Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2017 i Mindful

Editor-in-Chiefbarry@mindful.org Our must-read story this issue: “In Search of Wholeness,” takes us through singer-songwriter Jewel’s journey from homeless to famous to genuinely happy. See page 60. Like much of the best science fiction, the British TV series Black Mirror explores what might happen if some of the technologies we use today became more powerful and widespread. In an episode called “Nosedive,” we’re treated to a world where the social media convention of liking/not liking and rating everything is taken to extremes. You’re rated on every interaction with everyone you encounter from your boss to your barista—and they rate you back. To top it off, all ratings contribute to your cumulative score, and everyone is fitted with eyeglass-like implants that allow them to see your score. Those with lower scores get…

Nurse Stephanie Treherne at the Montreal Jewish General Hospital makes tiny superhero capes for babies in the ICU. In 1991, Pamela and Anil Malhotra bought 55 acres of desolate land in South India and founded SAI Sanctuary, which today covers more than 300 acres and is home to more than 200 endangered plants and animals. When 10 people— including a family of six—got caught in a riptide at a beach in Florida, around 80 other beachgoers formed a human chain and rescued them.…

NUTRITION INFO They don’t say “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” for nothing. Apples help regulate blood sugar and are high in antioxidants. They're also a good source of dietary fiber and vitamin C. source: whfoods.com Apples are at once ordinary and special. They’re the old reliable of fruit, the affordable staple that stores well through the winter. They’re not easily perishable and delicate like berries, and they don’t have the novelty of exotic tropical fruit. Yet in their simplicity apples are beautiful. Blushing skin encases firm yet juicy flesh. They’re not too sweet, not too tart. Plus, they’ve got personality: Apples are the one fruit you’ll find in a grocery store that comes in dozens of discernible varieties ranging in color, texture, and taste. As a bite…

Scotts Valley, California 1440.org The newcomer on the landscape of mindfulness-based destinations is 1440 Multiversity, which opened its doors this past Memorial Day weekend. Founder Scott Kriens looks to great teachers like Jack Kornfield and his Spirit Rock as forebears: “We are standing on the shoulders of those people and their work.” One need look no farther than straight up—up at the towering and ancient redwood trees that stud the campus—to absorb the lessons of heritage. Like Dana Bass Solomon of Hollyhock, Kriens prefers using the words “learning destination” or “immersion” to “retreat.” But unlike Hollyhock, which can require a car, three ferry rides, some island hopping, and a full day to reach, the multiversity is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Silicon Valley. A 75-acre wooded site formerly…

South Las Vegas Boulevard in mid-May is blindingly bright and has far more traffic than I’d expect on a weekday afternoon. As I maneuver my red Yaris among the taxis, Ubers, and much fancier rentals than my own, I’m mystified why there are so many people out on the Strip midday on a Thursday. It’s so hot, for one thing. And it hurts my eyes. The relentless sunshine bounces off everything— buildings, windshields, concrete. But worse than the glare is the sheer amount of stimulus: the faux Eiffel Tower and fountains and a gazillion stores and huge billboards of famous faces and flashing signs and club music pouring out onto the sidewalks and hawkers handing out coupons and women teetering by in heels not made for walking with guys carrying…

“We have a saying, ‘Find a way and get the job done,’” Ryan Wolfington is telling the two dozen or so guests at a high tea put on in their honor by the Inspiring Children Foundation (ICF), which he founded 15 years ago to help underserved youth in Las Vegas. He’s referring to the hands-on learning at the root of the foundation’s methodology, and specifically, to a gala fundraising event held the previous night at the Palazzo Las Vegas Theater, which netted more than $850,000 to support its work. He tosses the microphone to the kids who organized and ran the event in a follow-up “victory parade,” asking them to talk about any challenges and how they solved them. One by one they share about what they faced—like figuring out…

HOW EMOTIONS ARE MADE The Secret Life of the Brain Lisa Feldman Barrett ? Houghton Mifflin Harcourt This book has made a sensation, since it claims to run counter to the prevailing thinking in the psychology of emotions, what Barrett calls the classical view of emotion. This view holds, according to Barrett, that we have emotion circuits in our brain built in since birth that cover a range of responses. Each of these has a kind of signature in various parts of our anatomy. If we’re experiencing fear, say, our face will show a telltale wide-eyed look while our palms may sweat, and so forth. Leading psychologists have done extensive work cataloging our range of emotions. Barrett first casts doubt on the evidence for these fixed emotions, arguing that the names…

How does embarrassment manifest in your body? 71% Blushing 14% Smirking 18% Queasiness 4% Eyes watering 4% The urge to pee 30% Breaking into a sweat 29% Laughing inappropriately What's something other people find embarrassing that you don't? • “Garlic breath.” • “Talking about bodily functions.” • “Food in my teeth—it happens sometimes!” • “Doing what I feel like all the time.” • “Perfect matching outfit.” • “Public release of gas.” • “Talking about sex.” • “Clumsiness.” • “My grandson hates when I hug him in public.” • “Asking questions. Not knowing something.” • “Having a messy house.” • “Taking clothes off for sex.” • “Sending food back.” • “Getting a compliment.” • “Tripping in front of others.” • “Using the wrong word.” • “Pooping in public washrooms.” •…

