By practicing compassion we can open the heart to the universality of the human condition with clarity, allowing us to respond to difficulty with balance and care. Mindfulness involves several attitudes of mind that are pivotal to the transformation and liberation of the mind: befriending, compassion, joy and equanimity. These qualities are seen as the foundations of all our development …

They don’t seem to regret all that time they don’t spend actually riding waves. In 2013, at the age of 41, I decided to make a career change and become a nurse practitioner. At the time, an advanced case of reactive arthritis often left me unable to walk. The entire time that I was taking prerequisite classes, I was in …

“Bring yourself back to your awareness,” said Sara Auster, a self-proclaimed sound healer, after 45 minutes in a ballroom at a hotel in Chicago where she created vibrations using crystal bowls and tuning forks as well as a traditional Indian accordion, known as a shruti box. Seventy-five people got up like a gaggle of toddlers being shaken from a nap. …

Governmental psychologist Dóra Guðmundsdóttir explains what makes a society flourish. The World Happiness Report comes out every year, providing some data about how well-being varies from country to country and how it shifts within a country from one year to the next. But what makes some countries happier than others? Dóra Guðmundsdóttir is one of many researchers around the world …

Five years ago, Ella Risbridger found herself lying on the floor of her London apartment, staring at a bag of chicken hanging from the back of a kitchen chair. The poet and journalist, then 21, was deeply, suicidally depressed. But instead of ending her life, she ended up roasting that bird — and writing Midnight Chicken, an uplifting cookbook that …

Communicating through your thoughts alone is possible — with a little technical assistance. Scientists at the University of Washington’s Center for Neurotechnology have figured out how to network human minds together to collaborate to move Tetris-like shapes on a computer screen using only thoughts. It works like this: Three players, including one main player, sit in separate rooms and watch …

Don’t tell others what you think of their skills, instead describe your experience of their work. In their forthcoming book, Nine Lies About Work, Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall make a startling claim, with implications far beyond the workplace: they argue that giving people feedback – in the sense of telling them what you think they’re doing right or wrong, …

Despite the somewhat exotic name, box breathing is a very simple and even familiar type of stress management exercise. If you’ve ever found yourself inhaling and exhaling to a rhythm while you run or listen to music, you’ve taken the first steps. Box breathing is a type of paced breathing that follows a certain rhythm, and it can help you …

Hint: it’s neither suppression nor full disclosure Emotions are a fundamental part of who we are. As long as we have a brain, we will experience varying types of emotions. We want to enjoy them, but we also suffer from them. We try to conquer our emotions but, most of the times, we end being their slaves. As Oscar Wilde …

Research shows normalization of neurotransmitters in anxiety and depression. What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter — a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue. — Henri Matisse Anyone who has struggled with anxiety and depression, or knows someone …

Sometimes taking a mental health day—a day off that’s specifically geared toward stress relief and burnout prevention—is the best thing you can do for yourself. While one day might not solve heavy underlying problems that lead to burnout, a mental health day can provide a much-needed break to pause, regroup, and come back with greater levels of energy and a …

Narrative therapy is a style of therapy that helps people become—and embrace being—an expert in their own lives. In narrative therapy, there is an emphasis on the stories we develop and carry with us through our lives. As we experience events and interactions, we give meaning to those experiences and they, in turn, influence how we see ourselves and our …

By focusing on our children’s strengths, we can help them flourish—and stop being so critical and worried. My stomach knotted as I came home after a long day at work to find my fifteen-year-old son Nick playing “Fortnite.” Again. Just yesterday, I’d spoken with him (read: snapped at him) about screen time. Today, an argument began. Again. He felt angry. …

Anxiety is a feeling of nervousness, unease, or worry that typically occurs in the absence of an imminent threat. It differs from fear, which is the body’s natural response to immediate danger. Anxiety is part of the body’s natural reaction to stress, so it can be helpful at times, making you more alert and ready for action. Anxiety disorders and …

Behavioral scientists have spent a lot of time studying what makes us happy (and what doesn’t). We know happiness can predict health and longevity, and happiness scales can be used to measure social progress and the success of public policies. But happiness isn’t something that just happens to you. Everyone has the power to make small changes in our behavior, …

