Podcast appearances and mentions of kristen manieri

Kristen Manieri with The Gottman Institute reminds you that marriage is more than checking a box Episode 1891: Marriage is More Than Checking a Box on Your To-Do List by Kristen Manieri with Gottman on Making Time For Your Partner The Gottman Institute understands that the human family is in crisis, and that all individuals are capable of and deserve compassion. It is their mission to reach out to families in order to help create and maintain greater love and health in relationships. They are committed to an ongoing program of research that increases the understanding of relationships and adds to the development of interventions that have been carefully evaluated. It is their goal to make their services accessible to the broadest reach of people across race, religion, class, culture, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. Want to improve your marriage in 60 seconds or less? Over 40 years of research with thousands of couples has proven a simple fact: small things often can create big changes over time. Got a minute? Sign up for The Gottman Institute's Marriage Minute at http://OLDPodcast.com/marriage The original post is located here: https://www.gottman.com/blog/marriage-is-more-than-checking-a-box-on-your-to-do-list/ Visit Me Online at OLDPodcast.com  Interested in advertising on the show? Visit https://www.advertisecast.com/OptimalRelationshipsDailyMarriageParenting Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blossom Your Awesome Podcast Episode #136 Conscious Living With Kristen ManieriToday on the show Mindfulness teacher and mindset shift coach Kristen Manieri joins us. Kristen has been studying consciousness and conscious living for more than two decades.She is the host of the 60 Mindful Minutes Podcast. Check her out here - https://kristenmanieri.comTo see more of my work  - blossomyourawesome.com My YouTubehttps://blossomyourawesome.com/mindfulness-1Where I write and cover mindfulness and other things to help you Blossom Your Awesome. Or follow me on instagram where I post fairly regularly and ask an inquisitive question or two weekly in hopes of getting you thinking about your life and going deeper with it. My Instagram - i_go_by_skdTo support my work - my Patreon 

Any number of things can come along to mess up the order we create and topple our well-built boundaries. Such is life. The trick is to have an early warning system that sets off alarms long before we hit overwhelm. In the early 1900s, miners used to keep caged canaries with them to warn them if dangerous gases, such as carbon monoxide, reached lethal levels. If the canary keeled over, it was time to evacuate. What is the canary in your coal mine?   Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    Coaching If you've ever considered coaching, or if you're feelings stuck or you're about to make a big transition, reach out to me and we can talk about how I can help you navigate what's ahead with more confidence and clarity. You can reach me at Kristen@kristenmanieri.com.   Full Transcript   Have an Alert System   Welcome to 60 Mindful Minutes. I'm Kristen Manieri, the host of this podcast as well as a professional coach. And you're listening to part four of my end overwhelm series. So far I've covered understanding capacity, how to do less and how to say no more often. Today I'm going to be talking about having an alert system so we know when we're getting close to overwhelm.   Once I know what matters and what doesn't, and I'm chugging along nicely at 70 percent capacity, it's only a matter of time before I slip up and start filling in the blank spaces and inching toward 100 percent capacity or beyond.   In my state of ease, I can fall prey to the inevitable tide of overcommitment that can easily roll in when I'm not paying attention.   The holidays arrive and I forget to leave room for all the doingness that goes along with special meals, events, gifts and traditions. A fun project comes my way and I giddily say yes to it before I fully calculate the cost/benefit. I start a course. I make a new friend. I embark on a new hobby. I read a book that inspires me to change the way I eat. We go on a trip. We get a dog. We start a renovation.   Any number of things can come along to mess up the order I've created and dislodge my perfect schedule and well-built boundaries. Such is life. The trick is to have an early warning system that sets off alarms long before I hit overwhelm.   In the early 1900s, miners used to keep caged canaries with them to warn them if dangerous gases, such as carbon monoxide, reached lethal levels. If the canary keeled over, it was time to evacuate.   What is the canary in your coal mine?   For me it's when I drop my morning exercise, start skipping meals or wake up in the middle of the night with racing thoughts. Any of these three things warns me that I've got too much on my plate. I know that sleep, food and exercise are such essential aspects of my life that when they suffer, it's a sign that I've let too many other things creep in.    Maybe for you it's noticing when your anxiety starts to climb. Maybe you start pouring a little more wine into your glass than you normally do. Or you start yelling at the kids. Or you stop wanting to have sex. Or you start eating fast food or scarfing down chocolate bars or skipping your daily walk.   When we're over capacity, the care we know we need often is the first to go. Ironically, it's when we have a lot on our plates that we most need to be the fully resourced, yet it's our fundamental needs—sleep, good food, breaks, movement—that often get set aside. But the more depleted we get, the less equipped we are to handle the strain of our overcommitted life.     We live in a world that applauds our doing and celebrates those that seem to get things done at seemingly herculean levels. It takes practice to opt out of our do, do, do culture and opt-in to something more meaningful and easeful. So, don't be surprised if you get lured back in from time to time.   And if you're someone like me who is interested in a lot of things, and loves to meet new people, and is always up for a new adventure or path or area of growth, you might find yourself susceptible to overcommitting from time to time. I sure do. I'm tickled to be asked to volunteer. I love when a friend texts and asks to get together. I want to try the new restaurant, read the latest bestseller, and join the movement. I can easily get swept away in a wave of enthusiasm and excitement before I realize I've take on too much.   But I've figured out a way to catch things before they get too far gone. The tool I use to keep tabs on myself is my daily centering practice.   Once a day I spend thirty minutes with myself. For me, it's always worked best to do this first thing in the morning. I wake up, make my tea, and then I go and it with myself. I notice what I'm feeling and what thoughts are dominating my mind. I feel into my body to scan for any anxiety or tension. In a way, I'm getting a weather report for how I'm doing on the inside.   This daily check-in offers a way to notice if I'm dragging or to catch negative patterns quickly. I use my journal to note how I'm feeling and what's on my mind, and then I consider my options. Do I need to change my circumstances or my mindset? Do I need to repromise or renegotiate some of my commitments? Do I need to talk something through with someone to help get some clarity? I feel into what's burdening me and then I tend to it… long before it hits overwhelm.   By the way, I offer a whole course on my website about establishing a daily centering practice. It's free and only takes about an hour to complete. You can find it at KristenManieri.com.   I love the work of Karla McLaren. In fact, I've interviewed her twice on my podcast: once about her book Embracing Anxiety: How to Access the Genius of This Vital Emotion (episode 84) and once about her book The Art of Empathy: A Complete Guide to Life's Most Essential Skill (episode 10). What I've learned from Karla is that our feelings—anxiety, overwhelm, tension, etc.—are signals. They're trying to get our attention to we can do something about what's causing us strain. These feelings are here to help us, not weigh us down, which only happens when we ignore them.   https://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Anxiety-Access-Genius-Emotion/dp/1683644417/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=     To have a daily practice of checking in with ourselves gives us access to the signals our bodies are sending. It gives us the opportunity to listen and stop ignoring them.   Try it out for two weeks. Spend 10 minutes a day—any time of day that you can keep a consistent practice—and just check in with yourself. Ask yourself: How am I doing and feeling? Am I taking good care of myself?  I'd love to hear how it goes.   This being the last of a four-part series, I want to quickly recap and also leave you with and important proviso to this work.   To recap, get to know your capacity. Take an accurate reading of what you can realistically have on your plate at once, making sure to factor in the season you're in and challenges you may be going through.   Second, spend some time getting really clear about the things that matter most to you—the parts of your life that make it worth living—and then begin to prioritize those and eliminate the things that don't make the list. You can't do it all. Choose with intention.   Of course, eliminating things that don't matter, or at least not right now, will require you to start saying no to things. Develop your 24-hour “maybe” response, set and hold boundaries. Finally, know your canary in the coal mine. You'll inevitably end up overloaded from time to time; life happens and we easily lose our focus. But when we know the things that tip us off to being on the verge of overwhelm, and we check in with ourselves regularly, we find our way back to a centered, more grounded place faster.   I would like to leave you with some thoughts about self-compassion, something I see as a critical ingredient of our growth. Here's why: as we bring more awareness to our lives, we can often feel frustrated with ourselves for all the many, many moments that we seem to take two steps forward, and then two steps back. Even with my commitment to mindfulness and the integration of better habits and ways of living, I often fall asleep and default back to my over-doing self.   I've heard it said from many of my teachers that mindfulness is a bird with two wings. One is the wing of wisdom and the other is the wing of compassion. Mindfulness and the path of mindful living are not meant to be another means to be hard on ourselves, another thing we're not getting right.   Instead, it's a way that we begin to be better for others, but also better to ourselves. My humble request is that you approach this journey like a scientist who is curiously observing, inquiring and collecting data. We aim for progress, not perfection. There's nowhere to get, no contest to win, no grade to earn. Practicing is the journey and there is no destination.   In this spirit of compassionate curiosity, we learn to accept our foibles, even laugh at them. We see our missteps as opportunities to grow and learn, not as failures or further evidence of our deficiency. We are all flawed, yet we are all simply trying to do our best in this wild, sometimes weary, world. Open your mind but also soften your heart.   Thank you for joining me for this series. I've got a few more nuggets to share before the end of the year, and then I think I'll take a break for a while.   Thanks for listening. Bye for now.

