by John | Jan 25, 2019 | Stuff To Read
Mindfulness Return on Investment (ROI) Return on Investment SAP announced in 2017 that their Mindfulness Initiative contributed directly to their profitability. They calculate an ROI of >200%. You can read the full Reuters article here. Gone are the days when...
by John | Jan 25, 2019 | Stuff To Read
Ultimate Guide to Mindfulness @Work Mindfulness is a critical skill needed in today’s busy world. Increasing leadership/achievement and well-being are two of the most common areas organizations want to address. Optimistic Brain is committed to providing the best...
by John | Dec 14, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Diversity and Inclusion Increasing diversity and inclusion in any organizations requires real proactive action. In a recent article in the Financial Post, SalesForce CEO Marc Benioff tackled one of the most challenging issues facing many organizations today; pay...
by John | Dec 14, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Mindful and Compassionate Leadership Leadership has many facets. If you trim down many drivers to great leadership you can rest on 3 main levers: Trust Vision Meaning Trust is essential and must go both ways. Not only does the rank and file have to trust it’s...
by John | Dec 14, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Relationship/Social Management Relationship Management is one of the competencies of competencies of the Emotional Intelligence Framework. Once you become more self-aware you can then use this information to manage how you approach yourself and your life. Your...
by John | Dec 14, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Self-Management Self-Management is one of the competencies of competencies of the Emotional Intelligence Framework. Once you become more self-aware you can then use this information to manage how you approach yourself and your life. Your active beliefs cause your...
by John | Mar 8, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Compassion Many people believe they have to be harsh on themselves in order to be successful at work and in their personal lives. In its more extreme forms, this attitude can take the form of a relentless and unforgiving internal commentator, or “inner critic.” It may...
by John | Mar 6, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Self-Awareness Once we become more aware of what is happening around us by using our various Mindfulness and Insight practices we can then start to unravel the stories that we tell ourselves about our experiences. Our minds are constantly making assessments and...
by John | Mar 6, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Mindfulness and Teamwork No one person can do it all. We all rely on others to get our jobs done. Whom we engage matters and how we engage is critical in making that working relationship succeed. In many organizations teams come and go. Collections of people get...
by John | Mar 6, 2018 | Stuff To Read
The Science of Mindfulness Mindfulness has been around for thousands of years and it’s only recently that it’s come under scientific scrutiny. Jon Kabat-Zinn was one of the first western researchers to look into the contemplative practices of Mindfulness and...
by John | Mar 6, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Increasing Focus and Productivity The Science A 2010 study conducted by Killingsworth et al, at Harvard University, concluded that the average person’s mind wanders 47% of the time. In addition they also found that a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Respondents...
by John | Mar 6, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Reducing Stress and Increasing Well-Being with Mindfulness How stressed are we? According to a poll conducted by Ipsos Read 72% of Canadians experience uncomfortable levels of stress. 26% of that stress is related to work life. The Canadian Mental Health Commission of...
by John | Mar 6, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Mindful Communication Where are we now? In our always on always connected world we think we are communicating more effectively and yet we are not. We are easily distracted and our attention control is becoming worse. A study conducted by Microsoft discovered that our...
by John | Mar 6, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Mindfulness, Motivation and Goals Motivating employees can be challenging. Our leaders set objectives and managers are expected to keep everyone focused and motivated in order to achieve these goals. What motivates our employees and what skills can managers use to...
by John | Mar 6, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Mindfulness and Customer Focus Understanding our customers is the key to delivering products and services that meet their needs. Product teams, customer service representatives, sales people etc… all need to be in-tune with their customers. More precisely they need...
by John | Mar 6, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Mindfulness and Creativity Where are we now? In a study conducted by Adobe (the graphics software company) found that 75% of the respondents felt that they were not living up to their creative potential. While another study conducted by Fast Company found that 60% of...
by John | Mar 6, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Mindful Workplaces Companies are always looking to capitalize on their investments. Most want to always improve and move forward and many have been busily adopting a more mindful approach to their employees and customers. Progressive companies understand that people...
