-off and has somehow worked the system to the point they don’t have to work much at all, or only do work they completely enjoy. Yet, if you asked many of the people you admire if they considered themselves successful, you may be surprised by their response. Many Hollywood stars, well-paid “thought leaders,” and politicians are plagued by the same self-doubt, anxiety, and worry that you are. They may have more money or more flexible work hours than us, but they may not consider themselves “successful” in the way we envision.