Feelings of overwhelm often directly correlate with being over capacity. We have too much on our plates. How did it all get on your plate in the first place? Some of it, of course, just ended up there because it's part of the job. But some of the things on your plate you actually signed up for. Someone asked and you said “yes.” Today we'll look at why you said “yes” and how to say “no” more often.    Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    Coaching If you've ever considered coaching, or if you're feelings stuck or you're about to make a big transition, reach out to me and we can talk about how I can help you navigate what's ahead with more confidence and clarity. You can reach me at Kristen@kristenmanieri.com.   Full Transcript   (Part Three) End Overwhelm Series: Say “No” More Often Live: Nov 17   Welcome back to 60 Mindful minutes. This is Kristen Manieri and you're listing to my four-part series on ending overwhelm. Part one was all about understanding your capacity. Part two was focused on doing less. Today, I'll be sharing my thoughts on how we can learn to say “no” more often.   Feelings of overwhelm often directly correlate with being over capacity. We have too much on our plates. Ask yourself this question: how did this all get on my plate in the first place?   Some of it, of course, just ended up there because it's part of the job. You didn't sign up for your commute to work; it's simply part of having your particular job. You didn't sign up for making dinner most nights; it just turns out that you're the one home first and skilled enough for the task.   But some of the things on your plate you did sign up for. Someone asked and you said “yes.” Those are the things I want to look at today.   Why do we say “yes” to the things we say “yes” to? Here are a few potential answers. See if any are a fit for you.   We say “yes” because:   We want to appear amiable and helpful, and avoid seeming difficult We want to be liked We want to avoid hurting people's feelings We feel guilty saying “no” It's just how we were raised It's easier to put ourselves out than to put another person out We know we'll figure out a way to make it all work, even if it causes us stress We have a hard time setting and holding boundaries Saying “no” feels confrontational or unkind We were so excited to be asked that we said “yes” before I we really thought it through If we say no, people may stop asking   Here's a quick test to see if saying “no” is an underdeveloped skill for you: take a look at your commitments for the next 30 days, including tasks you have agreed to do for others and places you have committed to be. How many of them do you now wish you could back out of or secretly hope will be cancelled? Are you already cooking up excuses or lies in order to avoid this commitment? If you see this pattern, even just a little bit, I believe you're saying “yes” too much and saying “no” too little.   A few years ago, a client (I'll call her Cheryl) was sharing with me that she was feeling awful about a girl's weekend that was coming up a few days later. She had committed to going several weeks before but as the details of the trip slowly came to light, she realized that this was not the trip for her. Now she was going through the gut-wrenching process of trying to figure out a way to cancel. Could she say one of her kids is sick? Could she blame it on a fictitious business trip her husband suddenly needed to be on?   She didn't want to lie but she also couldn't bring herself to tell the truth: that she had been so excited to be asked to join the trip that she didn't ask the important questions that needed to be asked to make sure this was the right trip for her. As she got clear on what motivated her spontaneous “yes,” she could see that she had a deep desire to feel belonging in her friend group and to demonstrate that she valued their friendship. Cheryl realized that committing to things and then later backing out was a pattern in her life, and one that she no longer wanted to repeat.   We've all faced a similar dilemma, maybe many, many times.   That day, Cheryl drew a line in the sand and declared that she was, from that day forward, going to become someone who only committed to things once she fully knew the details and only if she was absolutely sure she was a “yes.”   She fessed up honestly to her friends, letting them know she would not be joining them, why she'd mistakenly committed in the first place, and offered to pay for any costs that would be incurred by her cancelling.   The real work, however, was getting clear with herself about what all of the haphazard “yeses” in her life were costing her (stress, drama, money, time, etc.) and how she could develop the ability to slow down in her life so that she could become more discerning choices about what she committed to.    The strategy that we developed during that session was called The 24-Hour Maybe. When someone invited Cheryl to something, she learned to develop the habit of saying “Maybe. Can I let you know in 24 hours?” This bought her the time to ask more questions and to think through whether she had the time for this commitment and whether she actually wanted to do it.   Here's the takeaway: if you realize that you need to learn how to say “no” more often, start by first learning to say “maybe.” “Maybe” creates a pause so you have time to check in with yourself. “Maybe” is non-confrontational if you're someone who finds it really difficult to say “no.” “Maybe” tells the people in your life that you only say “yes” to things once you've really thought it through. It honors the person asking but it also honors you.   During this 24-hour maybe, you have time to pause to check in with yourself before committing. This will give you the space to try on some of these strategies:    Follow this rule: if I'm not a “HELL YES” than I am a “HELL NO.” Knowing there is only so much of you to go around and only so many hours in the day, realize that anything short of a full-body “yes” needs to be a “no.” Eliminate any version of “ya, I guess so” or “I probably should.” It's either “hell yes” or “hell no,” nothing in between. Rate the invitation on a scale of one to ten. If it's a7 or under, then you're out. It's got to be an 8, 9 or 10 if it's going to get your time and energy. Think about why you're saying yes. In Cheryl's case, she often said “yes” because she thought it was what was best for the friendship. Are there other ways you could produce the same result by committing to something that works better for your life? We often think there are just two choices. Is there a third way, maybe even a better way, that you're not seeing yet? Could your 24-hour pause give you time to get creative about offering a better solution?   Later this month you'll get to hear an interview with Melissa Urban, the co-creator of Whole30 and the author of The Book of Boundaries. I love this book! I've already sent this book to several people who I know struggle with setting boundaries but it's honestly a must-read for all of us. What I learned from Melissa in our interview and in her book is that boundaries are how we protect our limited resources.   You are a limited resource.   There needs to be a fence around your time, energy and mental capacity. We first figure out what matters to us, which was a big focus of last week's episode about doing less, and then we protect those things with our boundaries.   If boundaries don't come naturally to you, try scripting them out. This is exactly the approach Melissa takes in The Book of Boundaries, which includes over 130 scripts with exact words you can use to set a boundary in all sorts of scenarios. Be ready for pushback and an inevitable negotiation that is likely to ensue. If you're stumped, throw down the 24-hour maybe. Give yourself time to regroup and re-establish your boundary.    Check in with yourself about why you say “yes” to the things you commit to. Get curious about what drives you. It's universally human to be motivated by a need for safety, love, belonging and esteem. How else could you get these needs met without taking on more than you can handle?   Notice if you're someone who is constantly cancelling or rescheduling. That's a good indication that you say “yes” to too many things.   Build the habit of the 24-Hour Maybe. Take some time to pause, reflect and investigate before you commit. Get all the details so you know what you're getting into. Check in to be sure you're a “hell yes.”   Finally, set boundaries that honor you… your rest, privacy, space, free time, and values. Develop the skill of boundary setting with practice. It takes lots of practice to become a pro boundary maker and holder. But most importantly, surround yourself with people who honor your boundaries.   I hope you found these insights helpful. Stay tuned for part four, coming next week, when I'll be diving into creating an alert system so you know when your train is coming off the tracks.

It can't all matter. There's got to be a way to rank everything that's important in your life and identify the things that really aren't. This week I'm going to share some insights from five different authors about how to do less.     Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    Coaching If you've ever considered coaching, or if you're feelings stuck or you're about to make a big transition, reach out to me and we can talk about how I can help you navigate what's ahead with more confidence and clarity. You can reach me at Kristen@kristenmanieri.com.   Full Transcript   Welcome back to 60 Mindful minutes. This is Kristen Manieri and you're listing to my four-part series on ending overwhelm. Last week, for part one, I shared my thoughts on understanding true capacity. Today, for part two, I'll be speaking about DOING LESS.   It can't all matter. There's got to be a way to rank everything that's important in your life and identify the things that really aren't. It's going to take some time—meaning you'll want to dedicate an hour or two—to get really real with yourself about what truly are the things that make your life a good life and which things are just a distraction.   This is the path of an essentialist, which Greg McKeown describes as someone who takes on the relentless pursuit of less but better. “Only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter,” he writes in his book, Essentialism.   But what does really matter? It's not always easy to whittle our list down. At first glance you might say, “it all matters! I can't cut anything!” Essentialism is a skill we develop; it isn't something most of us know how to do intuitively. So, I'm going to share some thoughts from five different books I've read about distilling your life down to only the most important things.   The first book is called The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi. The book lays out 13 Lazy Genius Principles but I'm going to focus on #10: essentialize.   For Kendra, embracing what matters must start with knowing what matters. She writes: “True fulfillment comes from subtraction, from removing everything that distracts you from what matters and leaving only the essential.”    Let's say I have a jam-packed weekend ahead. In the Lazy Genius Way, the first step is to name what really matters to me. As I consider this, I land on three things that matter this weekend: rest, connection to Marc and the girls, and restoring order to our house.   The second step is removing what's in the way. Doing my laundry feels essential because that restores order to my wardrobe. Going for a hike with Aly feels essential because it creates connection. Staying in my pajamas Sunday morning and reading a book in front of the fire feels essential because it creates rest.   Something that could get in the way is weekend errands. It's amazing how much precious weekend time gets used up driving from A to B to C picking up and dropping off stuff if I'm not paying attention to being deliberate about how I spend my weekend.   While some errands feel necessary (I really do need to pick up one of those round batteries before my key fob completely dies) I can essentialize my errand list so it only takes a few hours instead of an entire day. A full day of running around would definitely be counter to rest, which I've already established is a priority.   Kendra's last step is to keep only the essentials. If it doesn't reeeaaaalllllly matter, and if it's in the way of what does, it's nixed.   The key takeaway is this: name what matters.   The next book I want to share with you is Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver. I love this book, especially chapter 26, which is all about taking a sabbath. Some of you may remember that most things used to be closed on Sunday. Can you believe that was only about 30 years ago?   What would it be like to have one day a week when you're completely free of tasks, appointments and obligations? Taking a sabbath is all about putting a fence around one day each week and keeping it protected from everything that doesn't serve you.    According to Courtney Carver (who I interviewed in episode 17), you start by scheduling your sabbath. Put it in your calendar. Number two, tell the world. “Call your friends, text your colleagues, tweet the news that you have scheduled a day off and won't be available,” she writes. “Let them know that you won't be answering the phone, checking email, or updating your Facebook status.”    What would your sabbath be like? Maybe you keep all screens off all day or at least until 1pm. Maybe you sleep in or go for a long hike or read a novel. What would feel exceptionally restorative to you and then ask yourself, why not? Why not take a full day of complete rest?   The next idea I want to share with you is from Kate Northrup's book, Do Less. Here's the big idea: receive help. She articulates it this way: “Let's both of us see what happens if we let go of the lie we've been told and that we've been telling others—that having it all together or doing it all ourselves is what makes us valuable. Let's replace it with shooting for genuine connection, true happiness, a full tank, the courage to be vulnerable by owning where we need support, and being willing to receive it when it shows up.”   Those of us who have spent a lifetime being highly self-sufficient—and likely getting a lot of praise from parents and bosses for being so reliable and having such steady follow-through—have probably built an identity around never needing anyone's help. We're the ones who chose the independent study over the group project. Why rely on others when we're so dang good at doing it ourselves. If you can identify, you're likely similar to me in that asking for and receiving help is really hard. But just like most things, it's an underdeveloped skill that can be developed. We can get better, maybe even ninja-level better, at receiving help.   Kate recommends we take on this mantra: I am allowing this day to be easy. She recommends that we ask ourselves:   Does this need to be done? Does this need to be done by me? Does this need to be done right now?   When we pause to reflect and consider, we might not only see where we could ask for help, or where we could eliminate a task completely.   This topic wouldn't feel adequately covered without bringing in some important insights from Becky Hall, who wrote the book The Art of Enough: Seven Ways to Build a Balanced Life and a Flourishing World. When I interviewed Becky for episode #148, she spoke a lot about having an “enough mindset,” which is rooted in the idea that there is enough, we can do enough, and we are enough.   Of course, we can always do more. Having an enough mindset is a deliberate approach to our lives that acknowledges the endlessness of our tasks and obligations but draws a subjective line in the sand when we're come to close to our edge. It's realizing when we're almost overdrawn physically, emotionally or psychologically and granting ourselves permission to say, “enough.”   Becky thinks of enough as a state of being and also a way of living. “With Enough we learn to live within the natural limits within our lives,” she writes. With an enough mindset, we honor that we each have limits. It's only human to reach the end of our capacity and then need to go renew our resources. In fact, those of us who learn to renew our resources effectively through rest and quality leisure become “well rooted and well resourced so that we can flourish with creativity and brilliance.”    In her book, Becky references a practice she read in Jim Collins' book, Good to Great, which is to create a “stop doing list.” Try this out. Make a list of 10 to 20 things that you could stop doing. Rethink everything through the lens of this question: do I really need to be doing this?   I'd like to leave you with one final thought from Celeste Headlee's book, Do Nothing. She writes: “The truth is, productivity is a by-product of a functional system, not a goal in and of itself. The question is not whether you are productive but what are you producing.”   We weren't put on this earth to get our to-do list done. It can't be that the purpose of life is to get everything done. What I think Celeste Headlee is asking is what is all this doing creating? Stress or happiness? Constraint or connection? Is it creating a life that you're madly in love with? Maybe the answer is to do much, much less.   I'm not suggesting we all sit on our couches and stare at the wall. What I'm suggesting is a that we look really closely at what we give our time and energy to and make really sure it's giving us the life that we want. This will require that we dedicate some time taking this closer look.   Go for a walk, sit on a Sunday morning with your journal, find a friend who can listen well and ask good questions so you can tease it out. Whatever it takes, get really clear on the essentials of your good, happy, peaceful life.   Next week I'll be talking about how to say "no" more often. See you then.          

