Mindful and compassionate speaking isn’t just an ethical choice—mindful speech is simply more effective. What’s more, these guidelines are useful online, where anonymity and impulsivity can bring out less than the best in humanity. Practicing mindful speech may prove challenging, but the rewards of effective and positive communication that causes less harm to everyone are well worth it. While mindfulness can’t prevent every interpersonal oops, nor mend every political rift, we can follow a few guidelines for more mindful speech both online and off....

As with all emotion, the practice of meditation can stabilize us enough in the midst of fear to help us see more clearly—to distinguish a false threat from a real threat that needs to be acted upon. The type of fear meditation can have the most effect on is the fear (and fears) that we continually generate in our own minds, the product of our rich imagination and our desire to control everything, rather than be tossed around in the risky and stormy world....

Fake it ’til you make it Having one of those days that makes you want to gouge your eyes out? Try faking a laugh. You’ll be surprised how quickly it can turn into the real thing. If you do it with someone else, it will be infectious. Join (or start) a laughter yoga club Yes, laughter yoga is a thing. No, there are no downward dogs or chaturangas here—but there are quality chuckles and good times to be had....

The reason for this suddenly becomes so obvious that it’s like the stun-gun effect of the Dallas air-conditioning, or the wake-up slap of heat when you walk back outside. A click of insight reminds me that life is a Rube Goldberg machine, a game of Mousetrap. A rolling marble travels through a tilted chute, plops down a stairway, and lands in a pool of water, which splashes up, tipping a match, which strikes and lights a candle....

The mobile experience typically takes place inside the shiny, bullet-shaped “Mindstream,” however, in the face of COVID-19, meditating inside of a closed vehicle was out of the question. Owner Traci Shepherd shifted gears, moving MeditationWorks guided meditations online and offering the mobile meditation session outside with the help of speakers, an FM radio broadcast, and chairs arranged six feet apart. Pup Rings a Bell Often, our beloved pets help us to be mindful—but Nyxie the Labrador might have gone too far....

Michael Gervais – On Mindfulness and Performance Psychology from Mindful Direct. Most coaches impose standards from the outside. Pete Carroll, head coach of the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks, asks his players to go inside—to find the confidence to be the best they can be. He coaches the whole person, and it changes their view of the game, and of life. Michael Gervais, a high performance psychologist working with the Seattle Seahawks, talks to Mindful about the relationship between mindfulness and training for peak performance as well as Carroll’s approach to coaching the whole person....

They explore the direct line between mindfulness and manners and explore how we can wake up to the moment. Stephanie Domet: Barry, what made you want to write about rudeness? Barry Boyce: Well as a matter of fact, I have been to several conferences and mindfulness retreats, and I started to notice that the level of impoliteness was as much in evidence there as it was in society at large, so I started to think, what’s wrong with this picture?...

Ted’s 14-year-old son would demand that he be able to play his Xbox whenever he wished. Even simple requests to brush his teeth could escalate quickly into “fuck yous” and slammed doors (and almost-crushed fingers). “I can’t even count how many times he’s told me he hates me,” Ted said, his head bowed, and tears filling his eyes. Ted spent countless hours replaying mental movies of his exchanges with his son, and his parental self always loomed dark and weak on the screen of his mind....

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal reported on mindfulness making its way into the legal field. Well-seasoned lawyers are using mindfulness to try to stop the seemingly inevitable burnout and fatigue that comes with such a demanding career. And law schools are teaching classes dedicated to meditation in order to help create more mindful, compassionate, and healthy lawyers. The Wall Street Journal portrays law and mindfulness as the newest odd couple....

Indeed, the prevalence of depression during pregnancy has spearheaded studies into the effects of mindfulness yoga on the mental health of pregnant women. A recent study has turned up substantial results. Maria Muzik, M.D., lead author of the study, told The Times of India: “Our work provides promising first evidence that mindfulness yoga may be an effective alternative to pharmaceutical treatment for pregnant woman showing signs of depression.” Muzik is assistant professor of psychiatry and assistant research scientist at the Center for Human Growth and Development....

What the Research Says About Mindfulness and Forgiveness Scientists at Radboud University in the Netherlands conducted several studies to see if mindfulness, or paying attention on purpose with an open and accepting attitude, is related to our ability to forgive. In the first study, 160 men and women, 72 of whom reported having a regular meditation practice, completed an online survey about their meditation practice, mindfulness, and their tendency to forgive....

A project by and for nurses, The Nurse Antigone presents dramatic readings of Sophocles’ Antigone on Zoom—featuring professional actors and a chorus of frontline nurses—to help frame discussions about the challenges faced by nurses before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Mindful’s managing editor Stephanie Domet connected with the organizers, and we’re pleased to bring you that conversation on Real Mindful. Stephanie Domet: Thank you both so much for joining me today for this conversation....

Does this scenario sound familiar? It’s one that’s repeated frequently by many who repeatedly try without success to eat more healthfully. What they don’t realize is that they’re missing a key ingredient in healthy eating. It’s self-compassion. And it has the power to make or break your success at eating well. What is Self-Compassion? According to researcher Kristin Neff, PhD, self-compassion consists of three main components: Research shows the more understanding and forgiving we are of ourselves, the more motivated we are to do what we need to take care of ourselves, including eating well....

This study investigated the influences of two meditative techniques on the two main ingredients of creativity: divergent and convergent styles of thinking. Cognitive psychologist Lorenza Colzato and her fellow researchers at Leiden University specifically looked at Open Monitoring (OM) and Focused Attention (FA) meditation for the study. In OM meditation, the individual is receptive to all the thoughts and sensations experienced without focusing attention on any particular concept or object....

“Mom, I’m bored.” My oldest brother, helping our dad in our vegetable garden, asked after about five minutes, “Dad, do you still have to keep working after you’re bored?” My dad found this particularly amusing, since he was an HR manager who dealt with adults struggling with the same question. Boredom was for me a state truly to be loathed, brought on by sitting in classes that dragged on with teachers who droned on....

In the UK, psychologists have positioned mindfulness within the cognitive-behavioral tradition, and there are similarities—like CBT, mindfulness offers a practical set of skills that can help people relate more effectively to their thoughts and feelings. But whereas CBT is primarily a change-focused approach, mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy show us how to let go of struggling for change—their magic lies in enabling us making peace with who and where we are, right now, in this moment....

While spicy chilies get their heat from capsaicin, which creates a burning sensation when it touches your tongue, allyl isothiocyanate is released as a vapor. The burn from horseradish is therefore as much about the sensation in your nasal passages as on your tongue. Too much horseradish can leave you hurting, but in the right proportion it can add a spark to savory dishes like roast beef and egg salad, or to a Bloody Mary....

Kate: In your book, Mindfulness and the Art of Drawing, you argue that everyone can draw. Is that really true? And if yes, why do you think so few people do it? Wendy Ann: I know it’s true. All the time people come into my classes saying, “I can’t draw.” A few hours later they emerge with a big sheaf of drawings under their arm. It’s very satisfying to see so many people disproving this notion that they can’t draw on such a regular basis!...

In response to stress, many people today are turning to meditation or mindfulness apps (myself included). But not all mindfulness practice is equally effective for combatting stress, a new study suggests. It’s possible that some of our practices may be missing a vital ingredient: acceptance. In this study, researchers randomly assigned 137 stressed adults of various ages and ethnicities to one of three programs: an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course, where they learned to mindfully pay attention to their present-moment experiences in an accepting, nonjudgmental way; an MBSR course without instructions on acceptance; or no course....