Mind indfu fuln lness in in Se Servi vice and Le Leadership ip February 15, 2019 Brenda Fingold, JD, MA Assistant Director, Workplace and Leadership Education Mindfulness Center Brown University School of Public Health
In Mindfulness, a Method to Sharpen Focus and Open Minds Mindfulness: Foundational Training for Dispute Resolution Faculty Scholarship The Busier You Are, The More You Need Mindfulness Harvard Business Review 2
Harvard Business Review Mindfulness Can Literally Change Your Brain January 8, 2015 “Mindfulness should no longer be considered a “nice - to- have” for executives. It’s a “must - have”: a way to keep our brains healthy, to support self-regulation and effective decision-making capabilities, and to protect ourselves from toxic stress.” 3
National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being “Mindfulness can enhance a host of competencies related to lawyer effectiveness, including increased focus and concentration, working memory, critical cognitive skills, reduced burnout, and ethical and rational decision- making.” “Well - being is an indispensable part of a lawyer’s duty of competence.” 2018 Report of National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being (consisting of ABA law practice division, ABA CPR Professionalism, Lawyer Assistance Programs, Conference of Chief Judges, etc.)
Mindfulness in the K-12 Classroom Studies show that teachers who practice mindfulness regularly experience improved classroom interactions and greater student engagement. This is true even when teachers are not teaching their students to practice mindfulness.
Program Overview ▪ The Science, Benefits and Practice ▪ Navigating Stress and Challenge With More Ease and Effectiveness ▪ Mindfulness in Communication ▪ Integrating Mindfulness into Life and Service ▪ LUNCH ~ 12:15pm 6
FORMAL PRACT CTICE: : COMING TO OUR SENSES
The Science, Benefits and Practice 8
Growth in Mindfulness Research Publications - Over 3,700
Rig igorous Science
MIN INDFULNESS S AND TH THE BR BRAIN Mindfulness creates functional and structural changes to network areas of the brain involved with: ➢ Attention regulation ➢ Emotional regulation ➢ Sense of self ➢ Interoception (body awareness)
Min indfulness Practice May Enhance: ➢ Focus ➢ Working memory ➢ Decision-making and problem solving ➢ Resilience ➢ Calmness ➢ Cognitive function ➢ Regulation of emotions and knee-jerk reactions ➢ Ethical and rational behavior ➢ Perspective, flexibility and agility Fox et al., Tang et al,, Hölzel et al.
Mind indfu fuln lness Practi tice Posit sitiv ively ly Im Impacts Physic sical l Co Condit itio ions ➢ Chronic Pain ➢ Heart Disease ➢ High Blood Pressure ➢ Diabetes ➢ Digestive Issues ➢ Headaches ➢ Asthma (preliminary) ➢ Immune System Function (preliminary) ➢ Cancer Patients – Stress, Quality of Life ➢ Positive changes in risk factors that may lead to more serious chronic ailments Carlson, LE 2012 ISRN Psychiatry 2012: 651583; Kaliman, P. 2014 Psychonueroendocrinology 40: 96-107; Creswell, JD. 2012 Brain Behav. Immun. 2012 26:1095-101; Kopf, S. 2014 Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 122: 341-9; Gaylord, SA. 2011 Am J Gastroenterol. 106(9): 1678-88
Mind indfu fuln lness Posit sitiv ively ly Im Impacts Mental and Emotio ional l Well ll-Bein ing ➢ Anxiety ➢ Depression ➢ Stress reactivity ➢ Happiness ➢ Compassion for self and others ➢ Addiction and habit change ➢ Quality of life ➢ Burnout symptoms • Exhaustion • Feeling disconnected • Decrease in sense of accomplishment Grossman et al. 2004 J Psychosomatic Research 57:35-43; Khoury et al. 2013. Clin Psychol Rev 33:763-71; Segal et al. 2010 Arch n Psychiatry 67:1256-64; Bowen et al. 2014 JAMA Psychiatry 71:547- 556 Goyal M, et al.. 2014 JAMA Intern Med 174:357-368
MIN INDFULNESS Paying attention in a particular way: On purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally
47% of waking hours are spent thinking about something other than what is going on Killingsworth and Gilbert, Harvard University 16
FORMAL PRACT CTICE: : BODY SCAN
Applying Min indfulness in in the Work rkplace ▪ Improve focus and management of attention ▪ Stress reduction, well-being and resilience ▪ Prevent errors and unintentional ethical violations ▪ Reduce implicit bias and strengthening efforts around diversity and inclusion ▪ Mindful communication and collaboration ▪ Mindful Meetings ▪ Leadership
MIN INDFULNESS STR TRENGTHENS IN INNATE ATTENTIONAL CAP APACITIES More skillfully navigate Mental fitness and the the unpleasant or stressful ability to choose where by learning to stay to direct energy and engaged with openness, attention. curiosity and acceptance. Cultivates cognitive Improves the ability to flexibility and ease in notice and respond to taking different the body’s messages. perspectives. Enhances ability to Focus on direct notice thoughts and experience rather than emotions without on thoughts or stories getting caught up in about the experience . them.