Today is the first of a four-part series on overwhelm. With the holidays coming and the end of the year in our sight, this is the season for feeling completely overloaded. I thought I would share some insights and strategies to help you make it through, peacefully ad gracefully. This is part one, which is all about understanding our true capacity.   Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    Coaching If you've ever considered coaching, or if you're feelings stuck or you're about to make a big transition, reach out to me and we can talk about how I can help you navigate what's ahead with more confidence and clarity. You can reach me at Kristen@kristenmanieri.com.   Full Transcript   Today is the first of a four-part series on overwhelm. With the holidays coming and the end of the year in our sights, this is the season for feeling completely overloaded. So, I thought I would share some insights and strategies to help you make it through, peacefully ad gracefully.   We all know the feeling when we've got way too much on our plates. Racing thoughts. Frantic energy. Nonstop motion. Maniacal fixation on getting it all done. I'd been there many times until I learn the secret to avoiding overwhelm.   Overwhelm happens when we have more than we can handle. It's too many obligations, appointments or errands. It's a to-do list that's impossibly long. It's too many people wanting more from you than you have to give. It's not enough hours in the day. It's too many projects on the go. It's messes and unfinished projects around the house. It's not enough sleep because you thought it would be a better idea to try to just get more done.   It's skipping meals, workouts, date nights, tuck-ins and self-care all to continue to bow down to the god of completion. It's feeling buried and there isn't a shovel big enough to dig you out.   Why do we do this to ourselves? Well, it's because we don't really understand true capacity.   Our capacity is the size of our container; it's how much we can actually hold, yield, perform and withstand. Like a balloon, it will only take on so much air until it pops.   To begin to calculate our true capacity, we start with how many hours we have in our day after we've fully met our basic needs for survival: sleep, food and exercise. We must also factor in all the people we care for and about. If you've got young kids, for example, that will affect your capacity.   It's also our mental state, which can shift with seasons and cycles. Perhaps your capacity expands in the summer when the days are longer and contracts after daylight savings time when it starts getting dark at 4pm. That's definitely true for me.   Capacity is also measured by our individual temperament for adaptability and resilience, the parts of our psyche that determine how much we each can handle at any given time.     Put simply, our capacity is how much we can realistically take on, physically, psychologically and emotionally, before our wheels fall off the track. When the wheels fall off the track, we've hit overwhelm. We're over capacity. The dam has spilled over or busted open. We no longer feel peacefully productive and on purpose. We're now crazed, stretched too thin, agitated and potentially explosive.     So, here's the secret to avoiding overwhelm. First, assess what 100 percent capacity looks like for you. What's the most you can do, give, and push while still keeping the train on the tracks?   Now cut 30 percent.   Take an inventory of everything you have on your plate, and find 30 percent of it to completely eliminate by means of deferring, delegating or dumping it altogether.     Here are examples of what I've cut in my life:   Having my kids signed up for more than one after-school activity at once Any social engagements or errands on Sunday Going into grocery stores (my local store lets you order online and only charges $5 for the pick-up) Teaching workshops (at the moment) Joining women's groups (I'm already committed to two)   For you, it could be opting out of hosting a holiday gathering or gift exchange. Maybe taking a pause on a volunteer position. What can you delegate, renegotiate, pause or defer to a later time?   The secret to avoiding overwhelm is to consistently operate in the zone of 70 percent capacity. Not 100 percent, and definitely not 130 percent, which is what we often do when we're not paying attention. I call being at 70 percent capacity the Peacefully Productive Zone.   Here's what happens when you stop living in a constant state of over-capacity and you enter the Peacefully Productive Zone:     You have the mental wherewithal to be more creative and innovative, to solve. problems with more wisdom and resourcefulness. You have a clearer vision for the days, months and year ahead. You experience a sense of ease and lightness to your day. You show up for the people in your life with patience, curiosity and loving-kindness. You're able to handle the unexpected with steadiness, agility and grace. You enjoy your life more.   Do you really need to be doing everything you're doing? Start to bring awareness to all the balls you have in the air and get curious about why they're there. Who says you must do them? What are all the things you “should” do versus all the things that really matter or all the things you wish you could be doing. Who's actually in charge of your life? Maybe there are a lot of have tos. Maybe most of your life is filled with obligations that seem impossible to escape. Are you willing to simply look curiously to see where there might actually be room to maneuver? Start with a scalpel, cutting a few tiny tasks, and then gradually build to a hatchet.      In order to become someone who consistently operates at 70 percent capacity, some skills need to be developed. I'll be diving into these in the next three parts of this four-part series. I'll be sharing specific tactics and systems you can use to stay in the Peacefully Productive Zone.   But, besides developing some skills, you'll also need to develop some thicker skin. Cutting 30 percent from your to-do list is likely going to ruffle some feathers. You might disappoint some people. You might need to have some difficult conversations. You might start saying “no.” All of these will be uncomfortable. Be willing to travel through the discomfort in order to get to the other side. On the other side is the life that you want and deserve to have. It has order and calm, joy, space and rest.   On the other side of our over-capacity lives is thriving. For me, that's the feeling that I'm doing good work in the world, meeting my commitments, tending to my basic needs, and leaving space for rest, presence and the inevitable curve ball. It's being Peacefully Productive and it's the zone where we all are at our best.     Stay tuned for Part Two: How to do Less    

Title: EP211: Get to Know Your Neighbors   I've been thinking about the status of neighbors and our interactions with them in this fast-paced and highly digitalized world we live in. How many of us actually know our neighbors? Maybe we're missing out on a deep sense of belonging and community that could be built with the people who live right next door.     Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    Coaching If you've ever considered coaching, or if you're feelings stuck or you're about to make a big transition, reach out to me and we can talk about how I can help you navigate what's ahead with more confidence and clarity. You can reach me at Kristen@kristenmanieri.com.   Full Transcript   This past weekend we had tea with our neighbors, Rick and Leslie. We've been living on our new street for almost nine months now, and other than hellos as we come and go or quick chats at the end of the driveway, this was the first time we'd actually sat down with one of our neighbors to really get to know them.   It was lovely. I'm so grateful they invited us over.   It got me thinking about the status of neighbors and our interactions with them in this fast-paced and highly digitalized world we now live in. How many of us actually know our neighbors? Maybe we know their first names and a rough idea of what they do for a living, but who can say they actually have a relationship with their neighbors.   We used to live in Central Florida, and when we moved onto our street back in 2006, our next-door neighbor was a guy named Mike Delaney. From the day we moved in, Mike made it his mission to get to know us and to introduce us to the other neighbors. Marc and I and the other neighbors joked that he was the mayor of our cul de sac. And while sometimes he bordered on a little nosy at time, the truth is that it felt good that there was someone on our street who really cared about the people he ended up living next to.      Mike was in his seventies back then, and maybe that's part of the reason he was so adamant about getting to know us; he came from an era when that was the norm.   These days, it's not really the norm, is it?   “By and large, we're lonelier and unhappier than we were in the decades before the Internet age,” writes Susan Pinker in her book The Village Effect: How face-to-Face Contact Can Make Us Happier and Healthier. “Psychologists don't know why that is exactly, though we do know that close relationships are the strongest drivers of happiness, and that being alone and unaffiliated makes us the most unhappy. The evidence is pretty clear that we are wired for frequent and genuine interaction. As humans, we need to know that we belong.”   Belonging matters. In fact, the relatively new field of social neuroscience, which looks at the relationship between social experiences and biological systems, is overflowing with evidence for how the health of our relationships is directly tied to our mental and physical health. We thrive in community. And if I'm to make meaningful social connection a core part of my thrive plan, then neighbors are just low hanging fruit. They're literally right next door.   Now, I'm not talking about having tea with Rick and Leslie every week. We're busy, they're busy. It would be unrealistic to keep that up. But next time I see Rick washing his car, can I stop for five minutes and have a nice chat? Next time I see our other neighbor walking his dog, can I pause for a few moments to connect?   It all comes down to identifying what matters (in this case, meaningful connection and creating a sense of community) and then being intentional about having what matters be a priority. It's noticing that these little two- and five-minute moments to connect really matter. It's slowing down in life long enough to seize the opportunity to connect when it arises.   Sometimes it's going beyond the organic, spontaneous opportunities to connect—like when we bump into each other while walking our dogs or putting out our recycling—and inviting someone over for tea, like Rick and Leslie did for us.   Remember my neighbor Mike Delaney? While we lost touch after he moved to back to Pennsylvania, when he passed away a few years ago we had the opportunity to connect with his sister. What Marc and I told her was that we would never forget how Mike made us feel; like we mattered, like we belonged. And this was all because Mike took the time to be a good neighbor: to connect, to get to know us, to show he cared. Maybe it's as simple as stopping to connect for a few minutes a week with someone we live near. Maybe this small act isn't so small after all.                                    

