In this case, not knowing who you are doesn’t mean that you forgot your name or home address, but rather that we lose touch with the big-picture aspects of identity. “Firstly, we don’t have a stable sense of what we are worth,” says author and philosopher Alain de Botton. “And secondly, we don’t have a secure hold on our own values or judgments.” When we don’t grasp our own worth, values, or judgments, others’ negative opinions often have more influence than they should (however inaccurate they are)....

Silence Heals Being hospitalized is stressful enough, but the constant beeping, buzzing, ringing of hospital monitors—an average of one every 11 minutes, according to a study—makes the experience downright nerve-wracking. And the effect extends to hospital staff: “Alarm fatigue” is so commonplace that doctors and nurses often stop noticing the sounds, diminishing their effectiveness. After her own hospitalization, ambient musician Yoko K. Sen was determined to make hospitals more peaceful. Working with Johns Hopkins Sibley Innovation Hub, she’s experimenting with adding music, aromatherapy, and moving projections to patient rooms and “tranquility” areas for hospital staff....

For the experiment, the running group of rats jogged in their cages on wheels, while the weight lifters climbed walls with weights attached to their tails. The high intensity training group were put on treadmills and sprinted at varying intervals. The result? Wheel-bound rats demonstrated the highest levels of neurogenesis, while their high-intensity training counterparts showed minimal changes and the weight trainers showed none. The study authors suggest that “in order to promote [adult hippocampal neurogenesis] maximally, exercise should be aerobic and sustained....

4 Ways to Sleep Through the Night 1. Clear Your Mind Before Bed Unattended thoughts can percolate and “hum right below the surface” Maldonado says, exhausting our energy and making us even more tired. Regardless of what you do or think about all day long, if you take a few minutes to meditate before you go to bed, you’re allowing your mind to let stuff out. Maybe instead of meditating, you’d rather put pen to paper and journal about your thoughts....

I had no choice but to open up to the kaleidoscope of possibilities inherent in every moment. And it was one heck of a ride. I started working in the arts as a producer, creator, and performer. And I finally knew who I was. Or at least, I thought I knew who I was, and then that changed, too, as everything does. Nothing sticks around. Nothing stays the same. How many versions of us come and go over the days, the months, the years?...

Several studies show this need serves at least two important purposes. First, it helps us believe that we can shape outcomes and events to our liking. That is, the more in control we feel, the more efficacious we feel about achieving the outcomes we desire, and this sense of competence boosts well-being. Control also feels good because it makes us believe that we aren’t under someone else’s control. In one study of an old-age home, researchers gave the members of one group control over which plant to grow in their room and which movies to watch....

Repeating these phrases feels good in the moment, but they can also have long-term effects on our brains that stick with us after we’ve finished meditating. Daniel Goleman, author of Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence and co-author of Altered Traits, explains how this type of meditation can impact our mind and our outlook “right from the get go,” in this video from BigThink: The Power of Empathy Goleman says loving-kindness practices strengthen empathic concern: our ability to care about another person and want to help them....

10 Mindfulness Tips for Every Day Three Simple Ways to Bring Your Attention Back to the Breath Incorporate Mindfulness in Your Work Day Unwind in the Evening Adapted from The Mindfulness Experience: 8 Strategies to Live Life Now by Keith W. Fiveson. Copyright © 2021 by Keith Fiveson. Published by Work Mindfulness Institute. Reprinted with permission. READ MORE Mindful Staff February 11, 2021 Caren Osten Gerszberg September 29, 2018 Mindful Staff December 3, 2018

To meet whatever might come up this holiday season, we’ve gathered a few guided meditations to help you cultivate balance and equanimity in the midst of the holiday rush. 3 Guided Meditations to Help You Breathe Through the Holiday Season 1. Let Your Practice Guide You Beyond Crisis Mode When life feels chaotic, mindfulness can provide a safe space within ourselves for us to feel at home in. Georgina Miranda shares a variation on a loving-kindness meditation to feel more grounded and at ease, no matter your external circumstances....

For Americans facing the COVID-19 lockdown and economic instability through the spring and summer, that became a difficult question to ask—and to answer. Things were already pretty bad. And then the presidential election began in earnest. A new survey from the American Psychological Association finds that this election is a significant source of stress for more than two-thirds of American adults—up from half during the 2016 presidential election. According to a new report based on three surveys by the nonpartisan organization More in Common, “About 7 in 10 Americans are worried about the risk of widespread violence breaking out across the country after election results are announced....

Karen (not her real name), a program officer for a nonprofit organization, had an experience like this when she first tried to convince her boss, Maria, to let her work from home three afternoons per week. She had thought carefully about how to make the most persuasive argument. She was prepared with a rationale that addressed her own needs as well as her employer’s, details of how she would manage communication while physically absent, and buy-in from colleagues....

A 12-Minute Meditation to Cultivate Embodied Gratitude READ MORE Shelly Tygielski September 28, 2021 Steven Hickman November 24, 2022 Linda Graham April 8, 2020

Take a moment to pause with all of the news coming at us, especially if you are someone who seeks to move in the direction of the suffering, to work, and to alleviate it, through actions and engagements in the world. This gentle practice can provide support to you in remaining grounded as you open up to information that may cause you pain. A Gentle Practice for Opening Up to Painful Emotions Follow this practice and other meditations guided by Rhonda Magee on her SoundCloud....

Mindfulness teaches us that the same idea can apply to our minds as well. If we’re in some kind of emotional funk, or if the solution to a problem eludes us, we can learn how to unplug our mind—even for just a minute—and watch how many issues have disappeared when we plug back in. Five Steps to Unplug Your Mind Stop. The first step to unplugging your mind is to stop everything you’re doing....

Instead, he found himself in his doctor’s office—25 pounds overweight, physically exhausted, sleep-deprived and with a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. This news only aggravated the anxiety and disconnect he had been feeling for months. Steve was burned out. It’s called “burnout” for good reason—at the cellular level, our bodies are literally inflamed. This doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a chronic condition that’s a direct response to our 24/7 “always on” work cultures—which, combined with a climate of economic uncertainty, make for a perfect storm in our physiology....

Barry, I feel that boredom is such a rich topic for a writer and for a meditator, and you start by writing about those long afternoons of childhood. And I feel like I can summon one of those up right now, forty-five years later. “Mom, I’m bored.” I know why boredom and thinking about it is important to me. But why was boredom on your agenda to write about? Barry Boyce: Well, the Point of View is really about looking at the intersection between life and meditation and mindfulness practice....

I too have started a mindfulness meditation practice and have found it to be helpful in my everyday life. But, as a science writer, I still have to wonder: Is all of the hype around mindfulness running ahead of the science? What does the research really say about mindfulness? To answer these questions, look no further than Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body, a new book by journalist Daniel Goleman and prominent neuroscientist Richard Davidson....

We know that meditation and mindfulness are consistently linked to reductions in stress, anxiety and psychological distress. But, despite this emerging research, we still know little about the brain mechanisms and processes associated with these positive effects. Prior neuroimaging studies point to increased activity in a part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a structure involved in emotional regulation and cognitive control, as one potential avenue for inquiry....