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Tag: mindful

  • Mindfulness Tips for Hard Conversations

    At the best of times, debates around the kitchen table can be uncomfortable. At election time, when political tensions feel to be at an all-time high, many want to avoid the difficult subjects altogether or cut ties after heated interactions about hot topics (online or otherwise). Can people communicate about these important and timely issues in more mindful, healthy ways? Is there a way to discuss polarizing topics in a less-than-polarizing manner?

    Mindful communication, whether about politics or anything else, is not about having no opinion or never feeling uncomfortable. Discomfort is often a part of the process, and yet at the same time, mindful communication does not require that we engage in any and all discussions.  

    Communicating in more mindful ways about politics especially is simply about paying attention to how you relate to the other person in the exchange. It is simply an invitation to consciously consider:

    What might I want to bring with me to the table?

    How am I approaching this and is there a different way?

    What nourishing things can I do when tensions run high?

    Tips for Hard Conversations

    Whether you engage in political debate online, at dinner, or somewhere in-between, there are a handful of practices and insights you can consider to maintain a sense of peace or at least to make peace possible. Consider the following during your next political debate or difficult conversation.

    Remember that we share our humanity

    Remaining mindful of our shared humanity is one of the most important insights that we can connect with when discussing difficult topics. It is something that is easy to forget, but at the end of the day, we all long for the same things: to be loved, to be safe, and for our loved ones to be loved and safe. When you are mindful of shared humanity, you are more likely to be curious about why another person holds the views that they do rather than jump to judgments or condemnation. If you are in the midst of a heated debate, take an inward pause by tuning into the heart space and reconnecting with the capacity for compassion despite our differences.

    Consider what motivates views and beliefs 

    Where you grew up, the types of parents you had, and the obstacles and opportunities you encountered along your life journey all influence the views and beliefs you hold. It’s easy to forget this, mistaking your own perspective to be universal and your personal experiences to be indicative of an absolute truth. Due to life’s complexity, this isn’t the case. As you become more curious about what makes others think the way they do, consider the journey and experiences that have led someone to hold differing views to our own.

    Take breathing breaks 

    Breathing breaks can happen wherever you are. If you are seated around the table, you might take a quiet moment to soften your belly and notice your breath’s flow. Take a longer pause by heading to the bathroom. If you are communicating online and the conversation is heated, remember that you don’t need to respond right away and by taking a longer pause before getting back to the keyboard, you allow time for strong emotions to settle and greater clarity and compassion to enter through your responses.

    Take the debate offline

    Talking about politics online leaves plenty of room for misinterpretation, little room for nuance, and risks forgetting that shared humanity. If you find yourself in a heated debate with someone you know and who you can trust, consider proposing a conversation over the phone or in-person instead. This can help you to remember that you aren’t debating with a computer. You are talking to a human with feelings, emotions, and needs not so unlike your own.

    Create and uphold healthy conversational boundaries

    Sometimes, despite our best intentions, it is not possible to converse about politics in a healthy, respectful way. Regardless of what you bring to the table, you cannot control the way that another shows up. If, for instance, the person you are speaking with cannot recognize the shared humanity of all and is not bringing their own compassion and curiosity to the conversation, consider your boundaries. What are your limits in conversation? How will you create a healthy boundary for yourself? There is no conversation that you are obliged to engage in, and so if a conversation does not hold mutual respect and a willingness to listen, you might mindfully choose to step away from the discussion entirely.

    Listen with a yearning to understand

    Lastly, the quality of listening skills is crucial when in the midst of polarizing discussions. It’s not uncommon to blame the other person for not listening, yet not practice mindful listening yourself. When someone else is sharing their views, opinions, and feelings, see if you can pick up what it is they care about beneath surface appearances. What universal human need are they wanting to protect? What is it that they care about? The better you are able to offer your full attention to another, the more likely they will try to do the same for you in return.

    As you find yourself in the midst of political conversation over the coming weeks, months, and years, remember that it isn’t always smooth sailing, you won’t always see eye-to-eye, and you might sometimes be misunderstood. Sometimes, your best move will be to step away from a discussion altogether. At other times, you might lean in, opening your heart, and together seeing where you might reconnect at a level deeper than political perspective.

