This video from Greater Good Science Center offers a simple practice to help foster gratitude in children: Four Ways to Foster Gratitude in Children Grateful kids and teens are less likely to experience depression or jealousy, and more likely to do well in school, according to research from the American Psychological Association. Researchers have identified four parts of gratitude that help children practice gratefulness using the “notice-think-feel-do” questions: Kids may not always be able to answer all of these questions, but practicing them will reinforce the habit of expressing gratitude and appreciation over time....

The doctors found Geoff had acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rare and very serious blood cancer. The cancer cells were crowding out the normal blood cells, putting him at risk for severe infections, bleeding, and sapping his life energy. Geoff was given six hours to leave the hospital to prepare for a prolonged hospital admission. Facing six hours that could be his last out in the world, he went to his apartment to get music, gym pants, and his pillow....

The article delves into current research, mainly a comprehensive study from Justus Liebig-University in Geissen, Germany and Harvard Medical School, demonstrating the various neurological and conceptual processes underlying mindfulness. From The Atlantic: The report suggests that mindfulness meditation operates through a combination of several distinct mechanisms: attention regulation, body awareness, emotion regulation, and a change in perspective on the self. Each component is believed to assist us in various aspects of our lives, and when functioning together, the cumulative process claims to lend an enhanced capacity for “self-regulation”—the ability to control our own “thought, affect, behavior, or attention” (The loss of which has been cited as the cause of much psychological distress and suffering)....

The difference between the grandmother’s and the boy’s subjective experiences of the identical physical experience offers a tantalizing clue to something that explorers of the human condition, from novelists to psychologists, have puzzled over: why our sense of the passage of time speeds up as we age. You’ve almost certainly experienced it. How can I have been working here for 10 years, when it feels like employee orientation was only yesterday?...

Now, where is the fun in that? Yes, it’s a good idea to pay attention and to savor what’s happening in the moment, because any time you’re actually present for what you’re experiencing, life is that much richer. It is helpful, then, to have a few reminders about how to be in the moment while you’re travelling (see tips below), but one of the most mindful things you can do when you’re travelling is to let go—to give up any big sense of purpose, the kind of thing that probably drives you in your regular life....

I continue to get emails about it from people all over the world, commenting on my ideas and sharing theirs. Many adults tell me that they didn’t realize their brains worked in the ways I described – and that having this new understanding has really helped them. One of the ideas that has resonated with people is that naming emotions and brain functions can help us understand the brain better....

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. I’m Stephanie Domet. I’m the managing editor at Mindful magazine and Mindful.org. And this is Real Mindful. Ed Adams: I remember going to the Philadelphia Zoo and watching a lion just pacing back and forth in this small cage and in how it evoked in me a sense of dread or anger or something....

A: Sometimes I think the women of the world should file a class-action lawsuit against Mr. Walt Disney. Why? Because even 78 years after the movie Snow White hit the big screen, generations of little girls weaned on princess movies still truly believe someday their prince will come. And any guy who isn’t everything she ever dreamed of gets booted straight into the frog-pond. And don’t fool yourself into thinking the soulmate myth is only held by little girls....

It’s my pleasure to bring you this interview with Amy Saltzman, M.D., a holistic physician in Northern California who has been integrating mindfulness with children and teens for many years. Her current research has found significant impacts on children in the areas of attention, anxiety, and compassion. I’ll be watching Amy speak at Bridging the Hearts and Minds of Youth Conference in San Diego in February. Today, Amy talks to us about what the still quiet place is for children and teenagers, the impact of her research with children, and a little practice and advice to help us parents, caregivers and teachers along the way....

How much of our parenting time do we spend taking children to ball games, dropping them off, and then waiting for the action to begin? And then once the so-called action begins, how much actually happens? The answers, at least until children get older, are “an awful lot” and “not much.” It’s all fun and games and bonding together, except when it isn’t. Knowing that, can we fully support our children while also taking a moment for ourselves?...

The solitude and stress of working in a disaster zone can leave relief workers depressed, disillusioned and burned out. Seeing the toll aid work was having on some of her colleagues, Alessandra Pigni founded Mindfulness for NGOs to bring mindfulness-based stress reduction to humanitarian aid workers. The organization is aiming to keep aid workers sane and functioning in difficult situations. It’s offering mindfulness workshops and online seminars for workers in the field....

Impact After a recent session, one of the JDC officers told me about one young man who had participated in the class and continued using mindfulness meditation every day, especially to get to sleep at night. On several occasions, the officer noticed this youth beginning to become angry and found that he had an effective intervention—he told he young man, “Just use the meditation method that helps you get to sleep....

Mindfulness teaches us to keep coming back to the present moment as we experience it in the body, like the breath in the mindfulness of breathing meditation. It’s good to remember that the body is always in the present moment. In a recent yoga class I attended, the teacher, when she moved us through the poses, used the term “today’s body.” She didn’t’ say your body or even the body, but today’s body....

In a recent study, researchers in Washington and New Mexico compared three interventions: A traditional relapse prevention program, a 12-step program, and an intervention that integrates mindfulness practices and relapse prevention. Twelve months later, the program that integrated mindfulness practices and relapse prevention was the most successful in sustaining a reduction in drug use and heavy drinking. “In the mindfulness group, the practices that are learned are generalized to everything,” study author Sarah Bowen told Reuters....

All of this, in an effort to keep us from relying on email and to allow us to focus. Visit the No Email Day Facebook page and manifesto for more information. And for lots more about how to get along better both with and without technology, see these previous Mindful articles: You’ve Got Mail – Sylvia Boorstein on how email can actually be transformational Tech Support for the Hopelessly Connected and Is it Time to Unplug?...

The article is based around a recent study showing that three in 10 healthcare professionals have considered quitting due to the burnout, fear, and frustration that comes with working on the frontlines. About six in 10 say the increased stress of COVID-19 has impacted their mental health. Many report feeling expendable and undersupported by their hospital. They go to work for their shift and return home fearing that they’re bringing the virus with them....

Back in 2009, Brewer conducted a study that suggested mindfulness approaches to smoking cessation might be beneficial. In the four-week study, Brewer included participants with an average age of 46 who smoked a pack a day. Of the 88 participants, some used mindfulness training and the others used the American Lung Association’s Freedom From Smoking program. At the end of four weeks, 36 percent of the mindfulness training group had quit smoking, versus 15 percent of the Freedom From Smoking group....

“A” is for Awareness The first step is to be aware. Ask yourself: How am I feeling right now? Simply answering this question names the experience and creates a jumping-off point for a workable relationship with the emotion. Labeling an emotional state organizes the chaos in the mind so you can begin to notice and work with it more effectively. Cultivating awareness helps form the habit of acknowledging when an emotion has taken center stage, and naming the emotion provides space to work more skillfully with its drama....