Being present in the body is a homecoming, a re-inhabiting, an opportunity to return to and reengage with ourselves. Attuning to the present moment, most often through our bodily senses, we experience the delight and beauty of being alive.   Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    Coaching If you've ever considered coaching, or if you're feelings stuck or you're about to make a big transition, reach out to me and we can talk about how I can help you navigate what's ahead with more confidence and clarity. You can reach me at Kristen@kristenmanieri.com.   Full Transcript Wherever you go in life, whatever you do, one thing is for sure: your body will be there with you. The relationship between ourselves and our bodies is our primary connection, so it makes sense that on our journey to cultivate more mindfulness, we begin with habits that support us in being more present with the body. Much like a mother attunes to her baby's needs, we too can orient our attention inward to discover what nourishment or nurturing the body might be quietly asking for. Through the process of becoming self-attuned, we learn to become our greatest ally. The body houses a tremendously helpful alert system for navigating our needs, thoughts and emotions. For me, a 60-second check-in provides boundless intel about my inner world. I close my eyes and sense that I'm thirsty, a little tight in my mid back from being at my computer all day, and I'm feeling residual frustration from a conversation I had this morning. What was lurking below now floats to the surface to be tended to or guided by. Being present in the body is a homecoming, a re-inhabiting, an opportunity to return to and reengage with ourselves. It's where we quite literally come to our senses, or what Jon Kabat-Zinn calls “falling awake.” Attuning to the present moment, most often through our bodily senses, we experience the delight and beauty of being alive. Of course, some of us may encounter physical or emotional pain as we look inward, which can make tuning into the body uncomfortable and confronting. Through mindfulness, we can begin to cultivate a friendliness, or at least a sense of solidarity, toward what's happening inside, even if we don't like it. As we turn towards ourselves and create habits of fondly tending to and accepting our body—its shape, sensations and stages—we turn resistance, struggle and aversion into acceptance, compassion and love. You are experiencing life with and through your body; it's a faithful and enduring companion. The practices I'm going to share today will support you in creating a mindful body connection. We reap what we sow. When we fill up our tanks and refuse to run on fumes, we begin to tap into endless resources that not only give us what we need to do our work in the world but also to stay steady when the unpredictable winds of adversity inevitably blow our way. Healthy habits that attune us to our inner worlds provide the gateway to better self-care and a sense of harmony with ourselves. Mind-body connection isn't just a spiritual pursuit; it's an incredibly pragmatic practice. Imagine driving a car without a dashboard. You'd never know the status of your speed, gas, tire pressure or oil. Thankfully, your car has gauges for all of these key metrics, which allows you to care for your car and keep it running. You too have a dashboard. I'd like to offer you some practices that support you in tuning into it. Stop and Drop During my Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training, I learned the acronym S.T.O.P. as an effective way to quickly drop into the body. S.T.O.P. stands for Stop… Take a breath… Observe… Proceed. I think of it like tapping my brakes when I am so often moving full speed ahead. But when I learn to drop in for just 30 seconds, I slow down long enough to notice what's happening inside and around me, making me aware of my environment, thoughts, emotions and physical sensations. You start by gently closing your eyes or relaxing your gaze as you place one hand or both on the middle of your chest. Bring your attention to one inhale and one exhale, without any intention to change or deepen the breath. Just be with this one in and out breath. Internally, say “hello” to your body and this moment, then look to label your experiences on the inside and outside with single words. Perhaps the words “busy,” “stressed,” “tight,” or “tired” come to mind. Maybe you notice you're thirsty, hungry or clenched. Tend to your needs; take a sip of water, grab a snack or gently roll the shoulders and neck. Use any time you shift from one task to another, move from one place to another, or come and go from your home, as a prompt for this stop and drop practice. If you can aim to practice this habit several times a day. The Mindful Body Scan Scanning the body for emotions, tension and discomfort is a useful way to quickly tune into our state and triage our needs. We observe sensations, good or bad, that have escaped our notice while our attention was focused elsewhere. It's also how we detect and diffuse stress. The body has a physiological response to the fast-paced, overly demanding world most of us live in, often unnecessarily flooding the body with hormones such as cortisol. By tuning into our stress response, we can begin to release it. Start in a seated position, closing your eyes and taking a few grounding breaths. Repeat an anchoring phrase in your mind, such as “I am here now.” Beginning with your feet, slowly bring your awareness to the body's sensations. As your awareness travels up through the body, notice any warmth, tension, even numbness or absence of sensation. If your mind wanders, which it will, repeat your phrase, breathe, and bring your attention back to where you left off. When you reach the top of your head, finishing by taking a few nourishing breaths, perhaps placing your hand on your heart as a sign of friendly camaraderie with yourself. Connect this practice to a cue you experience frequently, such as waiting. This could include waiting for your kettle to boil or a Zoom call to start. Notice moments when you'd normally “kill time” by checking your phone and choose instead to do a quick, 3 to 5-minute body scan. I've noticed that the people I know who are thriving tend to take really good care of themselves. It can take a lot of effort to get through the day, but those people who have created habits around caring for themselves with consistency and deliberateness seem to have boundless energy and vibrancy. Use these practices to create little homecoming back to your body.  