    Focus on what you yourself can bring to the conversation when you choose to engage. Where there is openness, curiosity, and compassion, new possibilities for relating might just blossom overtime. While it might be difficult to see eye-to-eye on political issues, you might just find that at the same time, it is possible to see heart-to-heart.

    Gillian Florence Sanger

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  • ‘Demure’ content spotlights what viral trend can mean for creators

    ‘Demure’ content spotlights what viral trend can mean for creators

    It’s not just you. The word “demure” is being used to describe just about everything online these days.It all started earlier this month when TikTok creator Jools Lebron posted a video that would soon take social media by storm. The hair and makeup she’s wearing to work? Very demure. And paired with a vanilla perfume fragrance? How mindful.Video above: Rossen Reports: TikTok made me buy it, but does it really work?In just weeks, Lebron’s words have become the latest vocabulary defining the internet this summer. In addition to her own viral content that continues to describe various day-to-day, arguably reserved or modest activities with adjectives like “demure,” “mindful” and “cutesy,” several big names have also hopped on the trend across social media platforms. Celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Penn Badgley have shared their own playful takes, and even the White House used the words to boast the Biden-Harris administration’s recent student debt relief efforts.The skyrocketing fame of Lebron’s “very mindful, very demure” influence also holds significance for the TikToker herself. Lebron, who identifies as a transgender woman, said in a post last week that she’s now able to finance the rest of her transition.”One day, I was playing cashier and making videos on my break. And now, I’m flying across country to host events,” Lebron said in the video, noting that her experience on the platform has changed her life.She’s not alone. Over recent years, a handful of online creators have found meaningful income after gaining social media fame — but it’s still incredibly rare and no easy feat.Here’s what some experts say.How can TikTok fame lead to meaningful sources of income?There is no one recipe.Finding resources to work as a creator full-time “is not as rare as it would have been years ago,” notes Erin Kristyniak, vice president of global partnerships at marketing collaboration company Partnerize. But you still have to make content that meets the moment — and there’s a lot to juggle if you want to monetize.On TikTok, most users who are making money pursue a combination of hustles. Brooke Erin Duffy, an associate professor of communication at Cornell University, explains that those granted admission into TikTok’s Creator Marketplace — the platform’s space for brand and creator collaborations — can “earn a kickback from views from TikTok expressly,” although that doesn’t typically pay very well.Other avenues for monetization include more direct brand sponsorships, creating merchandise to sell, fundraising during livestreams and collecting “tips” or “gifts” through features available to users who reach a certain following threshold. A lot of it also boils down to work outside of the platform.And creators are increasingly working to build their social media presence across multiple platforms — particularly amid a potential ban of the ByteDance-owned app in the U.S., which is currently in a legal battle. Duffy notes that many are working on developing this wider online presence so they can “still have a financial lifeline” in case any revenue stream goes away.Is it difficult to sustain?Gaining traction in the macrocosm that is the internet is difficult as is — and while some have both tapped into trends that resonate and found sources of compensation that allow them to quit their nine-to-five, it still takes a lot of work to keep it going.”These viral bursts of fame don’t necessarily translate into a stable, long-term career,” Duffy said. “On the surface, it’s kind of widely hyped as a dream job … But I see this as a very superficial understanding of how the career works.”Duffy, who has been studying social media content creation for a decade, says that she’s heard from creators who have had months where they’re reaping tremendous sums of money from various sources of income — but then also months with nothing. “It’s akin to a gig economy job because of the lack of stability,” she explained.”The majority of creators aren’t full-time,” Eric Dahan, the CEO and founder of influencer marketing agency Mighty Joy, added.Burnout is also very common. It can take a lot of emotional labor to pull content from your life, Duffy said, and the pressure of maintaining brand relationships or the potential of losing viewers if you take a break can be a lot. Ongoing risks of potential exposure to hate or online harassment also persist.Is the landscape changing?Like all things online, the landscape for creators is constantly evolving.Demand is also growing. More and more platforms are aiming not only to court users, but to bring aspiring creators to their sites. And that coincides with an increased focus on marketing goods and brands in these spaces.Companies are doubling down “to meet consumers where they are,” said Raji Srinivasan, a marketing professor at The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. YouTube and other social media platforms, such as Instagram, have also built out offerings to attract this kind of content in recent years, but — for now — it’s “TikTok’s day in the sun,” she added, pointing to the platform’s persisting dominance in the market.And for aspiring creators hoping to strike it big, Dahan’s advice is just to start somewhere. As Lebron’s success shows, he added, “You don’t know what’s going to happen.” AP technology writer Barbara Ortutay contributed to this story from Oakland, California.

