Stress Management in the Work Place: Buddhist Psychotherapy

By Satiman

Introduction

Broadly speaking, there are two categories of workers namely, an Employer and an Employee. An employer is self-employer employed by his or her own business enterprise, firm or company which he or she has initiated, possesses and manages with the assistance of his or her few or many employees. Both the employer and the employees are stressed in their work environment due to work pressures during good and bad times of the business environment.

Work Stress of Employer

When business is rosy and flourishes, the employer or boss is busily occupied and engaged in management function. He or she endeavours to earn or gain economic wealth as much as he or she can acquire. In the process, he or she is taxed heavily both physically and mentally. The continuous demand of his or her business enterprise brings about incessantly enormous work pressure upon him or her everyday. Consequently, enormous stress ensues from maintaining the business prosperity or economic affluence. This is of crucial importance as his or her business prosperity and the resultant economic affluence safeguard and maintain an incessant affluent lifestyle for his or her family members and also the job security of his employees. An affluent lifestyle is an essential status symbol of one’s ‘Great Success and Prosperity’.  When there is sharp decline in business volume or economic recession , he or she experiences the challenge and difficulty in maintaining proper cash-flow and profit-margin. Economic depression and adverse profit-margin create enormous stress in him or her too. This stark reality or naked fact, which I desire to reveal, is that a business employer is psychologically stressed in both favourable and adverse business environment.

Challenges of Employees

Likewise, an employee is stressed in both ways like his or her employer or boss. When business is rosy and the employee is diligent and productive, a good salary or even promotion is offered to the excellent, worthy employee to prevent him or her from seeking greener pasture on the other side of the fence. Of course, the employee must invest continuously his or her physical and mental energies to maintain the business productivity of his or her boss. He or she is thus busily occupied and stressfully engaged in maintaining his or her livelihood with excess of overtime works and expectation of handsome annual bonuses. Such a busy lifestyle would consequentially create enormous work stress for the employee too. If the business of the employer has declined due to unforeseen circumstances, the fear of losing employment to become jobless assails the employer day and night. This is another form of stress ensued from the fear of unemployment or being fired.

Life Pressure

I’m not trying to picture the dark sides of earning one’s livelihood either as an employer or employee. What I am emphasizing is that no one can escape from work pressures in the present modern lifestyle either in the struggle to maintain a high or reasonable standard of living or in the struggle to maintain the minimum standard of living in order to surmount economic deficiency or poverty. Succintly put, life stress due to struggle to earn economic self-sufficiency is a visible, inevitable, stark reality of life which everyone must confront courageously, resolutely, and with dignity. In fact, Buddhism elucidates this reality of life as a form of ‘Dukkha’ which is synonymous with ‘Unsatisfactoriness’, ‘Vexation’, ‘Anguish’ or ‘Suffering’. Buddhism is not a pessimistic, cold, unpalatable religious faith. It is realistic, warm and pragmatic because it recognizes or acknowledges ‘Dukkha’ as a part and parcel of life. This is elucidated in the first Noble Truth of Suffering in the Buddhist fundamental doctrine of Four Noble Truths (Cattāri Ariya Saccāni). Buddhism is far from being pessimistic and unrealistic but, in truth, an optimistic, realistic and highly pragmatic religion. It reveals the cause of ‘Dukkha’ and the noble practice or path which annihilates ‘Dukkha’. The ‘Dukkha’ arises from superimposition of illusive self-identity or ego into the human personality as I or Mine.

The ‘Dukkha’ of work stress can be completely eliminated by coursing the Noble Eight Fold Path (Ariyo Aṭṭhaṅgiko Magga) comprising Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Actions, Right Livelihood, Right Efforts, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. A more rapid solution of eliminating ‘Dukkha’ from work stress is the application of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipaṭṭhāna) of Body, Feelings, Mind and Phenomena through Buddhist meditation (bhāvanā). It is done by applying mindfulness or self-awareness meditation which eliminates grasping upon the five aggregates or I or Mine. During the work time, the most excellent object of meditation is the immediate task at hand. It is dealing wholeheartedly and attentively with the immediate task to be performed and completed with complete mindfulness and clear awareness. Complete mindfulness and clear awareness of work at hand annihilate grasping upon self or ego.

