5 Zen Habits to Facilitate Healing in Business+Life

While lying on the table with little needles protruding from various parts of my body, my acupuncturist says,

“If you feel good, you can do anything.”

The statement struck me. For the first time,  I understood firsthand, the real meaning of her statement.  When you feel good, you feel rested.  When you feel good, you get excited and creative – you show up with bright eyes. When you feel good, you’re focused when needed and exploratory often. That’s how I felt and I was grateful.

If that’s that case, why then don’t we pay more attention to our own well being and the well being of our businesses?

My mind wandered to the families and companies that have struggled through the global economic crisis this past year plus. BIG stress for many people on many fronts. I don’t know about you but stress does awful things to my well being. At first there are little signs. And if I don’t listen to the little signs, my body has a way of knockin’ me upside the head. Stress is not selective – we’re all susceptible to the physical, mental, and emotional train wrecks it causes. This last year has sucked the life energy out of many a organization. As result, folks are on autopilot – less engaged, mechanical, uninspired. Creativity is in the tank.

Given these crazy stressful times, I sense that deep healing is needed – in our companies, in our communities, in our families, with our own self. So, in the spirit of healing, in the spirit of letting go of our fear, in the spirit of practical ways to counter stress, here are 5 Zen habits you can use to let go and facilitate healing in business + life.

Some of them will help you save time and money – both worthy goals – but all will help you cut out some of the stress.

1. Have some fun! Come together. No work talk. Just eat, play, and heck – even have a drink if you’re up for it. Reconnect with others about your passions outside of work. Share stories about kids and animals. Talk sports! Seriously, a big dose of fun is needed without any injection of work topics. Take an afternoon, a whole day if you can do it, and laugh together. Smile at one another.
2. Use ritual to forgive yourself, to forgive your company. As for me, this is a hard one. I go between being gentle on myself to beating myself up for what I think I should have done, for how I think things should be, or for how I think I should be done grieving the loss of my dog. Will I ever be able to see a yellow lab again and not cry? (I miss you Bellah.) I think we should remove the word should from our vocabulary – perhaps then we would learn to be grounded in exactly what is and is not and define ourselves by the integrity with which experience and lead change in our work+life. It’s hard to let go and at some point, when you’re ready, it’s a must – quite freeing really. The crap we carry around about past hurts or stupid things we have done (or our companies have done) serve no beneficial purpose; it’s just baggage to be sent on its way. Find your own ritual here to let go of whatever needs to be sent on its way. At work, consider a drop box or a shelf for people to place a note or an object to symbolize letting go. Keep in mind, a ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. Don’t turn this into a counseling session; be creative and find ways for people to symbolically let go.
3. Seek out inspiration; observe that which moves you; pay attention! I find that when I’m truly moved by something, whether it be a song, the sound of a river, the smell of my horse, everything about the fisherman, yummy food, grace in action, whatever – I find that when I’m truly moved, I feel grounded. I love it when life grabs you through the senses and says, “pay attention!” As for business, people are paying more attention to a company’s reputation for caring about people and community. Think big here. Ask yourself, “How might we…  help those in need in our community?” Or, “How might we inspire others?”   Sometimes we just need to get out of our heads at work and expose ourselves to something completely different – something that inspires, something that moves us in new and powerful ways. I guarantee this will translate to renewed energy, healing, creativity, and connection at work.
4. Ask for help. Yes, I see an acupuncturist and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. She’s a healer really. I’ll be the first admit I need help sometimes. We all do. In my recent free eBook titled, “A Brief Guide to Change by Design,” I write about asking for help. Check it out – it’s free!
5. Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try. This is my new favorite saying. I discovered these beautiful words because the fisherman is learning to play the song, “The Weary Kind” by Ryan Bingham. The song is featured in the movie, “Crazy Heart.” This strategy for healing reminds me about my experiences getting bucked off horses. When you come off, you have to get back on. Saddle up my friends, pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try. Check out the song below. It’s beautiful and it moves me.

Now it’s your turn to heal and facilitate healing of others. What strategies do you use to heal? What would you add to this post? Feel free to share your own ideas in the comments section.

Namaste dear friends.

Melissa

Tagged as: Best Practices, change by design, Change Management, crazy heart, healing, leading change, managing change, Organizational Behavior, ryan bingham, Strategy, stress management