The Cure for Work Exhaustion It s Not What You Think HANDOUT Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals

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1 The Cure for Work Exhaustion It s Not What You Think HANDOUT 2014 Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals

2 OCCUPATIONAL BURNOUT DEFINED: A condition characterized by physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion, a lack of enthusiasm for job tasks, and impaired empathy towards customers, clients, patients, and colleagues. CAUSES: Occupational burnout is caused by cumulative stress related to work place and life demands and tends to occur in highly motivated, dedicated or involved workers who derive significant meaning from life through their jobs. TIRED-WIRED: Andrew Wiel, a well-known holistic physician and naturopath, explains that work exhaustion is often a tired-wired syndrome. People have no energy and are exhausted but can t get to sleep. He points out that people spend a lot of time dealing with stressful situation and without sleep they never start a day with a clean slate. HUMAN SERVICE WORKERS: Researchers say that occupational burnout is predominate in human service professionals like nurses, physicians, teachers, police officers, and military personal working in conflict zones because of the emotional component of the work. EXPERT ADVICE: Experts tell us to eat a healthy diet. Participate in regular exercise, implement a consistent sleep schedule, and get outside to enjoy nature. MAYO CLINIC OCCUPATIONAL BURNOUT QUESTIONNAIRE Have you become cynical or critical at work? Do you drag yourself to work and have trouble getting started once you arrive? Have you become irritable or impatient with coworkers and clients? Do you lack the energy to be consistently productive? Do you lack satisfaction from your achievements? Do you feel disillusioned about your job? Are you using food, drugs, or alcohol to feel better or to simply not feel? Have your sleep habits or appetite changed? Are you troubled by unexplained headaches, backaches or other physical complaints?

3 BEAUTIFUL QUESTIONS BEAUTIFUL QUESTIONS shape a human identify in both the asking and the answering. A beautiful question holds an invitation to step onto a new frontier of self or to step through a doorway into something beyond ourselves and yet more of ourselves at the same time. EXPLORE BEAUTIFUL QUESTONS: You can sit down in an inspiring place and journal, or you might invite a trusted friend to hold focused discussions with you on questions you choose together. Finally, you can sit with yourself and discuss a question with yourself, just watching where your mind takes you. I used each of these different practices and they all worked. Don t worry about losing important insights or remembering exactly what was said. Know that by simply asking the question and thinking deeply about the answers you give yourself - something shifts. 1. Make a list of all of the ways you feel it is impossible to be free in your life. 2. What stories do I tell about my life and how do they define me? How might this limit me? 3. What stories do I insist on too much? 4. Are there other lives I m living besides my own? 5. What conversations am I having with the world, with situations, and with people I care about? Are these conversations satisfying? If no, what conversations do I want to have with the world, with situations, and with people I care about?

4 Where is Here? HERE is wherever you are. HERE is the truth of wherever you are without stories or behaviors that numb pain, disappointment, anxiety, or sadness. HERE is willing to confront life as it is, with nothing to prove, with nothing to hide, and to stand, lost in the forest and fully present with the feeling of being lost and the feeling of not knowing where the path lies. It is only from a strong sense of HERE that we find solid ground. From solid ground we can take our first step a courageous step a wholehearted step forward into new territory.

5 What do I Want? I Want I Long For I Wish We have to be clear about what we want, what we long for, or what we wish for in the future. These questions create an internal horizon that is farther than we can see with our outward eyes. When we answer these questions fully we start to imagine and believe in what we might achieve especially if we assume we are worthy of everything we want and love. So, your mission is to write a list, create picture or affirmation cards, or make a collogue that clearly articulates what you want, long for, or wish for in the world. No matter how fabulous or unrealistic it might seem. What you focus on expands! See the examples on the right.