If one is a counter salesgirl, one concentrates calmly, mindfully and with complete clear awareness in serving the customer under all situations and circumstances without clinging upon self, person, group and tri-temporal existence. To serve calmly and mindfully requires the salesgirl to serve without any distraction and remaining unperturbed even though the customer is impolite or harsh. Even the sales conversation can be utilized as an object of meditation. When there is more than one prominent stimuli assailing her in the process of her sale transaction, she just needs focus on the most important stimulus as the only object of meditation and ignore totally the other stimuli. In the case of a counter sale, the sales presentation or sale closing is the most important object of mindfulness or clear awareness meditation. Mindfulness and clear awareness of sale conversation drive off distraction and diffusion of the mind. Without distraction and diffusion of mind, the mind is concentrated and unobsessed. This concentration of the mind, engendering mental tranquility, enables the sale girl to service the customer wholeheartedly and proficiently to her  utmost capacity. Every question or answer in the sales conversation becomes the object of mindfulness and clear awareness meditation. This is a form of living meditation applied in a dynamic situation instead of being in a static sitting meditation in a meditation hall or meditation retreat. Even, when there is sudden telephone call for her, she can mindfully move from the customer temporarily and pick up and answer the telephone call mindfully. Answering the call becomes her new object of meditation. Having answered the telephone call, she can shift back to her customer mindfully. It is in this way that work stress can be eliminated throughout the process of working. The stress is eradicated because the mind is not obsessed but purified by right mindfulness and clear awareness. The greatest treasure Buddhist practices lies here. Purifying the mind through mindfulness in the work place is the highest good recommended by Gotama Buddha. In this way, the complete appeasement of the human mind known as Nibbāna can be won at the work place. Nibbāna is not only be gained in a solitary setting in the forest monastery or meditation centre but also most importantly in daily life in a busy setting.

Right mindfulness and clear awareness is fruitfully applied only and if only the practitioner does not superimpose any notion of I or Mine in all activities through the body, speeches and thoughts. This is achieveable by not grasping upon anything in the world. Non-grasping does not connote external renunciation of people and wealth or materialism. It connotes internal renunciation of illusive self and ego. It is the application of the Buddha’s recommended Anattā formula of This is not I; This is not Mine; This does not belong to me. The application of Anattā formula results in full internal renunciation of self or ego which is synonymous with the annihilation of self or ego. Self or ego exists illusively in the human personality. Self or ego is superimposed by ignorance of the ordinary worldlings. It is merely apparent and unreal.

For a beginner, right mindfulness combined with clear awareness is by no means an easy practice. However, with constant practice, it is practically possible. It is recommended that a beginner should first participate in a few meditation retreats in a meditation centre where a yogi can be properly instructed by an experienced meditation master. Having participated in the meditation retreats and regular practices at home for some time , it is possible to practise living meditation in the work place. Time and energy must be invested to produce rapid result.

Conclusion

Buddhist mindfulness or clear awareness meditation is the Buddhist psychotherapy to treat work stress and other forms of life stress. Our ability to cope with stress helps us prevent illnesses and promote good health. Dr. Harvey Simon, associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School affirms thus:

Stress produces physiological changes in our bodies, including higher
blood pressure and surge in stress hormones, such as adrenaline,
which cause blood to clot and increase the risk of heart attack.

The practice of the Buddhist self-awareness meditation of the four foundations of mindfulness prevents the arising of stress due to work pressure and other forms of emotional stress. When stress is eliminated through mindfulness meditation, excess release of adrenaline hormones is prevented. Devoid of excess of hormone release, the metabolic equilibrium is maintained. The metabolic equilibrium promotes good health as the four great elements of Earth, Water Fire and Wind are in equilibrium. But most importantly, successful undertaking of self-awareness meditation consummates human character formation producing the Man of maximal excellence in wisdom and virtue.