escape your environment to find a sense of calm. We can access serenity any time in our own minds. "People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills," Aurelius wrote. "There is nowhere that a man can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind ... So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself." Taking a "mental retreat" through a meditation practice -- or simply by bringing more mindfulness into your day -- has been linked to mental health benefits. Meditation has been shown to improve memory and attention, lower stress levels, enhance emotional well-being... posted on Mar 29 2014 (106,052 reads)

they tell themselves and being more honest about their fears and foibles. Can you explain how rumbling, which I think sounds like a positive concept, is distinct from rumination, which can be a sign of depression or other problems? BB: That’s a great question. Rumbling is really about reality-checking—having some critical awareness around the stories we make up, fact-finding, and getting curious around what we are feeling. Unlike ruminating, rumbling requires a degree of mindfulness. I think of ruminating as not being mindful, because you are over-identifying with something or ignoring stuff. But there is some goal-orientation in rumbling to find the truth of the stor... posted on Feb 25 2016 (20,772 reads)

them to meet the stresses of the world with presence, self-compassion, and openness. We offer practices for adults as well as kids, since your own well-being is the best prescription to passing it along to younger people. Many of our practices are rooted in science. For example, we suggest helping kids to set intentions for happiness because paying attention to the good things that happen in life rather than focusing only on the bad can help rewire their brains for happiness. We teach mindfulness meditation because mindfulness has been shown to decrease stress and increase happiness. And we teach the practice of compassion because caring for others is key t... posted on Oct 22 2016 (21,164 reads)

many ways, 2016 was a banner year for books related to our themes of compassion, kindness, empathy, happiness, and mindfulness. Judging from the number of books to arrive at our office, the science of a meaningful life is hitting its full stride, with more and more people recognizing how to apply new insights to our daily lives. Yet, while the number of books was encouraging, many of them seemed to repeat old themes and research, without offering much new in the way of insight. That’s why many of our favorite books of 2016 do something a little bit extra: They take our science to a new level, looking at how schools, organizations, and society at large can appl... posted on Dec 23 2016 (29,747 reads)

of people who have been able to overcome seemingly insurmountable differences to find common ground. Key to establishing connections among people and within communities are improving communication, focusing on common passions, and forgiving each other. Communication To find common ground with another person, we need to truly listen to each other, to  lay our weapons down, and to actively try to see things from another point of view.  Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan thinks mindfulness can help:  "It’s hard to be nice to somebody if you’re stressed out of your mind – when I’m short with someone or I’m not listening to them the... posted on Jul 2 2017 (9,241 reads)

who have learned how to focus their attention on the present moment are good athletes, good listeners, good thinkers, and good workers at anything they do because this gathering of the attention connects mind, heart and body in a balanced, harmonious state of awareness, of readiness to act or to be present. As Jon Kabat-Zinn has pointed out, “in Asian languages, the word for ‘mind’ and the word for ‘heart’ are the same…You could think of mindfulness as wise and affectionate attention.” The Third Step on this new path is to uncover our habitual ways of thinking and acting, which often stand in the way of happiness. Charles Duh... posted on Aug 29 2017 (19,977 reads)

an outlet at every seat, and free wi-fi was available in each cabin. When did we begin prioritizing plugging-in over free meals and extra leg room, I wondered? As I made my way through the coastal beaches, parks, and gardens, I was driven by alternating desires to capture the beauty that lay before me through the lens of my camera or to simply witness it, undocumented, relying only on my five senses and mental snapshots. As an avid photographer, I couldn’t resist the former, but as a mindfulness practitioner I was captivated by the latter. I knew I couldn’t digitize the salty ocean air or warm autumn sun. I couldn’t recreate the tall meadow grasses, that gave way to... posted on Oct 11 2017 (13,400 reads)

to Insights at the Edge, produced by Sounds True. My name is Tami Simon, I’m the founder of Sounds True. I’d love to take a moment to introduce you to the new Sounds True foundation. The Sounds True Foundation is dedicated to creating a wiser and kinder world by making transformational education widely available. We want everyone to have access to transformational tools such as mindfulness, emotional awareness, and self-compassion regardless of financial, social, or physical challenges. The Sounds True Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to providing these transformational tools to communities in need including at-risk youth, prisoners, veterans, and those i... posted on Feb 17 2020 (6,486 reads)

You Run Out of Empathy?” His studies find that people will ration their empathy and compassion for the in-group when they worry help for the out-group will be too costly or ineffective. But, he explains: People’s expectations about empathy can have powerful effects on how much empathy they feel, and for whom. Identification with all humanity is an empirically documented individual difference that predicts more empathic emotion and behavior. And research with mindfulness interventions suggests that training people to approach, rather than avoid, their emotional experiences can decrease fear of empathy and increase pro-social behavior. In short, &ld... posted on Jul 4 2013 (20,173 reads)

A friendly greeting. A grateful pause before a meal. An unexpected compliment, surprise gift, thank-you card, or phone call from an out-of-touch friend.  These micro-moments of lived intention-- small exchanges of kindness, tiny catalysts of gratitude, or brief seconds of mindful attention-- hold incredible potential to transform the trajectory of a day, week, year, or even a life. We notice this a lot around New Years. Whether it’s weight loss, giving up smoking, deepening mindfulness, or any other personal goal, each January 1st bears witness to a societal upsurge of enthusiasm, energy, and resolve towards changing a habit. An upsurge which gradually wanes as the calen... posted on Dec 19 2014 (26,979 reads)

