A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook

It’s easy for us to look back on a time of that was good and when it comes to an end focus on the loss. While grief is healthy to experience, there is also a time and place to widen our perspective. I’m reminded of a Dr. Seuss quote that one of the members of The Now Effect Community recently brought up,

“Don’t be sad it’s over, be glad it happened.”

We can take this to the present moment as well. There’s a chapter in The Now Effect called “Present Nostalgia,” a term I coined to represent how we can use the concept of nostalgia to appreciate the present moment more often and be “glad it’s happening.”

The Practice:

The practice is to project yourself into the future to a time when your current mode of life has passed. If you’re single, it’s when you’re in a relationship, if you’re in a relationship, maybe it’s if or when you have kids, maybe it’s 10 years from now and your body is a bit older or you can even go as far as the moment you’re lying on your deathbed.

From that place, look back onto this moment right now and have that future person tell you what you’re missing. What is it about this moment that is precious and impermanent? What will no longer be in the future that you have and can appreciate right now?

Maybe it’s a sense of freedom of being single or in not having kids. Maybe it’s that your kids are young and will soon be older and want more independence. Maybe you have youth, an able body that can move around with ease, good hearing, or even strong teeth.  Maybe it’s just a season and you’re missing the changing colors of the trees or the beauty of the snow that eventually will pass.

Whatever it is, there are often things we take for granted only later to be sad they’re gone haven’t had appreciated them in the present moment.

What do you have to be grateful for today that you aren’t seeing right now? If something comes up for you, post it on the gratitude wall in The Now Effect Community. 

Practice present nostalgia more often and step into the good of life a bit more often.

As always, please share your thoughts, stories and questions below. Your interaction creates a living wisdom for us all to benefit from.

Reposted from Elisha Goldstein’s Mindfulness Blog on Psychcentral.com

As family and friends begin to gather during the holidays at one point or another may have to face either ourselves or a loved one with addiction. There are really very few people who are not touched by addiction in one way or another. Addiction comes in the form of alcohol, drugs, sex, shopping, eating, sugar, and other compulsive behaviors that are an avoidance strategy and eventually cause distress.

When caught up in the cycle of addictive behavior, there is an inability to accept whatever is being felt in the present moment and the mind is constantly wandering onto the next ‘fix.’ So it’s safe to conclude that addiction often builds a wall of disconnection and makes it difficult to actually be present for the holidays.

If you or someone you love struggles with addictive behavior I recommend checking out the Mindfulness and Addiction series I wrote about in past years.

1. Mindfulness and Addiction Part I
2. Mindfulness and Addiction Part II
3. Mindfulness and Addiction Part III

Aside from those, it may be a good idea to do a bit of preparing and planning for the holidays. Here are some tips:

1. Plan some activities that don’t focus on alcohol, like games, sports, or talking
2. Be aware that there may be people who have addictive behaviors and don’t make the flaw of saying, “Hey, how come you’re not drinking?” In other words, don’t bring attention to the fact that someone isn’t drinking.
3. If you have an addictive behavior, make sure you have a trusty alternative. Remember, cravings often last a maximum of 20-30 minutes. Bring a bottle of water or if sugar isn’t your addiction, make sure to bring some chocolate with you, sometimes sugar can trick the brain into feeling satisfied.
4. Keep a number on you of a trusted friend or someone who can talk you down if a craving pops up.
5. Take a time-out and go to the bathroom or outside and practice some mindfulness with urge surfing or another short mindfulness practice, or maybe go on a walk. If you’d like to practice mindfulness as an approach for addiction and relapse prevention, you can check out the CD program Mindful Solutions for Addiction and Relapse Prevention.

You may want to write some of this on a card and take it with you to remember because the brain may not function that clearly when cravings hit.

As much as possible, practice kindness with yourself and others during this holiday.

Please share what works for you below or any comments and questions you may have. Your interaction provides a living wisdom for us all to benefit from.

Reposted from Elisha Goldstein’s Mindfulness Blog on Psychcentral.com

No matter what time of year it is, stress will likely be a part of it. A little stress is good, it fuels motivation, but there’s a tipping point where it starts to have diminishing returns. When that higher level of stress hits, if it’s left unchecked it can lead to anxiety, depression, chronic pain, addictive behaviors, you name it. Today I want to give you something that you can BET on anywhere, anytime to help turn the volume down on the chaotic mind and bring you back into balance.

I’m a big fan of things that are short and sweet. Something I can remember that can help me in a pinch.

