Veterans Affairs estimates that hundreds of thousands of servicemen and servicewoman who return home develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). And in 2007, the VA reported that no drug should be considered effective for PTSD. It seems there is no easy answer. But there are alternatives. Leah Weiss, a meditation expert at Stanford University, leads vets through compassion cultivation training. The aim is to shift their thinking from others being a potential threat to others being “just like me....

But I was surprised to see my friend Tony Schwartz dissenting (at least a bit) in a New York Times blog “More Mindfulness, Less Meditation.” Tony’s sense of the working world ranks first class, but this time I think he got the facts wrong, in two ways. To be sure, he nods to the well-established benefits of meditation: it lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol, enhances the immune response, lifts mood, helps us recover more quickly from stress and sharpens focus....

In fact, being mean—spreading rumors, excluding others, trying to make someone feel bad, or even just indulging in mean thoughts—truly is like drinking your own poison, according to Richard Ryan, professor of clinical and social psychology at the University of Rochester. Giving in to meanness generally just leads to feelings of guilt, shame, and social isolation. Then why do it? Why would we intentionally or casually choose to act in a way that not only hurts others, but ultimately ourselves?...

“[Clothing] is so close to us it becomes part of our identity,” says behavioral psychologist Dr. Carolyn Mair, author of The Psychology of Fashion and founder of psychology.fashion. Mair pioneered the world’s first master’s degrees in psychology for fashion and is part of a relatively small group of people who have carved out careers at the intersection of fashion, design, economics, and psychology. “What we wear is a reflection of how we want to be seen,” she says, although, “that isn’t the same as how we are seen, because that depends on the viewer....

Twenty Two. It’s a number many people associate with veterans these days—That’s because it’s the number of veterans who commit suicide every day according to a study done by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The suicide fact sheet on the VA website says that going through trauma or suffering from PTSD makes people more likely to commit suicide. Just last week, a study just came out in the journal Depression and Anxiety suggesting that mindfulness practice actually changes the way the brain responds to traumatic memories....

I first met Dr. Amishi Jha back in 2010. I was a brigade commander in Hawaii, and we were on a deployment rollercoaster like everyone else, year on, year off since 2001. We were just trying to do something different when we came back from deployment because we were just falling to pieces. And you could see it in the soldiers and families when we came back, we weren’t reintegrating, and no matter how good our training was on what not to do we seemed to do the exact opposite, and it just happened faster the more times we were deployed....

“Mommy! Can we get some scary Halloween stuff for the house?” My seven-year-old daughter, Opal, treated the exhibition of terror and faux-death as if it were as inviting as a row of jolly elves at Christmas time. It put her in the spirit. The next ten minutes consisted of talking Opal down from a sign that said “beware” in what looked like the dripping blood of someone who was actively dying, to something less disturbing, like, say, a spider made of oversized pipe-cleaners....

than 15,000 people learn new skills, from optimizing a LinkedIn profile to practicing mindfulness to developing leadership. “Personally, if I had not had an education, it would have been very difficult for me to overcome the adversities in my life,” Jones told USA Today. Get Drawn In Van Gogh Museum visitors in Amsterdam can experience a mindfulness session surrounded by a collection of works united for the first time in an exhibit called Van Gogh and the Olive Groves....

The carousel is a telling image of the broader picture in terms of the fallout from the storm. We go around in circles for most of the day, fulfilling necessary tasks and generally being productive…but what happens when the carousel stops turning? (and floods?). Here at Mindful, we write a lot about the meaning of slowing down life, and intentionally stopping to take in what is happening around us. The interruption caused by Hurricane Sandy, however, provides a very mother-nature-imposed version of being mindful....

This is a video excerpt featuring Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. from his video lecture entitled “Mindfulness, Healing and Transformation: The Pain and the Promise of Befriending the Full Catastrophe”. For details on the full video and to order, please visit the CMI Education Institute. Transcript: The brain is a very complicated apparatus and the mind, whatever it’s relationship to the brain is, even more amazing. How about we get to know it intimately, underneath talk....

Here is a 10-second practice that I challenge you to practice a few times a day and realize its power to help you focus on what matters moment-to-moment. Inevitably, as you practice and repeat this, you’ll become more of a PRO at life. The Be a PRO Practice P – Pause – This is the initial step that helps break the auto-pilot stress cycle. R – Relax your body – When we’re stressed, our muscles get tight which sends signals back to the brain to fight, flee or freeze, making thoughts more distracted and chaotic....

Dacher Keltner: Can 36 questions really make two people fall in love? Can 36 questions help couples stay in love? If the science of happiness has taught us anything, it’s that good relationships are essential to feeling satisfied with your life. And of course, romantic relationships might matter more than any other. So how do you find lasting love? You’ll get all kinds of advice from magazines and talk shows, from your therapist and your best friends....

1) COPPER BEECH Brandon Nappi, Executive Director of Copper Beech, offers “Introduction to Mindfulness,” a guided meditation. copperbeechinstitute.org 2) INSIGHT MEDITATION SOCIETY Sharon Salzberg, who often teaches at the Insight Meditation Society, offers a “Guided Lovingkindness Meditation” — Sending loving-kindess to people we feel neutral towards as well as those we have difficult feelings towards. dharma.org 3) SPIRIT ROCK In this 20-minute guided meditation, Spirit Rock teacher Dana DePalma invites you to release tension and embrace the present moment as a friend....

Radical Acceptance By Tara Brach“If we’re at war with ourselves, we can’t feel love and connection with our world,” Brach says. The DC-based instructor looks at how mindfulness and heartfulness can dissolve what she calls “the trance of unworthiness” and reveal the loving awareness that is our essence. Find The Space to Lead By Janice MarturanoWhat is mindful leadership? Marturano, founder of the Institute for Mindful Leadership, shows what it is, why it’s critically important, and how it can be cultivated....

A Guided Meditation for Connecting to Your Body read more Victoria Dawson November 7, 2021 Jane Affleck October 19, 2021 Sebene Selassie November 5, 2020

Consider the following questions as a guide, asking yourself: What is it that I truly need?What is it that I need to hear from others?What would I like whispered in my ear every single day, something that would make me realize that I needed to hear that? See if these can be formulated into phrases or wishes for yourself. Phrases that are clear, direct, warm, and kind. Phrases that don’t provoke any argument in the mind, and are accepted freely by your open heart....

Okay, maybe its effect wasn’t quite that profound, but it did trigger a change in how I look at—and really see—what’s right in front of me. I was 15 and walking to school along my usual route, head down, not really paying attention to my surroundings. It was raining and I was grumpy, preoccupied with typical teenage thoughts: Does he like me? Did I study hard enough for the test?...

There were far more presentations than I could possibly report on here. I wish I could have heard them all. One notable presentation was by the keynote speaker, Zindel Segal, one of the founders of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy from the University of Toronto. He told wonderful stories about his path from 1993 to the present, with some particularly funny vignettes from the early years when people weren’t so sure about the work....