No one is immune to the call of unmet expectations during the holidays. A few years back was our first holiday season with our new baby. The chaos of packing for three, first flights with a baby in the family, and managing simple travel logistics left us underprepared for self-care heading into the holidays. We were too busy to even hear the deep wisdom of the preflight announcements “Place your oxygen mask on yourself first, before assisting others…” Things started out well enough, chatting with in-laws and relatives, and proudly showing off our new child....

Dr. Judson Brewer MD, PhD, is a thought leader in the “science of self-mastery,” and an associate professor of psychiatry and medicine at University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, where he is director of research at the Center for Mindfulness. In this TEDMED, he talks about using mindfulness to tame cravings of all kinds. A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit When I was first learning to meditate the instruction was to simply pay attention to my breath, and when my mind wandered, to bring it back....

Contemplative engagement with a work of art can, quite literally, help bring it to life. In our conversation after the meditation on Scheffer’s painting, one of the participants remarked that it was as if the painting had been asleep, and through the meditation it woke up – came alive. Her experience was not unlike Rilke’s as he repeatedly went to view the paintings of Cézanne while in Paris in 1907. Again and again Rilke returned to the gallery where Cézanne’s paintings hung....

Again and again, Mark finds himself in relationships not just with girlfriends, but also co-workers, friends and family members who are comfortable relying on him for help, but who don’t give him support and help. On his side, he gets to see himself as a useful, good person without having to feel the awkwardness and scariness of revealing his vulnerable underbelly. I recently asked students in a class of mine how they feel when they catch themselves running habitual patterns like these....

The web app falls short of a full-blown meditation practice, but it does serve as a gulp of fresh air between the sedentary-ness of office life. And it feels good to be floating away, forgetting the desk for a few minutes. MORE RELATED STORIES Relax with the body scan practice Calming Your Anxious Mind: An Interview with Jeff Brantley, M.D. Make Friends with Your Body