Here’s a short acronym that you can BET on throughout the day:

• B – Body – At any point, bring attention to the body. How is it feeling? Is there any tension anywhere, in this moment of awareness, can you take a breath and allow it soften?
• E- Emotions – What emotion is there in that moment? Is it anxiety, sadness, anger, confusion, joy, calm, or maybe just a neutral feeling? How does it feel as a sensation in the body? Research shows just labeling emotions turns activity down in the emotional center of the brain.
• T – Thoughts – What’s on your mind? Is it busy or calm? If it’s a self-judgment or a judgment of another person, ask yourself, Is it absolutely true? How does this thought make me feel? What’s another way I can see this? Practice opening your mind.

Then just refocus on what matters in the moment.

That’s it, it’s that simple.

You can BET in the morning, before a test, during a business meeting, during stressful travel, while waiting at a stop light or on hold on the phone. You can BET before you open your email, in the midst of your kid’s temper tantrum, or just while taking a nice walk outside.

If you BET a few times a day, my guess is that you’ll break out of routine and back into the wonder of everyday life.

Try it out and let your experience be your teacher.

As always, please share your thoughts, stories and questions below. Your interaction is a living wisdom we can all benefit from.

Source: Mindfulness Meditations for the Anxious Traveler: Quick Exercises to Calm Your Mind

Man looking out the window photo available at Shutterstock

Reposted from Elisha Goldstein’s Mindfulness Blog on Psychcentral.com

If you’re reading this you have access to technology and that means that you are likely going to engage in media multitasking at some point or another. In a previous post I looked at a study that says that media multitasking leads to poorer cognitive performance. That’s not so shocking since our attentional capacity is limited and when it’s splintered off we’re not going to be as sharp on any one thing. However, the reality is, we’re going to multitask, it’s not only rewarded in work environments, but it’s something that comes natural to our brains. So if we’re going to do it, what’s the best way?

Research suggests you look into mindfulness training.

In 2012, David Levy and Jacob Wobbrock, Information School professors at the University of Washington, conducted a study with Human Resource Managers and asked them to engage multitasking through all the usual methods of calendar, email, instant messaging, word-processing, and others and measured their stress. They split them up into three groups, (1) taking an 8-week mindfulness course, (2) taking an 8-week relaxation course and (3) business as usual.

After the 8-weeks they had them engage in multitasking again and found that not only did the mindfulness group experience less stress while multitasking, but they were able to focus better.

Part of the reason multitasking may lead to poorer cognitive performance is that stress can quickly get to a point where we experience diminishing returns.

In The Now Effect I make the argument that there are two ways we’re going to experience the benefit of mindfulness training. The first is through a singular moment where we experience that space between the stimulus and response and in that space we get in touch with choice and insight into what matters. The second is by influencing the auto-pilot that lives in our brains and makes most of the decisions moment to moment.

When we practice and repeat a procedure it programs the auto-pilot. So if you practice becoming more present, focused, flexible and self-compassionate in face of difficulty, then the auto-pilot is going to make more skillful decisions in the face of stress.

There’s nothing mystical about this, it’s just the way our brain works.

It’s always great to see science backing it up.

Here’s a short practice to get you started or if you have a long time practice, this is a moment of mindful retreat.

As always, please share your thoughts, stories and questions below. Your interaction creates a living wisdom for us all to benefit from.

Video Source: The Now Effect: How a Mindful Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life

Reposted from Elisha Goldstein’s Mindfulness Blog on Psychcentral.com

Thomas Merton was a Trappist (Catholic) monk who spoke these words a couple hours before his final breath:

“Compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.”

I’ve made it a practice to be interested in what people say toward the end of life. I think at that point, people often come to a space of presence and clarity that I’ve called The Now Effect. This isn’t a special moment of wisdom that is reserved for our deathbeds, it’s something we all glean at some point or another and yet at the same time it is a skill that can be cultivated.

Merton’s quote strikes at the fundamental delusion that underscores much of our dis-ease.

We walk around life with this belief that we are somehow separate from one another and this growing feeling of disconnection leads to a state of imbalance. When we’re mentally imbalanced it’s a lot easier for our buttons to get pushed sending us into states of stress, anxiety, depression and addictive behaviors.

What would be different if we flipped it around and we walked around day to day with a fundamental belief that we are all connected, that there’s an interdependence of all being and that my actions reverberate in an interconnected web that cause ripple effects?

Maybe we wouldn’t be so quick to judge others. Or maybe we’d be more likely to help out other people or beings in this world. What would your life be like if there was more of that sentiment in it? What would the world be like if more people believed that?

Here is a truly worthwhile endeavor to practice today:

Take on the belief as an experiment that there is an interdependence of all living being. Your actions affect the web of connection which comes back to you. Harming another person is akin to harming yourself, helping another person is akin to helping yourself.

See how this belief feels as you try it on for a day.

Life is about choices and in this way, we can allow our experience to guide us in choosing the life we want to live moment-to-moment.

Reposted from Elisha Goldstein’s Mindfulness Blog on Psychcentral.com