Get Your Proper Rest

Be Mindful to avoid disastrous modes of thought

Mindfulness of Sound Meditation

Mindfulness Project ‏@LondonMindful


A lovely mindfulness of sound #meditation from Chris Germer:

http://www.mindfulselfcompassion.org/audio/MindfulnessofSound.mp3 …

Link: https://twitter.com/londonmindful

Boost your self-compassion

Healthbeat

Four ways to boost your self-compassion

Take a moment to think about how you treat yourself when you make a mistake or fail to reach a goal. If you tend to beat yourself up when things go wrong, you, like most people, can use a little more self-compassion in your life.

Forgiving and nurturing yourself seem to have benefits in their own right. They can even set the stage for better health, relationships, and general well-being. So far, research has revealed a number of benefits of self-compassion. Lower levels of anxiety and depression have been observed in people with higher self-compassion. Self-compassionate people recognize when they are suffering and are kind to themselves at these times, thereby lowering their own levels of related anxiety and depression.

Learn to have self-compassion

Some people come by self-compassion naturally, but not everyone does. Luckily, self-compassion is a skill you can learn. Several methods have been proposed, and training programs are being developed, to help people discover and cultivate their own self-compassion.

Here are four ways to give your self-compassion skills a quick boost:

• Comfort your body. Eat something healthy. Lie down and rest. Massage your own neck, feet, or hands. Take a walk. Anything you can do to improve how you feel physically gives you a dose of self-compassion.
• Write a letter to yourself. Think of a situation that caused you to feel pain (a breakup with a lover, a job loss, a poorly received presentation). Write a letter to yourself describing the situation, but without blaming anyone — including yourself. Use this exercise to nurture your feelings.
• Give yourself encouragement. Think of what you would say to a good friend if he or she was facing a difficult or stressful situation. Then, when you find yourself in this kind of situation, direct these compassionate responses toward yourself.
• Practice mindfulness. Even a quick exercise, such as meditating for a few minutes, can be a great way to nurture and accept ourselves while we're in pain.

For more ways to draw on your strengths and find the positive meaning in your life, purchase Positive Psychology, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.


Image: iStock

Originally published: January 2016

Daily Health Tip

Go easy on over-the-counter painkillers

Aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and naproxen are great for easing everyday pain. But they can boost blood pressure, be hard on the stomach, and interact with other medications. If you need long-term pain relief, ask your doctor about the best options for you.

Related Topics

• Mental Health
• Positive Psychology

Source: http://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/4-ways-to-boost-your-self-compassion

Useful Sklls

Hard skills that require constant practice:

1 giving a sincere compliment

2 listening with intent to learn

3 talking less, but saying more

South American Magellanic penguin and the man who saved his life.

 South American Magellanic penguin who swims 5,000 miles each year to be reunited with the man who saved his life.

Today’s most heartwarming story is brought to you from a beach in Brazil.

It’s the story of a South American Magellanic penguin who swims 5,000 miles each year to be reunited with the man who saved his life.

Retired bricklayer and part time fisherman Joao Pereira de Souza, 71, who lives in an island village just outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, found the tiny penguin, covered in oil and close to death, lying on rocks on his local beach in 2011.

Joao cleaned the oil off the penguin’s feathers and fed him a daily diet of fish to build his strength. He named him Dindim.

After a week, he tried to release the penguin back into the sea. But, the bird wouldn’t leave. ‘He stayed with me for 11 months and then, just after he changed his coat with new feathers, he disappeared,’ Joao recalls.

And, just a few months later, Dindim was back. He spotted the fisherman on the beach one day and followed him home.

For the past five years, Dindim has spent eight months of the year with Joao and is believed to spend the rest of the time breeding off the coast of Argentina and Chile.

It’s thought he swims up to 5,000 miles each year to be reunited with the man who saved his life.

‘I love the penguin like it’s my own child and I believe the penguin loves me,’ Joao told Globo TV. ‘No one else is allowed to touch him. He pecks them if they do. He lays on my lap, lets me give him showers, allows me to feed him sardines and to pick him up.

It’s thought Dindim believes the fisherman is also a penguin (Picture: TV Globo)

‘Everyone said he wouldn’t return but he has been coming back to visit me for the past four years. He arrives in June and leaves to go home in February and every year he becomes more affectionate as he appears even happier to see me.’

Biologist Professor Krajewski, who interviewed the fisherman for Globo TV, told The Independent: ‘I have never seen anything like this before. I think the penguin believes Joao is part of his family and probably a penguin as well.

‘When he sees him he wags his tail like a dog and honks with delight.

And, just like that, the world seems a kinder place again.