    NEW YORK —

    It’s not just you. The word “demure” is being used to describe just about everything online these days.

    It all started earlier this month when TikTok creator Jools Lebron posted a video that would soon take social media by storm. The hair and makeup she’s wearing to work? Very demure. And paired with a vanilla perfume fragrance? How mindful.

    Video above: Rossen Reports: TikTok made me buy it, but does it really work?

    In just weeks, Lebron’s words have become the latest vocabulary defining the internet this summer. In addition to her own viral content that continues to describe various day-to-day, arguably reserved or modest activities with adjectives like “demure,” “mindful” and “cutesy,” several big names have also hopped on the trend across social media platforms. Celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Penn Badgley have shared their own playful takes, and even the White House used the words to boast the Biden-Harris administration’s recent student debt relief efforts.

    The skyrocketing fame of Lebron’s “very mindful, very demure” influence also holds significance for the TikToker herself. Lebron, who identifies as a transgender woman, said in a post last week that she’s now able to finance the rest of her transition.

    “One day, I was playing cashier and making videos on my break. And now, I’m flying across country to host events,” Lebron said in the video, noting that her experience on the platform has changed her life.

    She’s not alone. Over recent years, a handful of online creators have found meaningful income after gaining social media fame — but it’s still incredibly rare and no easy feat.

    Here’s what some experts say.

    How can TikTok fame lead to meaningful sources of income?

    There is no one recipe.

    Finding resources to work as a creator full-time “is not as rare as it would have been years ago,” notes Erin Kristyniak, vice president of global partnerships at marketing collaboration company Partnerize. But you still have to make content that meets the moment — and there’s a lot to juggle if you want to monetize.

    On TikTok, most users who are making money pursue a combination of hustles. Brooke Erin Duffy, an associate professor of communication at Cornell University, explains that those granted admission into TikTok’s Creator Marketplace — the platform’s space for brand and creator collaborations — can “earn a kickback from views from TikTok expressly,” although that doesn’t typically pay very well.

    Other avenues for monetization include more direct brand sponsorships, creating merchandise to sell, fundraising during livestreams and collecting “tips” or “gifts” through features available to users who reach a certain following threshold. A lot of it also boils down to work outside of the platform.

    And creators are increasingly working to build their social media presence across multiple platforms — particularly amid a potential ban of the ByteDance-owned app in the U.S., which is currently in a legal battle. Duffy notes that many are working on developing this wider online presence so they can “still have a financial lifeline” in case any revenue stream goes away.

    Is it difficult to sustain?

    Gaining traction in the macrocosm that is the internet is difficult as is — and while some have both tapped into trends that resonate and found sources of compensation that allow them to quit their nine-to-five, it still takes a lot of work to keep it going.

    “These viral bursts of fame don’t necessarily translate into a stable, long-term career,” Duffy said. “On the surface, it’s kind of widely hyped as a dream job … But I see this as a very superficial understanding of how the career works.”

    Duffy, who has been studying social media content creation for a decade, says that she’s heard from creators who have had months where they’re reaping tremendous sums of money from various sources of income — but then also months with nothing. “It’s akin to a gig economy job because of the lack of stability,” she explained.

    “The majority of creators aren’t full-time,” Eric Dahan, the CEO and founder of influencer marketing agency Mighty Joy, added.

