Mindful Startups

"Your soul doesn’t care what you do for a living - and when your life is over, neither will you. Your..."

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:30:46 -0600

“Your soul doesn’t care what you do for a living - and when your life is over, neither will you. Your soul cares only about what you are being while you are doing whatever you are doing.”

- Neale Donald Walsch (via hashpe)

"To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:59:22 -0600

“To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and institutions, to compensate for the shortage of love in the world with more love in small, private matters; to be more faithful in our work, to show greater patience, to forgo the cheap revenge obtainable from mockery and criticism: all these are things we can do.”

- Hermann Hesse (via creatingaquietmind)

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:44:08 -0600

“The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.”

- Marcus Aurelius

"The inspiration you seek is already within you. Be silent and listen."

Mon, 13 May 2013 09:30:48 -0600

““The inspiration you seek is already within you. Be silent and listen.””

- ~Rumi

"When listening to another person, don’t just listen with your mind, listen with your whole body...."

Sun, 12 May 2013 09:30:56 -0600

““When listening to another person, don’t just listen with your mind, listen with your whole body. Feel the energy of your body as you listen. That takes attention away from thinking and creates a still space that enables you to truly listen without the mind interfering. You are giving the other person space - space to be. It is the most precious gift you can give.””

- Eckhart Tolle

Real-time brain feedback can help people overcome anxiety |...

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:30:52 -0600

Real-time brain feedback can help people overcome anxiety | KurzweilAI

People provided with a real-time readout of activity in specific regions of their brains can learn to control that activity and lessen their anxiety, say Yale researchers.

They used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to display the activity of the orbitofrontal cortex (a brain region just above the eyes) to subjects while they lay in a brain scanner.

Through a process of trial and error, these subjects were gradually able to learn to control their brain activity. This led both to changes in brain connectivity and to increased control over anxiety. These changes were still present several days after the training.

Extreme anxiety associated with worries about dirt and germs is characteristic of many patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Hyperactivity in the orbitofrontal cortex is seen in many of these individuals.

(via smarterplanet)

Old Japanese Man Creates Amazing Art Using Excel (Wait, Excel?)

Sat, 11 May 2013 07:34:17 -0600

Old Japanese Man Creates Amazing Art Using Excel (Wait, Excel?):

I often define entrepreneurship as “a mindset that pursues opportunity without regard to perceived limits on the resources currently at hand.” By that definition, entrepreneurial thinking transcends business, and often includes art. I can’t think of a more perfect example than this: 73 year-old Tatsuo Horiuchi, who taught himself how to use Excel to create these amazing pieces.

The full story is here.

"You’ve gotta keep control of your time, and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let people set..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 11:53:02 -0600

““You’ve gotta keep control of your time, and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let people set your agenda in life.””

- Warren Buffett, on why productive people have empty schedules (via fastcompany)

Stanford research highlights benefits of compassionate workplaces

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:15:50 -0600

Stanford center highlights the benefits of compassionate workplaces:

Scott Kriens, chairman of Juniper Networks and founder of the 1440 Foundation, said there is no conflict between being compassionate and being profitable, a sentiment echoed by researchers who cited study after study showing the power of a kinder workplace to have transformative effects on output.

The full article is here.

"Not causing harm requires staying awake. Part of being awake is slowing down enough to notice what..."

Tue, 07 May 2013 17:29:35 -0600

“Not causing harm requires staying awake. Part of being awake is slowing down enough to notice what we say and do. The more we witness our emotional chain reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain. It becomes a way of life to stay awake, slow down, and notice.”

- -Pema Chodron

"Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you. You must travel it by yourself. It is not far...."

Sat, 04 May 2013 09:30:49 -0600

“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you.
You must travel it by yourself.
It is not far. It is within reach.
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know.
Perhaps it is everywhere - on water and land.”

- Walt Whitman (via creatingaquietmind)

“If only it were all so simple…” Aleksandr...

Fri, 03 May 2013 21:35:35 -0600

“If only it were all so simple…” Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

"All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone."

Wed, 01 May 2013 12:26:22 -0600

“All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.”

- Pascal

"Vision without action is a daydream and action without vision is a nightmare."

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:28:15 -0600

“Vision without action is a daydream and action without vision is a nightmare.”

- Japanese proverb

"We need to be 21st century Buddhists…Western scholars often suggest that Buddhism is not so..."

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:05:54 -0600

“We need to be 21st century Buddhists…Western scholars often suggest that Buddhism is not so much a religion, but more a science of the mind. …Ignorance, our misconception about reality, is the basis of our destructive emotions. The counter force is reason, taking a scientific approach to correcting our view.”

- ~HH Dalai Lama XIV

lookhigh: To Make Mice Smarter, Add A Few Human Brain...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:30:33 -0700

lookhigh:

To Make Mice Smarter, Add A Few Human Brain Cells

Scientists have injected some human glial cells into the brains of newborn mice. When the mice grew up, they were faster learners. A study, published Thursday in Cell Stem Cell, not only introduces a new tool to study the mechanisms of the human brain, it supports the hypothesis that glial cells — and not just neurons — play an important role in learning.

The researchers say these mice are measurably smarter. In classic maze tests, they learn faster. “They make many fewer errors, and it takes them less time to come to the appropriate answer,” says Steve Goldman, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester who has studied brain cells for decades.

It might take a normal mouse four or five attempts to learn the correct route, for example. But a mouse with human brain cells could get it on the second try. Glial cells — those boring glial cells — somehow enhance learning. (NPR)

lazyyogi: Fear: The Bluff of the Mind — Mooji A talk on how to...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:30:44 -0700

lazyyogi:

Fear: The Bluff of the Mind — Mooji

A talk on how to consciously remove the authority that we have unconsciously handed over to the mind.

Well worth watching all the way through.

Namaste :)

fastcompany: Want To Advance Your Career? Then Work On Your...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 09:30:37 -0700

fastcompany:

Want To Advance Your Career? Then Work On Your EQ

In case you don’t yet feel it, emotional intelligence—the ability regulate emotions in one’s self and identify emotions in others—is a predictor of workplace success, both for employees and managers.

Taken together, emotional intelligence—and its associated intuitions—may be helpful for leaders, teams, and companies looking to grow (and create). Drawing from Daniel Goleman’s landmark Emotional Intelligence, Ebokosia describes its five factors of Emotional Intellgience as such:

Empathy: The ability to shift perspectives and gain a better understanding of others, or, in fancy-pants language, “inter-subjectivize.”

Motivation: The driving force(s) of your actions. Your compass, north star, wayfinding. Your interior cartographic prowess.

Self-regulation: Being able to deal with your own emotions before they deal with you. Linked with delaying gratification and not eating the marshmallow.

Social skills: Knowing what to say in order to engage your team—and knowing how not to offend them.

Self-awareness: Understanding your own emotions improves your interactions, since getting intimate with your feelings lets you better understand how they affect others.

Here’s the full story.

[Image: Flickr user Wendell]

theatlantic: The Benefits of Optimism Are Real For many years,...

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 09:30:57 -0700

theatlantic:

The Benefits of Optimism Are Real

For many years, psychologists, following Freud, thought that people simply needed to express their anger and anxiety — blow off some steam — to be happier. But this is wrong.

Read more. [Image: 20th Century Fox]

colchrishadfield: The Himalayas to the horizon, gives me such a...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:34:12 -0700

colchrishadfield:

The Himalayas to the horizon, gives me such a feeling of wild grandeur.