Building Mindful Brands from Mindful Direct. Innovation has become the watchword for success in today’s economy and one young, dynamic American is helping to reimagine commerce. Matthew Stinchcomb is vice president of values and impact at Etsy.com, an online retail platform based in Brooklyn, New York, that enables people to connect to buy and sell unique handmade crafts and vintage goods. More than 40 million people from around the world visit the Etsy site each month....

When you react in ways that aren’t mindful, they can gradually grow into habits that are detrimental to your health and well-being. Consequently, these patterns of reactivity further your suffering or distress. This is why it’s so important to discern clearly the difference between reacting with unawareness and responding with mindfulness. When you become aware of the present moment, you gain access to resources you may not have had before....

Harold Roth, professor of Religious Studies at Brown University and founder of the Contemplative Studies Initiative there, told me, “I’m very encouraged by how this movement is gaining momentum. We’re at the beginning of the development of a major new academic field, one that will be potentially quite significant in changing the face of higher education in North America. It asks us to deeply consider what a higher education really means....

Multitasking is a computer derived term. Computers have many processors. We have only one processor. We literally neurologically cannot do more than one thing at a time. Harris’ comments are supported by a growing amount of research on multitasking that suggests multitasking can actually be less efficient and can also cause stress (no big surprise there). If you’re looking for an antidote to multitasking, it could be as simple as focusing your energy on one thing at a time....

Sometimes we get caught up in the mistaken notion that being courageous means overcoming fear. But courage isn’t looking past fear; it’s recognizing and even embracing it. Recently I’ve witnessed this seeming paradox in families affected by the unspeakable trauma of losing a child to a mass shooting. Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s being scared, worried, unsure, and ready to run, and yet still finding a way to do what you really want to do, what others need you to do, or what you believe is right—despite all that fear....

How Today’s Youth Navigate Identity, Intimacy, and Imagination in a Digital World By Howard Gardner and Katie Davis • Yale University Press “There’s an app for that.” It’s cliché now but, as the cliché goes, all clichés are true. Apps are ubiquitous. You bank on your phone, nd out where you are, search for where you want to be. In The App Gener- ation, two professors assess how a world navigated by apps a ects adolescent development....

“A small yet growing body of research,” reports HealthBeat, the school’s blog, “suggests that a slower, more thoughtful way of eating could help with weight problems and maybe steer some people away from unhealthy choices.” One example: Duke University gave mindfulness training to 150 binge eaters. Not only did the practice reduce their binge eating and depression, it actually led to an increase in their enjoyment of food. Read the full HealthBeat post here....

The current study expands on that pilot, and is one of just a few rigorous studies on the connection between meditation and addiction. For instance in 2009, the University of Washington published the results of a study involving a group of 168 recovering addicts (various substances). These were randomized into two groups: a mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) program that met weekly for eight weeks, and a “treatment as usual” (TAU) program, including a 12-step program and weekly group support sessions....

We are learning to see what’s often obscured by distraction. By coming back repeatedly to the various aspects of tea-drinking, we are cultivating the capacity to focus. And because we’re practicing this with gentleness, without judging ourselves or striving to reach some goal (even the goal of becoming better at paying attention), we are simultaneously training in acceptance and compassion. Mindfulness means paying attention with the senses, in the body—feeling, touching, seeing, hearing, and tasting....

Before eating, bring awareness to your body and your breathing. Let your belly be soft and full. Take three full deep breaths. Let the breath relax you and help you settle into the present moment. Start by checking in to see how hungry you are. Explore what hunger feels like in the belly, noticing its pleasant and unpleasant qualities. Notice the sensations in the mouth and in the belly that occur with the mere thought of eating....

When he sees it on her, he smiles and gives a little, surprised shake of his head. “You look…different,” he says. Sarah feels crushed, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she feels self-conscious all night and swears to herself that she’ll never wear it again. That night, when they’re in bed together, and Bill leans in to kiss her, she gives him a quick peck on the cheek, rolls over, and pretends to fall asleep....

Paced breathing involves consciously inhaling and exhaling according to a set rhythm. For example, you might inhale for 4 counts, exhale for 6, and repeat. Prior research shows that paced breathing exercises can both focus attention and regulate the nervous system. To date, however, we have known little about how this affects brain function in humans. These findings represent a breakthrough because, for years, we’ve considered the brain stem to be responsible for the process of breathing....

You can start to un-gloop the doors of sticky-stuckness by remembering that the payoff for taking a sidelong glance at your preferences might be suddenly being available for a life of freshness and surprise. Letting go of what you think you prefer might allow you to apply for jobs you didn’t imagine you’d ever choose, or bring you the courage to move to a bigger or smaller town even if you’re not entirely sure yet what you prefer....

Not long after, friends and fans started re-enacting the pose and publishing photos, and soon, ‘Dufnering’ was born. (You can check out some photos here.) “What can I say?” Dufner later wrote on Twitter. “I was tired, my back hurt from sitting on the floor, and we were talking about relaxation and focusing.”

Some years ago, I was invited to give a keynote at a conference with the largest audience I’d ever faced. It was a big step up for me. Legendary psychologists were giving the other talks, and I feared I wouldn’t measure up. I was nervous. Real nervous. I sat in the back waiting my turn, worrying about how people would see me. I thought about how to look impressive and get approval....

Before my father died, I considered whatever he was planning to will to me, my mother, and my three brothers a gift—nothing more and nothing less. But in my father’s final hours, I realized it was more than a gift. For him it was the equivalent of his love for his family. Since my father died, millions of people have lost trillions of dollars due to the crumbling economy. While we all take in our individual and collective losses, a deeper grief has run though me like a quiet, steady stream....

My granddad Norman was great at mindful loving. He first laid his sparkling blue eyes on my petite blonde grandmother Evelyn at a Valentine’s dance. Though she was engaged to another man, he wooed her, won her, wed her. Together they shared affection and passion over a lifetime that ranged from wartime to hard-won success. Their retirement was filled with RV trips and tango dancing. Sixty years after that first meeting, his eyes, now old and pale, still lit up with delight every time she walked into a room....

These habits help us navigate well-worn routes, but they can be unhelpful insofar as they provide knee-jerk reactions to different stimulus—and stressors—we encounter. Additionally, recent research from Harvard University suggests that wandering minds are not happy ones. Mindfulness seeks to interrupt automatic thoughts by hijacking the same habit-forming pattern: we choose an object to focus our attention on (the breath), and when the mind wanders, we shift our attention back to the object of attention....