My best friend in high school was tall, lean and pretty. She had a long neck and luscious dark hair, alabaster skin punctuated by a constellation of beauty marks, and a teeth gap that she flaunted before it was fashionable. She was funny and fierce, smart but not particularly diligent, and more self-assured than me in matters of romance and …

Got a minute? That’s enough time to generate meaningful action every day of the week. Sometimes opportunities to act with mindful intention fall into your lap: the politeness jam at the four-way intersection, when everyone wants to let the other guy go first; the earnest admission from someone that moves you to respond in kind. But, let’s face it, barring …

A Toronto designer’s online platform showcases experiences of people all over the world, aiming to destigmatise the topic The screen shows a cluster of apartment buildings, some of them empty, some with the figure of a person silhouetted against the window. Click on an apartment and a story pops up on screen. “I spent two hours alone, wandering around an …

Listening to music can be entertaining, but is it possible that it might make you healthier? Music can be a source of pleasure and contentment, but research has also shown that there are many different psychological benefits as well. The notion that music can influence your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise. If you’ve …

Racing to get a task completed generally imposes a cost that outweighs the benefit, so you may end up completing it later, or doing it worse. Pleasingly, a new study endorses one of my favourite insights about writing, or getting any creative work done – though I’m pretty sure that wasn’t intentional, since the researchers were actually studying traffic jams. …

All grateful feelings aren’t created equal—it matters when, how, and toward whom you practice gratitude. Gratitude makes us happier, healthier, and more empathic; it may even help us live longer, says the research to date. There are specific ways to cultivate gratefulness—and journaling is one of the best documented. The Greater Good Science Center built a free, online platform to …

Older brains may forget more because they lose their rhythm at night. During deep sleep, older people have less coordination between two brain waves that are important to saving new memories, a team reports in the journal Neuron. “It’s like a drummer that’s perhaps just one beat off the rhythm,” says Matt Walker, one of the paper’s authors and a …

In a recent documentary, naturalist and wildlife presenter, Chris Packham, talked about having Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. It was a rare snapshot into the life of an adult with Asperger’s – and especially so as Packham only realised this in his 40s. Packham said he “spent 30 years on the telly trying [his] best to act normal”. Though …

We’ll have a total of just 10 at our Thanksgiving this year, with the biggest absence being that of my mother, who died in March at the age of 92. Our 2-year-old granddaughter and her parents won’t be there, either, nor will my nephew and his 6-month-old son, so we’ll have no children around to temper the loss. Instead, we’ll …

Raising children can sometimes be a daunting task. I know when my own kids were young I often wasn’t sure how to respond when my son didn’t want to share his toys with other children or refused to say please or thank you to his grandmother. Wasn’t it right to tell them to share or say thank you? Not according …

Dacher Keltner’s research shows that sustained power comes as a result of some surprisingly friendly traits. Despite this, bullies do rise to power, and wield it for long periods of time. You might be wondering: Don’t totalitarian dictators and bullies successfully wield power for long periods of time and do a lot of damage? How does that line up with …

Doubt helps us avoid acting on every passing idea which can prevent us from participating in certain types of risk. We should all cut ourselves some slack for how much we doubt. If you take seriously what research suggests, we may actually be wired for it. Overt evidence of a biological basis for doubt comes from neuroscientific findings by researchers …

Our brains can store huge amounts of information, but forgetting some of that information may actually make us smarter. Intuitively, we tend to think of forgetting as failure, as something gone wrong in our ability to remember. Now, Canadian neuroscientists with the University of Toronto are challenging that notion. In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Neuron, they review …

You were sure you left the keys right there on the counter, and now they are nowhere to be found. Where could they be? Misplacing objects is an everyday occurrence, but finding them can be like going on a treasure hunt without a map. Here are some recommendations from experts to help you recover what is lost. (Consider printing this …

OF ALL THE places to meditate, the backseat of a yellow cab isn’t ideal. And yet, the other day I found myself stuck in traffic feeling tranquil, or at least less agitated than I’d usually be given the circumstances. As the firetruck next to me blared its sirens, I cradled my phone in my hands and swayed back and forth …

Speaking up is hard to do, even when you know you should. Learn how to assert yourself, navigate tricky social situations and expand your personal power with sage guidance from social psychologist Adam Galinsky. To hear more from Adam, click here.

