More and more I am seeing articles and research coming out about the importance of mindfulness and what contentment is, or rather, how it’s felt in the present moment. It’s possible that the digital age is making it easier to feel disconnected and anxious and I certainly see that trend in my practice. We’ve embraced all these new ways to communicate and stay in touch and be visible but what toll does that take on our emotional health? What can we do to compensate and bring balance back?
My job requires I spend a lot of time on the computer so one thing that I try and do is have at least one ‘dog-day’ per week. A dog-day was introduced to me by a friend and was defined as a day in which you spend ZERO time on the computer: no emails, no posts, no spreadsheets, nada. A day spent computer free does the world of good for me. Everyone will have different ways of but the important thing is that you have something. Another practice I’m trying to introduce is to only check my emails twice/day. This is proving difficult to stick to but when you break it down, how often does one really need to check in the day? Once at the beginning of the day and once at the end seems reasonable to me.
Anyways here are some interesting articles I’ve read recently about contentment and well-being:
1. Mathematical model reveals that experiencing joy when you least expect it is the greatest boost to well-being. Read this article in the Guardian.
2. Sometimes it’s good to just sit down and think. Read this article
3. Habits of Exuberant Human Beings. Read this article
4. Make it so easy you can’t say no when starting new habits/behavior. Read this article
5. The Health Benefits of Music. This this article
6. Mindfulness with Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and Google employees (video) and at work (article): See post here