Mindfulness

Mindfulness

These triggers often show up in ordinary moments. Maybe it's the tone of a relative's voice that feels critical, the stress of hosting a party, or seeing a social media post that highlights someone else's "perfect" holiday. You might notice your chest tightening or that you feel on edge around a family member who drinks too much, or suddenly tear up when a holiday tradition reminds you of someone you've lost.

When panic and anxiety strike, the body becomes confused, interpreting, overinterpreting, and misinterpreting signals from the brain and reacting with a slew of uncomfortable and sometimes frightening physical symptoms. These can include disordered breathing, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, and chest pain or heart palpitations, to name a few. The body's nervous system becomes overreactive, sending panic and emergency signals to all of the body's other systems.

Most mornings, my body wakes me up before my alarm... 4:58 a.m. Or maybe 4:59. Ping. After so many years of following a formula, it's become a wise habit. Even if it's Sunday and my teen woke me up at midnight making a bowl of cereal, my body is up. My body knows that waking up early helps me untangle my day.

On a hot August Wednesday, I approach the 600-acre Dhamma Suttama silent-retreat center in Montebello, Quebec, a ninety-minute ride from Montreal, where I'm spending the summer. My driver, a Cameroonian man in his forties, hooks into a narrow forest corridor. We pull up to a concrete parking lot that wraps around a building paneled with wood and stone. Built in the eighties as a high school, it's now made up of sleeping quarters and meditation halls.

When I retire, I will reply to every email I've ever flagged. (tapping on keyboard) I will clean up my desktop. I'll read the 35 years of saved articles on my reading list. I will finish all those books I started. I will play the lifetime of computer games I missed out on. (gaming noise) I'll birdwatch. I'll learn magpies are beautiful - but terrifying.

For some people, deep breathing exercises work like a charm. For others, not so much. If you fall into the latter category, you might enjoy the "five-finger breathing" technique, which adds a little something extra into the mix. On TikTok, creators are sharing their love for five-finger breathing, including user @mindfullymadetherapy, who said, "Sometimes just breathing isn't enough, and you need a coping skill that's multi-sensory [or] involving other senses to help distract or calm down the brain."

My father's voice still rings in my mind: "Don't do a half-ass job." He meant to teach discipline and integrity, and I took it to heart. But somewhere along the way, that lesson evolved into a rule: If I wasn't giving everything, I wasn't enough. If I slowed down, I feared slipping. And so I kept accelerating, one foot pressed firmly on the gas, unsure how to ease off.

"In a sense, we are all time travelers drifting through our memories, returning to the places where we once lived." ~Vladimir Nabokov I found it by accident, a grainy image of my childhood bedroom wallpaper. It was tucked in the blurry background of a photo in an old family album, a detail I'd never noticed until that day. White background.

Includes Calm Sleep for free Also: Calm's new Sleep app gives you a personal bedtime plan to help you rest better - plus earbuds The new earbuds come equipped with Calm Sleep Stories already embedded in the Ozlo Sleepbuds. A free one-year subscription to Calm Sleep for iOS, and Calm Premium for Android, is available with the purchase of these co-branded earbuds. This subscription is typically $69.9 a month and offers access to Calm Sleep's soundscapes, Sleep Stories, and meditations.

You can't control what other people say or do, but you can control your responses and how you carry yourself in stressful circumstances. A friend or family member may say something you disagree with, and your first impulse might be to persuade, convince, or argue with them. Such disagreements are common forms of family conflict that often arise for many during the holidays.

The other morning, I was on a Zoom call with a CEO, trying to sound composed, when my four-year-old burst into the room demanding to know where her princess dress was. I glanced down at my to-do list - which never seems to get shorter - and noticed I still needed to book a trip to San Francisco. In that moment, surrounded by chaos, I thought: I write a column called The Long Game.

Sleepaway camp wasn't exactly part of my childhood vocabulary. My parents didn't believe in paying money for me to rough it in the woods. Instead, summers meant Chinese school, then long afternoons upstairs in their restaurant, tinkering with the office equipment as they worked. My "campfire" was the blue glow of an Xerox bulb as I copied my face and various body parts into high-contrast collages.

