First, find a comfortable position. We can begin just by settling into a comfortable posture, whatever that posture is for us right now.Now, tune into body sensations. Check in with your body. What does your body feel in this moment — are you holding tension in any places? Perhaps checking in with the feet and other touch points: the knees, the hips, our hands, our shoulders. Even this breath, breathing itself....
This animation from The London School of Life revisits phone addiction, suggesting that when we’re constantly attached to our phones, we constantly find ways to detach from other things. From the narrator, philosopher Alain de Botton: “Addiction sounds horrible,” de Botton continues, “but it’s a hard name for a normal inclination: a habit of running away from the joys and terrors of self-knowledge.” Here, de Botton explores how we use our phones to avoid “a frank encounter with our own minds” and how that impacts us:...
If you haven’t used something in three years, where do you put it? 55% donate it to charity, while 22% let it petrify at the bottom of a closet somewhere. 6% chuck it immediately— no need for drawn-out goodbyes! And 7% insist there’s a use for everything! Everyone else sells their stuff or puts it in storage. Who does most of the cleaning in your household? • “A little bit of everyone, but it usually falls on my husband because he is a neat freak....
What’s your ideal school type? 58% think public school is the best option. Private and independent schools tie in second place at 17% apiece. Almost no one likes the school of hard knocks (2%). What was your favorite subject in school? Only 3% chose gym. Because no one likes gym. Just kidding! Exercise is important. Should meditation be taught in school? 95% say yes it should. We agree. How do you keep in touch with old classmates?...
Have you ever experienced tech withdrawal? What is your favorite thing about personal technology? “Education.”“Information at my fingertips.”“Ability to keep in touch with family and friends overseas.”“Google Maps.”“Reading good books and long articles.”“Distraction.”“Podcasts.”“It helps my creativity—I make music and art on it.”“Turning it off.”“Solves problems.”“Saving time.”“Social media.”“The ease of getting things done.”“Constant availability.”“The ability to send a thought now.” Do you consider yourself to be: A tech native 10%Pretty competent with technology 72%Befuddled by all these gadgets!...
However, there is a difference between a transitory sense of distrust (the “red flag” that alerts us when something doesn’t feel right) and the scientific definition of cynicism. Research considers cynicism to be a worldview, made up of a set of beliefs about human nature and people’s motivations—namely, that other people can’t be trusted and everyone is out for themselves. Cynical Condition This kind of Oscar the Grouch–like cynicism has been linked to a long list of physical and mental health issues....
Appreciative joy is our innate ability to delight in what’s good in the present moment, independent of our circumstances or success. It’s available to us when we’re not pushing away unpleasant experiences, chasing after pleasant ones, or running in circles (because of doubt or restlessness). This kind of joy activates the parasympathetic system (rest and digest functions) that protect us from burnout and overwhelm, despite challenging situations. Opening Up to Sustainable Joy I first became aware of the importance of appreciative joy over the course of a difficult conversation with a person dear to me (we’ll call him Ashok)....
Take mattresses, for example. The Luongo family slept on wool ones, and every spring they sent for the materassai to come air them out. This meant opening them, removing and fluffing up every piece of wool inside, then putting it all back together again. It took the whole day and so the materassai brought their lunch along: a flask of wine, a loaf of bread, a cold fritata di pasta, another flask that held a simple condimentao per insalata (salad dressing) and an empty salad bowl....
It turns out, “falling in love” and “building a relationship” activate completely different parts of the brain, and they don’t always work together well. The rush we get when we first fall in love activates regions of the brain linked with drive, craving, and obsession, and shuts down those responsible for decision-making and planning ahead, says Helen Fisher, PhD, biological anthropologist and Senior Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute. “People…can fall madly in love with somebody who’s married, who lives on the other side of the planet, who comes from a different religion, and somehow they’ll say to themselves: ‘We’ll work it out,’” she says....
So, how did this happen? Scientists have an explanation for how we slide down the slippery slope of dishonesty. According to a recent Nature Neuroscience study by Tali Sharot and her team at University College London, the more we lie for our own benefit, the more desensitized we become to the negative emotions associated with lying, and the easier it becomes to tell even bigger lies. Why Do People Lie?...
In Melbourne, we heard about when kindness makes us happier—but also when it doesn’t. We learned how the elderly can be meaningfully engaged in helping others. We discovered many concrete ways to boost our sense of meaning in life, and how cultural differences influence the pursuit of happiness. Researchers also addressed modern obstacles to happiness—from the way we’re hooked on technology to a widespread sense of disconnection and loneliness. However, there were several insights presented at the World Congress that stood out to me as new or surprising....
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Swamped by distressing thoughts and feelings, I felt there must be a way to manage this inner turmoil. The question was, how? Normally, I would use my mind to solve problems in life—but now my mind was the problem in life. Something different was needed, but I’d no real idea what that something might be. I found myself embarking on a self-help odyssey. In psychotherapy, I explored why my mind was how it was, and gained useful insights into some habitual patterns and tendencies....
Like our train of thoughts, we want to notice the train, acknowledge it, or wave to it, and then let it go. The trains might have exciting things on them like toys, games, candy, or birthday cake, but you still want to stay in the station. Breathe in, breathe out, meet this moment as if it were a friend. So, let’s begin. A Breathing Meditation for Children Stay in the station....
Andy Puddicome, founder of the online meditation app and program Headspace, kicked off the campaign last week with a meditation session in New York. In April, anyone who visits Westin Well-being web site will be able to download seven free 10-minute, meditation sessions designed by Puddicombe for both business and leisure travelers. To learn more about the Westin’s initaitive, read the New York Times article. Looking for a little meditation yourself?...
Thomas Merton said, “Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it.” We are in an age where there is no solitude at all and if there were any we’d grab for our phones to make sure there wasn’t any. Whether you’re in the camp who believes it or not, the pace at which we live our lives and the amount of things we try to pay attention to at once are major recipes for stress, anxiety, depression, and addictive behaviors....
Tori Lund: Hey Iman, I know we have been talking about this topic a lot lately. Why should folks consider meditating as one way to engage in anti-racism work? Iman Gibson: Hey Tori! Short Answer: Meditation plays a HUGE role. Here’s the TLDR:We all experience tiny moments of enlightenment. I had one recently while meditating during a DIY at-home silent retreat. I really tapped into our shared consciousness as humans versus our typically perceived identity as individual selves....
Curiosity. It has “its own reason for existing,” physicist Albert Einstein wrote, and is, according to 18th-century English writer Samuel Johnson, “the first passion and the last.” We all know what killed the cat, so perhaps 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes was right when he called curiosity “the lust of the mind”—since in a lustful state we (and perhaps felines?) toss self-preservation to the winds. But considering how common curiosity is, scientists who study the mind are only beginning to fathom where it comes from, what it’s good for, and what happens when we have a lot or not much of it....
