Reboot Your Work Day 6: Connection

Reboot your work is a ten-day course from Sharon Salzberg and Reboot based on Sharon’s New York Times Bestseller, Real Happiness at Work. The course guides participants in building mindfulness practices to increase contentment, efficiency and effectiveness in their work. This writing prompt is for course participants interested in participating in a group discussion. You can sign up for this complimentary course here.

Gossip at work is inevitable, and typically hard to resist. The fact of the matter is that we have evolved to tell stories, and to connect with those in our communities by telling stories. But gossiping at work (and anywhere else, for that matter) is nearly always negative, meaning that it will engender toxicity in us. To communicate skillfully, we need to pay attention.

Take a few minutes to reflect on some situations at work in which communication has made you feel negative, and explore some possible reasons why. Then consider other situations in which you’ve felt attentive and thoughtful in your interactions with others. How did you feel?

To join our discussion, write your response in the field below and publish. Be sure to tag your response with rebootyourwork.