Michelle Maldonado “I love the question: What does happiness mean? But at the same time, there is a quality of happiness that feels very fleeting to me. So when I think about happiness and I feel what that means to me, there is an element that’s a little bit more elevated: That is joy. If you look up happiness, sometimes you’ll see it can range from contentment to this incredible joy....
“Caring practice!” exclaimed one of the children—and they all sat in a circle offering support and well wishes. The children immediately calmed and they continued with their lesson. This is what’s possible when kids learn to be kind at school. Various mindfulness programs have been developed for adults, but we and our colleagues at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, wanted to develop a curriculum for kids....
Suzanne’s house, by contrast, has been so consumed by her decades of hoarding that city authorities threatened to condemn it. Superficially, the two women seem to be polar opposites. Look below the surface, however, and they are not so different. And their stories highlight a mystery that has long stymied students of the mind and which recent science is shedding light on: What are the roots of compulsions, and how do they differ from behavioral addictions, which we typically associate with activities like excessive drinking, gambling, or drug abuse?...
Her work aims to give people a more full understanding of the effects of oppression and injustice by talking about how it manifests in our bodies and minds, in addition to societal systems. She says that because trauma affects our physiology, psychology, mental health, and relationships, understanding that the pain permeates so many parts of ourselves helps us heal. “I think what’s so beautiful is when you integrate science and mindfulness and social justice, suddenly people understand that they have an incredible amount of power to enact positive change on the system,” King says....
“For too many people, their workplace is an interruption from their time off, a form of paid suffering,” says Jon Ramer, founder of Compassion Games, a global organization dedicated to creating compassionate thinking and compassionate action in everyday life. “If more workplaces built their culture on a foundation of compassion, people would be more satisfied and dignified at work. They would see a connection between their deepest human values and the way they’re treating others—and are being treated—at work....
Mindfulness is not obscure or exotic. It’s familiar to us because it’s what we already do, how we already are. It takes many shapes and goes by many names. In his basketball days, former senator Bill Bradley called it a sense of where you are, and for many athletes today it’s being in the zone. For caregivers, it’s attention and empathy. For soldiers and first responders, it’s situational awareness. For business leaders, it might be presence or flow....
Problems like these can pop up in every business, and every business commonly has the same basic response: Gather the necessary resources and fix it. Now—or, better yet, yesterday. But what if it’s not your supply chain that’s breaking down? What if it’s your workforce? According to an October 2021 survey by Joblist, covering workers from a wide variety of industries, it very well could be your workforce. Workers report seeking a better work–life balance, better pay and benefits, and changing their priorities in the wake of the pandemic, leading to nearly three-quarters (73%) of workers saying that they are thinking about quitting their jobs....
Help your baby feel relaxed and secure with a regular and enjoyable nighttime routine—for example, a bath followed by a feed, then put your baby to bed. Encourage healthy sleeping habits by putting your baby to bed on his back in a crib when tired but before being fully asleep. Say goodnight and leave the room. Don’t rock the baby to sleep all the time. Babies have to learn to fall asleep unaided....
Mr. Mulligan was not then, and is not now, a new-age spiritual seeker. He is a dyed-in-the-wool New England educator who, surprisingly, became a California cowboy. Picture a balding lacrosse preppy in khakis and a cowboy hat. I dutifully sat with my TM teacher and tried to focus on the mantra he gave me which, truthfully, I never really understood. (Was I supposed to be repeating “eye-ing” silently to myself, or “ah-sing”?...
Many studies have linked yoga with better sleep. Harvard Medical School sleep and circadian health expert, professor Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, notes that experimental trials have also shown meditative breathing can be a powerful sleep aid. Khalsa has researched how meditative breathing can help with sleep, insomnia specifically, and he found that it increased sleep time and decreased wake time. The study had its limitations. It used a particular breathing pattern: inhaling for 4 counts, holding for 16, and exhaling for 2, but Khalsa says that he can make a larger recommendation....
In this video, Elisha Goldstein outlines seven simple things we can do in our everyday lives to cope with the stress and anxiety that arises in challenging times. 7 Ways to Ease Your Anxious Mind 1. Slow down When you slow your physical movements, you are also allowing your mind to slow down. You can do this by taking your time with everyday tasks like walking, washing the dishes, or showering....
In this last blog of 2017, I’d like to leave you with some of both. I’d like to emphasize the “some” because the two lists are way too long to detail here, and for everyone one that I include I’m sure I’ll leave another two out. Our Gratitude First and foremost, I’m grateful for the indomitable mindful spirit in us all—the intelligence that seeks insight and awareness, that yearns for a more inclusive way to see and a more healthy way to be—both alone and in relationship....
title: “All In The Same Boat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-09” author: “Mickey Michell” In this 3-minute video, founder Crane Stookey talks about what restoring The Dorothea means to the Sea School—that is, that more generations of kids will learn how to sail, yes, but more importantly how to engage with the world around them and with each other and build generosity and trust. “Dorothea, I’m so glad you’re back,” Stookey says in the video....
If you’re getting less than six hours of sleep per night, then you’re cognitively impaired. So how much sleep does the average American get? Less than seven hours of sleep per night, according to a survey from the National Geographic Channel. 40% of Americans are sleep deprived. Sleepless in America explores the science of sleep, and the repercussions of not getting enough of it—from health issues to car accidents (about 100,000 collisions are caused by fatigue each year) and even major oil spills....
However, when we look for bells and whistles as indications of true happiness we’re misunderstanding a very important principle: Setting a high bar of intense happiness works against true well-being. Although I’m all for enjoying peak experiences when they arise, measuring that ideal against a moderate level of okayness can easily render this moment as “not good enough.” We find what we look for. Science calls this phenomenon the brain’s “confirmation bias....
We’re all being called to tap into our deepest wells of resilience and meet this moment with skill and compassion. But how do we do that when there’s so much vying for our attention all at once? From the national trauma of racial injustice, to climate change, to cultural fragmentation, social unrest, and targeted, purposeful trust erosion at the highest levels of leadership—not to mention a global pandemic. Our brains are overloaded....
She borrows a definition from leadership and well-being coach Charles Feltman who says that “trust is choosing to make something important to you vulnerable to the actions of someone else.” Trust isn’t built in grand gestures, Brown says, but in the small moments that people treat what is important to you with care. BRAVING: An Acronym for Building Trust To talk about trust, Brown uses the acronym BRAVING which stands for: boundaries, reliability, accountability, the vault, integrity, non-judgment, and generosity....
Why the focus on compassion? Every one of the major religions has formulated its own version of the Golden Rule. That’s the essence of faith and spirituality. And it seemed to me that it wasn’t just a nice idea; it was an urgent global imperative. Unless we learn to ensure that all people, no matter where they live, are treated the way we would like to be treated, the world isn’t going to be a viable place....