Mindful Task v. Multi-Task The average worker: ➢ Checks Facebook 21 times a day ➢ Checks email 74 times a day ➢ Shifts computer screens an average of 566 times a day (i.e., switch from document to email to website) ➢ Distracts and interrupts themselves almost as much as they are getting externally interrupted. There is a high cost to recovering from interrupted work: forgetfulness, redundancy, increased mistakes, longer completion time, increased frustration and stress, harmful changes in the brain relating to multi-tasking, lost opportunities for creative and innovative ideas. Study of employees of high-tech companies from Department of Informatics at U.Cal.
FORMAL PRACT CTICE: : AWARENESS OF BREATH
STRESS EUSTRESS ACUTE STRESS CHRONIC STRESS BURNOUT
Performance Relative to Level of Stress
Chronic stress markedly diminishes: ▪ Focus ▪ Higher level thinking and problem solving ▪ Creativity and innovation ▪ The ability to switch strategies flexibly ▪ Emotional regulation and the ability to “let things go” ▪ Impulse control ▪ Memory and the ability to access information ▪ The curiosity and self-compassion required for learning ▪ Physical, mental and emotional health and well-being 27
REACTING VS. RESPONDING TO STRESS AND CHALLENGE
“Anything that threatens our sense of well being – challenges to social status, ego, strongly held beliefs, desire to control things or to have them be a certain way – can trigger (the flight/fight/freeze) reaction to some degree. --Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living 30
Stress as a Function of Perception The perception of a physical or psychological threat and the perception that one’s resources are inadequate to deal with the threat.
Rushing Around to Get Things Done ...what we know from looking at the brain scans of people that are always rushing around, who never taste their food, who are always going from one task to another without actually realizing what they're doing, is that the emotional part of the brain that drives people is on high alert all the time. When people think: "I'm rushing around to get things done, ” it's almost like, biologically, they're rushing around escaping from a predator. That's the part of the brain that's active. But nobody can run fast enough to escape their own worries. ~ Mark Williams, professor of clinical psychology at Oxford; author of: Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World
Perception BIAS A ASSUMPTIONS Past Experience Other Influencers of Perception : Fear and Worry • State of mind/mood • Stress level • Fatigue level How We See Things Determines How We Respond to Them.
Mindfulness can break the link between perception and behavior
Mindfulness-Mediated Stress Reduction “The very first and most important step in breaking free from a lifetime of stress reactivity is to be mindful of what is actually happening while it is happening.” Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living 36
Mindfulness Practice: Paying Attention to the Direct Experience of the Moment BODY SENSATIONS EMOTIONS THOUGHTSs AWARENESS
The Stress Cycle AUTOMATIC THOUGHTS I’ll never have time for all this work. FEELINGS Overwhelmed BEHAVIORS/ COPING anxious STRATEGIES frustrated resentful Work excessively, skip meals, irritable sad cut sleep and/or exercise, snap at colleagues, family, others, miss important events, isolate, cut corners, avoid tasks, make BODY SENSATIONS impulsive judgements Low energy, to get things done can’t focus, indigestion fatigue, headache, muscle aches
Working with Thoughts
THE WEIGHT OF THOUGHTS
Practice: the Mindful Check-in in 1. What is my experience right now? Thoughts Emotions Body Sensations 2. Narrow attention to just the breath 3. Expand attention to include the body and surroundings
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