{"id":1220,"date":"2015-07-27T18:42:37","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T18:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/?p=1220"},"modified":"2015-07-27T18:42:37","modified_gmt":"2015-07-27T18:42:37","slug":"bad-news-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/2015\/07\/27\/bad-news-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad News Radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"radio<\/a>There\u2019s a talk radio station on the air 24\/7. Spewing out negative messages, it drones on constantly: \u201cThere you go again,\u201d \u201cYou never do anything right,\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re not good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite its dismal programming, it\u2019s quite popular. I\u2019ve heard it for years. Lots of my friends listen to it–and we\u2019ve all tried different ways to turn it off. Amy blocks it out with workaholic behavior. As long as she\u2019s working on a project, rushing to meet a deadline, she doesn\u2019t hear the station. Cindy\u2019s a compulsive caretaker, cramming her schedule with other people\u2019s needs, rushing through her days a blur of activity until she collapses in exhaustion. And then the radio starts up again. Many of my students drown out the station with technology, incessantly texting, checking Facebook, and surfing the Internet. Jon Kabat-Zinn calls all of this the \u201cdoing mode.\u201d But this incessant \u201cdoing\u201d only blocks the radio signal temporarily. The moment we stop, Bad News Radio is on the air again.<\/p>\n

There is a better way. As Dan Siegel explains in his book, The Mindful Brain,<\/em> we can \"meditation<\/a>turn the station off by reprograming our brains, overcoming \u201cderogatory internal voices or emotional reactivity\u201d with consistent mindfulness practice. We do this by focusing on our breathing, watching our thoughts flow by without getting caught up in them. Starting our day with a few moments of mindfulness– as little as five or ten minutes–brings a sense of attunement that can carry us through the day with greater clarity, coherence, and peace of mind. And by pausing to breathe when we find ourselves caught up in stress or self-accusation, we can regain our inner balance.<\/p>\n

The next time you find yourself listening to Bad News Radio, stop.
\n\u2022 Take a deep breath, and tune in to your body.
\n\u2022 Feel your feet on the ground.
\n\u2022 Let your awareness move up through your legs and hips, then your back and shoulders, breathing into any tension you may feel there.
\n\u2022 Gradually move your awareness to arms and hands, then your neck and head.
\n\u2022 Take another deep breath and feel yourself here, in the present moment.<\/p>\n

Then return to your day, letting the wisdom of mindfulness guide your actions.<\/p>\n

Namaste,
\nDiane<\/p>\n

References
\nKabat-Zinn, J. (2013). Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness<\/em>. New York, NY: Bantam Books.<\/p>\n

Siegel, D. J. (2007). The mindful brain: Reflection and attunement in the cultivation of well-being.<\/em> New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. Quote on p. 279.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a talk radio station on the air 24\/7. Spewing out negative messages, it drones on constantly: \u201cThere you go again,\u201d \u201cYou never do anything right,\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re not good enough.\u201d Despite its dismal programming, it\u2019s quite popular. I\u2019ve heard it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","kk_blocks_editor_width":"","_kiokenblocks_attr":"","_kiokenblocks_dimensions":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,7,10,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplative-leader","category-insights-from-positive-psychology","category-mindful-leader","category-spiritual-practice"],"gutentor_comment":0,"qubely_featured_image_url":null,"qubely_author":{"display_name":"writeherewritenow","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/author\/writeherewritenow\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"Contemplative Leader<\/a> Insights from Positive Psychology<\/a> Mindful Leader<\/a> Spiritual Practice<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"There\u2019s a talk radio station on the air 24\/7. Spewing out negative messages, it drones on constantly: \u201cThere you go again,\u201d \u201cYou never do anything right,\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re not good enough.\u201d Despite its dismal programming, it\u2019s quite popular. I\u2019ve heard it … Continue reading →","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1223,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220\/revisions\/1223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}