May 2, 2013

Mindful Feedback

Most people don’t respond positively to feedback (a.k.a criticism). The expanding knowledge we have about how the brain works is helping us to understand why. Even under the BEST of circumstances, many of us find ourselves recoiling in response to hearing what others think about us.  Our receptivity depends on context, relationships and circumstances – but the greatest factor is […]
April 18, 2013

Emotional Mindfulness: What Anger, Vulnerability & Despair Teach Us

Everyone gets caught in a whirlwind of contradictory feelings and wonders – how can so many potent emotions sit side by side within me?  It’s easy to get lost in anxiety, sadness or even despair, when times are hard. It’s not uncommon to feel a sense of vulnerability because of the limitations of our power to effect external change. The Popular TED […]
October 4, 2012

Impatience and Frustration ~ From the Emotions Series

‘We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.’~ Voltaire  Pick an emotion – any emotion that characterizes how you feel during your workday. When you become aware of what you feel while you work, which emotion do you experience most often? Impatience.  Frustration.  That’s what most people I work with choose.  If you were able to select […]
January 7, 2010

Intelligent Emotions – at Work

“Hardwired to connect with each other, we do so through emotions. Our brains, bodies and minds are inseparable from the emotions that animate them. Emotions are at the nexus of thought and action, of self and other, of person and environment.”  Diana Fosha, Daniel Siegel & Marion Solomon, The Healing Power of Emotions Driven by major advances in neuroscience in […]
December 30, 2009

Being Patient

Is there a more resourceful, useful and enabling emotion than patience? The act of being patient is most definitely behavioral – and it requires skill. But patience is also a feeling state – one with very specific (and beneficial) physiological markers. When we are patient, our mind is relatively clear. It is the opposite of a confused, jumbled state of thoughts. […]