What if happiness was a habit that we could teach children? We can. Qualities that lead away from happiness (strong negative emotions) and qualities that lead toward happiness (ethical actions) are all rooted in habits developed in the past. Mindfulness helps children and teens recognize the habits that lead to happiness and break the ones that don't.

What do you notice in people?

The Practice:
See the good in others.
Why?

Many interactions these days have a kind of bumper-car quality to them. At work, at home, on the telephone, via email: we sort of bounce off of each other while we exchange information, smile or frown, and move on. How often do we actually take the extra few seconds to get a sense of what’s inside other people – especially their good qualities?

We are thrilled to announce registration is now open for our Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workshop for Nurses January 28, 2012, 9am-3pm at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA. Please join workshop leaders Lois Howland, DrPH, MSN, Livia Walsh LMFT, MS, MA, RN, and Amy Holte, PhD, MEd, in this exciting experiential workshop. You will gain insights on bringing mindfulness into your daily life for self-care along with exploring strategies for offering mindfulness to your patients to promote healing.

Bipolar disorder is a severe psychiatric illness characterized by episodes of depression as well as periods of elevated mood, known as mania. This condition, previously known as manic-depressive illness, causes considerable suffering and disability. Furthermore, bipolar depression is often difficult to treat and associated with anxiety symptoms and an increased risk of suicide. Thus, additional treatment approaches are needed. Interventions that target anxiety and suicide risk, in addition to depression, could be particularly useful.

In the course of teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, I have had the opportunity to hear first-hand how participation in the program has had an impact on the lives of many people. I know from my own experience of mindfulness practice how powerful it can be, but I often struggle with how to put that into words that really capture the experience. Fortunately, every now and then, one of our MBSR participants articulates it so poignantly and eloquently that I get a new look at how this practice changes lives.

Families today live in a society that is rapidly changing, increasingly demanding, faster moving, overly stimulating, increasingly unpredictable, and financially insecure. In the midst of this, stress-related symptoms and conditions in adults and children alike have become common, and cross all socioeconomic lines. There is an increasing need for both children and parents to develop stress management skills, and cultivate qualities of resilience in order to thrive in our current culture, and to prevent illness.

What happens when you look at someone?

The Practice: See beings, not bodies.

Why?

When we encounter someone, usually the mind automatically slots the person into a category: man, woman, your friend Tom, the kid next door, etc. Watch this happen in your own mind as you meet or talk with a co-worker, salesclerk, or family member.

At the risk of blogging about a blogpost, we were excited to see this piece in the New York Times on our friend and colleague Dr. Mick Krasner's work with teaching mindfulness to physicians, with the ultimate goal of creating better doctors who communicate better, practice more effectively, are resilient and satisfied in their work and therefore, have an even more positive influence on our health and our society.

Looking for meditation research? Well, the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) has just published an online Meditation Bibliography with over 6000 citations of published meditation studies around the world. Research at IONS focuses primarily on consciousness and healing, worldview transformation and extended human capacities. IONS views meditation through consciousness perspectives and believes meditation is integral in positively transforming consciousness.

With the 10-year anniversary of the publication of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression nearly upon us, it is a good time to perhaps stop and reflect on where the field stands at this juncture.