Blog Archives

The Spill Over Effect

5/26/2015

In previous posts, I've briefly mentioned some of the amazing benefits of meditation. In this week's post, I would like to share with you some detailed information on how meditation not only positively impacts the person meditating, but how it has a spill over effect that has been shown to have a positive effect on the community. It's super cool to think that by meditating I can have a positive impact on not only myself and my immediate family, but also on the community in which I live. There are some awesome studies that demonstrate this amazing finding that I want to share with you!

One study that demonstrates this spill over effect is The National Demonstration Project that was done in Washington DC. The project brought in 4,000 participants in Transcendental Meditation to Washington DC from June 7-July 30, 1993. The results of the study indicated that the long-term effect associated with a group of these meditators in Washington DC was calculated as a 48% reduction in violent crime. That would almost cut violent crime in half with just 4,000 people regularly meditating within a city, that's huge!

Washington DC has approximately 600,000 inhabitants, so if 1 out of every 150 people in any given community regularly meditated then hypothetically we should be able to accomplish similar results everywhere.

Another study was done over a three year period of time at a Detroit based chemical plant. The company posted the following results three years after implementing meditation:

Absenteeism fell by 85%
Productivity rose 120%
Injuries dropped 70%
Profits increased 520%

These are dramatic changes to a company's statistics! With numbers like this, you would think that meditation would be commonplace in all businesses! Many CEO's at large corporations are known to regularly meditate and it's no wonder. Meditation is encouraged, taught and utilized within some top organizations such as Google. Steve Jobs at Apple, allowed employees to take 30 minutes per day while at work to meditate, held meditation classes and offered a meditation room for employees to use. At Harpo Productions, Oprah Winfrey's production studio business, a bell rings at 9 am and 5 pm to announce meditation time for all of Harpo's employees. Nike, Prentice Hall Publishing, HBO, AOL Time Warner, Yahoo!, Procter & Gamble all promote meditation in the workplace. It's spill over effects provide some nice benefits to these corporations.

According to reports, there have been over 1500 separate studies since 1930. All were related to meditation and its effects on practitioners. Here are some additional statistics that impact people who meditate personally:

Normalized blood pressure.
Heart rate and respiration are decreased.
Meditators are less anxious and nervous.
Reduced anxiety and depression.
75% of insomniacs who started a daily meditation program were able to fall asleep within 20 minutes of going to bed.
Production of the stress hormone Cortisol is greatly decreased.
Women with PMS showed symptom improvements after 5 months of daily meditation.
Thickness of the artery walls decreased which effectively lowers the risk of heart attack or stroke by 8% to 15%.

It has also been noted that people who use meditation and mindfulness techniques may be physiologically younger by 12 to 15 years. Meditation and mindfulness can affect the physical body in a positive way, just as stress and other factors effect the body in a negative way.

These are just some of the positive benefits of meditation on people personally, on businesses where meditators work, and on the community as a whole. Research supports that meditation is a huge secret weapon that can benefit us all. If you haven't started your own meditation practice yet, check out my earlier blog post titled Meditation 101 - The Beginner's Guide. I'm here to help you get started, leave me a comment or an email if you have any questions.

References:
Hagelin, J.S., Rainforth, M.V., Orme-Johnson, D.W., Cavanaugh, K.L., Alexander, C.N., Shatkin, S.F., Davies, J.L., Hughes, A.O., and Ross, E. 1999. Effects of group practice of the Transcendental Meditation program on preventing violent crime in Washington D.C.: Results of the National Demonstration Project, June-July, 1993. Social Indicators Research, 47(2): 153-201.

http://www.project-meditation.org/a_wim1/statistics_on_people_who_meditate.html'>Statistics on People who Meditate</a>

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Curiosity killed the cat

5/19/2015

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I think we've probably all heard this phrase at some point growing up. Either by a teacher, or a parent, or other adult. Most likely in response to the endless questions that are typically posed by a young child. Why? Why? Why? I can still hear it ringing in my ears from when my children were much younger.

I feel like over the course of time we either lose some of that curiosity, or it is suppressed in order to not be seen as a nuisance to those around us. I feel like we are also taught to not question authority, to not question society, to not question the status quo, to not question our teachers, our leaders, our elders, our politicians, etc. It seems as though we over time lose a lot of that childlike curiosity. We to some degree stop questioning, stop being curious, stop learning.

On some level maybe we don't want to give away that it's something we don't already know. To be curious implies that we don't already have all of the answers. God forbid should someone think we don't already know, or even worse that we are weird for asking.

Or is it that as adults we don't have the time to be curious? We are so busy with our lives and running on the hamster wheel that we simply don't have the time, capacity, desire to engage in the effort of being curious.

I was recently listening to an episode of Oprah's Super Soul Sunday, where she was interviewing film and television producer Brian Grazer about his new book, A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life. I love Brian's ideas on expanding our curiosity, a trait he attributes to his success and says should be as much a part of our culture as creativity and innovation. Brian made a decision early on in his career to seek out "curiosity conversations" with at least one new person each day. He stresses how all of us can benefit from this practice of stepping outside our comfort zones.