Here's the magic of the mind: when we pay attention, we have the wonderful capacity to both think our thoughts AND witness ourselves thinking them. We are the thinker and the watcher all at once, which means when the uninvited memories and unwelcome worries arrive, we can notice that they're there. This awareness allows us to (eventually) work around the land mines or render them harmless. It's simple but not always easy, so I'll share some practices I use to tame my mind.    Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    Coaching I have two coaching spots opening up this fall. If you've ever considered coaching, or if you're feelings stuck or you're about to make a big transition, reach out to me and we can talk about how I can help you navigate what's ahead with more confidence and clarity. You can reach me at Kristen@kristenmanieri.com.   Full Transcript   The nature of thought is pretty fascinating when you look at it closely. I've come to see that we typically don't experience the world around us; we experience our thoughts about the world around us. And we can often change our life experience simply by changing our thinking.   Here's what I mean:   The other day I needed to drive somewhere to pick something up. It was a busy week and it felt really inconvenient and annoying to have to go run this errand. I was feeling pretty pissy about it. And then I remembered that there was a podcast episode I'd been meaning to listen to. Suddenly, I was looking forward to an hour in the car by myself. What felt like a burden suddenly felt like a gift.   I didn't change my circumstances, but I radically altered my experience simply by changing my thinking.   “An untamed mind is a minefield,” writes Brianna Wiest in her book 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think.   A mind that is a minefield is one that can suddenly and easily unravel into anxiety, regret, shame or anger. I often experience thoughts that seem to come in from nowhere. Old memories float in uninvited. Worries, often unfounded and unwelcome, can linger. My mind is susceptible to unsolicited thoughts that can metastasize into a mental shit storm when I'm not paying attention.   But here's the magic of the mind: when we do pay attention, we have the wonderful capacity to both think our thoughts AND witness ourselves thinking them. We are the thinker and the watcher all at once, which means when the uninvited memories and unwelcome worries arrive, we can notice that they're there. This awareness allows us to (eventually) work around the land mines or render them harmless. It's simple but not always easy, so I'll share some practices I use to tame my mind.    Develop Your Inner Noticer   Sometimes noticing is all we have to do. It can be enough to simply bring our attention to our thinking long enough to merely name it. “Ah, look at that. I'm thinking about that conversation with my client again.” Perhaps our noticing begins to reveal negative patterns in our thinking. For me, that's often noticing that I'm jumping to conclusions or making speculative assumptions. We may start to see that we have a lot of mental habits (such as jumping to conclusions). Noticing mental habits takes away their mysterious power over us.   Maybe instead of just noticing the landmines, we also start to disarm them.   This is the taming of the mind that Brianna Wiest refers to. This is where we start to access our own sense of agency and autonomy over our thinking. We can develop control over racing, erratic thoughts the same way we develop any acquired talent, by practicing relating to our thoughts in new ways. With consistency, we begin to develop a new relationship with the mind.   Trade Up It's amazing what we hear when we actually listen to our thoughts. If we were to broadcast them when we're stressed, we might hear things like: “I can't do this.” “This is not going to work out.” “I should never have taken this on.”   Our thoughts affect how we feel, which impacts what we do and how we respond. Here's some good news: We are capable of listening to our inner dialogue AND we are capable of upgrading it.   I learned the concept of “trading up” from my friend Kim Ades, who founded Frame of Mind Coaching. Essentially, we isolate a negative thought, such as “this not going to work out,” and we trade it in for a slightly more positive one, such as, “if this doesn't work out, it could lead to something that does.” The idea isn't to be unrealistically positive, but to choose a new thought that is both believable AND elevating in an incremental climb.   Just the other day I used Kim's trading up practice to shift me out of a negative thought spiral. As I may have previously shared, we recently adopted a one-year-old dog from Korea and his transition into our home has been incredibly slow. Having spent his entire life in a shelter, everything in our home is new and, as a result, Leo is incredibly timid, anxious and closed off.   I caught myself feeling upset, disappointed and stressed about Leo. And when I tuned in I was able to isolate the thought “this is really hard.” “This is hard,” I told myself with self-compassion. “But it will get better. You've already seen micro progressions forward. Within a few weeks or months, this will be a completely relaxed and happy dog.” I traded up and as I continued on in my day with this new baseline thought, I felt more at ease.    Try it out. Take out a piece of paper. Tuning into your inner dialogue, write down your dominant thoughts and isolate one that's emitting stress. Notice how the body responds to it. Does your heart race? Do you feel sad or anxious? Now, write a few upgrades to the negative thought and feel which one lands as true for you. Create space for a different possibility. Continue climbing the ladder of better feeling thoughts until you notice a shift in how you feel.     Give the Bothersome Mind a Bone “Your mind is bothering you,” said Michael Singer, author of the Untethered Soul, in one of his podcast episodes. Sometimes it's as though my mind has a mind of its own. I notice this is especially the case when I wake up in the middle of the night and my mind starts endlessly chewing on a series of worries or concerns. It's like a dog with a bone.   Give it a new bone.   Sometimes the best way to conquer the mind is to beat it at its own game. It's obsessed with thinking? Fine! Give it something to think about. I've been known to go through, scene by scene, the entirety of Love Actually, my favorite movie. I've mentally wondered through French towns and been pampered at five-star spas. I've counted backwards from 300 in threes. In 2001, I memorized the entire poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann and used it to ease my mind during a particularly difficult time in my life.    The point is, sometimes I know that settling my mind or upgrading my thoughts is too tall an order. It's not cheating to give my mind something other than my worries and ruminations to chew on.   Connect with Your Older Self When it comes to triggering thoughts, especially those rooted in old memories, I can often feel frustrated that I'm triggered in the first place. Shouldn't I be over this by now? Why do I still care? I'm steeped in regret or shame, but then I make it worse by layering on a dose of self-criticism and resistance.   While it may feel at times that I haven't grown at all in my capacity to redirect my thinking and nurture some self-compassion, the truth is that I've worked my way through hundreds of thoughts and old memories that no longer trigger me. It's taken time, a different perspective, sometimes therapy and often just good ol' forgetting, but I've triumphed over negative thoughts many, many times.   It's helpful to know that when I spiral into a negative thought loop that it won't always be this way, that at some point I'll find the wherewithal to show that thought who's boss.   When I'm caught in a negative loop, I imagine a me 10 or 20 years from now who can think that thought or reflect on that memory with a totally neutral stance, not triggered at all. I can hold it in my open palm and blow it softly into the breeze like a dandelion wish. I can learn, and have learned, how to simply let go of the grip a thought can have on me. Knowing that sometimes it just takes time, practice and a different perspective gives me the grace to be kind to the me I am today, the me that doesn't quite have what it takes yet to gently and lovingly turn my attention elsewhere.   How do I know this works? Because I have loads of evidence of things that used to really bother me that no longer do. I have proof that eventually the sting or the storm eventually subside. I can lean on this knowledge for support when I'm going through something tough today.   Final Thought: It's Just the Mind I want to leave you with one last thought: to tame the mind is also to befriend it. It doesn't mean to cause you so much harm. It's just doing what minds are designed to do, and that is think. Sometimes my mind thinks wonderfully creative thoughts. Sometimes it gives me the idea to do something loving and kind for someone else. Sometimes it notices something good in my life. And sometimes it drags up an old memory or clings to negative thoughts. It's all just thinking. And the more I can simply allow that this is just the mind being the mind, and not get caught up in the mind being the mind, the more it is tamed and the more I am at peace.              

By slogging away at work, trying to cross off everything on an infinitely endless to-do list, are we really enriched by our work in the world? We lose ourselves in our doing. We create stress and lose access to the present, which is where we find our creativity, wisdom and intuition.   Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    Coaching I have two coaching spots opening up this fall. If you've ever considered coaching, or if you're feelings stuck or you're about to make a big transition, reach out to me and we can talk about how I can help you navigate what's ahead with more confidence and clarity. You can reach me at Kristen@kristenmanieri.com.   Full Transcript   Our work and the jobs we do in the world are fertile ground for discontent. For those of us who meet Monday morning with a sense of gloom, even dread, our work life can be a source of angst, disappointment, stress and dissatisfaction. And yet, we each will spend about a third of our lives working. Yes, it's true not all of us do what we love for a living, but we owe it to ourselves to feel satisfied and not simply endure decades of work in order to get to retirement when we can “really start living.” There's no such thing as a happiness layaway plan; we are meant to feel happy and fulfilled today.   In our pursuit of a more mindful life, we place as much emphasis, maybe even more, on how we do what we do versus what we do or the results we produce. Who we are being while we do our work impacts not only how we feel, but also how we make others feel.   These days, it seems as though the point to work is to get as much done as possible and make as much money as possible. What gets lost in that equation is the real point to work: to have our lives be enriched by the contribution we make in the world.   By slogging away at work, trying to cross off everything on an infinitely endless to-do list, are we really enriched by our work in the world? We lose ourselves in our doing. We create stress and lose access to the present, which is where we find our creativity, wisdom and intuition.   In a relaxed, open and mindful state, we regulate ourselves, we see more clearly, we better prioritize, and we relate to others with more patience, humility and kindness. Conversely, in our mindlessness, we weaken our ability to manage ourselves, consumed instead with managing tasks, deadlines, outcomes and other people.   This is why mindful work pauses, thoughtfully punctuated between our tasks, are critical if we are to cultivate more awareness and ease at work. A pause could be just a few moments, such as a mini-break between tasks, or it can be a quiet lunch or a walk around the block.   Mini-Pauses   Using a tool such as a timer, smartphone reminder, calendar alert or hourly chime, you can create an invitation to pause periodically throughout your day. Upon hearing the prompt, stop what you're doing, take a few mindful breaths, and ask yourself these questions: How do I feel? What could I shift? What is my state? Who am I being in this moment?   A few words of warning: It's easy to grow immune to reminder prompts. As you build your anchor for this pausing habit, aim to switch it up from week to week. Otherwise, you may find yourself ignoring your cue.   Schedule Pauses   You can also schedule pauses in your day, or what I call buffers, between tasks and meetings. Let's say you schedule a 60-minute meeting in our calendar. To build a buffer, schedule a five to fifteen-minute pause into your calendar immediately following the meeting. Stand up and go for a short walk. Close your eyes and take a few breaths, or do some box breathing. Stretch. Drink a big glass of water. Resist the urge to scroll through our phone.   Take a Lunch Break   I've had two interviews on 60 Mindful Minutes with advocates of a true lunch break (Episode #26 with Laura Archer and Episode #185 with Cheryl Johnson). The point they both make is that a lunch break isn't' an indulgence; it's a necessity. Our minds need the break and our tummies need the nourishment.    Lunch breaks are becoming a rarity. A study conducted by OnePoll found that 51 percent of Americans feel that a lunch break is rare and unrealistic, with 30 percent of study respondents reporting that they regularly opt to eat lunch at their desk instead. For those who do take a break, the lunch “hour” is basically a dinosaur at this point.    Breaking for lunch can feel like an unproductive indulgence when we don't see or understand the benefit it provides. Besides giving us the opportunity to refuel our bodies, the mental rest we give ourselves can improve performance capacity, boost our moods and increase our energy, according to the American Psychological Association.   Take a lunch break. Leave your workspace and eat with colleagues. Go for a walk outside. Read a book. Close your eyes and feel your body wind down. Shoot for at least thirty minutes.   It might be helpful to find a colleague who can serve as both your lunch date and accountability partner. If this is a new or challenging habit, start by committing to just one day a week and grow from there.   A healthy life is less like a marathon and more like a series of sprints. We're not designed to continuously, day after day, slog on and on until we drop at six o'clock. We're meant to distribute our energy reserves with pulses of sprints and rests throughout the day. Pauses to rest and refuel are what give us the power and stamina to do our best work.  