6 Alive List October Sometimes it takes a great sky to find that first, bright and indescribable wedge of freedom in your own heart. Sometimes with the bones of the black sticks left when the fire has gone out, someone has written something new in the ashes of your life. Hike the High Plains Trail on the Full Moon in the dark 10/8 Climb the Maiden and do the awesome rap off the top! 10/5 Celebrate Arthur by going to see him in Tech Stars 10/9 Literature: Finish reading the Interpreter of Maladies Climb Epinephrine on Red Rock Climbing Adventure! 10/11 Cook dinner for Mark, Abram, and John 10/28 Take Ronie s hula hop dance class 10/25 Finish making Yosemite climbing trip video

7 Alive List

8 TIRED-WIRED: GETTING BACK TO SLEEP Sleep helps us recuperate and cope effectively with our emotions and situation. Strive to increase the duration and quality of your sleep. Researchers make these suggestions: Clean and modify your sleep environment so that it is comforting, soothing, and sleep promoting. For example, make sure that curtains keep out early light so that you are not woken up prematurely. Purchase an air filter and run it during the day so that you fall asleep with clean air in the room (turn it off at night so that the sound doesn t keep you awake). If you get cold at night, purchase a cozy down comforter or an electric blanket. Use your sleep environment only for sleep. If you often sit up in bed reading, watching movies on a TV or IPad, or working in bed on your computer, move these activities to another area of your house. Researchers note that people fall asleep faster and for a longer duration when the sleep environment is used only for sleep (or for sexual activity). Implement a regular sleep-wake schedule. Go to sleep at the same time every night (even on the weekends) and wake up at the same time every morning (even on the weekends). A regular sleep-wake schedule reliably improves the quality and duration of sleep over time. Monitor caffeine and food intake to promote sleep. Avoid caffeinated foods and beverages after 2:30 p.m. to decrease their tendency to negatively influence sleep patterns. Avoid heavy meals late at night or the consumption of alcohol at night. While a night cap can help you fall asleep, it tends to lead to mid-night restlessness and decreased sleep quality. Meditation, yoga, herbal sleep aids, herbal teas and herbal tinctures demonstrate the ability to improve the duration and quality of sleep for many people. Try these natural methods before moving towards over-the-counter sleeping pills, which can alter your ability to process your emotions effectively. If insomnia is a persistent problem, ask your physician about other options to support your sleep.

9 Resources David Whyte: Poetry collections Pilgrim (2012) River Flow: New & Selected Poems Revised Edition (Many Rivers Press 2012) River Flow: New & Selected Poems (Many Rivers Press 2007) Everything is Waiting for You (Many Rivers Press 2003) The House of Belonging (Many Rivers Press 1996) Fire in the Earth (Many Rivers Press 1992) Where Many Rivers Meet (Many Rivers Press 1990) Songs for Coming Home (Many Rivers Press 1984) Prose The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self & Relationship (Riverhead 2009) Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as A Pilgrimage of Identity (Riverhead 2001) The Heart Aroused: Poetry & the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America (Doubleday/Currency 1994) Audiobooks Pilgrim Sometimes Return What to remember when waking Echoes in the well Sweet darkness Clear mind wild heart Midlife and the great unknown Thresholds The poetry of self compassion Life at the frontier A change for the better The teacher's vocation Make a friend of the unknown The opening of eyes Faithful to all things The power and place of poetry Footsteps: A writing life Brene Brown: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. New York City, NY: Gotham 2012 The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are. Center City, MN: Hazelden Connections: A 12-Session Psychoeducational Shame-Resilience Curriculum. Center City, MN: Hazelden I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power. New York: Penguin/Gotham Feminist Standpoint Theory. In S.P.Robbins, P.Chatterjee & E.R.Canda (Eds.), Contemporary human behavior theory: A critical perspective for social work (Rev. ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon Shame Resilience Theory. In S.P.Robbins, P.Chatterjee & E.R.Canda (Eds.), Contemporary human behavior theory: A critical perspective for social work (Rev. ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon Ted Talks On Vulnerability On Shame n On Wholeheartedness David Whyte Ted Talk