So how do we reset ourselves and our dysregulated nervous systems when we’re emotionally overwhelmed? When I’m talking to kids or teens, I often use this reset button metaphor as well. And where is the human reset button? It’s hidden at the bottom of our lungs, so we have to breathe deeply and slowly enough to press it and restart our nervous systems. The Breath is Your Superpower You can probably tell when you, or the people around you, are dysregulated emotionally just by listening to the rate and rhythm of the breath....

Underlying this problem is a linear economic model that mindlessly extracts, processes, uses and then discards resources. When a forest or field is used up, the economic machine moves on and leaves garbage behind. On a planet of finite resources, this is not an effective long-term strategy. The issue of whether to measure well-being in a system that undermines ecological viability is an exercise of rearranging the Titanic’s deck chairs....

There’s nothing inherently bad or good about technology. Technology just is. How we relate to it and what we do with it are what matters. But our phones are not designed to be neutral, they are created to keep us hooked with texting, shopping, and sharing data with marketers, corporations, and even government agencies…oh, and our friends and family, too. I’ve heard it said that a thinking mind can be our most powerful servant or our most terrible master....

2) THE POWER OF OFF The Mindful Way to Stay Sane in a Virtual World Nancy Colier (Sounds True) Having a universal communicator, satellite- driven locator, and encyclopedia of all knowledge everpresent at our fingertips is making us a bit crazy, and, according to Colier, a bit unkind. As a therapist she’s seen how a “techedout mind” can make you unhappy. Her stories—warm, sad, and funny—make you examine what “convenience” really means....

Of course, there are always factors beyond our control: horrible bosses, difficult coworkers, poorly organized workplaces. But in a slow economy, leaving may not always be an option. “I think many people are feeling a lack of choice right now,” says Jeremy Hunter, who teaches in the MBA program at the Peter F. Drucker School of Management in Claremont, California. “Add to that, we’re living with the fallout of years of downsizing....

More: Scientific Mindfulness Baywood Publishing Company (Abstract)

That’s why psychiatrist Judson Brewer’s new book Unwinding Anxiety is so refreshing. Yes, it has some tips—but they don’t come until much later in the book. In fact, his whole point is that tips alone won’t help those of us who struggle with anxiety. Brewer shows how anxiety exists inside the habits that make up our everyday lives, and habits are sticky. They won’t go away just because we tell ourselves to breathe—because, as crazy as it sounds when talking about anxiety, our brain is attracted to these habits because they create some sense of reward....

I will go to incredible lengths to curate the feelings I’m exposed to. I have ended relationships rather than face my own failings within them. I have blamed others or the world rather than confront something I’ve done wrong. Most often, I will imprison myself and everyone around me in my tunnel vision, diminishing everything that is not the goal with a wave of dismissal in an effort to avoid my deepest fear: shame, stemming from my deeply rooted belief that I’m not good enough....

My life changed four years ago when I adopted a Yellow Lab mix named Mac. He immediately filled my house with unbiased love and an overwhelming sense of caring. He has allowed me to grow in ways I never knew I could. Mac has been an incredible teacher of patience, unbridled fun, and authenticity. I know the importance of my own mental and emotional well-being, but like most of us, I often put my needs behind those I serve....

When we make these everyday food choices, many of us think first of our physical health and appearance. But there’s another factor we may want to consider in picking foods: their impact on our mental health. A growing body of research is discovering that food doesn’t just affect our waistline but also our moods, emotions, and even longer-term conditions like depression. Which makes sense, after all. Our brains are physical entities, running on the energy that we put into our bodies, affected by shifts in our hormones, blood sugar levels, and many other biological processes....

Rhonda Magee: Thank you very much Barry, it’s good to be with you. Barry Boyce: You and I met for the first time, quite a few years ago now, it must be, at a retreat in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in a beautiful forest. I recall we had an opportunity to take a couple of walks around there and get to know each other, and I got a good chance to begin to know you....

Dan Harris: The New Ambassadors of Mindfulness from Mindful Direct. From Wall Street to Google and General Mills, mindfulness meditation has been picked up as a way to improve one’s health but also tackle career-minded goals. Writing for the New Yorker, Jacob Rubin suggests one of the largest indications of mindfulness’ growth is that two books—Arianna Huffington’s Thrive and the “Nightline” co-anchor Dan Harris’s 10% Happier—have remained on the Times best-seller list for months....

The path to me seems like it’s about transforming obstacles into doorways, which is good for us who have had a lot of obstacles—lots of doorways. And I really do think those doorways lead us home. I think there’s a hundred ways to practice compassion on a daily basis whether it’s pain in the body, the people in our lives, or our world that seems at war with itself sometimes....

We are deeply grateful for your readership, companionship, and caring attention as we work to bring authentic mindfulness practices to as many people as possible. This year was difficult for some of you. Our hearts go out to you all, and our thoughts will be with you in the coming year. Along with the challenges, the pandemic has offered us all a chance to contemplate the value of being still....

You are a tiny pool between rocks. You overflow, find your way to join others who like you are moving, moving. You are the air at the surface of the water, the joining of substantial and insubstantial, the union of under and over, weight and not-weight. You are the riffle, the rapid, the tiny waterfall who turns water to air and air to water. You are the mist who settles on the soil....

A lot of us avoid meditation because it doesn’t seem accessible. But meditation doesn’t need to be an exotic retreat—although some of our neighbors are quite literally retreating to exotic places this time of year to partake in various mindfulness and yoga programs. Additionally, you don’t need a zafu (a round meditation cushion) and mindfulness apps are optional. The creators of the How to Adult Youtube channel crafted a five-minute primer on how to meditate....

Myth No. 1: Raging Hormones Make You Crazy Yes, hormones do increase during this period, but they don’t determine the ins and outs of adolescence—that’s for another piece of anatomy. “We now know that what adolescents experience is primarily the result of changes in the development of the brain,” Siegel writes: Knowing we’re dealing with developmental and neurological changes—and not a kid hopped up on hormones—undercuts one of the most powerful myths we hold about the teen years....

2. Guided Meditation: Notice How Sadness, Loneliness, and Anger Show Up in Your Body from Sharon Salzberg When we try to ignore or push away strong emotions, they have a tendency to hang around uninvited in our tense shoulders, shallow breathing, and tight jaws. With this practice from Sharon Salzberg, we gently turn toward uncomfortable sensations and feelings. This may seem counterintuitive at first, but when we bring nonjudgmental awareness to difficult emo- tions, we can see how they arise, change, and go....