by John | Mar 6, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Physical Exercise and Nutrition One cannot underestimate the importance of physical exercise and good nutrition and what that does to your brain/body. If your body is not physically functioning optimally then that will make it tougher to stay with an Optimistic...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Stuff To Read
How Our Brain Works Thoughts/beliefs create our emotions… We have many thoughts that pop into our head and not all of them create our emotions. Some thoughts are generated and we dismiss them as false or not necessary at that moment. Other thoughts are generated and...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Stuff To Read
It All Starts With Being Mindful The #1 question people ask is “What is Mindfulness and what benefits will Mindfulness give me?” There are a number of benefits that people gain by incorporating Mindfulness into their lives and with integrating the various...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Benefits of Mindfulness There are many benefits to practicing being more Mindful. Here are some highlights… Focus Increases Learning to increase present moment awareness allows us to gently guide the mind back to what the intention of the moment is thus...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Optimistic Re-Framing What is Optimistic Re-Framing Optimistic re-framing is all about changing your beliefs/stories. Neuroscience tells us that we CAN change. Our active beliefs cause our emotional sates and those play out in our bodies. Our beliefs, emotions and...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Affirmations Affirmations are the grand daddy of all optimistic thinking exercises. You can and should definitely use affirmations in addition to the other exercises listed on this site. Some people may not believe that affirmations work. Recent findings in neural...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Counter Pointing Counter Pointing is a method of replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. If you are familiar with Cognitive Behavioral Thereby (CBT) then you will recognize this way of thinking. It essentially is an exercise that asks you to look at your...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Mantras Many people not only focus on thoughts and body sensations as they Meditate, but many people also focus by way of reciting Mantras. Mantras are sayings that you recite over and over again while you meditate. They are positive statements identical...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Meditation Practices People have been Meditating for centuries. Meditations are commonly used to help people relax. That is a helpful tool to use in our daily lives but Meditation is much more than that. The practice of Meditation can be used to teach us to Focus,...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Visualizations Visualizations are one way to really implant an Optimistic mind set into your brain. They are particularly helpful when you are presented with a situation that is troublesome. If you have to speak in public, attend a dinner party, travel in an...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Writing and Journaling Writing down your thoughts has a tremendous impact on how you learn. Many studies have shown over and over again that people who write down what they learn have a greater chance of remembering the new teachings. There are several writing...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Counseling Yourself One of the BEST ways to shift your beliefs to more balanced and Optimistic beliefs is to write down a conversation to a discussion that you may have with your best friend. I call this DIALOGING. You will be taking both sides of the discussion. One...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Your Inner Child Talking to Your Inner Child is another way to reprogram your brain to generate optimistic thoughts about yourself. It is generally believed that we have low self esteem and thus generate negative thinking because of circumstances that have happened...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Mirror Work and Exercises Stand in front of a mirror and look at yourself in the eye. Do you look away? Do you immediately start judging yourself? Do you feel self-conscious about paying attention to yourself? Many of us do all these things. This is your...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Types of Exercises, Stuff To Read
Gratitude Being Grateful is a great way to look at your life in a positive manner. Everyone has many things to be grateful for. When you find yourself feeling down you are focusing on the negative. You are generating negative thoughts which are causing you to feel...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Stuff To Read
What Causes Our Emotions? What are Emotions? Emotions are a state of mind created by thoughts that are active at this very moment. As we live our lives and observe what is around us and our mind does the following automatically: Interprets what it sees, hears, smells...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Emotions Trigger Actions / Re-actions Active beliefs cause your emotions. Your emotions trigger the actions you take and the re-actions that your body initiates. Sometimes your actions are deliberate and conscious and sometimes they are unconscious. All your...
by John | Feb 2, 2018 | Stuff To Read
Identify Negative Thinking As you observe your thoughts you will notice negative ones popping up. When you see them you can then address them and question them for their accuracy and truth. Sometimes you may not even be aware of your negative thoughts especially if...
