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Mindfulness with kindness

Two for You — take two minutes to live and lead with intention

Episode 1.6

Being in the moment, without judgment or pretext, can help you become a healthier, more positive you - and in turn a more effective leader.

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Transcript

Note: Two for You written transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before referencing content in print.

[Lori] Hi and welcome to Two for You. Have you heard the Harvard research that talks about how about 47% of the time on average our minds are wandering? In this episode we're going to talk about how we can focus our minds to the here and now.

[Denise] And to do that, you should do it with an attitude of kindness according to Shauna Shapiro, a professor of psychology and author. In her work on mindfulness over the years, she has found two things to be true. One that mindfulness works and there's a lot of research that backs that up. Mindfulness reduces your stress, it can improve sleep patterns, lowers blood pressure and it strengthens your immune system. The second thing that she's found to be true is that people self-judge when they practice mindfulness - I know I do. When my mind wanders, I say, "Oh, geez, get back on track" or "oh man, you're not very good at meditation" and what she says is to really get the positive benefits of being mindful is that you need to go at it with an attitude of kindness towards yourself. So understand that you're here and now, but you're here and now with a kind heart. So Shapiro and her colleagues developed a mindfulness model, and this mindfulness model looks like this. So practice mindfulness with intention, attention, and attitude, but attitude with kindness. So the more that you're intentional about being here and now, and that you have your attention there without judgment and then an attitude of kindness that you know that this is a positive thing for you and those around you.

[Lori] Thanks. So if you do go forward with your own mindfulness practice, remember to integrate an attitude of kindness. 

Authors: Lori Rothstein and Denise Stromme, former Extension educators

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