mindfulness

More than just a trend, mindfulness has profound effects on our brain chemistry, emotional well-being, and overall life satisfaction. Here’s how mindfulness can rewire your brain and improve your life.

Mindfulness Improves Our Brain Chemistry

One of the most compelling benefits of mindfulness is its ability to alter brain chemistry. Research suggests that regular mindfulness practices lead to increased levels of key neurotransmitters such as GABA, dopamine, and serotonin.

By enhancing the production of these neurotransmitters, mindfulness can help you maintain a calm, balanced, and joyful state of mind.

Mindfulness Changes Our Fear and Stress Response

When faced with a potential threat, our brain’s amygdala kicks into gear, processing sensory information and triggering the body’s fight-or-flight response. While this response is essential for survival, an overactive amygdala can lead to heightened anxiety and stress.

Mindfulness Helps Us Stay Connected to the Present Moment

In today’s world, it’s easy to get lost in thoughts of the past or worries about the future. This mental chatter can keep us awake at night, distract us from our work, and distance us from our loved ones. However, mindfulness helps to quiet the mind and anchor us in the present moment.

Mindfulness is more than just a mental exercise; it’s a transformative practice that can rewire your brain and enhance every aspect of your life. By improving brain chemistry, reducing stress and fear responses, keeping you present, and boosting learning and memory, mindfulness empowers you to live with greater peace, clarity, and joy. Start incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine, and watch as your life begins to transform from the inside out.

It’s easy to get caught up in the constant motion and demands that surround us. However, taking the time to slow down and create space for stillness can have a profound impact on our personal growth and well-being. 

Create Space For Stillness: Finding moments of stillness can be incredibly powerful. Whether it’s through meditation, mindfulness practices, or simply taking a walk in nature, creating space for stillness allows you to quiet the mind and reconnect with yourself. 

Prioritize Self-Care: Self-care is often the first thing to go when life gets busy, but it’s also one of the most important aspects of personal growth. Taking care of yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally is essential for overall well-being. 

Set Boundaries: Learning to set boundaries is crucial for personal growth. It’s okay to say no to things that don’t align with your values or priorities. Setting boundaries allows you to protect your time and energy, ensuring that you’re focusing on the things that truly matter to you.

Simplify Your Schedule: Our lives are often filled with endless commitments and obligations, leaving little time for rest and reflection. Simplifying your schedule by cutting back on non-essential activities can help you create more space for the things that truly matter to you. By prioritizing your time and energy, you can focus on what’s most important and avoid burnout.

By: Betsy Pownall

Climate change is hazardous to our health, both mentally and physically. In the article, “How does Climate Change affect Mental Health?” the American Psychological Association reports that long-term mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, suicide, aggression, and gender-based violence are impacted by rising temperatures and extreme weather events. 

Studies have shown that even some people who have not been directly affected by a climate disaster are experiencing “climate anxiety,” which is defined as an overwhelming sense of fear, sadness, and dread in the face of global warming. A 2020 APA survey found that 56% of U.S. adults said climate change is the most important issue facing the world today. 

Nearly half of young adults ages 18 to 34 year-olds reported feeling anxiety over climate change on a daily basis. 

While the problem can feel unwieldy, many people find an increased sense of hope and security by taking action to understand, adapt to, or to mitigate the effects of climate change at an individual and community level. 

On an individual level, people can learn about what is happening, what could happen and prepare for climate-related events. Helpful individual actions can include:

• Making and practicing household emergency plans
• Engaging in self-care and healthy habits
• Build and maintain social networks with family, friends, neighbors, and climate advocates
• Participate in policy and advocacy efforts to combat climate change

Distress about climate change can be reduced by:

• Spending time in nature
• Engaging in mindfulness practices like grounding, body scans, meditation, 
• Identify core values that guide your work, simplify and focus on one’s choices
• Working with others
• Engaging in activism

(APA “Resilience and individual actions around climate distress”)

And then there are the ‘Recession Resilient’ climate-change start-ups. 

In her New York Times article “‘Recession Resilient’ Climate Start-ups Shine in Tech Downturn”, Erin Griffity reports that tech workers and investors are “flocking to start-ups that aim to combat climate change”. 

As tech companies downsize and cut jobs, a ‘wake up call’ has spurred many workers to question whether or not what they are doing is “making the world a better place”. 

Many workers are joining climate-change start-ups, as investors “pour money into the field”. While start-ups once had to work at convincing investors that their focus was important, climate change and extreme weather events have become impossible to ignore. 

“We’re actually doing work that matters”, Arebeth Pease said of her move from a tech start-up to a climate-change start-up focusing on smart home electrical panels.