Mindful Eating Class to be Offered Again this Fall Along with a Range of Other Courses The Mindful Eating Class is designed to help people alter their behavior and improve…
Mindfulness Meditation and Self-Monitoring Can Reduce Maladaptive Daydreaming Symptoms Maladaptive daydreaming is a type of compulsive daydreaming that causes distress and can interfere with functioning. These investigators studied the impact…
Thinking is obviously necessary to accomplish many tasks- around the house, at work, for hobbies and leisure activities. Yet our minds continue to generate thoughts at other times, thoughts that often distract us from our present moment experience, and often increase our stress as negative thoughts or worries arise. We live our lives in the present moment, and if we are caught up in thinking about the past or the future, we may miss what is unfolding right now. Humans have an innate negativity bias, so the thoughts that arise are often worries about what has happened in the past or what might happen in the future. When thoughts arise, recognizing whether they are about something over which we have some control or whether they are focused on something beyond our sphere of influence is important. If the thoughts are about something we have control over, we can focus on how to address the issue. For instance, if we are worried about money, we can look at our budget and see where we might spend less or earn more. If the thoughts are about something over which we have no control, perhaps an event in the past that had a negative outcome that is still bothering us, we can first recognize this.
The Second Annual Nancy McDaniel Lectureship on Women in Leadership to Be Given by Dorrie Fontaine Ph.D., RN, FAAN on April 17 at 4 pm Dorothy “Dorrie” Fontaine is the…
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Treating Hypertension These authors reviewed studies of the effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on systolic and diastolic blood pressure among individuals with prehypertension or hypertension.…
Moving On From Difficult Interactions
Last month’s Musing focused on having a conversation with someone with whom we’d had a difficult interaction. This month the topic is about how we might move on without having such a conversation. Difficult interactions with others can lead us to feel many different negative emotions, such as anger or resentment, and may result in us going over the event repeatedly, trying to understand what happened or imagining how things might have gone differently. Often this does not accomplish much except to make us feel worse. Getting caught up in the story of what happened in the past does not change the events although we still can learn from them so that similar situations might have a different outcome in the future. When we find ourselves in these situations it can be helpful to pause and assess what is happening. First, is it even possible to take any action regarding the others involved? If we can address it with the other person directly then we might choose to do so as was discussed last month. But what if we can’t do this, perhaps because it was a one-time interaction with someone we don’t know, or if we choose not to because it is too difficult or there is too much risk?
