According to a TED article, one of the reasons we don’t go to the gym is that when we think about working out, we picture ourselves panting, red-faced, and in pain - almost like an allergic reaction. Not exactly the definition of a fun and enjoyable activity. Ever wonder how to exercise when it is the last thing you want to do? Check out this post for some ideas

Today we provide some tips on how to do small talk. We’ve spent lots of time on our own in the last 18 months. Re-engaging in dialogues with friends and colleagues may feel stressful. Check out our post for some tips and ideas for conversation starters.

From time to time, we are all looking for quick fixes that help us feel better, boost our immune system, improve our memory, help us be creative, drop our heart rate, enhance our focus, fight depression and lower our anxiety. Want the quick fix that can do all these things? Spend some time outside! Check out this post for a quick and easy equation to help your reap the benefits of the natural world (including your backyard or a walk down your street).

Some of us feel overwhelmed from time to time. Some of us feel overwhelmed all the time. Alice Boyes, the author of The Healthy Mind Toolkit and The Anxiety Toolkit, tells us that regardless of which camp you fall into, there are five self-sabotaging mistakes we all make when we are in an overwhelmed state.

Thomas Edison was one of the greatest inventors and innovators of all time. He invented the first incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, founded General Electric, and held over 1000 patents.  His work and ingenuity changed the world and had a significant influence on the industrial revolution.  However, if it wasn’t for the unwavering belief of his mother, none of that may have happened.

It is vital to acknowledge that as we re-enter a world with fewer restrictions, there is a new mental toll upon us - deciding how we want to engage with the world and what activities we are comfortable doing. It may feel that each decision involves reassessing activities that once seemed normal. This transition may be challenging for some - learning how to interact socially again is not as simple as jumping back on a bike after a long absence -re-engaging socially is a multilayered endeavor. It may feel that each decision involves reassessing activities that once seemed normal - are they safe? Is it ok for me to do this?

Today our post is focused on facts about the Delta variant of Covid-19. This variant is a concern for many, but perhaps most for those who cannot be vaccinated (i.e., kids under 12 and those ineligible for vaccination). Check out the tips and facts below to help you navigate back to school with kids under 12, as well as general information for everyone. The information is drawn mainly from a Wall Street Journal article and the additional sources noted in the article.

In her Ted Talk, “The beautiful balance between courage and fear,” Cara E. Yar Khan reminds us that “life is really just a lesson in finding the balance between fear and courage and understanding what is and isn’t a good idea.”  She also tells us that “without fear, we’ll do foolish things, and without courage, we’ll never step into the unknown.” A healthy dose of fear may be helpful for us, as it can both prevent us from doing foolish things and help us take precautions seriously.  However, when fear paralyzes us, we need to recognize fear for what it is and take steps to relax its grip on our thoughts.

In his Ted Talk, In Praise of Slow, Carl Honoré notes that often the world appears stuck in fast forward.  On more than one occasion, you can likely recall a reference to someone needing or experiencing a wake-up call to alert them to the fact that they may be hurrying through life instead of enjoying it. For additional perspective, check out this post.

The last year has placed us all outside of our comfort zone.  To some extent, we have all been knocked down.  So where to from here?  How are we going to get back up?  To quote Carol Dweck (author of Mindset), we have the opportunity to “be gripped with the tyranny of now.”  In other words, we can cultivate and embrace a growth mindset.  A state of mind that allows us to stumble, to persevere, and not only welcome but learn from failure.  A form of mind that accepts that we have not yet mastered our “new normal” but acknowledges that we will get there through consistent effort day by day.  Or, we can allow our minds to stay fixed and be paralyzed by the now.  This is a choice.  Your mindset is simply a powerful belief that exists in your mind.  We can all change our minds if we wish to.

Today we use a story initially shared in April 2020 to bring attention to the challenges (and fun) associated with caring for the older members of our families and our communities.  We are grateful to our friend Jan for sharing her story.

I’m a member of the Sandwich Generation. I have two twenty-something kids who are fiercely independent and two ninety-something parents who perceive that they are fiercely independent. I love them all.

Full disclosure - my parents are “those” people. The ones who things just happen to. Some of it is self-inflicted, but some of it is just the roll of the dice. But they approach life with an ‘it’s us against the world attitude” that’s served them well. 

When email was new, we may have only had one or two inboxes to check.  One at work on a work computer and one at home on a home computer.  Merlin Mann is a productivity expert who, in 2004, developed and began promoting the concept of “Inbox Zero.”  Looking back now, he suggests that everyone missed the point, that even he has a cluttered inbox.  It is not about having an empty inbox; it is about streamlining the information coming at you.

In general, we have an awareness of the power of our thoughts and how they can trigger emotional responses and even anxiety.  This week, we continue that theme with a tool to help us overcome negative thoughts by reframing them.  The device is called WIRM, and it was developed by Mark Devine (former Navy SEAL Commander).  We came across it in Brian Johnson’s Optimize +1 (#1008).  This post is an adaptation of the concept presented in Optimize content.

We generally associate clutter with things we can see:  piles of paper, overflowing closets, unorganized garages.  In other words, stuff and stuff and stuff.   But clutter can also be things we can’t see.  We can have clutter in our email (digital clutter), clutter in our mind (mental clutter), and even emotional clutter.  All of this can leave us feeling overwhelmed, maybe even paralyzed, and perhaps slightly embarrassed.  It is more common than you may think, and there are several ways you can confront the clutter in your life. 

Life, it seems, is full of paradoxes.  Today, we will unpack this one:  Want to be more productive?  Take more breaks.  Counterintuitive for sure, but backed by research and proven to work.

Quite simply, we need breaks throughout the day because our brains get tired, lose focus, and become more distracted.  Research has shown that too much work without breaks diminishes our output.  To learn more, check out this post!

When we think about earth-friendly practices, our minds often shift to recycling, packaging, and energy use.  It is interesting to consider the impact our clothing choices have on the well-being of the environment and the earth.  As summer is upon us and (hopefully) we can spend more time outside, we thought it would be mindful of us to shine attention on how our choices around what we wear can impact the world around us.

Much of the posts we do here for Musings are rooted in the emotional side of life, often focusing on how we feel,  think and act.  Today, we depart from that angle and introduce a couple of concepts related to our physical health.  This post features information and tips to help you reduce stiffness and pain and a different approach to stretching that enhances relaxation and recovery.

Mindfulness is defined as “the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.”  We can be mindful of many things in our lives, including how we use technology and, specifically, our phones.  Our phones may be so omnipresent in our lives that we might not be conscious of how we interact with them. In this post, you will find questions and tips to help you bring awareness to how you use your phone and the ways you are connected to it.

Research tells us that high-performing teams have one thing in common - the presence of psychological safety.  In psychologically safe environments, team members have the confidence to speak their mind, be creative and take a risk - without the fear of being chastised for it or having it be held against them.

Psychological safety is not simply being nice or soft, nor is it guaranteed support for your ideas. Still, it does create an energizing and candid environment where people can be honest and speak up.

There have likely been several moments or extended periods in your life when you may have felt like you were piloting a malfunctioning plane or bus, or vehicle of your choice.  Life is like that – we get periods of turbulence (like pandemics, for example!), we get through them, and then we get relative calm periods.  When we are in turbulence, we often forget that undulations are a part of life and that the turbulence is fleeting.  Likewise, in periods of relative calm, we often forget the turbulence.  Of turbulence and trouble, Hank, a man ill with terminal lung cancer, had this to say (check out the blog to learn more).