[One Thousand Characters a Day] Work Life Is the Ultimate Practice <1>

Editor's NoteSouth Korean office workers are struggling. From commuting to overtime and company dinners, their bodies are exhausted, but these days, their mental health is more threatened by interpersonal relationships and performance pressure. How do executives at large corporations, who are called successful people at work, manage their mental health to overcome so much stress and reach their positions? Jeong Hae-seung, former Executive Director at Hanwha Life Insurance, who spent 29 years as a corporate employee and 9 years as an executive, says that mental management as an executive is ultimately like studying the mind. He realized that "working life is the best practice for mental health" and presents the secret to becoming a successful leader by adopting the right mindset at work. Word count: 1058 characters.

I remember the confusion when I first started studying the mind. Noticing, accepting, observing as it is, focusing on the present moment, letting go of discrimination, and so on. These Zen-like expressions made it difficult to even attempt. It was not easy to notice the presence of the 'ego' inside my mind that spoke differently and to observe it, and going further into the non-dualistic concept that my body and thoughts are not me but one with the whole world sometimes made my head freeze at the unfamiliar idea.

The chaotic thoughts in my mind would arise incessantly regardless of my will, and each time I tried the above methods I had learned theoretically, the practice would often fail to proceed properly from the start and end inconclusively. Expecting these terms to be understood intellectually and then practiced was unrealistic. I once shared these concerns with a friend. But the friend's response was unexpected.

"Why does a salaried worker need enlightenment? It's enough to just reduce stress, stabilize your mind, and be able to work well."

That was it. As an office worker, I didn't need to study deeply enough to achieve enlightenment, nor was it something attainable just by studying. It was enough to find momentary peace of mind through such practice when troubled and mentally unsettled.

When looking at books or lectures on mind study, one common point is that many authors have experienced severe mental illness. They found their own path through such suffering, so their depth of enlightenment is thought to be deeper. But ordinary people like me are different. Many just want to soothe the stress and mental turmoil from work. If we express mental suffering numerically, there are studies aimed at moving from extreme agony at -10 to complete enlightenment at +10, but there are also studies aimed at moving from a normal state of 0 to a slightly more peaceful +3. For an average office worker to be recognized and succeed at a company, moving from 0 to +3 can be much more important.

－Jeong Hae-seung, <Working Life Is the Best Practice>, Hermon House, 17,000 KRW