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By Joy Reichart, New Ventures West, Guest Contributor

Gearing up as nature is winding down

How are you feeling this September? If you live or grew up in a place where the school year starts around now, you may have a mysterious, bone-deep response to this time of year. In the northern hemisphere, days start shortening, leaves start turning, and most beings prepare to hibernate and migrate. Meanwhile, human life picks up its pace, yanking us in the opposite direction of our animal instincts. Th…

By Rich Fernandez, guest contributor

There are many events taking place in the world today that challenge us severely, from the tragic and shocking news of mass shootings in the U.S., to ongoing challenges in places such as Hong Kong and Venezuela (to name only a few), to the latest report from the United Nations on the dire state of climate change.  

There are also many other challenges that don’t come across our screens or manifest on a global scale but can affect us daily and deeply. 

Like…

By John J. Murphy

As an author and business consultant specializing in leadership development, mindfulness, and transformational culture change for the past 34 years, I have done a considerable amount of research. Countless experts, teachers, scientists, and influential leaders have given me facts, data, insights, and information that have forever changed my life and the lives of my clients. One of the most intriguing examples of this was David Hawkins, MD, PhD.  Dr. Hawkins introduced me to Th…

By Joy Reichart, guest contributor, New Ventures West

“I have nothing left.”

It’s a sentiment that’s been in our shared consciousness for a long time, and recently I’ve started to hear folks actually name it. Maybe you have too. 

World events have taken their toll, and many of us find ourselves with very little energy, resources, spirit left in us. The pandemic fomented a sudden shift in pace and orientation that revealed much of what is outdated and imbalanced in our lives, and in the world.…

By Due Quach, guest contributor

1. Accept that anxiety is biological

The first step in managing anxiety in a healthier manner is to make peace with the fact that having anxiety is natural and normal. According to evolutionary psychology, human psychological traits like anxiety exist because they serve a function. Anxiety signals that we believe the outcome of a situation in which there are factors beyond our control, is very important to our survival, social status, happiness, or well-being. A…

By Kathlyn T. Hendricks, guest contributor

“The enemy is fear. We think that it’s hate, but it’s fear.”

- Gandhi

How did we get so scared?

I’ve gotten pretty obsessed with fear over the last few years. I grew up with bomb shelters and “duck and cover” (no one back then thought this was traumatic or would create any long-lasting impact). The vision of the mushroom cloud seeped into dreams and decisions and led to everyone on our block—except us—having a bomb shelter for the annihilation we ex…

For this month’s Round-Up, we explore mindfulness in schools, how mindfulness regulates pain, finding meaning in life by appreciating the little things, the cognitive benefit of self-reflection, and why the serotonin theory of depression might not be as compelling as we think. We have summarized the main ideas and key takeaways below with links to the full articles.

School Mindfulness Programs: Why Some Work and Others Don’t    

In an updated meta-analysis, researchers of the My Resilience in …