Mindful August 2022

It’s been difficult for me to think about happiness lately. I’ve been in a spiral of grief and sadness with a detour into COVID and a concussion thrown in for kicks. My fuse is short, my tongue is sharp, my moods are stormy. But even still, I receive glimmers of love that remind me who I am at my core. For example, just last night I lost my temper with my two precocious daughters (who were doing everything except what I was kindly asking them to do). After I cooled down, and apologized, my daughter said, “I get it. We all have big emotions sometimes, Mom.” I nearly cried. And, when I was with my dad yesterday who’s ill and not long for this world, I told him: “You’re in…

Where do you find happiness? For me, happiness is found in nature. Nothing is better than walking in nature and appreciating the energy, sounds, smells, beauty, and feeling of everything. Karen Emmons On a mindful walk with my dog, taking nature in, observing, noticing! Jennifer Squires I find happiness when I tap into my inner little girl. She finds delight in the simplest things; this transforms the entire world into a place of beauty! Coach Cherise When I wake up without pain, see my lovely daughters, see my dog after work, and when my husband hugs me inthismomentbox Do you believe money can buy happiness Is happiness a state of mind? Does happiness depend on external circumstances? What made you happy today? Passing the day with my husband. I don’t…

GIVING MORE When the United Nations published research showing that women in Latin American countries experience high levels of income inequality, Mexico-born Spanish teacher Claudia Jones recognized how she could help empower women to close the gap. In August 2020, she launched Mindfulness, Opportunities, Resilience, and Equity (MORE) Latinoámerica, an online educational platform by and for Spanish-speaking women. Initially, her friends doubted the project’s feasibility, but today it has helped more 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…

PET FRIENDLY When John Burley was hospitalized for pneumonia, he had no one to take care of his 12-year-old dog, Boomer. When his nurse Jennifer Smith found out the dog had been taken to the pound, she inquired at nearby shelters and adopted Boomer so Burley could rest easy knowing that the dog was in good care. TACO ‘BOUT IT Early in the pandemic, youth speaker Sam Demma heard his friends were having a hard time so he sent an order of their favorite food: tacos. The grateful friends paid it forward by designing a logo that says “Be Someone’s Taco,” which Demma now uses to encourage kids to act with kindness—to be other people’s tacos—and the trend has taken off. INSTA-HERO Instacart worker Jessica Higgs saved lives when she…

GUILT FREE? Researchers at Yale and the University of Washington explored how a person’s state of mind while meditating, and their social context, might affect their behavior toward others. In one study, individuals were asked to recall and write about a situation when they felt guilty. Half were then asked to mindfully focus on their breath; others were told to let their minds wander. Afterwards, they completed a survey assessing their feelings of guilt, then were asked to imagine they’d been given $100 and estimate how much they’d donate to the person they had wronged. Those who’d done the mindfulness exercise reported less remorse and, on average, were willing to donate nearly 20% less than those who’d let their minds wander. In another experiment, participants were divided into three groups.…

Q I’m an absolute beginner. Is there an optimal state of mind to be in to meditate? What about time of day? A Welcome! The best time to meditate is when you can allow yourself to safely and fully engage in the moment. There is no special place or state of mind to be in, nor an exact way to practice. Mindfulness meditation meets you where you are. The mere thought of taking a minute to slow down is your cue to start. You can try allowing your daily routines to become your meditation practice. 1 When you get out of bed, notice your surroundings, feel your feet on the floor or your hands on your thighs, and be present with yourself. Feel the sun, notice the experience of water on…