When people get up and move, even a little, they tend to be happier than when they are still, according to an interesting new study that used cellphone data to track activities and moods. In general, the researchers found, people who move are more content than people who sit. There already is considerable evidence that physical activity is linked to …

I’m often asked for medical advice by friends, family members, even new acquaintances: What about this diet? What should I do about this symptom? What about this medication? People are usually disappointed when I don’t share their enthusiasm about the latest health fads. Members of my family, in particular, are often underwhelmed by my medical advice. I’ll be the first …

It’s the time of year when seemingly innocent jingles tunnel into my brain. Right now I’m haunted by Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me,” which I heard for the first time while researching this article. Help me. There may be good reasons why a song like that becomes an earworm, according to Elizabeth Margulis, director of the music cognition lab at …

Take a deep breath, expanding your belly. Pause. Exhale slowly to the count of five. Repeat four times. Congratulations. You’ve just calmed your nervous system. Controlled breathing, like what you just practiced, has been shown to reduce stress, increase alertness and boost your immune system. For centuries yogis have used breath control, or pranayama, to promote concentration and improve vitality. …

Meditation is a simple practice available to all, which can reduce stress, increase calmness and clarity and promote happiness. Learning how to meditate is straightforward, and the benefits can come quickly. Here, we offer basic tips to get you started on a path toward greater equanimity, acceptance and joy. Take a deep breath, and get ready to relax. To read …

The impression that plants don’t do anything, that they just sit there, may be the result of time-scale prejudice; we are simply blind to actions that unfold over very long, drawn out, slow time scales. But put the plant on fast forward, in a film, say, and it becomes harder to deny that plants seem to solve problems and act …

A majority of Americans say they’re stressed at work. And it’s clear the burden of stress has negative effects on health, including an increase in heart disease, liver disease and gastrointestinal problems. Still, though it’s been known for years that periodically disengaging from one’s everyday routine can reduce stress, most Americans don’t take advantage of their days off. A recent …

Physical activity is good for our brains. A wealth of science supports that idea. But precisely how exercise alters and improves the brain remains somewhat mysterious. A new study with mice fills in one piece of that puzzle. It shows that, in rodents at least, strenuous exercise seems to beneficially change how certain genes work inside the brain. Though the …

There is no disputing the adage that “into each life, a little rain must fall,” and the occasional need for a protective umbrella, but what do you do when the shower becomes a downpour that doesn’t seem to quit? One shattering loss can be enough to derail a person for years, even for life. But tragedy seems to stalk some …

A growing body of research shows that people who spend time outside in sunny, green and natural spaces tend to be happier and healthier than those who don’t. A study from Stanford last year, for example, found that young adults who walked for an hour through campus parkland were less anxious afterward and performed better on a test of working …

When parents suffer depression, there can be a ripple effect on children. Kids may become anxious, even sad. There may be behavior problems. Health may suffer. Recently, a large Swedish study showed that grades may decline, too, when a parent is depressed. Using data from 1984 to 1994, researchers from Philadelphia’s Dornsife School of Public Health, at Drexel University, measured …

When raising teenagers, conflict usually comes with the territory. A growing body of research suggests that this can actually be a good thing. How disagreements are handled at home shapes both adolescent mental health and the overall quality of the parent-teenager relationship. Not only that, the nature of family quarrels can also drive how adolescents manage their relationships with people …

Sometimes autocorrect just wants to provide a bit of inspiration, like those sayings on tea bags, except with real-world context. A friend involved in a group text chat, when asked if so-and-so had done such-and-such, tried to respond that so-and-so “probably” did. Her phone had other ideas. “Poetically,” it said. I’ve been reflecting on this for weeks now. Shouldn’t we …

You may wonder what is “art therapy”  or “expressive arts” and what does a the therapist do with their clients? Do adults use play therapy or is it just for children? Can art therapy or sand tray therapy help you feel less anxious or treat depression? While play therapy is indeed most often used with younger clients, adults can benefit too. …