It was simply a perception. And I realized that perceptions create us or destroy us, but we have that opportunity to create our own journey. [music: “Silence of Siberia” by Lowercase Noises] MS. TIPPETT: This show came about while we were producing stories for the podcast, Creating Our Own Lives — COOL for short, hosted by Lily Percy. MS. LILY PERCY: You know, I don’t know much about this but it sounds like you’re practicing mindfulness when you’re running, because you’re really paying attention to your body, which is a big part of mindfulness. MR. JUSTIN WHITAKER: Yeah, and one of my big influences wa... posted on Aug 30 2016 (10,756 reads)

children to detention, they send kids to a Mindful Moment Room for meditation. In partnership with the Holistic Life Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes wellness, Robert W. Coleman Elementary School introduced a meditation room to help its students “calm down and re-centre.” <br /> The room is unlike any class in the school and is filled with lamps, plush pillows and bean bags. Here, students are taught deep breathing exercises, meditation and mindfulness to calm them, reduce their stress and help them deal with any anger or anxiety. Impressively, since the Mindful Moment Room was introduced, not one suspension has been issued by the sch... posted on Nov 10 2017 (33,234 reads)

the moment. Mindfulness helps us watch the mind without judging, or getting carried away with a story about how its thoughts are good or bad, inappropriate or anything other than simply thoughts arising and fading away. The essential insight—that thoughts and feelings come and go, and that we may have thoughts, but they do not have us—can spark a small revolution in anyone open to the teaching. Seeing each thought or feeling as what it is and temporary, mindfulness can help keep identification with our mental states at bay, contain an emotional drama, allow for self-compassion, and even help slow a careening locomotive. Gratefulness incorporates a... posted on Nov 24 2017 (19,084 reads)

that your thought has shifted to something else. If you feel a cramp you notice it, and something else happens. There is that continuously evolving living organism that doesn’t get stuck. A very important part of healing from trauma is to get that sense of every moment is different from the next moment. Melaragno: In the chapter “Healing from Trauma, Owning Yourself,” you cover six important ways to connect with what is going on inside oneself: managing hyper-arousal, mindfulness, relationships, communal rhythms and synchrony, touch, and taking action.  van der Kolk: Well, let’s start with the fact that we are collective creatures. We don’t... posted on Apr 21 2018 (60,259 reads)

He suggests learning to lower expectations as needed, spending more time together communicating and playing, and “love-hacking” the relationship by infusing more touch, gratitude, and joy into it. His book is full of useful tips for making your marriage a happier, longer-lasting one. Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body, by Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson Richard Davidson and Daniel Goleman separate the wheat from the chaff of mindfulness science in their book Altered Traits, making a cogent argument that meditation has the power to transform us not only in the moment but also in more profound, lasting ways. In a gr... posted on Nov 27 2018 (14,884 reads)

Prison Mindfulness Institute's mission is to provide prisoners, prison staff and prison volunteers, with the most effective, evidence-based tools for rehabilitation, self-transformation, and personal & professional development. In particular, they provide and promote the use of proven effective mindfulness-based interventions (MBI’s). Their dual focus is on transforming individual lives as well as transforming the corrections system as a whole in order to mitigate its extremely destructive impact on families, communities and the overall social capital of our society. The below text is available for download as a PDF on their website. Composed by the Buddhist Mast... posted on May 31 2020 (19,203 reads)

It’s like, wow. [music: “Contrarian” by Blue Dot Sessions] Tippett:I’m Krista Tippett, and this is On Being. Today with Sharon Salzberg, the renowned teacher of Buddhist practices. [music: “Contrarian” by Blue Dot Sessions] Tippett:And really, what we’re getting at here is something I so value, that I feel, actually, is not often enough pointed at, which is that incredible sophistication of Buddhist psychology. So the language of mindfulness gets thrown around, and of course, there are meditation practices, but there’s also this incredible analysis of what it means to be human, and as you said, the how-to: how to connect... posted on Oct 24 2020 (7,635 reads)

You just have to sit from time to time, turn your mind within, and let your thoughts calm down. Focus your attention on a chosen object. It can be an object in your room, your breath, or your own mind. Inevitably, your mind will wander as you do this. Each time it does, gently bring it back to the object of concentration, like a butterfly that returns again and again to a flower. In the freshness of the present moment, past is gone, future is not yet born, and—if one remains in pure mindfulness and freedom—disturbing thoughts arise and go without leaving a trace. That is basic meditation. ... posted on Oct 20 2009 (18,952 reads)

is part of the shared human experience—that you’re not alone in your suffering. Often, when something goes wrong, we look in the mirror and don’t like what we see—we feel very isolated in that moment, as if everyone else has these perfect lives and it’s just us who’s flawed and defective. When we remember that imperfection is part of the shared human experience, you can actually feel more connected to people in those moments. The third component is mindfulness. If you aren’t mindfully aware that you’re suffering, if you’re just repressing your pain or ignoring it or getting lost in problem solving, you can’t give yourself... posted on Apr 7 2012 (74,926 reads)

ill wind.”  He witnessed the indifference of those with money and influence, but also the compassion and generosity of those with nothing, and it made an impact.  At age 13 he wandered into a magic store and had a serendipitous conversation with the mother of the owner who was there.  She took a tender interest in him and said, “If you come back every day for six weeks, I’ll teach you something.”  He did.  And what he learned was the practice of mindfulness, envisioning, positive thinking, and making his choices his own and no one else’s.  The lessons were transformational.  Magic indeed!  It put him on an amazing path th... posted on Feb 22 2013 (21,229 reads)