Brian discussed and gave examples of how these "curiosity conversations" helped his career, opened up doors for him, and caused him to be a more connected and interesting person. I love the idea of engaging in curiosity conversations. Conversations where we are just really trying to connect with another human being and learn about them, their life, their interests, their passions, their career, their thoughts, their opinions. What an easy and powerful way to gain awareness of our world, gain perspective, see life through another lens, gain empathy, gain knowledge.

Here's another way to look at the concept of holding "curiosity conversations"...We've all had conversations with people where we walk away feeling good about the person, like they heard us, were interested in us, and we've all had conversations where we walked away and felt like we were "talked to" or not understood, not heard, or where the person wasn't really present. I aspire for my interactions with people to end with them feeling acknowledged versus disregarded. We've all felt the difference. Have them walk away feeling good about their interaction with me.

The concept of leading a curious life appeals to me. I don't want to squelch my curiosity or that of my children. I don't want to follow the status quo, or what someone, or what society tells me I should be thinking or asking about. I don't want to be so busy all the time that I don't have a few minutes to engage in a real conversation with the person next to me. It's important for us to explore, to question, to engage in life. Be curious about other people, be curious about where our food comes from, be curious about our spirituality, be curious about a country we are visiting, be curious about other cultures and races, be curious about what our heart is telling us, be curious about our purpose, the list is endless.

I love this quote from Elizabeth Gilbert, "A curiosity-driven life is a beautiful thing. Following your curiosity begins a scavenger hunt that can lead you to amazing places...It might even lead you to your passion."

I'm looking forward to engaging in some "curiosity conversations", I hope that you are too! Please share with me if you have any interesting discoveries upon being a more curious person!

Sidenote:
Everyone knows that, despite its supposed nine lives, curiosity killed the cat. Well, not quite. The 'killed the cat' proverb originated as 'care killed the cat'. By 'care' the coiner of the expression meant 'worry/sorrow' rather than our more usual contemporary 'look after/provide for' meaning. Now that I can get onboard with...Worry killed the cat :)

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The Power of Connections

5/12/2015

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This past weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to have a girl's weekend with some of my female family members. This group included my mom, my sisters, my sister-in-laws, my daughters, some of my nieces and even a great niece. These wonderful women made it a priority in their life to be connected, to bond, to enjoy each other's company, to share, to learn, to grow, to create, to laugh, to pray, to kick back and relax, to love each other. This was such an awesome and amazing experience and I'm so grateful that so many of my family members could make it. It's hard with our busy schedules, commitments to our own families and to our jobs, to carve out this special time to spend together.

Research shows that there is a tremendous health benefit to social connectedness. And yet, with our busy schedules, social connections can be pretty far down on our “to do” lists. It's easy to let days, weeks, even months slip by without seeing people who are important to us. Our culture tends to place value on hard work, success, and wealth, so it’s no surprise some of us do not set aside enough time for social connection when we think security lies in material things rather than other people. Our overall health and wellness depends on us placing equal value on our social connectedness.

Is it time for us as a society to redefine what success means? To slow down and unplug from technology and from "life" to rediscover what truly matters...what really matters to YOU. How about if we each set aside time every day to disconnect from technology in order to reconnect with ourselves or with others face-to-face? What would that feel like? How much space would it open up in our lives for ourselves and for others? I love my technology, but it can seriously consume huge chunks of my day! It can feel liberating to not have technology next to me, to not have that pull to look at it and be "connected" and yet not truly connected.

What about disconnecting from our jobs? How easy is it for us to unplug from our jobs, our careers, and plug into the other parts of our life? Its become the norm to bring work home and spend evening hours and weekends continuing to work. Some may even say you are lazy if you are not pushing yourself to work more in the evenings and weekends. That you are not motivated enough.

How about all of the running we do as parents? We busy ourselves taking the kids (and ourselves) from one structured activity to another. Our calendar is filled with running here, there and everywhere. I spend a chunk of my day driving in circles from home to dance, home to the high school, etc.

I was recently having a conversation with a group of women about how we have so many structured activities these days for our kids that they no longer know how to entertain themselves when they do have down time. They rely on technology and other forms of stimulation to help pass the time and to "entertain" themselves. They don't engage in face-to-face connections or use their creativity to come up with activities to occupy their time. It bothers me when my kids have their friends over and pretty soon I see them all sitting there looking at their phones, not engaging with one another at all. Begging the question...are we even connecting with one another when we are in each other's presence?

Who are those special people in your life? The ones who consistently love you and support you? Have you done a good job of staying connected to them? How about society as a whole? Are you connected? Do you feel a sense of community of belonging? Do you know your neighbors, or your fellow church members, or the other parents at the soccer game? Sometimes all it takes is setting our phone down and looking up and engaging with our surroundings. Being curious about the people who are right in front of us. Learning who they are and sharing who we are. Just a little effort goes a long way, and doesn't even take up much time.