    Burnout is also very common. It can take a lot of emotional labor to pull content from your life, Duffy said, and the pressure of maintaining brand relationships or the potential of losing viewers if you take a break can be a lot. Ongoing risks of potential exposure to hate or online harassment also persist.

    Is the landscape changing?

    Like all things online, the landscape for creators is constantly evolving.

    Demand is also growing. More and more platforms are aiming not only to court users, but to bring aspiring creators to their sites. And that coincides with an increased focus on marketing goods and brands in these spaces.

    Companies are doubling down “to meet consumers where they are,” said Raji Srinivasan, a marketing professor at The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. YouTube and other social media platforms, such as Instagram, have also built out offerings to attract this kind of content in recent years, but — for now — it’s “TikTok’s day in the sun,” she added, pointing to the platform’s persisting dominance in the market.

    And for aspiring creators hoping to strike it big, Dahan’s advice is just to start somewhere. As Lebron’s success shows, he added, “You don’t know what’s going to happen.”

    AP technology writer Barbara Ortutay contributed to this story from Oakland, California.

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  • Mindful Parenting: How to Raise Kind and Conscious Teens

    Mindful Parenting: How to Raise Kind and Conscious Teens

    Parents can often find themselves more distracted by their devices than their teens. This is especially true during the slow moments throughout the day. Slow moments are those moments where you can be with your thoughts and feelings. During these times, you may be tempted to pull out your phone to check email, read the news, or scroll through your Facebook feed.

    By habitually reaching for devices during these moments of solitude, you miss out on valuable opportunities to know yourself better. You are also a model for your teen’s relationship with technology.

    So what can you do?

    Small changes towards being more mindful of your relationship with technology can improve the satisfaction and quality of your life as well as the life of your teen.

    Being mindful can be as simple as focusing on your breath, noticing the sounds, smells, or what is going on in your body. Being mindful allows you to more clearly see the world around you, reduce stress levels, and develop resilience to life’s difficult moments. By practicing mindfulness, you become better Digital Mentors, modeling for kids how to give space to your inner experience. That ultimately leads to healthier relationships with others.

    The satisfactions of solitude

    First, it’s important to remember that we are all in this together. We live in a culture where a veil of productivity and successful “multitasking” is celebrated, and the draw of social connection through texting and online is hard to ignore.

    As Markham Heid explains in his article for TIME, “Combine the sudden beep with the implicit promise of new social info, and you have a near-perfect, ignorable stimulus that will pull your focus away from whatever task your brain is working on.”

    But in this attention economy, it is important to take time to slow down and be present with our own thoughts, without reaching for the distraction of technology. MIT researcher Sherry Turkle says that these moments of solitude allow us to know ourselves better, which is an important part of having fulfilling relationships with others. In “Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age” she says, “If we don’t have experience with solitude – and this is often the case today – we start to equate loneliness and solitude. This reflects the impoverishment of our experience. If we don’t know the satisfactions of solitude, we only know the panic of loneliness.”

    In today’s hyperconnected world, Turkle says if we don’t teach our children how to be comfortable being alone, they will learn to be lonely and rely on the distraction of technology. Part of your role as an Emotion Coach and Digital Mentor is to model the importance of slow moments and to create space for difficult or uncomfortable emotions.

    Experiencing your emotions

    Sometimes uncomfortable emotions will rise to the surface in these moments of solitude. Reaching for devices when these emotions come up prevents you from experiencing the richness of the full human experience.

    Brene Brown says the degree to which one is willing to feel difficult emotions is the degree to which one will experience happiness. If you prevent yourself from feeling down, you can also block yourself from feeling the delight of joy.

    The act of noticing and embracing these small moments of emotions rather than giving in to the distraction enables you to know yourself better. Experiencing the range of emotions teaches you that you can self-soothe and that you are truly resilient.

    By embracing your own resilience, you can be role models for your teens to do the same. You can start by being mindful.

    What is mindfulness?

    Simply put, mindfulness is the act of noticing your body, your thoughts, and your surroundings. Mindfulness is often explained using the four foundations.

