Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Mindful

This is the fourteenth time I’ve had the pleasure of writing a letter to you all. The very first time was for the Winter 2020 issue, during the height of the pandemic when we weren’t sure what the future might hold. I remember writing these words: “There is always compassionate space available to you, in every moment. Space to pause. Space to breathe. Space to reclaim your attention. To communicate with wisdom and skill. To forgive yourself and others. And to remember that joy is your birthright.” Joy is your birthright! Yes! And…sometimes, especially when the world seems unfair or downright painful, the fact that joy is always an option makes me quite angry. What right does joy have to show up now?, my grumpiest self mutters. If I’m paying…

CLEAN SCENE When Liam Wildish moved to Maidstone, England, he had to build a new customer base from scratch for his window-washing business Clean Scene. After six weeks of successful networking thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations and positive feedback from locals, he began washing the road signs to thank the community and make it safer for residents. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER A deaf couple was happily surprised when they arrived for their reservation at Tatsu Dallas, a high-end sushi restaurant, to find that the head chef had learned ASL to accommodate them. A local food writer and sister to one of the guests explained on Twitter that the restaurant is known for its intimate tasting menu experience where much of the menu is explained vocally by the chef. OUTSIDE THE BOX To…

Q During conversations, I often zone out and don’t really hear what the other person is saying. How can I be more attentive to the person in front of me? A As a practicing cardiologist my most valuable tool is my ability to maintain mindful awareness throughout each interaction. If I miss an important detail someone is sharing, it could mean the difference between disconnection or trust, and between illness or health. Life is no different. When we practice giving others our full attention, we strengthen bonds and make new discoveries. Here are three practices for staying grounded, present, and connected in conversation: 1 Begin with intention. Recall your intentions for any interaction. These might be to alleviate someone’s suffering or fear, to give them space to share what’s most…

Modern life seems to offer endless moments of stress. Perhaps you wake up in the morning to the sound of your phone’s alarm blaring, sending a hit of adrenaline through your system. Then, you might get another hit as you scroll through your news feed and learn about the latest global or local disaster. These days, it can feel as if there are threats everywhere, real or imagined, and the body and mind react accordingly in any number of ways. Your heart may speed up or you may feel sweaty, hyper-focused, or simply avoid whatever happens to be unpleasant in the moment. We may have thought that technology would make our lives easier. But instead we are inundated with packets of data, much of it irrelevant. Facebook tells us what…

Your busy, burdened life might feel like it’s not offering many opportunities for joy. Try this Nourishing and Depleting Activities list, a tool from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, to see how you might be standing in the way of your own more joyful day. Write down a list of your everyday activities: - Rolling out of bed - Looking at yourself in the mirror - Showering—with or without singing - Checking social media and the morning’s headlines - Cold pizza and coffee or ? for breakfast - Conversations, work details, bouncing off coworkers Beside each activity put an “N” if it Nourishes or energizes you, and put a “D” if it Drains or Depletes you. What do you notice about a day filled with Depleting events versus Nourishing ones? We may…

Women are shaping the future of leadership and transforming the workplace. Compared to low representation in the 1970s, women now outnumber men in the workforce and hold 41% of managerial roles. “We’ve seen improvements,” says Caitlin Sockbeson, Assistant Professor of Management at the Davis College of Business at Jacksonville University. But when Sockbeson examines trends in upper levels of management, “it’s not looking quite as rosy.” Women remain vastly underrepresented at the highest corporate levels, to say nothing of the disparities in other industries, like the trades. And the percentage of women of color in executive leadership roles is even lower than that of white women. This isn’t bad news solely for women. It’s bad for all of us. Recent research has indicated that women may hold certain advantages over…

Wisdom arises out of our mind’s capacity to be aware—which is not the same as thinking. Wisdom allows us to know what is happening in each moment and respond appropriately, with our words, with our actions, with our thoughts. Sometimes responding appropriately means not doing anything at all, simply meeting each moment as it comes. Wisdom is a moment-to-moment awareness of what’s arising internally and externally. It begins with developing concentration, which allows us to let go of our thoughts and our plans and be in this moment. In this practice, we’ll begin with concentration, and then we’ll move to what is traditionally called mindfulness meditation, where we simply notice what’s arising without clinging or pushing away. And then finally, just for two minutes, we’ll let go of all the…

1 Start by finding a comfortable seat. Start to feel your breath coming into your body. Place your right hand on your belly, feeling your breath there, and put your left hand on your heart, feeling your heartbeat. Honor these two functions that keep us in harmony. Gently release your hands to your knees. 2 Begin to lengthen your inhale and exhale. Imagine the exhale removing all that we don’t need from our body and mind, the inhale embracing everything that nourishes us. What can you embrace in your mind that lets you know you’re safe? And on the exhale, what can you release that does not serve your better good? 3 Breathe into your heart center. Relax your jaw, your tongue, the space between your eyebrows. We have everything…

