Hot Button Issues

Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. refers to acting mindlessly in this hyperactivated way as reacting to a “hot-button issue” and “flipping our lid.” He emphasizes that by mindfully using the adult version of the Time Out technique during the incident, if possible, and by mindfully reflecting on the incident afterward, you can take responsibility for your

5 Jan, 2015
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Parenting Yourself by Giving Yourself a “Time Out”

Research on how the brain works also explains what happens when we encounter something that sets off our machinery and gets us activated so that we go into full battle alert, defending ourselves and/or attacking others. This research explains why, even after we’ve started becoming more mindful, we’re bound to become activated from time to

1 Jan, 2015
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Parenting Yourself to Heal from Painful Memories

We can use mindfulness to help overcome pain associated with memories of past traumas. Most of us believe that our memories are similar to films or videotapes of events we’ve experienced and that when we recall them, they play accurately in our heads and are always exactly the same. But research shows that this isn’t

29 Dec, 2014
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Modulating Fear

As I’ve mentioned, for years I had a fear of my anger because embedded in my programming was the belief that it was dangerous and, therefore, “bad,” and I shouldn’t allow myself to feel it. Unexpectedly, one of my experiences with painting gave me information that I was able to apply mindfully to help me

25 Dec, 2014
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Running toward Mindfulness

In hindsight, I now see that running was the first activity that put me in a state of mindfulness. I began to run when I was in my twenties. Everyone was doing it, and, having grown up as a chubby kid and still bearing the scars of feeling stigmatized by it, I thought running

22 Dec, 2014
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