Mindfulness

How complaining only holds you back.

complaining angry mindfulness | Dr. Jason Winters | Therapy | Blogging on Squarespace

A great piece on the brain science behind complaining (and worry) and how we can re-train our brains to reduce the impact of negativity on our lives. It ties in nicely with cognitive behavioural therapy (restructuring the way that we think) and mindfulness (acceptance, living in the moment, and letting go of the past).

From curiousapes.com:

The Science of Happiness: Why complaining is literally killing you.
by Steven Parton
Sometimes in life, all the experience and knowledge simmering around in that ol’ consciousness of ours combines itself in a way that suddenly causes the cerebral clockwork to click into place, and in this fluid flow of thought we find an epiphany rising to the surface.
One such point for me came in my junior year at University. It changed the way I viewed the world forever as it catapulted me out of the last of my angsty, melancholic youth and onto a path of ever-increasing bliss. Sounds like I’m verging on feeding you some new-agey, mumbo-jumbo, doesn’t it? Well, bear with me, because I assure you the point here is to add some logical evidence to the ol’ cliches, to give you what I would consider my Science of Happiness. 

Read the rest here: link.

Introduction to mindfulness.

Mindfulness can be exceptionally helpful in alleviating the overwhelming nature of negative thoughts, beliefs, memories, emotions, and sensations.

The most crucial element of mindfulness is awareness. It is not about fighting off negative internal experiences; it's about recognizing and accepting them for what they are.

In the coming months, I will write much more about mindfulness. For the time being, this brief clip from Headspace, the most popular mindfulness app, provides a great introduction. Check it out:

Headspace is meditation made simple. Using our app and online techniques we make it easy-to-learn, fun-to-do, and relevant to your everyday life. Scientifically proven to help you de-stress, get more sleep, gain more self-control and worry less - our bite-sized exercises will help bring some calm and clarity into a very busy life.