I was chastened. “It’s worth it, sweetie,” I said. “It’s definitely worth it!” As he grew up, I watched him cuddle pets and babies, but well into adulthood he held to his plan of not having children, and I began to think I might never become a grandmother. A person can take certain actions to make it more likely that she’ll become a parent, but there’s not much she can do to produce grandchildren....

Mindfulness in Action On the cover is Shelly Tygielski (with her amazing boots). Shelly is a mindfulness teacher, grassroots, self-care activist who is “planting the seeds” of mindfulness to help people discover the power of pausing, breathing and holding space for themselves and others. You may recognize Shelly from her Self-Care series and Facebook meditations. I love Shelly’s story because it shows the impact that mindfulness can make on a community, bringing people together—and bringing out their best—even in times of terrible trauma....

But it’s a huge personal value for me, because I was my own worst critic. I was trying to do so much in achieving and succeeding by all these criteria I had. It was really when I started to see myself in a far kinder, more compassionate light, that I would just say to myself, like, Are you just trying your best? Just ease up. – Dr. Sally Safa...

This conversation is the first in Mindful’s new Leading Mindfully webinar series. Watch a recording of the conversation below. This Q&A shares highlights from the conversation, including Andrew’s experience with meditation and bringing mindfulness into the workplace. Bryan: What was your experience when you first started meditating? Andrew: The biggest “aha” was the practice of presencing. We are constantly in this triggered state and thinking about the hundred things we need to do....

This is why mindfulness—the objective observation of whatever is occurring—is a core capability at the foundation of a successful, fulfilling career, and of optimal performance in anything that we do. When you apply mindfulness to work, you give those efforts meaning and become more engaged, more attuned. Working consciously is deciding and acting upon what you want to accomplish and how you will accomplish it. It recognizes the complex nature of work, particularly when it is being done in teams and organizations with other people....

Feeling her heart pound and her face flush, she stood up from her desk and walked past her assistant saying, “I’ll be back for my noon meeting.” Outside, Sheila took a mindful breath, and then another. She strode mindfully across the parking lot, fully aware of each step. She’d pause, do some mindful breathing, and then continue walking with awareness. Several blocks from the hospital, Sheila paused. She realized that anger wasn’t all she felt....

When I was pregnant, lots of parents gave me advice (Enjoy going to the grocery store by yourself while you still can! Go out on dates! Clean your house!). One even warned me that becoming a parent would “rock my world.” I thought I understood. I thought I was prepared for the huge change coming. And while I wasn’t unprepared, I really had no idea exactly how life-changing becoming a parent would be....

This compassion-oriented form of communication is what sales expert and speaker Rob Jolles urges in his book: How to Change Minds: The Art of Influence without Manipulation. I sat down with Rob to find out how we can put this to work: An interview with Rob Jolles, author of How to Change Minds: The Art of Influence without Manipulation: Ben Kharakh: The first portion of your book explores what separates influence from manipulation, which is that the person who is doing the mind changing has the best interest of the other person in mind....

As you move towards greater alignment with your purpose, it’s important to remember that this is an ongoing process and that moving through difficult experiences is part of the journey. Be kind to yourself. Be patient. Take some time to explore these three clarifying ways to help shed some light on the path to living your purpose. 1. Distinguish between learning and undue suffering There is no doubt that it is important to experience challenges and overcome struggles in order to learn....

Not to say that all stress is bad, says Emma Seppälä, Director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford. But if you’re running on high-octane all the time, you can easily become a candidate for burnout. “We know that short-term stress can be great. It can really help you get through a deadline and mobilize you,” says Seppälä in a recent video for Big Think, “However, if you depend on that day after day after day you’ll find that your body becomes worn out, your immune system is impacted and even your mind, your attention and your memory are impaired through that long-term chronic stress....

As with all of my mindful movement exercises, this morning routine has three elements: Move. Breathe. Sit. Wake Up: Mindful Movement Practice As soon as you open your eyes in the morning, tune into your body and breath. Allow yourself to pause in that delightful transition between dreaming and waking. Feel your body rise and fall with each breath. Note how your breath feels. Is it in your chest? Your lower abdomen?...

We’ll meet here twice a month to introduce you to some of the teachers, thinkers, writers, and researchers who are engaged in the mindfulness movement. You’ll hear all kinds of conversations here about the science of mindfulness, the practice of mindfulness, and the heart of it. And if you have been a listener of Point of View with Barry Boyce, you have come to the right place. Barry is our guest today, as a matter of fact....

In this short video, founding editor Barry Boyce answers our questions about emotional health and how we can turn toward our feelings. A Q&A with Mindful Founding Editor Barry Boyce Mindful: If we let ourselves feel our emotions, one concern may be that we won’t be able to stop feeling them. If we’ve avoided our emotions for a long time, will it be too much to handle? What would you recommend?...

What is the role of meditation in your life? Every person of Muslim background is encouraged to pray no fewer than five times a day. Prayer follows the apparent movement of the sun in the sky. Historically, this was done by going outside and orienting yourself with the sun, situating yourself as a tiny part of this much larger, beautiful cosmos. You are not so much locating the sun as you are locating yourself—Where am I?...

Yet a recent event has absolutely made me question that faith—an event that the whole world is talking about, but we’ll address here too, if only because of the absence of awareness and compassion it reveals. Little Wang Yue (affectionately called “Yueyue” by her parents) has died. Almost a week ago, the two-year-old was callously run over by two different vehicles and ignored for an agonizing seven minutes by passersby (as many as 18, according to some reports) before someone stopped to help her....

Researchers monitored Marines’ physical reaction to training. Those who had taken a short course in meditation recovered more quickly. ABC’s Dan Harris, also the author of 10% Happier, reports. ABC US News | International News

If you ask me, I don’t think it’s coincidence that “meditation” and “medication” are but one consonant apart. As introduced in my last post, academic research indicates that a few minutes of daily meditation yields countless physical and emotional benefits … without any of the usual fine-print, like: “Do not drive or operate heavy machinery after taking meditation.” Once the purview of those who sprinkled their conversations with “groovy” and smelled of Patchouli incense, many of today’s most successful businesses are recognizing the value that making room for mindful meditation can bring to both human and financial resources....

At the end of their presentation, Atman Smith reported on the progress of their first twenty students, a group they started working with nearly a decade ago. “We had the toughest cases in the school,” he said. “We’ve continued to work with them over the years and now they help us with the program. All of them graduated from high school. Nineteen of them are working or in college. None are incarcerated....

What is it about commenting boards that turn people into 2.0 year olds? At the University of Washington, Travis Kriplean spent part of his PhD dissertation working to transform the vitriolic verbosity of online comments into acts of listening. He designed Reflect: an interface that encourages neutral reflection and constructive discussion. In a recent research paper on Reflect, he argues that the lack of sophisticated dialogue online has more to do with the structure of commenting boards and not necessarily the angry person publishing their thoughts....

1) perceptions of an insecure future 2) perceptions of inadequate treatment by the employer 3) perceptions of inadequate working conditions Obviously, as a leader you cannot control how an employee perceives or interprets communication and events. But you can influence how they respond, and offer up mindful solutions and tools so they are more prepared in the future to respond differently. The more open, positive, enthusiastic and accountable you are as a leader, you can provide the conditions for that same attitude to permeate the workplace....