When we lengthen the exhale, we’re better able to find our power and invite a sense of relaxation to high intensity movement. Longer exhales cause the vagus nerve to send a signal to your brain, activating the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) and easing the sympathetic nervous system (fight, flight, or freeze). The technique I share below is one that I practice when engaging in strenuous physical activity and training. This practice has been instrumental in helping me find my flow. With a longer exhale, I find I can do hard things over longer stretches of time and build my overall endurance in my movement practices, whether that be hitting laps on the stairs, running, hiking, climbing, or a high intensity workout. HOW TO BREATHE INTO CHALLENGING MOVEMENT 1…

PERMISSION TO SPEAK How to Change What Power Sounds Like, Starting with You Samara Bay • Crown “To speak with the full wingspan of your voice requires some technical know-how as well as a certain flex of the permission muscle,” writes Samara Bay in this book that delivers plenty of each, and more besides. Bay is a speech and dialect coach who’s worked with actors, politicians, business leaders, and others who are looking for ways to fully discover and inhabit their voice. Permission to Speak goes beyond the easy “use your voice” platitudes that power hashtag-girl-boss memes, and instead explores what it might mean to show up fully, in the way that we want to, and to find the joy in saying what we came to say. The book never…

TEN PERCENT HAPPIER WITH DAN HARRIS Episode: Kelly Boys This candid conversation between host Dan Harris and Kelly Boys offers insight on the work Boys does in the mindfulness space, often merging mindfulness meditation and non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) rooted in the practice of yoga nidra. Boys, who designed resilience programs for the United Nations, Google, and San Quentin State Prison, also reveals how to reap the benefits of NSDR with only a few moments of practice. For one, she recommends bringing awareness to the entire backside of your body to welcome a sense of rest, evoking a feeling that “someone’s got my back or I’ve got my back or life has my back,” Boys says. – KR MINDFULNESS FOR THE CULTURE Episode: “Leaning Into Community” In this brief, energizing…

ANXIETY TAMER Mindfulness meditation may reduce anxiety symptoms as effectively as a common medication, research out of Georgetown Medical Center finds. In the study, 276 adults diagnosed with an anxiety disorder but not yet treated were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness group or a medication group. Mindfulness group participants attended an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course that required 45 minutes of daily meditation and one 2.5-hour class per week. Those in the medication group received 10 to 20 mg of escitalopram, a generic form of Lexapro commonly used to treat anxiety and depression. 208 individuals (102 in the mindfulness group, 106 in the medication group) completed the study. After eight weeks, both groups reported a comparable decline in anxiety symptoms. While further studies are needed, researchers hope that this…

Daily Affirmations for All Charm Words—an award-winning daily affirmations podcast for children of color—is expanding its reach with the launch of the first-ever Spanish daily affirmations podcast for children. “Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, and Latine is the fastest growing group in the US. So, we knew we had to launch Charm Words Español to reach more children and parents,” says Wanda Reynolds, ABF Creative’s Chief Content Officer, in a press release. The new show is based on its English counterpart, offering daily, “psychologist-approved” affirmations to help kids navigate big emotions and build the foundations for self-worth and self-care. Care Fairs are the New Career Fairs While in the throes of studying for final exams, Penn State University students had the opportunity to drop by…

As you have very likely experienced through mindfulness practice, our ordinary state is one of mind wandering—a state in which our attention drifts between the present moment and thoughts about past and future. When we practice presence, we begin regularly shifting our attention back to the present moment whenever our mind wanders. Turning attention into engagement is similar. Think of it as “directed presence” or as cultivating presence in the midst of the activities we engage in, whether it’s brainstorming with colleagues, working out, catching up with our partner, or putting our kids to bed. Psychologists have a name for this state of full engagement. They refer to it as “flow.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, one of the first psychologists to carry out research on this experience, talks about it in his…

There is consensus among those who study organizational psychology that compassion at work matters. Workplaces are not devoid of emotion, nor are they places where we can check our personal baggage at the door. When managers and colleagues learn to meet difficult emotions with empathy and openness, they create space for compassion. And compassion breeds trust. Compassion builds workplaces that are psychologically safe, which even Google has rated as the number one predictor of a high performing team. “Because then we feel like we can be our authentic selves—without criticism, without reprimand and shaming, and without exclusion,” says Carley Hauck. “And it’s the catalyst for trust.” Research shows that creating a climate where managers trust their employees (and vice versa) can reduce errors, and motivates employees to ask tough questions…

A few months ago, my partner and I were moving across town from one apartment to another. A gaggle of wonderful friends had volunteered to help us on moving day. As we carried box after cardboard box down several flights of stairs, I found myself feeling more light-hearted than I had in weeks. The inner static of worrying, planning, and overthinking the move had faded as I shifted my attention toward lifting properly, ascending and descending the steps with care, and physically coordinating with others as we packed up the van. Later I realized that the day’s rather unusual physical activities had reminded me how to tune in to movement in a way I hadn’t done in a long time. My mind and body were finally in harmony, in motion…

With so many wants and needs in our lives, the need to move our bodies more is often the ball we drop. Yet, until very recently, movement was not a separate “ball” for humans to hold; movement and community were woven into the tasks that made up daily life. If you’re struggling to find time for movement, see if you can adjust tasks you are already doing to a dynamic version that increases your physical activity—no juggling required. Try it: Love time with your partner? Swap a dinner out for a hiking date. If friends (or art or wine!) are your passion, fill a pack with art supplies and a bottle of your favorite vino (or kombucha, or hot tea) and trek through a park for a DIY sip-and-paint with…

