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For more information, or to register, click here. For more about Google and Meng, read Google Searches and Search Inside Yourself here on Mindful.org.

Then the researchers started taking notes: who would help the stranger by answering her survey, and who would call out to the woman that she’d dropped something? Of those who had just withdrawn money 34% were willing to stop to answer the survey, but 62% of those who had not handled money gave their time to the survey taker. Similarly, while 60% of those who’d withdrawn cash told the woman she’d dropped her bus pass, 96% of those who had not just handled money did....

A small study conducted at the University of Waterloo suggests that just 10 minutes of mindfulness helps. In the study, 82 participants who experience anxiety were given a computer task to complete, but were regularly disrupted. They were then split into two groups: one group listened to a guided meditation for 10 minutes, while the other group listened to an audio book for 10 minutes. Participants were then sent back to the computer while the disruptions continued....

Mushrooms are delicate yet hearty, exotic yet earthy, and have a texture all their own. They’re often treated and thought of as a vegetable, or used to substitute meat, yet they belong to another biological kingdom altogether (the fungus kingdom). From their flavor to their texture, aroma, and appearance, mushrooms are truly distinct. I love them on their own, sautéd with a little garlic, some parsley, and a splash of wine, then cooked in cream....

While some turn their anguish and anger into action, many others are unable to even acknowledge that there’s a problem. Call it what you like: Habituation. Outrage exhaustion. Desensitization. Compassion fatigue (a now-popular term; some experts prefer empathy fatigue). All describe how the emotions that the brain generated the first time we witnessed, even at a remove, something that incited anger or heartache or shock become exhausted in the face of repeated tragedy or horror, with the result that the tenth, or hundredth, repetition provokes a mere shadow of the initial reaction....