What if at the outset of any new endeavor—a new job, a new hobby, a new book—we gave ourselves permission to just try? What if we remember going in that we can always change our minds, that trying is just trying, not committing? I think we all need to fill our lives with more no-strings-attached tries. This week I share some ways to do just that.   Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    Coaching I have two coaching spots opening up this fall. If you've ever considered coaching, or if you're feelings stuck or you're about to make a big transition, reach out to me and we can talk about how I can help you navigate what's ahead with more confidence and clarity. You can reach me at Kristen@kristenmanieri.com.   Full Transcript The other day during a yoga class, the instructor invited us to add a few adjustments the pose we were in. “You can reach upward. You can extend through your toes. You can even extend one leg back,” she said. “And remember, you can always change your mind.” Hmmmm. I thought. That's new. I'd never heard an instructor say that before. But I immediately noticed a sense of ease around my willingness to attempt the more challenging iterations of the pose. In essence, she was giving me permission to just try.    This struck me as an important life lesson.  What if at the outset of any new endeavor—a new job, a new exercise experience, a hobby, a new book—we give ourselves permission to just try? What if we remember going in that we can always change our minds, that trying is just trying, not committing?   The thing about trying something new is that we can't possibly know going in how we will feel about it once we've started. We can predict based on our past experiences and what others might have experienced, but the truth is that we really don't know what's going to happen until we try.   I think we all need to fill our lives with more no-strings-attached tries. Here are some ways to do just that:   Dabble In 2015, author Elizabeth Gilbert gave a talk for Oprah's SuperSoul Sessions on the two types of passion-seekers: jackhammers and hummingbirds. While jackhammers fixate on a project or task with relentless, almost obsessive, devotion, hummingbirds move from tree to tree, flower to flower, trying all sorts of things along the way.   This metaphor points to how we can let go of passion and instead follow curiosity. Said another way, we dabble. Dabbling is all about trying new things—hobbies, interests, experiences, foods—for the sake of not only expanding our horizons, but to disrupt our habitual thinking patterns and discover innovative thoughts, ideas and solutions.   You make trying new things part of your regular routine. Begin with starting a dabble journal or creating a list of things you'd like to explore. Dabbling doesn't commit you to anything or mean that you have to give up anything; it simply means you check things out. Once you have a solid list, make some time each week to do some dabbling. Watch a YouTube video, go to the library and find some books, listen to a podcast, do some Pinterest pinning, and get out in the world and explore where your curiosity leads you. Notice how this process makes you feel. Be present to the experience of dabbling.     Play According to Stuart Brown, author of Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, play is an essential part of wellbeing. Why? Because it is in our moments of fun and freedom that we disengage from time, purposefulness and worry. Said plainly, it's where we find joy, a precursor to optimism, possibility and insight.   But play can feel so indulgent and silly, even awkward. It's as though we forget how to do it once we become adults. Turns out, we're simply out of practice. Making intentional space for play is a habit we can cultivate by beginning to consider what makes us laugh and feel unplugged. We prioritize play because feeling good matters.   A life that is devoid of fun and play begins to feel gloomy and lackluster. But when we sprinkle our days with laughter and levity, even our tough moments can feel less difficult. Joy makes life more beautiful, fun and easy. Play makes us feel more alive.   Try making a list of things that are fun to you. Think of board games that make you laugh, and pastimes or hobbies that make you smile. Consider what you loved to do as a kid. Grant yourself permission to set aside time for these activities each day or week.     Consider designating the time between dinner and going to bed as “playtime.” Commit to 30 to 60 minutes of play and fun by yourself or with others. Make play a priority.    Flaneur I'd never heard the word “flaneur” until l I interviewed Erika Owen on my podcast. Erika was so smitten with the French concept of meaningfully and mindfully meandering through a city that she wrote the book, The Art of Flaneuring: How to Wander with Intention and Discover a Better Life.   Wandering is in direct contrast to our highly purpose-driven way of doing life. Whether we're at a grocery store or walking through our neighborhood, we know exactly what we mean to do and where we mean to go. But in our single-mindedness and narrowed determination, we miss out on what's lying at the edges of our attention.   The antidote to this linear thinking and living is what Andrew Dietz describes as purposeful purposelessness in his book Follow the Meander: An Indirect Route to a More Creative Life. When we wander with intention, we cultivate mindfulness and tap into new insights, but also increase gratitude and fall more deeply in love with wherever we are. We loosen our preoccupation with what is in order to create space for what could be.   Try spending some time each day or week being aimless. Set aside ten or fifteen minutes to wander, even if it's in or around your own home. Resist the urge to do something productive or accomplish anything. Notice any discomfort you feel and use it as an opportunity to be more present. Think of a few places you go each week and look to attach a few aimless minutes to the experience.    And Most Importantly… Embrace Missteps Before I sold my previous business back in early 2020, I often set off in unchartered directions with a new revenue idea. In one particular instance, an idea sent me down an exciting but very expensive road. The concept never panned out and it ended up costing far more money that I had anticipated. I learned a lot from the experience but it started to sow seeds of self-doubt, causing me to shy away from my entrepreneurial inspirations.   What I now see is that life gives us countless opportunities to stretch beyond our own boundaries. New ventures, relationships, even a new hairstyle, gently push us outside of our comfort zones toward our growth and learning zones. Whether things turn out as we hoped is beside the point; the real gold is who we become when we stretch ourselves.   Our missteps and blunders are simply fodder for our development, not evidence that we're failures. When we embrace the results of our efforts, even when we'd wish those results to be different, we're able to see how our experiences can shape us for the better, not hold us back.    What could you try today? Find one thing and then give yourself permission to dabble, play and flaneur. And remember, you can always change your mind.

We hear a lot about mindfulness these days. In fact, I think we hear about it so much that we might have lost sight of what it actually is and what it's actually for. Mindfulness is about being present, but it's really about who we are being in the present when we consciously direct and choose how we want to show up in the world.     Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    COACHING I have two coaching spots opening up this fall. If you've ever considered coaching, or if you're feelings stuck or you're about to make a big transition, reach out to me and we can talk about how I can help you navigate what's ahead with more confidence and clarity. You can reach me at Kristen@kristenmanieri.com.   Full Transcript We hear a lot about mindfulness these days. In fact, I kind of think we hear about it so much that we might have lost sight of what it actually and what it's actually for.   To put it simply, mindfulness is our ability to be aware of what's happening around us and inside us. It's not meditation, although meditation can be a great tool. And it's not being present in every moment of our lives, because that's impossible. And you know what, I like being lost in my thoughts sometimes.   The thing that I think gets lost when we talk about mindfulness and our goal to become more mindful is the point. What is the point or purpose of being more mindful?   Mindfulness is about being present, but it's really about who we are being in the present when we consciously direct and choose how we want to show up in the world.   For example:   More compassionate                                          Less judgmental More patient                                                       Less hurried More easygoing                                                  Less rigid More calm                                                           Less anxious More present                                                      Less distracted More disciplined                                                Less erratic More self-loving                                                  Less self-criticizing More generous                                                   Less selfish More grateful                                                      Less entitled More joyful                                                          Less moody More conscious                                                  Less asleep   I know for myself, when I am judgmental, hurried, rigid, and anxious, I suffer and I'm not all that great to be around. When I am compassionate, patient, easygoing, and calm, I feel lighter and happier, and I create less disconnect and discord in my relationships. In my experience, being mindful makes me a better person toward myself and toward others, and it helps me to create stronger and deeper relationships.   So much of our sense of safety and belonging comes from how well we are able to form healthy and solid attachments to ourselves and to the people we care about. Interestingly, the presence of connective and harmonious relationships is a key wellness indicator, as discovered in an eight-decade-long study outlined in the book, The Longevity Project. We now know that it is our relationships (or lack of) more than our diet or genes that determine how healthy we are and how long we live. Connecting the dots: mindfulness helps us choose better ways of being, which contributes to better relationships, and harmonious relationships make us healthier.   It also creates white space, gaps in-between activity, and stillness or silence amidst the internal chatter and outer noise. Mindfulness gives us pauses, even if only for a second or two, when we can return to ourselves.   How many of us can sit with our thoughts and feelings, especially difficult ones, long enough to let them pass? Or do we need to distract ourselves as quickly as possible? Mindfulness trains us to withstand more discomfort, not so that we can become titans of pain, but so that we can help the pain pass.   But there are many Barriers to Mindfulness   We can set up an incredible support system of habits to cultivate mindfulness and conscious living—my book, Better Daily Mindfulness Habits is filled with them. But it's all for nothing if we don't also take the time to remove the hurdles that impede our ability to be mindful.   Technology Smart phones have become an essential, seemingly indispensable, aspect of our lives. The trouble is, smart phones and apps distract us from the present moment, producing unconscious, repetitive behaviors, like picking it up and scrolling mindlessly dozens of times each day.   Lack of Self-Care The better we care for ourselves, the better we become at responding to life's inevitable challenges and trials. Sleep, good nutrition, regular meals, rest, exercise, play and connection with others are just some of the many elements that fill our resilience tanks and help us live with more presence.   Multi-Tasking Most of us have developed the skill of being able to do many things at once. No wonder we struggle with mindfulness. While we've become quite clever at stacking multiple tasks together, it rarely makes us good at what we're trying to accomplish. In fact, it often makes us much worse. It's truly impossible to connect with others, ourselves and the nowness of a moment when we are doing several things at once. Part of the intention to live a more mindful, conscious life is the commitment to doing only one thing at a time.   Clutter Besides creating a sense of sanctuary, simplicity and cleanness, a tidy, organized environment helps us feel more solid on the inside. Clutter robs us of our energy and gusto. It makes us feel crowded in, overly contained, frustrated, even hopeless. But when we can begin to eliminate our outer chaos, we start to settle our inner seas.   Lack of Solitude Solitude, when it's chosen, is beneficial for us. The time we spend on our own gives us space to contemplate our lives and discover who we are. It is in the gaps between our interactions with others—either directly with another human being or through technology—that we power down and access our intuition, creativity and insight. If we are to presence ourselves to our inner worlds, and participate deliberately in our growth, we need solitude.    I invite you to take a look at your own life and consider:   Who are you when you're at your best and how could you become more aware of bringing that way of being into your life on a more regular basis? What barriers are often standing in the way of you being more present so that you can bring more awareness to your way of being more often? Is it technology? Are you too busy? Maybe you could find a way to spend some time alone each day.   It all comes back to being intentional, having some deliberateness about the way we want to show up in this world and then using the tools of mindfulness—meditation, journaling, reflection, time alone, walks in the woods—to keep those intentions clear and present.   Otherwise, we're just sleepwalking through life on autopilot. And what kind of life is that?        

