Empathing Anger, Group Think Mentatlity

[MiracleMan]

I'm having problems at work, and right now I'm stuck here and I'm accepting that because I've made other commitments  (debts, mortgage, etc) for the short term.

I keep sucked into the group mentality in this office, everyone seems to have a level of stress and agitation around the job and 99% of it is unnecessary.  People act like children having their toys taken away for simply having to do their fucking job, and it drives me nuts because I seem to be sucked into the same mentality often, and I find myself stressing out over other people's reaction to shit that just isn't that important.

People get angry, upset, and like to talk a lot of shit about each other constantly.  It's hard to do my job because part of my job is making sure other people are doing their work, and I'm constantly surrounded by negativity.

So far my spiritual practice hasnt granted me immunity or acceptance of the going ons and frequent negativity that permeates the office.  How do I keep from losing my cool and allowing the anger and resentment of others to affect me?

[Heart of Space]

Shit man, I relate to this so hard.  In my office there's this problem where different parts of management are in this stupid political ego battle and it's hard not to get sucked into it.  I'm not entirely blameless, sometimes I get sucked into it in some sort of fashion.  It takes a ton of conscious effort  not to assimilate into the patterns of the social group that you happened to be a part of.  

I'd love to hear other wiser people who've gone through this before talk about how they dealt with it.  For the most part when I'm the most well behaved I try to relate to other's in a compassionate way and practice mindfulness consistently throughout the day.  I also take random 10 to 15 minute breaks to meditate, which seems to help marginally.  

[MiracleMan]

12 minutes ago, Heart of Space said:

Shit man, I relate to this so hard.  In my office there's this problem where different parts of management are in this stupid political ego battle and it's hard not to get sucked into it.  I'm not entirely blameless, sometimes I get sucked into it in some sort of fashion.  It takes a ton of conscious effort  not to assimilate into the patterns of the social group that you happened to be a part of.  

I'd love to hear other wiser people who've gone through this before talk about how they dealt with it.  For the most part when I'm the most well behaved I try to relate to other's in a compassionate way and practice mindfulness consistently throughout the day.  I also take random 10 to 15 minute breaks to meditate, which seems to help marginally.  

That is true, I guess I could try acknowledging that the people perpetuating this grief are probably dealing with shit in their personal lives, the same with myself actually.  I do try to have a positive attitude, not in the sense of being "nice" and letting people walk all over me, but just that if I sink down into my previous levels of negativity i tend to make my life worse.

I think I'm at this point in my life where things are more stable and I fail to remember the way things were before when I was feeling like shit everyday and really having a lot of depression.  I deal with anxiety more than anything now, and my job definitely contributes.

I was previously a tradesmen and I do have the option to go back into an hourly position in the next few months if I choose and work with my hands again, but that job has it's pros and cons too.

It's either work in the comfort of an office and deal with pampered children masquerading as engineers, or get out into the elements and heat, deal with nightmarish parking situations, and generally just physically labor intensive, but damn good money.  I forget I do have options, but there is always the fear of "what if" and sometimes I think I should just say fuck it and take the leap.  IF I leave on good terms I can always come back, it's a massive company.