When I downloaded my first AI life coach app, I thought it'd be like a smarter version of Google Calendar. Turns out, it was more like therapy - with a Wi-Fi connection. Week 1: The Machine That Cared Too Much The first week was all motivational quotes and cheerful nudges. "Good morning, Noor. What's your intention for today?" I told it, "To not waste it." It replied, "Beautiful. Let's make your day meaningful." I was instantly hooked. It was like having a personal assistant, therapist, and overenthusiastic friend rolled into one.

People ask me sometimes, "What do you think about out there?"-usually with a curious look, as if pedaling for hours must feel like watching paint dry. But it's not like that at all. The longer the ride, the more my mind opens up. The road doesn't bore me-it speaks to me. It quiets the noise of everyday life and lets the thoughts that matter most rise to the surface.

The energy is passionate and intense this morning as love-planet Venus adjusts to its new position in seductive Scorpio. A harsh square-up between Venus and underworld Pluto brings magnetic, mysterious, and transformative energy. Your deepest desires may go unspoken and or impossible to achieve. But acknowledging what you want will remind you of your agency and power.

We are living in turbulent times and there is no reason to expect that things will become less so in the future. During such moments our emotions become strained and pushed to their limits. Stress increases as emotions are stretched, making it increasingly important that we are able to recognize the effects of it in ourselves as well as others in our environment.

Brain fog is very real. According to a recent study, "cognitive disability"-defined as difficulties concentrating, remembering, and making decisions-is on the rise in the U.S. The phenomenon is most dramatically affecting those between the ages of 18 to 39, with the self-reported impairments doubling over the course of the decade-long analysis. Potential culprits include stress, Covid, and digital overload. Fortunately, banishing-or at least minimizing-brain fog is within your power.

The bag is the source of all her entertainment: Loaded with portable activities like crossword puzzles, knitting needles, and watercolor paints, it's a deliberately screen-free way for Campbell to spend her in-between moments. The 31-year-old has dubbed this her "analog bag," and considers it a key weapon in her constant battle against doomscrolling and brain rot.

When a guest walks in the front door, they assess the general vibe with multiple senses simultaneously. Mood lighting and jolly jingles in the back go a long way, but you can put guests at ease and create a pleasant experience from the moment they take their first breath in your space. I spoke with multiple experts to get tips and tricks on how to hack your party atmosphere to create the ultimate festive holiday vibe.

What does it mean to show up for yourself? Two people in the same situation showed up for themselves in different ways. Life can be fast, messy, and difficult. We have roles, responsibilities, relationships, and stuff getting in the way of what we need to do for ourselves. Showing up for yourself means to do what you need to do to honor your authentic self without judgment.

I remember working on my book and catching myself mid-paragraph. I'd just finished a sentence that felt particularly satisfying to write and paused to ask: Why does this feel so good? The answer wasn't flattering. What I'd written sounded smart, but it wasn't clear. I realized I'd been unconsciously filtering ideas through "does this make me look clever?" instead of "will this help the reader?"

"I was quite nervous to start, cautious with strokes and colours and afraid I'd ruin a page. It didn't have the energy of my digital work, but it had something new and I wanted to get to know it. The notebook starts off light, sparse and disjointed," says Harriet.

The October 23 launch of "Wiggle to Wind Down," a podcast series from CoComelon and Headspace Studios, represents more than just another content offering. The collaboration reflects a broader philosophy that has increasingly defined the brand's approach: providing families with multiple formats and platforms for engaging with educational content, allowing parents and caretakers to make choices that align with their specific household values and circumstances.

Yin yoga is the practice of pure and complete stillness. In a yin class, poses are typically held twice or even three times as long as in a vinyasa yoga class. The idea is that when held, these poses help us stretch the connective tissues, or fascia, of the body. This is a great method for enhanced mobility and flexibility with both the joints and muscles!

If we want to build a better life, we have to be able to not know. Does that sound confusing? Perhaps you don't know what I'm talking about? Good! That's great practice. If you cannot tolerate not knowing, you run the risk of arranging your life so you can know everything (or at least try to), and you may end up sapping your existence of any spontaneity and joy.