On one hand, I want to say that I've worked hard to maintain balance and keep social connections as a high priority in my life, but on the other hand it's really not that hard at all. I love my family and I love my friends and I look forward to spending quality time with them, I honor that time. I work to set boundaries around that time and hold it as sacred. It's not always easy to block it off and keep it blocked off, but it's a priority for me and I can make it happen. It makes me a better person to be connected to them and to share my life and love with them.

What I personally want to work on is to shut down technology on a more regular basis and be more present in my daily life with my kids and with my husband. I also want to look up from my phone and be more present when I am standing waiting for my child, or when I'm in line at the grocery store.

How are you doing at being socially connected? Do you make it a priority? Do you think as a society that we are more or less connected than what we were 20 years ago? What changes can you make to ramp up your connectedness? I would love to get your feedback, comment below or send me an email.

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The Race

5/5/2015

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My son had a track meet last night (Friday). He's a junior in high school and running is important to him. He runs track and cross country. In track, his best events are the 1600m (1 mile) and 3200m (2mile) races. He hopes to beat his own personal best each race, he hopes to make it to State again this year, he hopes to run in college.

He had a track meet on Tuesday night and ran the 3200m race, then he had what he felt was his most difficult workout/practice on Wednesday, followed by another grueling practice on Thursday. The meet was on Friday. His goal was to run the 1600m race in 4 minutes 30 seconds, but his legs were toast. He knew it before the race even started. During the race his legs were on fire. He ran the race in 4 minutes 46 seconds falling short of his desired time (Have you tried running a mile in under 10 minutes? No gosh darn way that is ever happening!!!). Okay, I digress...

Coach is looking long-term. He wants the team to peak at the end of the season, so the guys are ready for Regionals, Sectionals and State. He's working them hard realizing that they won't necessarily be able to run their fastest at the Friday night meet at the end of the week. The plan being that they are conditioning their body for the longer term end of season goal of being an even better and faster runner. This is hard, the kids want to be able to give it their max each race, but it's also a life lesson right?

We often plant seeds in a garden, tend to it, water it, pull weeds in hopes of an abundant harvest come later in the summer. We study hard in school in desire of earning a degree. We work hard in relationships for the long-term satisfaction of being connected and loved. We exercise, eat healthy, meditate, forgive, etc. We do all of these things to benefit our "future self".

I want to share with you a post by Elizabeth Gilbert that I love. In it, she describes this concept of your future self and doing things for your future self. I think you will enjoy it. Here it is:

Dear Ones,

Whenever my family used to go on a trip, the last thing my mother would do before she walked out the door was to make her bed nicely, with clean sheets and everything. When I asked her once why she went through all that trouble to make a bed that she wasn’t going to sleep in all week, she said, “It’s a present that I give to my future self, because I know she’ll appreciate that, when she gets back home.”

I think this was the first time I grasped the idea of having a “future self” who is different from the person I was at the moment.

It was something about my mother calling her future self “she” - not “I”…an awareness that this future self was a totally separate being. And it was definitely the first time I considered that you could be NICE to your future self - doing her favors, leaving her treats, making the bed for her…

We are often told to be kind to ourselves, but it takes a special sort of awareness to be kind to our FUTURE selves. Maybe that’s who we are really talking about, when we say that we should be kind to ourselves. Because your poor, innocent, sweet future self is the person who will have to cope with whatever choices you make right now. (As evidence by the mess I had to clean up around the age of 30, from so many reckless decisions I made in my 20s.)

I don’t want to be mean to my future self anymore. I don’t want her to have to deal with illnesses and struggles and catastrophes that my current self sets into motion. (I also don’t want her to have to face the sorrows of gum disease, which is the ONLY reason I ever floss my damn teeth. Every night, bored at the sink, flossing away, I’m like, “This one’s for you, future Liz!”) When I’m doing preparation to write a new novel (like I am now), it’s such a drag to get myself moving on the boring tasks of compiling research…but as I sit there at my desk, reading dull books, filling out index card after index card of notes I say, again, “This one’s for you, future Liz!” And it totally pays off. For instance, when it came time to write The Signature of All Things, I had six boxes of index cards filled with notes and research to draw upon in creating my novel. It was so useful! Like some kind of magical elf had helped me so much! I started laughing one day at my desk, as I heard myself say aloud, “Hey, thanks, past Liz!”

And past Liz sent future Liz a friendly salute across time…and it was a curiously lovely sensation.

When all your selves - your past self, your present self, and your future self - can make friends with each other and be kind to each other, life somehow seems less fraught with suffering and anguish.

So what can you do today for your future self?

Something as small as making her bed for her?

Something as big as saving some money for her?

Something as totally life-transforming as quitting smoking for her, or getting out of a toxic relationship for her?

Whatever it is - big or small - do your future self a kindness today. You are all she has.

ONWARD,
LG

I love that! What will you do for your future self this week? Will you help to make yourself healthy and strong? Will you leave yourself a love note? Will you be brave and set off on a new path? Big or small, let's all do something for our future selves this week. I would love to hear what you decide to do!

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The Spill Over Effect

Curiosity killed the cat

The Power of Connections

The Race

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