Mindfulness helps us cultivate qualities of attention so that we can more fully greet and be available for what unfolds in our lives. And yet, when we come face to face with pivotal financial moments—a depleted checkbook, an investment decision, asking for a loan, coveting something we cannot afford, or riding the stock market rollercoaster—mindful attitudes we embody so seamlessly in other moments can disappear. At these times, we can be prone to unconscious emotions and behaviors that lead to suffering....

You haven’t heard much from me for a while, but the Initiative continues to grow and move forward in many ways. Just last week I returned home from my second trip to Broward County FL, where much great work is underway to support the whole community following the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. This trip included a day long training session led by Jon Kabat-Zinn and Sharon Salzberg (who, by the way, I introduced to the 500 people attending as the “James Brown and Aretha Franklin of the mindfulness world,” to rousing laughter!...

Executive function includes cognitive abilities that act as the brain’s manager. ADHD is essentially a consequence of poor executive function, not inattention or impulsiveness. That means it undermines skills such as time management, decision making, organization, and planning. For people with ADHD all these management-level mental abilities can be difficult. The ADHD Executive Chef While research shows eating issues common around ADHD, if you are an adult with ADHD or have a child with it, all this might come as a surprise—for good reason....

The NYU website notes that this study is the first of its kind to demonstrate how mindfulness can be used in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy “to protect attentional functioning in high-risk incarcerated youth.” From the NYU statement: The researchers followed 267 incarcerated males, ages 16 to 18, over a four-month period. They found that participation in an intervention that combined cognitive behavioral therapy with mindfulness training (or “CBT/MT”), called Power Source, had a protective effect on youths’ attentional capacity....

One Moment at a Time: Vidyamala Burch offers mindfulness practices for coping with experiences of pain and suffering. Suffering is Optional: Physical pain is unavoidable, but meditation practice can ease the mental suffering that often accompanies it. Susan Smalley and Diana Winston teach us how. The Healing Power of Mindfulness: Barry Boyce convenes a distinguished panel to discuss the health benefits of mindfulness—what it does, how to do it, why it works....

Yes, yoga and pranayama [yogic breathing] brought me to the doorstep of meditation. They prepared me to sit quietly and go inward. Yes, but in some ways yoga is meditation, because it focuses the mind. The first step of meditation is concentration—a one-pointedness. That means in some ways there is no separation between meditation and yoga. I’m so happy there are people like Thich Nhat Hanh who emphasize walking meditation....

We now know, says Mortlock, that spending a lot of time in solitary contemplative practice “is not necessarily a guarantee that one learns something, especially as it pertains to understanding what helps me relate to you.” We can’t always access the insights we need through our solo practice. The interpersonal dimension of workplaces is “a huge and under-studied stressor,” says Mortlock. “The absence of interpersonal conflict makes everything else doable....

Each ritual was moving in its own way. I loved seeing photos of Richard jumping his horse in a competition forty years ago, looking like a young, handsome version of the Richard I knew at the end of his life. I loved that the young couple being married had living grandparents who could be present at the ceremony. I was touched by the choice of music—the soloist sang “At Last”—at the wedding of my middle-aged friends....

Then we were lucky enough to be invited to a private talk by the famous pediatrician and author Berry Brazelton. Toward the end of his talk he said, “You know, it may just be that the enormous field of childhood parenting books has done parents a disservice. It has sent them the message that they need to look to experts to find answers, when oftentimes the answers lie within. They always have....

Ruane’s comments from the Telegraph: We’ve literally got a captive audience there with prisoners. They’re in there 24 hours a day, what did they do within those 24 hours? Do they learn the skills that mindfulness brings? The skills of gratitude, appreciation, of balance—personal balance and equanimity—which will help them be better prisoners, help them be less violent towards prison guards and help them to be better citizens when they move out into society....

Tingly, and sometimes a little sharp, not all bubbly waters are made alike. Some have distinct mineral flavors, while others are all about the bubbles. The size of the bubbles affects the intensity of the sparkling sensation, with smaller bubbles creating a smoother texture and larger bubbles creating a stronger texture. The Mindful Kitchen: Try This Mindful Drinking Practice Savor the sensations of sparkling water: read more Mindful Staff November 12, 2019...

As we go through life, we face many joys and discoveries and many problems and difficulties. We have continual ups and downs. Over time, most of us go through economic upturns and downturns, health ups and downs, relationship ups and downs—all sorts of ups and downs. As we are tossed about, we are gradually toughened and refined, like rocks tumbled in a stream. The more obstacles we encounter and manage to survive and overcome, the stronger we become....

1. The Real Me This picture book, written by a six-year-old from Blakely, Georgia, is about accepting yourself, flaws and all. Bri’Yonna Sealy wrote it because she wanted “all the little girls in the world,” as the book’s dedication has it, to know that they’re beautiful. Additionally, the first-grader wanted to help people living without homes, so a portion of the proceeds from the book will go to her local church’s food pantry—and guests at her book launch were asked to bring non-perishable goods for donation....

Now, for this final installment of the “Self-Care in Politically Charged Times” Series, we’re going to start looking at self-care as a societal movement that we must champion. Take a moment to imagine the power of a self-care movement—a wave of kind care connecting communities, healing our bodies and minds, sustaining our energy and momentum, and helping us all live healthier, happier, and more balanced lives. That’s pretty awesome. So how do we make self-care a cornerstone practice, bringing it into our social groups, homes, and offices?...

Not touching your face is one of those things that is definitely easier said than done. We do it a lot, including when we just can’t help face-palming. There are lots of good suggestions for limiting face-touching on the internet. Some common suggestions include “being mindful” or “taking a short pause.” Also, easier said than done. In that regard, a couple of small tips from the world of meditation may help....

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been catching up on streaming videos from Creating A Mindful Society, the Mindful.org-sponsored event which took place in New York last month. Two segments stood out for me. The first was Richie Davidson’s brilliant keynote on the neuroscience of meditation—a clear and cogent outline of what happens in our brains as we train in presence and kindness. The second was a discussion of why, twenty years after publication of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s seminal book, Full Catastrophe Living, and with so much evidence pointing towards the benefits, mindfulness practice hasn’t yet become a part of most people’s lives....

True, once in a rare while, a super tight deadline or a touch of procrastination may mean that you feel the need to stay up until the wee hours to get stuff done. But when you do, you probably won’t do your best work—and you will definitely end up paying the price the next day. Here’s six surprising ways that pulling an all-nighter could end up doing more harm than good—and why you should take steps to avoid them at all costs....