Mindfulness Archives - Enlightenment Blog

The art of mindful parenting

Posted on September 20, 2020 March 28, 2021 by Emma Jansen

Bringing mindfulness to the challenges of children can help parents to better enjoy the precious early years.

Parents can struggle to enjoy the present. Children fill parental minds with lists of things to do and challenges to overcome. Many mums and dads struggle to enjoy the moment they are in, even as they know this stage won’t last forever.

Mindful parenting brings the concept of mindfulness to our experience as parents.

When we practice mindfulness, we tune our thoughts into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than living in the past or imagining the future. This simple-sounding approach has been shown to have many benefits. Psychological research suggesting it can relieve stress, anxiety and depression.

10 ways to help your mental health

Posted on September 13, 2020 October 7, 2020 by Emma Jansen

We all like to help others. But, when it comes to mental health, what steps can we take to support ourselves?

Psychological research has revealed a range of approaches that can help you stay mentally healthy and make the most out of your life.

Why contemplating death can help you live a happier life

Posted on September 10, 2020 October 8, 2020 by Emma Jansen

How do you feel about the idea of dying? Is it something you think about often? Or does it make you feel anxious? These are questions many of us have pondered in recent times. The pandemic has reminded us that death is always close by and is an event we will all face at some point.

Generally, though, death is a taboo subject. We’re taught that death is something we should shy away from and try to forget about. If we start contemplating our own mortality – so this traditional wisdom goes – we’ll become anxious and depressed.

Whereas our ancestors would have regularly watched people die and seen dead bodies, we’re shielded from death by modern medical practices. People usually die in hospitals rather than at home and soon after death, their bodies are taken to funeral homes, where we usually have to make an appointment to see them.

Playing football can improve mental health – new research

Posted on September 9, 2020 October 7, 2020 by Emma Jansen

Playing football is a good way to get physically fit. But our new study shows that a regular kick about can also lead to improved mental health, social confidence and a sense of purpose.

As we explored the impact of the beautiful game on people with mental health challenges, many of the players we spoke to said their weekly games improved stress and anxiety levels. One commented:

Cat lovers rejoice: watching online videos lowers stress and makes you happy

Posted on August 23, 2020 October 7, 2020 by Emma Jansen

Watching cute cat videos and looking at their online pictures may not be a waste of time. A new study has found doing so could boost energy levels and increase feelings of happiness.

Published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior the study even suggests that watching internet cats could be used as a form of digital pet therapy or stress relief.

Internet data shows two million cat videos were posted on YouTube as of 2014, totalling nearly 26 billion views. Celebrity cats – such as Grumpy Cat and and Lil BUB – have also sprung up on social media, garnering mass followings.

Getting serious about funny: Psychologists see humor as a character strength

Posted on August 22, 2020 October 8, 2020 by Emma Jansen

Humor is observed in all cultures and at all ages. But only in recent decades has experimental psychology respected it as an essential, fundamental human behavior.

Historically, psychologists framed humor negatively, suggesting it demonstrated superiority, vulgarity, Freudian id conflict or a defense mechanism to hide one’s true feelings. In this view, an individual used humor to demean or disparage others, or to inflate one’s own self-worth. As such, it was treated as an undesirable behavior to be avoided. And psychologists tended to ignore it as worthy of study.

Six simple ways to fill your wardrobe with sustainable clothing

Posted on August 21, 2020 October 7, 2020 by Emma Jansen

The environmental impact of fashion waste is overwhelming. Every year the UK alone sends 350,000 tonnes of clothing to landfill. And as the majority of garments are made from oil-based materials like polyester – 22.67 billion tonnes of polyester clothing is produced every year worldwide – they aren’t going anywhere fast. Oil doesn’t decompose, and if burned the material will release harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. There are also problems associated with trimmings such as buttons, zips, studs and interfacing or lining. When buried with other waste in landfill, the combination of metal components, moisture and heat causes gases such as methane to be emitted.

In response to this, and other elements of the fast fashion crisis, the industry is changing. Some brands have introduced recycling schemes to address what happens to their products post-purchase. And the UK’s Environmental Audit Committee recently recommended a penny charge on each garment sold to fund more and better clothing collection and recycling schemes.

How a year of trying to buy nothing made me a smarter shopper and a better teacher

Posted on August 12, 2020 April 8, 2021 by Emma Jansen

It started as a New Year’s resolution driven by guilt and a touch of sibling rivalry – but by the end of the year, it taught me valuable lessons as a teacher, including about the benefits of failure.

At Christmas dinner 2018, my sister declared she would buy nothing for a year. After living in Bangladesh for two years, she had seen how the world’s fashion industry was wreaking havoc on the country’s people and environment.

I decided to follow her lead. As an Australian living in Finland, I still can’t imagine going a year without a flight home to see family. So buying nothing (apart from groceries) would do something to offset all those carbon-costly air miles.

Couch Potato No More: How the Benefits of Exercise Transfer to the Brain

Posted on August 6, 2020 October 7, 2020 by Emma Jansen

Brain aging is reversible. How? Why? And how much can we rejuvenate an already aged brain?

Those were the one conviction and three questions that guided me throughout my post-doctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Yes, this isn’t like my usual articles. For the first time, I’m covering my own work—a multi-year passion project that spans diverse ways to reverse brain aging, probes the intersection between body and mind, and hopefully one day can help battle the seemingly inevitable memory and cognitive decline we all face as we age.

When Dignity Transcends Human Behavior, We all Win

Posted on July 15, 2020 October 8, 2020 by Emma Jansen

Since publishing my first book seven year ago, I have spent much time speaking before a diversity of audiences on the subject of sustainability. Over the course of hundreds of conversations, people have opened up about the role of individual citizens and consumers in creating and manifesting a “better world” for themselves, their children, and future generations. I have found that a “sustainability generation” has been awakened and has mobilized as force for good, to better themselves and the world.

Increasingly, people have become more knowledgeable about the complex and interrelated dynamics of the communities in which they live. Although not all people define or validate sustainability the same way, there is a fundamental and advancing understanding that humans and our behaviors, represent the common denominator for a better future. The context of sustainability has deep roots in environmental conservation and management, however, people are now understanding and validating the entrenched realities for social equity and economic prosperity.