    1. Mindfulness of your body
    2. Mindfulness of your feelings
    3. Mindfulness of your consciousness
    4. Mindfulness of how your mind operates

    Mindfulness is about watching with curiosity about what’s going on inside of you. Below are three exercises to become more mindful.

    Counting and noting

    Find a comfortable spot and take 10 slow, deep breaths. Count each inhale and exhale. When you’ve reached 10, start again. Start by doing this for two minutes.

    Mental Noting is an exercise where you give a one-word label to the thought or emotion you experience. This can assist you in recognizing habitual thought patterns. For example, if you are anxious about work, the simple label of “worry” can help bring awareness to your thoughts and release some of the tension in your body. In moments when your kids are stressed or upset, try this strategy with them.

    Focus on the dishes

    Challenge yourself, even in small ways to concentrate on doing one task at a time. Buddhist teacher Gil Fronsdal said, “If you are walking to the bus, just walk to the bus. If you are doing the dishes, just do the dishes.” Practice being present in the moment and encourage your teen to do the same.

    Take a 5-minute break

    When you come home at the end of the day, take five minutes to just sit and unwind. Don’t check your email or your Instagram. Check in with yourself.

    Parents are more capable of navigating difficult conversations when they are in touch with themselves. If you don’t take time to decompress, you may reach for a device instead of engaging with your teen in a healthy way.

    At the core of being a Digital Mentor is acknowledging and validating your teen’s emotions, letting them know their feelings are valuable indicators of what is going on inside them. If your teen comes to you with difficult emotions, practice having a stress-reducing conversation with them. It is important to empathize with your teen and support them to find their own answers.

    With your new mindfulness practice, invite your teen to join you in new experiences. Try taking a different route to school with your teen, pause and notice the world around you, and ask your teen questions about what they are experiencing as they witness it. Take time to notice the leaves or look up at the clouds together.

    Mindfulness leads to noticing the world through a new lens – a lens that leads to meaningful relationships with others, yourself, and most importantly, your teen.

    Aziza Seykota

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  • A Conversation with Canna Provisions’ Meg Sanders – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

    A Conversation with Canna Provisions’ Meg Sanders – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news





    A Conversation with Canna Provisions’ Meg Sanders – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news






























    Tom Hymes

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  • Ethicality Has Developed a Tool to Help Make Impactful and Ethical Shopping Decisions

    Ethicality Has Developed a Tool to Help Make Impactful and Ethical Shopping Decisions

    Shoppers have not had ready access to information they need to make responsible shopping decisions and thereby enact change in the world.


    SALT LAKE CITY, November 19, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Consumers have grown increasingly concerned about the influence and power of large unethical companies. Few people feel comfortable supporting businesses that employ children, blatantly disregard laws, or pollute our beautiful Earth. But the overwhelming majority of people lack the information needed to determine which companies are deserving of our dollars and which companies they should avoid at all costs. To make matters worse, the information on the ethical nature of these companies that has been compiled is either expensive, hard to find or is geared specifically towards investors. This leaves the average consumer bereft of vital information to make informed shopping decisions. Ethicality is a brand new business here to give consumers the tools and information necessary to make informed and ethical shopping decisions.

    Ethicality works using a simple web extension that has access to its ever growing database of information where it pulls the information on a company either by analyzing a product page or by searching directly. The information that is given is simple and straightforward, easy enough for anyone to understand and make a good decision with.

    Ethicality service overview:

    • Shoppers don’t have ready access to the information needed to make responsible buying decisions
    • An easy to read format that gives quick information on whether a company is ethical or not.
    • The power to enact change through useful social and environmental information
    • A seamless integration into a chrome browser that does all the background work.
    • Feel good about shopping decisions.

    About Ethicality

    Founded by a pair of friends with a good idea and a desire to help people make good choices. Our goal is to spread awareness of the misdeeds of large companies and support small businesses that are doing great things for the planet and society. See more at ethicalityco.com and download the extension for Chrome here.

    Source: Ethicality

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