Mindful Work: Post #4--Impact--Personal

Personal: Meditation calms the anxious and depressed brain, makes us less stressed, and makes us more compassionate with others. Mindfulness even overcomes the “bystander effect” by threefold! Stress isn't caused by what is happening in our lives but by how we respond to it.

Mindful Work: Post #4--Impact on Health

Health: "Stress finds you. You have to go looking for relaxation." Stress helped us evolutionarily, but not quite as much anymore. An overactive amygdala results in heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression and anxiety, fatigue and muscle pain. Highly stressed people are more excitable, less productive, and eat up health care costs. Mindfulness reduces cortisol levels, aids the immune system, increases happiness, and calms you down. In short: Mindfulness makes us resilient! And, stress is contagious—especially if you’re a leader.

Mindful Work: Post #3--Mindfulness Impact

Mindfulness Impact. Mindfulness meditation thickens the prefrontal cortex (executive center) of the brain, responsible for positive behavior and appropriate responses; stimulates the hypothalamus, which increases learning and memory in the brain; and shrinks and dulls the effects of the amygdala (the brain’s fire alarm), making us less likely to overreact to stress. Kids in school who practice mindfulness paid better attention and were in control of their emotions. Pro-social behavior is a direct result of meditation in kids—and others. Check out the impact mindfulness has on us.