Gratitude, as I've come to see it, is a skill that requires nurturing. The more you're present to what you're thankful for, the happier you'll become. This week I offer two practices for strengthening your gratitude muscle.   Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    COACHING I have two coaching spots opening up this fall. If you've ever considered coaching, or if you're feelings stuck or you're about to make a big transition, reach out to me and we can talk about how I can help you navigate what's ahead with more confidence and clarity. You can reach me at Kristen@kristenmanieri.com.   Full Transcript There's a framed quote in my house that says, “The best things in life aren't things.” It reminds me to notice what really matters in my life—love, relationships, and laughter, for example. When I bring my sense of awareness to these values, I'm filled with a sense of abundance.   While having nice things and not wanting for anything may seem like a valid aspiration, the truth is that true contentment comes from finding happiness in this moment and being grateful for what it offers. Gratitude, as I've come to see it, is a skill that requires nurturing. The more you're present to what you're thankful for, the happier you'll become.   It's been said that the key to happiness is not about getting what you want but wanting what you already have. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, the University of Miami, and the University of Pennsylvania have all explored the link between happiness and gratitude and found that the more intentional people are about counting our blessings, the more blessed we feel.   The trouble is, the brain isn't wired to see the positive in the same way that it's wired to fixate on the negative. The brain has a negativity bias, born from a necessity to stay alert to potential threats. It scans the world for what's wrong because doing so helps us stay safe and avoid suffering, both physically and emotionally.   But when you're intentional about seeing what's going right, and you cultivate the habits of being present to what's good, you begin to bolster your positivity bias. In other words, the more you look for what's positive in your life, the more you see it.   Increasing your awareness of what you're grateful for is a formula for a rich life. Gratitude helps you deeply savor your moments on good days, but it also gives you something to hold on to on bad days. In times of struggle, or when you're faced with unexpected adversity, solace comes from the ability to see what is going right, even when there are things that going wrong. This boosts your resilience and help you weather tough moments with more grace.   If you'd like to start cultivate gratitude, I've got two practices to share with you:   Say Good Night with Gratitude   One of the best things you can do before you fall asleep at night is increase your sense of calm and ease. Ruminating on troubles and allowing the mind to fixate on worries will only make it more difficult to fall and stay asleep. But when you cultivate a gratitude practice at bedtime, you point the mind toward positive thoughts, calm the nervous system, and gently guide yourself to rest.   Once you've climbed into bed and are ready for sleep, take the last few minutes before closing your eyes to think of three to five things you are grateful for. Reflect on your day and the interactions you had. Think of your meals, the weather, your home, and your surroundings.   Listing things you're grateful for gives the mind a positive project to engage in, especially if you deliberately amplify your positive emotions along the way. Rather than relating to the list as something to get done, engage in the process as something to be slowly savored.   Close your eyes, feel your feelings, use your senses. The more vibrant you can make your gratitude practice, the more deeply it will sink in. Let the feelings of gratitude enhance your sense of calm and peace as you drift off to sleep. The reward for this habit is falling asleep with a sense of peace and calm.   Use Your ABCs   Sometimes it can be hard to think of things to be grateful for. The reason is not a lack of gratefulness, but rather that the creativity to generate ideas isn't readily accessible. Making a gratitude list can be like brainstorming, and depending on how much you already have on your mind, it can feel challenging.   When I feel creatively stuck or in a bad mood and I want a practice to help me shift, I use the ABC gratitude practice. I learned this practice from Gratefulness.org (https://gratefulness.org/), an organization that supports grateful living by offering lovely practices anyone can use.   The ABC practice is simple: use the alphabet to help you think of things to be thankful for. Going through each letter, begin to create a list of what you appreciate in the current moment. For example, today I am grateful my (A) aunt is feeling better after her surgery, for (B) bananas being such a great snack, and for the (C) crepe myrtle trees that are beautifully blooming in my neighborhood. As you can imagine, it becomes kind of a game you can play with yourself and others.   This ABC gratitude practice is a perfect companion when you're stuck in line or waiting for an appointment. You might also practice it on your gratitude walk or as a nighttime ritual with your partner or kids. Stack this practice with your device-free dinner routine or as part of your evening commute. By yourself or with others, you'll find it's a fun way to shift into a more thankful state of mind. This habit rewards you with a feeling of fun and levity, especially when you do it with others.   As I said before, if you want to feel like your life is rich, you're going to want to cultivate gratitude. But remember, it's a muscle we develop. The more you practice—and by that I mean deliberately integrating gratitude practices and rituals—the stronger your gratitude muscle will become. And that's your weekly nugget for this week.      

Are you madly in love with your life? Do you want to be? Being madly in love with your life will mean something different to everyone, of course, but I've discovered that there are a few common threads and universal through lines that can help us think about it for ourselves. And I wanted to share them with you this week.   Learn more about Kristen Manieri and coaching: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com KristenManieri.com   Host Bio Kristen Manieri is a coach who works with teams to increase both productivity and wellbeing. She also helps individuals navigate transition with clarity and confidence. Her areas of focus are: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 200 authors about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me.    Full Transcript I was recently sitting across the table from a new friend when she asked me what exactly I do as a coach. “I help people fall madly in love with their lives,” I said. I had never described my work this way, and I was surprised when she welled-up. She was not, I came to discover, madly in love with her life, but she wanted to be.     Falling madly in love with our lives requires first and foremost proclaiming that our lives are of great consequence. This applies to everyone, not just “important people” doing important things. We all start with the same anthem: we matter. This precedes anything we accomplish or produce with our lives. It merely just sits as a basic truth of our existence. We were born therefore we matter. And as someone who matters we each deserve a life we can fall madly in life with.   Being madly in love with your life will mean something different to everyone, of course, as individuals' life experiences are unique to them. But I've discovered that there are a few common threads, some universal through lines, that can help us think about it for ourselves.       And I wanted to share them with you today.   People who are madly in love with their lives…   Live their lives by design   Life is like a bonsai tree, a precious living work of art that can be shaped and cultivated with precision. People who are madly in love with their lives have carefully shaped and cultivated their decisions and behaviors so that they align precisely with what matters to them. They are intentional and deliberate.   Manage their mindset   Life doesn't always go as planned, people disappoint us, sometimes it rains when we really wanted it to be sunny. People who are madly in love with their lives know the difference between making things happen in the world and believing that the world should be exactly as they want it. They're extraordinarily realistic about what they can control (which is very little) and the things they can't control (which is mostly everything).   Consciously work to be positive   People who are madly in love with their lives deliberately work against their negativity bias. They do it by focusing on what's good on purpose. They consciously cultivate positive memories, and form healthy, helpful perspectives on negative ones.   Live in the present moment   Developing the capacity to fully inhabit the present moment—to notice life exquisitely unfolding in real time—allows us to appreciate and relish every ordinary experience life grants us. People who are madly in love with their lives turn off autopilot and instead develop their ability to be here now.     Have clarified their values and priorities   People who are madly in love with their lives know what they say “yes” to and what they say “no” to. They are rarely overwhelmed or overcommitted because they have devoted the necessary time to discover and articulate their values and priorities, and have aligned their inner and outer resources effectively and realistically.   Connect deeply with others   We are not islands. We are gardens. People who are madly in love with their lives show up for others and deliberately invest in the relationships that form the tapestry of their lives. They are interconnected. They know that it's through our community, not our accomplishments, that we gain our sense of belonging and meaning.   Are always learning and growing   People who are madly in love with their lives deliberately create opportunities to evolve beyond their current capabilities. Without growth, we become stagnant. Without challenge, we become bored and listless. When we're not stretched, we shrink. They live by a philosophy of “not yet” instead of “I can't.”    Make their lives feel good   People who are madly in love with their lives have no qualms integrating juicy joys into their day. Maybe that's a few morning stretches, a perfect cup of tea, a sumptuous bath, or a quiet walk in the woods. Regardless of the activity, there is a sense of feeling rightly entitled to having a life that feels good.   Do good work in the world   Whatever their vocation, people who are madly in love with their lives can connect the dots between the work that they do each day and the way it contributes to the world around them. They know that money is just one way to measure success. In fact, they've learned that success is more accurately measured by the positive difference they make and the way their work makes them and others feel.    They clean up their messes   People who are madly in love with their lives have tidied up. On the outside, they've done the work to resolve soured relationships and clean up past mistakes. They're not perfect—sometimes they say the wrong thing or let someone down—but they're quick to make amends and begin again. On the inside, they've done the work to forgive themselves and others, choosing to grow from past mistakes and to unburden themselves from resentments.    We get just one life. My new friend recognized this as we talked about falling in love with our lives. And she was enthralled by the idea that she could steer her life toward that aim. She resolved to do so, and I am happy to say that she's well on her way.   You get just one shot in this body, with these people around you, in these circumstances. And if you're not careful, this one life might end up pretty ordinary and inconsequential. The choice is yours. Are you ready to fall madly in love with your life?  

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you'll hear about: The science that explains our busy minds What mindfulness is The difference between mindfulness and meditation How changing our habits is a small-step by small-step process A discussion of the book Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Today's book is: Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Mindfulness by Kristen Manieri. Mindfulness is a powerful tool for staying calm, centered, and steady―but it can be challenging to remember to stay mindful. Better Daily Mindfulness Habits helps practitioners of any level. Rooted in proven habit-building methodology, the book contains 40 practices designed to orient your attention to the present. In as little as a few minutes at a time, it can become easier to practice self-compassion and connect with others, your work, and yourself more mindfully. Our guest is: Kristen Manieri, a certified habits coach as well as a certified mindfulness teacher. Kristen believes that when we actively engage in our growth and evolution, we can begin to live a more conscious, connected, and intentional life. She is the author of Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Atomic Habits by James Clear Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg Create Your Own Calm: A Journal for Quieting Anxiety by Meera Lee Patel The Mindfulness Journal by Worthy Stokes Quick Calm: Easy Meditations to Short-Circuit Stress Using Mindfulness and Neuroscience by Jennifer Wolkin The 60 Mindful Minutes podcasts with Kristen Manieri This discussion of meditation You are smart and capable, but you aren't an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we'd bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you'll hear about: The science that explains our busy minds What mindfulness is The difference between mindfulness and meditation How changing our habits is a small-step by small-step process A discussion of the book Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Today's book is: Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Mindfulness by Kristen Manieri. Mindfulness is a powerful tool for staying calm, centered, and steady―but it can be challenging to remember to stay mindful. Better Daily Mindfulness Habits helps practitioners of any level. Rooted in proven habit-building methodology, the book contains 40 practices designed to orient your attention to the present. In as little as a few minutes at a time, it can become easier to practice self-compassion and connect with others, your work, and yourself more mindfully. Our guest is: Kristen Manieri, a certified habits coach as well as a certified mindfulness teacher. Kristen believes that when we actively engage in our growth and evolution, we can begin to live a more conscious, connected, and intentional life. She is the author of Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Atomic Habits by James Clear Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg Create Your Own Calm: A Journal for Quieting Anxiety by Meera Lee Patel The Mindfulness Journal by Worthy Stokes Quick Calm: Easy Meditations to Short-Circuit Stress Using Mindfulness and Neuroscience by Jennifer Wolkin The 60 Mindful Minutes podcasts with Kristen Manieri This discussion of meditation You are smart and capable, but you aren't an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we'd bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/academic-life

