Becoming More Mindful
@jillbirnbaum, who's studied mindfulness for the past 7 years at various schools including UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center, Happiness Studies Academy (Dr. Tal Ben Shahr's program from Harvard) and more, has worked practices into her daily life and led the GLOW September event to share her learnings, advice, and strategies for becoming more mindful.
People are looking for a solution to feeling distracted, depressed and anxious. According to a Harvard study, people are not present 47% of the time. When thinking about the past, you're susceptible to depression. When thinking about the future, you're susceptible to anxiety. When focused on the present is when you experience the most joy.
Mindfulness works! Through neuroplasticity, we can actually retrain our brains. After just 8 weeks, people who study mindfulness show a change in their brain. What does this result in? A higher immune function, greater susceptibility to positive emotions, resilience to negative emotions, improved mood, focus, and clarity.
“In its most simple form, mindfulness is just present moment awareness.”
—Jill Birnbaum
How do you integrate it into your life?
Practicing daily mindfulness is just like brushing your teeth, it is your emotional and mental hygiene - it arms you to better handle your day and stay more present, joyful and even-tempered. Whenever you can throughout your day make a point of being present and mindful, doing the dishes, walking outside, talking to your friends or family. Just two minutes a day is better than nothing.
How do you become more mindful at work?
When discussing how to become more mindful at work, @jillbirnbaum shared the following 5 strategies to employ.
✨ Mindful purpose - become very clear on why you do your job every day, what is it providing for you and why did you choose it
✨ Mindful minute - take a moment out in your car or at your desk to just breathe before starting work
✨ Mindful breathing - breathing by expanding your belly (like a baby) is the most calming breath for our central nervous system - return to this if you get stressed
✨ Mindful listening/interacting - mindfully talking to your coworkers or team, listening to them, not focusing on what you're going to say next or other things on your mind. Just being present with them
✨ Mindful walking - walking with the sole purpose of being present and observing, noticing how interesting the trees are or a building you might not have ever noticed, just taking the time to really look at and experience things
Thank you to our sponsor
Thank you to Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar from the @happiness.studies.academy for sponsoring the GLOW event. Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar is the co-founder of the Happiness Studies Academy, as well as the creator and instructor for the Certificate in Happiness Studies program. Tal taught two of the most popular courses in Harvard’s history: Positive Psychology and The Psychology of Leadership. He is an international best-selling author whose books have been translated into more than 25 languages. In addition to establishing The Happiness Studies Academy, he is also the co-founder of Potentialife and Happier.TV. Learn more about the Certificate in Happiness Studies here and send me a message if you would like a special discount code for GLOW members.