Jason Dorland, author of Chariots and Horses: Life Lessons from an Olympic Rower, was raised on that kind of thinking. He lived by it. He thought of it as the only path to excellence. He passed it on to others. But when he reached the pinnacle of his sporting career—in a race where seconds and nanoseconds make the difference between victory and also-ran—he came to see that philosophy as an obsession that hurt him mentally and physically....
Fullterton explains how new technology can be used to reduce distractions and increase focus. Fullterton gives the example of Macfreedom, a new application that has been created to help thwart our impulse to use the internet every other second of the day. Macfreedom restricts access to the internet for a period of time set by the user, a restriction that can only be over-ridden by a system reboot. Fullterton calls for a new attitude in software design that is just as much about respecting your user as it is about trying to get him or her to use your product....
After all, meditation is an internal affair—focusing on our own experiences, emotions, and thoughts—and people generally meditate alone. What does that have to do with how we treat anyone else? While some meditation practices directly aim for increasing compassion—such as loving-kindness meditation—others focus more on creating mindful attention, a focus on one’s present experience. This seem less likely to automatically impact how we relate to others. Yet evidence is mounting that mindfulness meditation proponents might be right....
The course description says it combines the skill of contemporary anger management processes with the transformative power of ancient mindfulness meditation. The program is designed to get to the root of a person’s anger and help unlearn its negativity. Participants also learn how to live life with more balance and joy. The program requires a 30-minute time commitment, five days a week. For more about anger and mindfulness, visit these stories on our site: Working with #^&%!...
As a part of their “Is Man Kind?” campaign, Airbnb has debuted an online news series that reports on positive, uplifting stories. The series, called The Daily Kindness Bulletin, aims to highlight the acts of kindness and compassion that happen everyday. The video series came to be after their survey of Airbnb users showed that people often felt that the news reported on too many negative stories compared to the amount of positive stories....
Yet, the idea of mindfulness has become a buzzword of sorts, and despite research regarding positive outcomes, specific mechanisms associated with mindfulness and psychological well-being are unclear. (Additionally, the ambiguity in the term mindfulness, and how it’s approached in research, makes it difficult to parse out particular mechanisms responsible for clinical outcomes.) Mindfulness and Attention Mechanisms Despite these limitations, many research studies seem to indicate that cultivating different aspects of attention is a feasible and consistent starting point to bridging mindfulness practice and psychological well-being....
On a personal level, leaders are taking note of empirical research documenting meditation’s potential for reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, and improving emotional regulation. Mindfulness meditation—the practice of cultivating deliberate focused attention on the present moment—has caught on as a way to bring focus, authenticity, and intention to the practice of leadership. Daniel Goleman and Bill George have described mindfulness as a means to listen more deeply and guide actions through clear intention rather than emotional whims or reactive patterns....
An Invitation to Brave Space Together we will create brave space Because there is no such thing as a “safe space” We exist in the real world We all carry scars and we have all caused wounds. In this space We seek to turn down the volume of the outside world, We amplify voices that fight to be heard elsewhere, We call each other to more truth and love We have the right to start somewhere and continue to grow....
Now imagine trying mindfulness meditation, and having that probe touch your skin again. Painful, you’d think. Not as much. Researchers at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center found that the brains of meditators respond differently to pain—a huge finding, given the continued skepticism regarding the benefits of mindfulness meditation as an effective treatment for pain with unique mechanisms above and beyond providing a placebo effect. The research is even more poignant given that pain is one of the most pervasive, debilitating, and expensive health problems faced by approximately 100 million Americans....
Learning mindfulness is a relationship. Even if you start with a book, you’re learning from the author. If you and your teacher begin a dialogue, you can dig deeper into your life and be more present for it as it unfolds from moment to moment. That dialogue—much of it held in silence—will help your mindfulness practice unfold more creatively. But how do you find a person who’s right for you?...
For instance, few things have brought us into greater unexpected conflict with those we love than the question of vaccination status. We live in a time that privileges individual freedom of thought, action, and choice. Great! Until Aunt Jiji and Uncle JoJo tell you, just as you are biting down on a buttery piece of bbq they’ve handed you, that they’ve made different choices than you have about being vaccinated....
“It is wonder; it is appreciation; it is looking at the bright side of a setback; it is fathoming abundance; it is thanking someone in your life…it is “counting blessings.” It is savoring; it is not taking things for granted; it is coping; it is present-oriented.” Gratitude is one of the easiest ways to shift our set-point-driven state of mind. Fifteen seconds of savoring something you are grateful for can be transformative....
“Being quiet is comfortable,” says Ajayi. “Keeping things the way they’ve been is comfortable, and all comfort has done is maintain the status quo.” You can think of beginning to work with your discomfort as an act of loving-kindness to yourself, your neighbors, your community. Turning toward instead of away from discomfort begins with the ability to pay attention in a kind, open, and non-reactive way. Being mindful of discomfort isn’t just an intellectual exercise....
Now, new research may provide a clue about the connection between social functioning and health and well-being. Neuroscientists at the University of Virginia have uncovered a pathway through which immune system molecules involved in fighting off infections impact brain activity and social deficits in mice. In their experiment, mice bred without normal immune function—known as SCID mice—were found to have dysfunctional social behavior, showing no preference for interacting with other mice when given the opportunity....
The expression “stream of consciousness” comes from one of my favourite philosophers and psychologists William James. Stream of consciousness writing aims to provide a textual equivalent to the stream of a fictional character’s consciousness, thus creating the impression that we, the reader, are eavesdropping on the flow of conscious experience in the character’s mind, thereby gaining direct, intimate and unmediated access to their personal, private “thoughts.” Writing of this kind involves presenting in the form of written text something that is neither entirely verbal nor textual....
title: “June 2014 Mindful Store " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Lynn Barron”
The Wisdom 2.0 Conference is a revolutionary, new event that launched in April of 2010 that brings together people from a variety of disciplines including technology leaders, Buddhism, neuroscience, and academia. The purpose of the conference to explore how we can live and engage in our technology-rich age in a way that is meaningful to ourselves and to the the world. You can watch any or all of tomorrow’s conference sessions free on the Wisdom 2....
