News & Events / Managing Stress in the work place – part 1
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Mindspace
The primary need for this workshop arose from a common need to tackle the emotional upheaval caused by the second wave of Covid. As a group, the members were struggling to cope with losses of different nature. The workshop was conducted by Dr Ajit Menon and Mr Jack Pilj from Blacklight Advisory on May 8th, 2021.
The first session was held a year ago and helped to acknowledge and come to terms with Covid and its devastating impact. The current session’s focus was on coping with losses within the family and at the workplace. The session’s main aim was to help the team find their inner strength to continue with life. The session started with a good analogy on comparing our state of mind to weather patterns. It wasn’t surprising to see that most of the participants’ inner minds appeared to be turbulent and cloudy.
Following this, an activity was conducted wherein the team was divided into small groups. In their respective groups, team members were asked to talk about their worries, anxieties and fears. The activity’s primary goal was to enable the members to understand that their journey and trials are very similar to those faced by their colleagues. By going through this process, individuals realised that they can gain strength, comfort and acceptance from one another. It also helped the participants to gain some amount of self-love and confidence to know that each one can support and offer solace to others.
The next activity geared towards encouraging each other to look into themselves and find sources of strength, which had helped in the past to overcome the trying times. In this activity, the team was divided into smaller groups and individuals had to share a personal moment/period of difficulty and what tools were used to overcome the ordeal. Participating in this activity certainly helped in appreciating the inner strength each one possesses and to acknowledge that everyone can reframe his or her outlook to be more positive.
Collating and synthesizing all the discussions brought to light this paradigm. Events are classified into those that can be controlled and those that cannot be controlled. Events are transactional or situational. As individuals, we can only be concerned about events that are within our control and about our reactions to these events. Hence, being unduly worried or anxious about situations, such as the current pandemic will only result in an overwhelming feeling of helplessness. Yet another key takeaway was that it is essential to let go of guilt for situations that are beyond our control.
The workshop ended with team members relooking at their state of mind and the majority felt a marked improvement in their outlook. The assurance that it is natural and normal to undergo stress, feeling of helplessness and grief, calmed the mind and helped the team begin looking at personal and professional life with more clarity and positivity.
The first session was held a year ago and helped to acknowledge and come to terms with Covid and its devastating impact. The current session’s focus was on coping with losses within the family and at the workplace. The session’s main aim was to help the team find their inner strength to continue with life. The session started with a good analogy on comparing our state of mind to weather patterns. It wasn’t surprising to see that most of the participants’ inner minds appeared to be turbulent and cloudy.
Following this, an activity was conducted wherein the team was divided into small groups. In their respective groups, team members were asked to talk about their worries, anxieties and fears. The activity’s primary goal was to enable the members to understand that their journey and trials are very similar to those faced by their colleagues. By going through this process, individuals realised that they can gain strength, comfort and acceptance from one another. It also helped the participants to gain some amount of self-love and confidence to know that each one can support and offer solace to others.
The next activity geared towards encouraging each other to look into themselves and find sources of strength, which had helped in the past to overcome the trying times. In this activity, the team was divided into smaller groups and individuals had to share a personal moment/period of difficulty and what tools were used to overcome the ordeal. Participating in this activity certainly helped in appreciating the inner strength each one possesses and to acknowledge that everyone can reframe his or her outlook to be more positive.
Collating and synthesizing all the discussions brought to light this paradigm. Events are classified into those that can be controlled and those that cannot be controlled. Events are transactional or situational. As individuals, we can only be concerned about events that are within our control and about our reactions to these events. Hence, being unduly worried or anxious about situations, such as the current pandemic will only result in an overwhelming feeling of helplessness. Yet another key takeaway was that it is essential to let go of guilt for situations that are beyond our control.
The workshop ended with team members relooking at their state of mind and the majority felt a marked improvement in their outlook. The assurance that it is natural and normal to undergo stress, feeling of helplessness and grief, calmed the mind and helped the team begin looking at personal and professional life with more clarity and positivity.