Mindful February 2017

Are you more susceptible to sadness in the day or at night? 53% DAY 47% NIGHT How do you react to sadness? In order of most to least common: • Lethargy – 60% • Crying – 53% • Hopelessness – 50% • Grumpiness – 36% • Body tenses up – 31% • Loss of appetite – 17% • Uncontrollable laughter – 15% • Stomachache – 12%  Do you ever feel sad for no reason? 50% SAY THEY RARELY FEEL SAD for no reason, and 39% feel inexplicable sadness somewhat often. 8% say they are never sad for no reason, while 3% are all the time. Do you believe life is inherently sad? 29% YES  71% NO What’s one thing you won’t do because it makes you too sad? 23% SAY…

barry@mindful.org Our must-read story this issue: “A Time to Be Sad” shows us why we need sadness in our lives, and how our darkest emotion can connect us to our innermost selves. On page 44. “We are not enemies, but friends…Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection,” Abraham Lincoln said. “The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” When he spoke these words in his first inaugural, Lincoln was stunningly optimistic. He assumed office with only 40% of the vote after an election that saw him ridiculed as much as admired. Only weeks before, he had to sneak into Washington to skirt an assassination plot. Within weeks, an immensely bloody…

After 15 years of bringing yoga and mindfulness to Baltimore schools, the Holistic Life Foundation—founded by brothers Ali and Atman Smith and Andy Gonzalez—has garnered nationwide attention, on CBS, CNN, Huffington Post, and others, for its Mindful Moment Room at Robert W. Coleman Elementary. Instead of detention, children take a moment tobreathe and assess what’s going on in body and mind. Suspensions dropped to zero. The publicity helps, Gonzalez says, because “We’re interested in inspiring systemic change in education, here in Baltimore, and beyond.” To help with that effort, HLF’s workforce development initiative just increased the staff from 30 to 37. Atman Smith says, “We can offertraining and meaningful work to people with few options. We have one ex-con who has turned his life around and is now a role…

Researchers took 60 trips on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disney World in Florida, and came to the clear conclusion that the sharp turns and quick drops, at speeds up to 35 miles per hour, help pass kidney stones. MIT researchers have turned spinach into a bomb detector. Yes, you read that right. Sensors embedded in the plant’s leaves can detect in groundwater chemicals used in explosives, and relay information to a special mobile camera. While working with the homeless in St. Louis, Jake Austin learned that a hot shower can make you feel like a new person. So he has retrofitted an old truck with two shower stalls and a generator to heat water, and hooks it up to fire hydrants around the city so the homeless can…

You and your significant other are charging through your morning routine, exchanging last-minute chit-chat: “I’ll make the vet appointment.” “Are we out of sugar already?!” “I have to meet with that intern and might be late tonight.” “I love that dress on you.” “Did you notice the car is making that funny noise again?” If you’re like most people, only a tiny fraction of such an exchange will stay with you. According to neuropsychologists’ understanding of memory, the mundane experiences of our lives vanish into the mists of time unless they trigger one of three mental reactions: They strike an emotional chord (“are we out of sugar” sounds to you like the accusatory “didn’t you put it on the shopping list when you finished it?!”),they connect to your sense of…

research cited here posits the existence of accurate memories that come to light when triggered by subsequent, and somehow related, events. The biggest news about how malleable memory can be emerged in the early ’80s, when a group of therapeutic practices that fall under the category of Recovered Memory Therapy gained popularity. They use hypnosis, sedatives, and dialogue to uncover “repressed memories,” usually of sexual abuse or satanic ritual. Research cited in a series of successful lawsuits in the early ’90s discredited these techniques. Professional standards now proscribe their use, and the False Memory Syndrome Foundation exists to support people whose lives are potentially disrupted by the planting of false, traumatic memories in therapeutic settings.…