Given the trauma inflicted by mass shootings, it’s not surprising that gun violence is linked to post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and suicide. But the burden of gun violence goes beyond the victim—family, friends, and those within the community may develop vicarious trauma and symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Despite the ubiquity and impact of gun violence, few studies to date have researched trauma interventions for gun violence victims. Recently, a pilot study at the University of California San Diego examined Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as a method for alleviating the trauma and suffering that gun violence survivors experience....

The launch weekend will feature sneak peeks and series premieres of many of the network’s new shows. One reality-based show will include Breaking Down the Bars, a docu-reality series that will follow the transformation of female prisoners working toward rehabilitation with a therapist. Winfrey says she takes responsibility for the new network seriously. “I feel responsible for the energy that I bring into the rooms of every single person who turns on this channel,” she says....

Bringing mindfulness to eating can help you expand your relationship with food, while allowing you to appreciate, savor and bring a whole lot of enjoyment to your meals. Explore these three mindful tips. In practice, these tips only take a minute or two of your time before a meal—well worth the sense of enjoyment they bring. Bring these three mindful tips into eating your snacks and meals from time to time and see what you notice....

Rollie talks all the time and asks endless questions. Strapped down in his wheelchair in the back of the bus, he’s hard to understand through the din of a noisy old bus, but I do my best. The fact that he wants his window open on all but the coldest days also does not help with the noise level on the bus. Rollie enjoys hearing traffic: “What was that?” -“A semi, Rollie,” I reply....

With 23,752 runners participating the challenge goal was met in under a week. The final tally showed that participants had run 321,885.04 miles in all. Architecture for Humanity, a not for profit design firm, will now put it’s teams in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto to work. Their plan is to hit the ground at the grassroots level. They believe that the greatest impact can be achieved if they “focus on specific small scale building projects for local community organizations....

A groundbreaking study, published in 1984 in the journal Science by environmental psychologist Roger Ulrich (now at Texas A&M University), demonstrated that gazing at a garden can sometimes speed healing from surgery, infections and other ailments. Since then, more studies have confirmed these findings—and have found the gardens not only for good for patients, but hospital employees too. Want to know more? Click here to read How Hospital Gardens Help Patients Heal....

After more downbeat rumination, I copied the first excerpts from a book I had just started reading. The book was Stephen Levine’s A Gradual Awakening (all excerpts in italics): By gently letting go of everything—not through force, not by slaying it, but simply seeing all the content as passing show, as process and flow—we become the whole of our experience and open to our natural understanding. If fear or wanting arises, it is seen within the spaciousness that surrounds it....

Rushing hinders our capacity to be intellectually and emotionally available, and capture the opportunities that surface in the present moment. When we slow down and move through our activity with greater mindfulness we are more likely to act with the full power available to us in the present moment. The Cost of Rushing Chronic rushing through a never ending to-do list feeds anxiety and heightens stress levels. Due to the epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, released in the brain during stressful periods, our brains get “hooked” on the stimulation of activity....

This “what is beautiful is good” stereotype manifests in a slew of real-life situations and is by no means a one-study wonder: it has been documented in piles of research. Taken as a whole, the studies show that this is one of the more robust cognitive biases operating in the human mind. It may also be one of the oldest. The Greek poet Sappho is credited with first asserting, 2,600 years ago, that “what is beautiful is good,” while in 1882 the German romantic poet Friedrich Schiller wrote that “physical beauty is the sign of an interior beauty, a spiritual and moral beauty....

But that protected time in the morning is when I get my really productive work done. Call it my “productive cocoon.” We all need one, a time we protect our focus from the multitude of distractions: emails, tweets, updates, and the rest of the onslaught. Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, psychologists at Harvard Business School, studied 238 members of teams engaged in creative projects, from designing new kitchen gear to complex information technology systems....

The first thing out of her mouth was, “Who will tell the tooth fairy??” Her excitement was mixed with concern over whether or not she could count on having the same experience with the tooth fairy that her friends had described. Then came the interrogation: “How will it get to my tooth if it’s under my pillow? Will it lift my head up?” I told her it would be easier for the tooth fairy if she left her tooth on the bedside table....

Creating space in the day to stop, come down from the worried mind, and get back into the present moment has been shown to be enormously helpful in mitigating the negative effects of our stress response. When we drop into the present, we’re more likely to gain perspective and see that we have the power to regulate our response to pressure. Here’s a short practice you can weave into your day to step into that space between stimulus and response....

All of these insights remind us of the interplay between our inner lives and our social conditions. Ways we might take care of ourselves, like practicing mindfulness and getting good sleep, have implications down the line for our relationships. And the type of neighborhood and culture we live in, in turn, influence our own well-being. This year’s top insights from the science of a meaningful life move from our most private emotions to the ways different groups of Americans relate to each other....

At some point, that changed. Sabrina said, “I realized that the revenge I was holding on to wouldn’t give me back my health, but that I kept torturing myself with it and it kept me up at night. The pain was bad enough in itself. I didn’t want to keep carrying this hatred in my heart around with me anymore.” Forgiveness is a practice of freeing your own heart from the prison of pain and resentment....

Tim Ryan was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002, at the age of 29, and is currently serving in his sixth term and representing Ohio’s 13th Congressional District. He maintains a strong commitment to the economic and social well-being of his constituents in northeast Ohio. He serves as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, as well as its Subcommittees on Readiness and on Emerging Threats and Capabilities....

I am not really interested in “spreading” mindfulness, so much as I am interested in igniting passion in people for what is deepest and best within all of us, but which is usually hidden and rarely accessible. Science is a particular way of understanding the world that allows some people to approach what they would otherwise shun, and so can be used as a skillful means for opening people’s minds....

At Mindful we’re trying to create an organization that does just that: leaves space for ideas and best practices to emerge. So I was intrigued to find out how this four-day retreat might inform my own role as a leader. The truth is, when the pressure’s on at work (or any other area of my life), I fall under an all-too familiar spell: the feel- ing that everything is urgent....

Today, Jones is working on an album with Black music culture at its heart and mindfulness instruction on the track list. With guidance from Grammy Award-winning jazz bassist, singer, songwriter, and composer Esperanza Spalding and contemplative thought leader Lama Rod Owens, the project is part of Jones’ clinical psychology PhD research at Harvard. The album, with the working title HEALING attempt, will be used in a study that tests its healing efficacy for Black folks experiencing elevated stress and anxiety, then be published on major streaming platforms....