Dr Craig Hassed Photo: Brendan Read

Love this quote from article in the Sydney Morning Herald in Nov 2011:

“To enjoy our life we have to pay attention to it…We need to foster sustainable performance to use our energy, time and resources in a more mindful and focused way rather than wasting them in stress. We need to be more self-determined in getting on with what we need to get on with at the right time. Mindfulness helps us enjoy our life more, to find more meaning in our life and to help protect us from stress, anxiety and depression,” Dr Hassed says.

One of the most difficult things for a small business owner is to stop thinking about the business, but this kind of stress causes wear and tear on the body and mind, and reduces effectiveness in work and in life. The good news is that training in mindfulness can help you find the ‘off’ switch.

Speaking at the Mind & Its Potential conference earlier this month, Monash University’s Craig Hassed says we can not stop our minds, but mindfulness teaches us to have the skill of whether or not we will engage with our thoughts.

“You can switch off a machine, you can switch off an email, you can leave the office and go on a holiday – but it’s really about whether the mind has left work and switched off. Very often we’re preoccupied. It’s really not where we physically are, it’s where we mentally are that matters,” says Dr Hassed, an award-winning medical researcher from Monash’s department of general practice, and author of The Essence of Health: The Seven Pillars of Wellbeing.

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