Discovery

By the Mindful Leader Team

What is gratitude? It isn't the same thing as being thankful. True gratitude towards the people in your life, workplace, and even strangers can transform you, both spreading happiness and even boosting your own health. Below are some resources we've gathered on gratitude and how to practice it in advance of the holiday.

1. How to Practice Gratitude from Mindful Magazine 

This article has it all: an introduction to gratitude, the science behind it, and several practi…

By Mark A. Campbell, guest contributor

The Latin poet Marshal once wrote, "Life is not merely to be alive, but to be well." Wellness is a concept that we use daily, but scholars cannot agree on defining it. We know for certain that wellness is multi-dimensional, influenced by how we live in all areas of our lives. The National Wellness Institute defines wellness as "an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence." I have adopted this definition beca…

By Rose Mina Munjee, guest contributor

Introduction  

The social justice issues of racism and oppression of racialized people and their intersectionality, including social location and gender are explored here through examining the lived experiences of racialized mindfulness practitioners (1). Certain skills and approaches grounded in mindfulness and compassion and characteristics of mindfulness teachers, programs, and practice spaces are suggested as potential resources to help alleviate the …

View our Free Guide - What is MBSR?

By Dr. Gus Castellanos, guest contributor

Prisons are some of the most traumatic places to live. While the threat of violence, sexual victimization, and retaliation for grievances happen enough, it’s the simple things such as bad food, sleeping arrangements, and poor access to medical care that make daily life stressful. Inmates suffer from anxiety, depression, anger, hypervigilance, and difficulty with emotional regulation. Furthermore, witnessing viole…

By Due Quach, guest contributor

Source: Clay Bank/Unsplash

Over a year has now passed since the horrifying killing of George Floyd re-galvanized the movement for racial justice and equity, and communities of color are emotionally exhausted. While there are milestones to celebrate, we are worn down by the continued use of lethal and deadly force by police officers against people of color (POC), and by other incidents of racial violence and bigotry that remind us that large segments of the pop…

By John J. Murphy, guest contributor

Let’s face it. 2020 was an unprecedented year of disruption, challenge, and stress. We have all felt it one way or another – and so have the people we work with. Take a moment right now to reflect on this. Contemplate it without judgment. Let go of analysis and how you think things should or should not be. Just feel it. Empathize with the suffering surrounding you. Listen to your intuition and let your heart speak to you. What is it saying?

This is just one…

By Clif Smith, guest contributor

It’s clear to anyone who has picked up a magazine or newspaper or has perused any social media feed in the last 5 years that mindfulness is hot right now, and I must admit, it is one of the reasons why I got the deal to write this book [which launches April 20th]. Just searching the term “mindfulness” on Google yields 264 million results! Unfortunately, many of the items the search results point to aren’t actually mindfulness related practices. Many results are …

By Beth Mulligan, guest contributor

One year ago, I committed to teach one of several annual silent retreats, in South Florida, where I have led retreats and teacher trainings before. The dates were April 6th-11th, 2020. In March 2020, like all of you we began to really absorb the reality and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. At this point--like many of you, we’d switched our first quarter classes to online for the last few sessions. I was leading practice sessions and giving Dharma talks as wel…

By Mo Edjlali

It's hard to imagine it's been over a year since this pandemic started and the world felt like it got flipped upside down. It's in these moments of great challenge that sometimes something emerges that might not have before.  For us here at Mindful Leader the aftermath of the pandemic was jarring and shocking. As we scrambled to change plans for the year and adjust to the impact there was this inner call to help support those in need. With limited resources and a small team, at Mi…

By Mark Mitchnick, guest contributor

Long before any of the neuroscience was known, Winston Churchill said, “Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.” Although he didn’t know it, Mr. Churchill was actually describing the two separate yet conjoined systems operating in our heads. 

Over the past 15 years, what these two systems look like and how they function has been described in both scientific and general publications. Together, they inform the understanding of our decision-making process a…