The Yin Yang of working in an office?

[Yuen Biao]

Firstly I wondered how many people here work in an office environment and how you find it best to deal with others?

 

Personally I have just returned from my Honeymoon to Sri Lanka and the Maldives and was away from work for about one month. Upon returning my outlook has changed in the sense that I really try to avoid pointless conversation much more than previous whilst maintaining the very Taoist carefree attitude.

 

However of course this is difficult when you work in such a diverse environment; people just seem to love to talk about material aspects of their life and themselves as much as possible.

 

Apart from this sounding like a rant which I was hoping it was not how do you best deal with people whom you may have nothing in common with or indeed who may annoy you even though you try to not let it do so?

 

Any thoughts?

 

Namaste.

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

Problematic people? More like problematic environment. I can relate. It's kind of like that movie "office Space'. How does a conscious person function in that kind of place?

Perhaps the only thing would be to get out of there, but that might not be possible.

 

How did you like the Maldives? I found it kind of a way-station out of place and time. Could walk around the entire island in 10 minutes, and had breakfast lunch and dinner with everyone including other honeymooners occupying the same table with the same waiter (our waiter's name was Hanif) at each meal. We were there for 4 days, and man, I couldn't wait to get out of there. Sort of a lethargic dreamy boring-ness. It looked terrific on the travel brochures, though.

[Yuen Biao]

How does a conscious person function in that kind of place?

 

Indeed, that's the problem I am struggling with. Well defined though!

 

Re: The Maldives was beautiful, but yeah maybe a little boring but after a hectic wedding and an awesome ten days in Sri Lanka travelling about we needed a rest for two weeks. Snorkelling was excellant too. We could walk around the island in about eight minutes and there were only fifty guests at any one time which was nice because you barely saw other people.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Yuen Biao

[Sloppy Zhang]

Understanding, first off.

 

Understand that those people are not on the same level as you, higher or lower, recognize that their goals in life may be different than yours. Understand that to a large part, they are just the product of their past experiences, same as you, and their experiences might be different than yours and may lead them to value different things.

 

I try to have good humor about it in those situations. Try to humor the people. They want to talk about something, well try listening to them. It's easy to be a good listener, most people love to talk about themselves and their situations. Most people don't have access to a good listener, because we live in a society where everyone is trying to one up each other.

 

Example: "Yeah, I was on vacation for two weeks in the Bahamas last year." "Oh really? I was there for four. Did you go on a cruise?" "No... I.... stayed in the resort hotel and walked by the beach a few times...." "Oh you really should have taken the cruise, I had so much fun!" "oh...."

 

So, I bet you could probably do a lot of good by just being there to listen and interact with the people there. You might learn something. Everyone and everything has a lesson, if you are open to it.

 

Note: I don't work in an office, but I'm a college student, I run into my fair share of mundane world oriented people and problems.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Sloppy Zhang

[idquest]

Firstly I wondered how many people here work in an office environment and how you find it best to deal with others?

 

Personally I have just returned from my Honeymoon to Sri Lanka and the Maldives and was away from work for about one month. Upon returning my outlook has changed in the sense that I really try to avoid pointless conversation much more than previous whilst maintaining the very Taoist carefree attitude.

 

However of course this is difficult when you work in such a diverse environment; people just seem to love to talk about material aspects of their life and themselves as much as possible.

 

Apart from this sounding like a rant which I was hoping it was not how do you best deal with people whom you may have nothing in common with or indeed who may annoy you even though you try to not let it do so?

 

Any thoughts?

 

Namaste.

I try to deal with such a problem just by doing my job and looking busy all the time. People in general are polite and if they see somebody busy they would leave them alone. Also the way you reply to somebody's remarks is indicative: you might either encourage further conversation or discourage it. If you make concise replies and excuse yourself to do the job you should be fine.

[mjjbecker]

[Aetherous]

Something you can do if you have trouble talking is feed your coworkers. Bring in snacks. It will develop the bond more, so that maybe you can relate in other ways, besides what happened on the season finale of 24...at the very least they won't hate you as much for being quiet.

[Mal]

[freeform]

I find people fascinating... I'm constantly surprised how anyone can find people boring... I don't necessarily find their stories or opinions on the weather fascinating, but I do find the person telling the story and sharing opinions profoundly interesting.

 

If I was to think of myself as conscious, I'd have to think of at least some others as unconscious... that's a disservice to both myself and them. Every person can teach me more about myself than any book could. Interacting with another human is always an opportunity for growth.

 

How could you possibly be bored!? uninterested!?... ahhhh - you must actually listen to their stories!

 

The content of conversations is secondary... I know you think there's valuable content (talking about esoteric practices would be one, I'm sure) and boring content (american idol, the weather, office politics etc)...

 

The value in interacting is not the content that you speak about - but what happens besides the content...

 

How present can you be? how much of your awareness can you place on them? Can you place your awareness on them and on you simultaneously? Can you place your awareness on them and on you and on the other people in the background? Can you place your awareness on the space between you two? The space between the words you say and the words they say? Can you notice where their awareness is when they speak? Can you notice how their energy is moving? Can you notice how they respond to the changes in your own awareness?

 

None of this has to be overly contrived... pick one thing - for example try talking and listening and feeling - with your awareness completely on them and stick to that... another time pick something else... eventually, with practice, you will find yourself spontaneously noticing the most amazing things about people...

 

I sometimes see the pictures people make in their mind's eye... sometimes they suddenly transform into a 6yr old child... sometimes their energy expands and they're left in a thoughtless state as a result of your own awareness focusing on space. You can share a moment of profound intimacy with a cashier... if you can do that, imagine how much you could learn sharing a moment of intimacy with a 'high level' teacher!

 

Don't see yourself as 'superior' to anyone else... don't have a preference or a need for particular content... connect on the level of being, and if you can on the level of feeling... and then see what happens. The office is not devoid of magic if you're open to seeing, feeling, hearing it.

[三江源]

You could also try just loving them , nurturing them and seeing the perfection in them.

[freeform]

You could also try just loving them , nurturing them and seeing the perfection in them.

 

Ha! trust the female perspective to reframe my rant into a simple, elegant sentence

 

[Ya Mu]

When we cultivate and arrive at any particular spiritual place it is really easy to look on others as "caught in the mundane". To counteract this and help arrive at a higher level perspective I try to at least once or twice a week purposefully go to a place where there are a lot of people. I gaze at them telling myself "This is just me at a different level." It matters not if they are at a "higher" or "lower" level. I instantly SEE the divine spark within that is the exact same as within myself; I & I & I & I.

While I no longer work in the corporate world and do not have the same situation you have you may want to try this method that has really continually helped me. I make sure every student that comes my way does this at least once.

Most people have the same basic hopes desires and aspirations when you get right down to it.

 

Also, if you cultivate energetics, realize that everyone you talk to, regardless if it is about "Idol" or any other "non sense", will be positively effected via a magnetic induction effect. WOW! Look how you changed a person's life simply talking mundane.

[Ya Mu]

... Next week she's bringing in her stunning frozen key lime pie ...

What time? Do you guys accept office impostors? key lime pie - oh my!

Edited June 4, 2010 by Ya Mu

[三江源]

Ha! trust the female perspective to reframe my rant into a simple, elegant sentence

 

 

Naw it was a team effort, yang and yin, together created the cake and the icing.

[trailmaker]

Yep, guess we've all been there one time or another;

 

nice to be here...