Mindful listening is a form of deep listening which encompasses listening with our whole body. Many of us, without realising it, don’t listen fully. We tend to think about what we are going to say next. We make judgements. We offer solutions. And sometimes we try to divert the conversation onto something we want to talk about.

We all want to feel heard. When someone truly listens it validates our feelings, it demonstrates genuine caring and interest. It helps us feel okay about who we are and what we are experiencing in a way that offering someone a solution rarely does.

A martial artist once asked Bruce Lee, to teach him all that he knew about martial arts. Bruce held up two cups both filled with liquid and said, “The first cup represents all of your knowledge about martial arts. The second cup represents all of my knowledge about martial arts. If you want to fill your cup with my knowledge, you must first empty your cup of your knowledge.”

To create a life you love, find solutions to problems or discover what your life calling is you need to ’empty your cup’ by quietening the left hemisphere of your brain. The left hemisphere is the logical, analytical part of the brain that processes information sequentially. Give this part of your brain a problem and it will work on finding a practical solution for you. The brain is a wonderful tool, however, if you don’t know what you want, or you don’t know how to create what you want, logic, reason and analysis can have you going around and around in circles. This can lead to feelings of frustration or uncertainty and that’s when it sometimes gets too hard and we settle for what is.

We all want our kids to be happy and healthy, right?! But research tells us that right now, our children are actually more stressed than ever. They are living in a world that expects more of them than it ever has. And it shows. Difficulties like depression, anxiety, ADHD and behaviour problems are on the rise. Our children are struggling.

But meditation can help. And this Thursday May 21st is World Meditation Day. So what better time is there to talk about meditation for children (and its amazing benefits)?!

What are the benefits? Well, studies suggest that meditation can help children develop a range of pro social behaviours. Things like improved empathy, better self control, less aggression and improved attention. It’s also been found to help with difficulties such as anxiety, depression, stress, ADHD, and low self esteem. Sounds like the perfect antidote doesn’t it?!

Yeah. It is! So let’s talk about why your child should be meditating and how to get started.

During the pandemic, stress is daily and unrelenting - for kids and the adults in their lives. We’re all doing our best, but more help is needed to cope with heightening tensions, anxiety and fatigue (as we enter our third wave across the globe).

Whether you’re a front line worker dealing with daily risk, or at home with your kids trying to manage a new kind of workday, chronic stress has a corrosive effect on the brain and can lead to fatigue, and a weakened immune system. If left unchecked, chronic stress can also take a toll on productivity and personal relationships.

So what can parents and kids do to keep your daily stress levels in check? Well, there are a lot of simple strategies you can try - talking to friends, mindfulness meditation, journaling, doing art, listening to music, getting some fresh air and exercising.

Sleep, along with diet and exercise, is one of our major health pillars. However, despite its importance, sleep tends to receive far less attention. This is interesting given the role sleep plays in not only employee wellbeing but the overall wellbeing of organisations.

Shortened cold, gray and damp days are hardly elements that motivate us to get outside, right?  When I talk with teens in my office about spending time in nature, particularly in the winter months, the conversation quickly shifts to avoiding the cold and waiting until Spring when things warm up and everything starts to brighten and bloom again.  

I get it. We’re more inclined to associate winter as a time for solitude and it's important to make time for rest, but the reality is when we allow the conditions of each season to control our relationship with the natural world, our preferences may result in waiting out the “uncomfortable” for the more “comfortable”  and before we know it, we can end up spending days, even months stuck inside.