India is on its way to a greener future. This year the country— which is currently the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases—canceled plans to build several coal power plants, and is taking steps toward its goal to only sell electric cars by 2030. The Netherlands is guilty—of low crime rates and too many empty prison cells. As a result, in 2016 the country marked five prisons for closure. This comes on the heels of eight closures in 2009 and 19 in 2014. Summers in the UK mean music festivals in parks across the nation. Concerned that the all-night noise might disturb nearby birds, a couple of artists built and installed soundproof birdhouses in parks. Ben & Jerry’s is making a stand for gay marriage in Australia. Until the country’s…

Drip. Drip-drip-drip-drip. I was putting the finishing touches on dinner. It had been a long day and I was idly leaning on the kitchen counter, enjoying a micro-moment of peace when something splashed onto my head. DRIP DRIP DRIP. “What in God’s name was that?” I looked up and saw water dripping from the ceiling onto my stovetop. Then I heard the upstairs toilet flush. And the drip became a stream. And the truth was revoltingly clear: Ready or not, a literal and figurative fecal hurricane had hit the fan. Serenity now. Some days, it seems pretty obvious the world is out to get you (even without a major plumbing disaster like mine). The coffee pot just knew you were late for an important meeting when it jumped out of…

Create a home for happiness Spend time in silence Being a witness to your behavior is the first step in meaningful change Embrace imperfectionism Establish a gratitude practice Let go of shame What’s simple is true You can’t outrun your pain Flip the switch and retrain your brain…

In his early twenties, Carlos Alberto found financial stability in New York City’s vibrant club scene, producing events and working the doors. Along the way, a chance reading of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Being Peace led him down a path of inquiry that has had its own surges and slumps. Last year, Alberto, 47, decided it was time to commit to his long-nurtured “secret passion” for yoga and meditation. He completed a mindfulness teachertraining course and has embarked on a career as an instructor of meditation, teaching classes at MNDFL studio and to middle-school students in underserved communities. What do you do? I’ve been moonlighting for the past four years as a doorman for the rooftop lounge at the James Hotel in Soho. I’m the guy who decides whether you get into the…

West Hartford, Connecticut copperbeechinstitute.org For a guided meditation practice from each retreat center, go to mindful.org/retreat For Brandon Nappi, founder and director of Connecticut’s Copper Beech Institute, mindfulness provides a common language with which people of all faiths and backgrounds can hold and examine some of the deepest questions humans can ask: What makes me happy? How can I live in a more peaceful way? How can I be more compassionate? What do I do with my pain? How do I forgive? How can I suffer less? Nappi opened the institute in 2014 to create an affordable and regional center where people can learn the practices of mindfulness and contemplative meditation that have touched his own life so deeply. Copper Beech shares a 50-acre site with a Catholic monastery and…

Becoming familiar with a difficult emotion means getting interested and curious about it, like you might do when visiting a new city. Take it slow, uncovering new “territory” a bit at a time instead of trying to get to know it all at once. As you do, you learn that you can sit with uncomfortable feelings, and that they will eventually pass. Over time, you develop resilience, self-knowledge, and trust in yourself—the best antidotes to the self-judgment that shame inspires. Whether you’re experiencing feelings of shame right now or have buried shame that you’ve been avoiding, are you willing to get to know it a bit better? Remember, thoughts and feelings are larger and scarier when they’re left unexplored and kept in the shadows. To listen to a guided audio…

Jewel was in her early 20s when she was cast in her first movie, Ride with the Devil. Her anxiety went into overdrive, she says, as she struggled with the pervasive thought, “I don’t know what I’m doing!” Her normal practices helped, but not enough, and the selfhelp prescription of affirmations just didn’t ring true. “I don’t really like affirmations because they’re not always accurate,” she says. So she created what she calls Antidote Thoughts, a practice she still uses today. She’d start with the opposite thought, in this case, “I do know what I’m doing,” and, using her body as a barometer, try it on for size. She could feel that this thought wasn’t true. “So I experimented with other antidote thoughts,” she says, “and when I said, ‘I’m…

Time If you can devote a long stretch of time, like a whole afternoon, and use the sun’s path through the sky as your timepiece, that’s great. If you have less time, set a timer. Even in airplane mode, a phone’s alarm will go off. Fitness trackers also have vibrating alarms you can use. Destination No set destination. When you reach crossroads and forks in the road, choose your way randomly (a mental coinflip) or follow what you’re drawn toward. In the wild, even if you are on a hiking trail you can still do a kind of wandering. It takes the form of venturing off the path a bit at points or simply stopping to admire and savor. The key is to have time and space that is not…

SCIENCE VS. Episode: Science vs. Meditation. What is meditation and does it do anything? In this series, host Wendy Zukerman “takes on fads, trends, and the opinionated mob to find out what’s fact, what’s not, and what’s somewhere in between.” The meditation instruction in here by acclaimed researcher Britta Holzel is a good representation of mindfulness, but many of the host’s opening descriptions of what meditation is are distorted and not well-informed. Fortunately, Holzel’s presentation of the results of hers and others’ research is articulate and balanced. Bottom line: Even though there are promising early results, there’s a lot of hope and a lot of hype and the research on meditation is in its early days. That’s no big surprise—as Mindful has made that point many times—but the value of…