Exploring how it feels to move mindfully outdoors can be a deeply awe-inspiring practice. Even when we’re sitting still, we can sense the movement of nature around us, full of moment-to-moment reminders of the continuous state of growth and life surrounding us. Many of us struggle with climate anxiety and grief. When we move with nature, remembering that as human beings we’re not separate from our environment, we often discover small ways in which we can refocus that anxious energy into connection and gratitude. These, after all, are at the heart of our collective desire to respect and protect our planet. mindful.org/movement…

Movement often contributes to energy, connection, and optimism, but it can equally be a part of our restorative practice. Slow, conscious movements can be a doorway to deeper calm, ease, and the mental and physical rest that so often get edged out of our busy schedules. While it may be counterproductive to do an intense workout close to bedtime, some studies suggest that engaging in mindful movement as you finish your day may result in a significantly improved quality of sleep. mindful.org/movement…

3 PRACTICES FOR MIND-BODY CONNECTION 1 A Daily Mindful Walking Practice from Mark Bertin Often, our journeys from point A to point B are times when we’re tuned out from the world around us. Maybe we listen to a podcast or get lost in our thoughts. With walking meditation, these journeys can become opportunities to gather our awareness. “Whether moving between floors of a building, on a city street, or in the woods, it is an opportunity to guide ourselves out of the distracted autopilot we live in throughout so much of our day,” says Mark Bertin. 2 A Gentle Practice to Wind Down Before Bed from Sara Ivanhoe Gentle movement and intentional breathing can be powerful ways to let go of stress. In this calming yoga practice we stretch,…

I was driving through Ohio with a colleague when the GPS informed us that we were facing an hour-long delay on the interstate. About 25 miles down the road, we would become ensnarled in bumper-to-bumper traffic, projected to crawl along at an average speed of a few miles an hour for an hour or more. At that point, I thought to call a retired firefighter I know who has worked throughout the entire state and knows it intimately to ask for his advice. He rattled off several smaller roads and a series of towns we could pass through on an alternate route to our destination, one that was not offered by any of our high-tech phone apps. If we went this way, he said, it would probably take even longer,…

Thanks to its updated Merriam-Webster dictionary, the classic language-lover’s game Scrabble just got kinder. The new edition adds many contemporary terms (like adulting, skeezy, and embiggen) while omitting hundreds of racial, ethnic, and otherwise offensive words from play. We don’t usually call nonhuman animals mindless, but we’re making an exception for the five wild turkeys that have become too habituated to humans in Woburn, MA. The top turkey, Kevin, likes to “amp up” the female turkeys so they chase people and try to pop their car tires, one resident told The Guardian. In a win for climate responsibility and protecting residents’ health, Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to ban new oil and gas wells in the city. The plan also commits to closing the over 700 active wells within…

I am a big laugher. I’ve been told that even in a room of a thousand people, you can always hear me laughing over the crowd. For me, laughter is the ultimate form of embodied joy. And by “embodied,” I mean that my whole body is involved when I laugh. On the inside, it’s like a bubbling fountain of joy spilling out all over the place. But what is joy, anyway? Life can feel grim, but if you decide to follow the sound of the joy-fountain, you will find joy showing up in all kinds of places: kittens playfully bouncing around, the first day of parole, kindness, cuddling up to a big old oak tree, or even in nothingness. Unexpectedly, I have felt embodied joy after sitting in a silent…

For some, flow comes almost naturally. Mozart started playing concerts at age six. Picasso painted his first masterpiece at eight. People like Mozart and Picasso don’t have to consciously train the skill of engagement. This experience of total absorption in the task at hand becomes a way of life early on. However, for most of us, dropping into this state of flow requires a bit more practice and reflection. The first step is to identify activities that offer the potential for flow. Here are three points to help you identify which activities, either at work or at home, may be conducive to a flow state for you: 1 Challenge Remember that flow doesn’t arise when things are easy. It’s actually the opposite. Flow arises when we push our skills and…

Movement is a valuable ally in bringing more calm, focus, and clarity to our state of mind. Gentle movement helps us tune in to the daily routines that we might otherwise go through on autopilot. This not only refreshes our perspective, it refills our cup with gratitude for what, and who, is present with us. Cultivating a spirit of playfulness and appreciation along the way lets us connect more easily with the people we care about, and it grounds and calms our nervous system. mindful.org/movement…

There are countless ways we can shift our world for the better—whether it’s volunteering weekly in our communities, engaging someone in a compassionate conversation, joining an activist group, or creating art that envisions what positive change might look like and energizes us to get there. Showing up with our passion and care is strong fuel for joy and purpose. Yet outward actions are not the whole story here. We need to care for ourselves, too: Healing and replenishing ourselves is part of the healing we wish for others. So let your body and your breath support you in flowing, breathing, and deepening your roots so that we can all continue showing up with revolutionary love. mindful.org/movement…