The ever conscientious HR at my open plan office sent out this bulk email.
Quite aside from the rather relaxing font size to start the mail, STOP! is in no way a stress inducing first word to read from your Human Resources Department.
Then there is the odd Zen style, "mystic" instructions following it.
"Be Curious"
"Can you watch the thought without judging yourself for it?" and the self referential "How interesting" in parenthesis.
"Curiously, what could you do to release tension?"
"What are you noticing about your feelings now?"
"Are you wondering where your breath is too-ing and fro-from? Shallow, from your chest? Deeper...? Or Deeper...?"
I mean, just... what??
Why must I release tension curiously?
If a thought passes across my mind without judging it, does it make a sound?
It all came over as a weird sort of $ex chat from a frustrated therapist who heard I might have had an unproductive morning meeting.
But there was more. There was an attachment. Here it is:
Now, I am no councillor, but I am not sure just how practical this advice is. It is, to me, little on the shallow side. It seems, well, a little patronising to sending this out, unsolicited, to people who might be going through real tough times. You might be stressed in any combination of complex situations but just, you know, "Sort out your worries". Ta-da!!
It is a little like sending someone who has had their home, family or life destroyed by war a "Keep Calm and Carry On" postcard.
Why not put a shell up to your ear and listen to the calming sea which is also you blood pumping round your body at an ever increasing pace through your panicking heart?
Of course, I am no psychiatrist and so maybe it is this simple. Maybe I could do one of these little notices for next National Stress Awareness Day?
So, I have:
So now I have taken care of the scourge of stress - let's see if I can't show the tricky field of boredom what for in the months to come. Watch this space!
[starts making a poster with the phrase "Do Interesting Things, Like Trying To Watch Your Thoughts Without Judging Them"]