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you'll hear about: The science that explains our busy minds What mindfulness is The difference between mindfulness and meditation How changing our habits is a small-step by small-step process A discussion of the book Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Today's book is: Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Mindfulness by Kristen Manieri. Mindfulness is a powerful tool for staying calm, centered, and steady―but it can be challenging to remember to stay mindful. Better Daily Mindfulness Habits helps practitioners of any level. Rooted in proven habit-building methodology, the book contains 40 practices designed to orient your attention to the present. In as little as a few minutes at a time, it can become easier to practice self-compassion and connect with others, your work, and yourself more mindfully. Our guest is: Kristen Manieri, a certified habits coach as well as a certified mindfulness teacher. Kristen believes that when we actively engage in our growth and evolution, we can begin to live a more conscious, connected, and intentional life. She is the author of Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Atomic Habits by James Clear Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg Create Your Own Calm: A Journal for Quieting Anxiety by Meera Lee Patel The Mindfulness Journal by Worthy Stokes Quick Calm: Easy Meditations to Short-Circuit Stress Using Mindfulness and Neuroscience by Jennifer Wolkin The 60 Mindful Minutes podcasts with Kristen Manieri This discussion of meditation You are smart and capable, but you aren't an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we'd bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you'll hear about: The science that explains our busy minds What mindfulness is The difference between mindfulness and meditation How changing our habits is a small-step by small-step process A discussion of the book Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Today's book is: Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Mindfulness by Kristen Manieri. Mindfulness is a powerful tool for staying calm, centered, and steady―but it can be challenging to remember to stay mindful. Better Daily Mindfulness Habits helps practitioners of any level. Rooted in proven habit-building methodology, the book contains 40 practices designed to orient your attention to the present. In as little as a few minutes at a time, it can become easier to practice self-compassion and connect with others, your work, and yourself more mindfully. Our guest is: Kristen Manieri, a certified habits coach as well as a certified mindfulness teacher. Kristen believes that when we actively engage in our growth and evolution, we can begin to live a more conscious, connected, and intentional life. She is the author of Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Atomic Habits by James Clear Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg Create Your Own Calm: A Journal for Quieting Anxiety by Meera Lee Patel The Mindfulness Journal by Worthy Stokes Quick Calm: Easy Meditations to Short-Circuit Stress Using Mindfulness and Neuroscience by Jennifer Wolkin The 60 Mindful Minutes podcasts with Kristen Manieri This discussion of meditation You are smart and capable, but you aren't an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we'd bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you'll hear about: The science that explains our busy minds What mindfulness is The difference between mindfulness and meditation How changing our habits is a small-step by small-step process A discussion of the book Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Today's book is: Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Mindfulness by Kristen Manieri. Mindfulness is a powerful tool for staying calm, centered, and steady―but it can be challenging to remember to stay mindful. Better Daily Mindfulness Habits helps practitioners of any level. Rooted in proven habit-building methodology, the book contains 40 practices designed to orient your attention to the present. In as little as a few minutes at a time, it can become easier to practice self-compassion and connect with others, your work, and yourself more mindfully. Our guest is: Kristen Manieri, a certified habits coach as well as a certified mindfulness teacher. Kristen believes that when we actively engage in our growth and evolution, we can begin to live a more conscious, connected, and intentional life. She is the author of Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Atomic Habits by James Clear Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg Create Your Own Calm: A Journal for Quieting Anxiety by Meera Lee Patel The Mindfulness Journal by Worthy Stokes Quick Calm: Easy Meditations to Short-Circuit Stress Using Mindfulness and Neuroscience by Jennifer Wolkin The 60 Mindful Minutes podcasts with Kristen Manieri This discussion of meditation You are smart and capable, but you aren't an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we'd bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you'll hear about: The science that explains our busy minds What mindfulness is The difference between mindfulness and meditation How changing our habits is a small-step by small-step process A discussion of the book Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Today's book is: Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact Mindfulness by Kristen Manieri. Mindfulness is a powerful tool for staying calm, centered, and steady―but it can be challenging to remember to stay mindful. Better Daily Mindfulness Habits helps practitioners of any level. Rooted in proven habit-building methodology, the book contains 40 practices designed to orient your attention to the present. In as little as a few minutes at a time, it can become easier to practice self-compassion and connect with others, your work, and yourself more mindfully. Our guest is: Kristen Manieri, a certified habits coach as well as a certified mindfulness teacher. Kristen believes that when we actively engage in our growth and evolution, we can begin to live a more conscious, connected, and intentional life. She is the author of Bettter Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact. Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender. Listeners to this episode might also be interested in: Atomic Habits by James Clear Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg Create Your Own Calm: A Journal for Quieting Anxiety by Meera Lee Patel The Mindfulness Journal by Worthy Stokes Quick Calm: Easy Meditations to Short-Circuit Stress Using Mindfulness and Neuroscience by Jennifer Wolkin The 60 Mindful Minutes podcasts with Kristen Manieri This discussion of meditation You are smart and capable, but you aren't an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we'd bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/spiritual-practice-and-mindfulness

Kristen Manieri is a writer, mindfulness teacher, life coach and host of the 60 Mindful Minutes podcast. She's the author of Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact (Rockridge Press: July 2021) as well as the creator of two daily mindfulness journals and a workbook focused on cultivating a daily centering practice. Kristen's work aims to help others live a more conscious, connected and intentional life. Learn more at KristenManieri.com. #drdanamzallag, #drdanpodcast, #Happinessjourneywithdrdan, #ddanmotivation, #inspiringinterviews, #drdancbt, #drdantherapy, #drdancoaching, #drdanhappiness, #kristenmanieri, --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happinessjourney/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/happinessjourney/support

Meet Kristen:Have you ever had the feeling that you're off course? Or maybe that life is moving so fast that you don't even have time to catch your breath, never mind check in with yourself? Without setting time and space to be with our inner world, the outer world takes over. However, when we establish and cultivate a daily centering practice, we learn to navigate the outer world with intention and attention.I am a life coach, mindfulness teacher, podcast host, and author of Better Daily Mindfulness Habits. I help people live a more conscious, connected, and intentional life._______________________________________________________________________________________Connect with Kristen:https://www.instagram.com/kristenmanieri_/https://www.facebook.com/60MindfulMinuteshttps://www.kristenmanieri.com____________________________________________________________________________________This episode was edited by: Ruwan Basnayake___________________________________________________________________________________This Episode Is Sponsored by:The CUBE and OOLER systems are two really cool gadgets that fit over the top of your mattress and use water to control the temperature of your bed. Right now Chili is offering my audience a really great deal. When you go to Chilisleep.com/findyourrare20, you can get 20% off the CUBE all sleep systems with findyourrare20. I hope you'll check out Chili and see why I love their products so much.Support the show (https://www.patron.com/findyourrare)

#102  Today is Wednesday, time for a little wellness boost - a shortened episode to keep your Warrior Vibe high.Today, I'm joined, once again, by Kristen Manieri, author, mindfulness teacher, life coach and host of the 60 Mindful Minutes podcast.  During this discussion, Kristen shares some practical steps listeners to start the new year mindfully.Link:Website:  www.KristenManieri.com If you'd like to join our circle and never miss a weekly episode, please hit subscribe.  While you're there, you can rate the podcast by highlighting the stars that match your experience.  Much appreciated!For episode materials, show notes or to submit a question for a future episode, visit: https://athenawellness.com/podcast

#101  Our guest today is Kristen Manieri, a mindfulness teacher, life coach and host of the 60 Mindful Minutespodcast.  She's also the author of Better Daily Mindfulness Habits:  Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact.  The theme of Kristen's work is to help others live a more conscious, connected and intentional life.We cover a range of topics including:·      What mindfulness is and why it's important to live mindfully;·      The barriers to being more mindful and strategies to navigate them;·      The importance of self-compassion when practicing mindfulness; and·      The trend of mindfulness in the workplace.We end this episode with our Dose of Inspiration segment, where Kristen shares some of the things that are lighting her up these days. Links:Website:  www.KristenManieri.comStillness is the Key – bookHow to Talk So Kids Will Listen…  – bookIf you'd like to join our circle and never miss a weekly episode, please hit subscribe.  While you're there, you can rate the podcast by highlighting the stars that match your experience.  Much appreciated!For episode materials, show notes or to submit a question for a future episode, visit: https://athenawellness.com/podcast

Hello friends! Thanks for listening to an all new episode today! My guest is Kristen Manieri, a certified habits coach and a mindfulness teacher, as well as the author of Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact (Rockridge Press: 2021). She specializes in: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. We have a lovely conversation of how to live mindfully. If you would like to learn more of what Kristen has to offer, check out her site.

Kristen Manieri is certified as both a habits coach and a mindfulness teacher! She is the author of Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact. She specializes in stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, habit formation, rest rituals, and self-care. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes Podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 130 authors and thought leaders about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional and joyful life. She has contributed to Huffington Post, Your Tango, Pop Sugar, West Jet Magazine, Food Network, The Gottman Institute. Learn more at kristenmanieri.com, or follow her on IG, @kristenmaneiri_ . But be SURE to check out her amazing Book Nut list!Find Kristen at-https://kristenmanieri.com/Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong ImpactSpecial love to-The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer

Just listen to the tone of her voice, pacing, and choice of language - you can literally hear her connection to presence. Kristen Manieri, host of the 60 minutes podcast, mindfulness life coach, author, and teacher - now, THAT is a teacher. Check it out. In this conversation, we talk about how she realized she was not living the life she was meant for and made a big shift. After doing the hard work of creating a connection to her authentic self, she now leads workshops, coaches, writes and helps others find their way to who they were meant to be. There's actionable intel in this episode. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did! Check out her website for links to her free workshops and offerings. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/languageofmindfulness/message

My guest this week is Kristen Manieri, author of the new book Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact. This was a really interesting conversation that went some directions I hadn't expected—especially on the topic of mindfulness—that I found really clarifying. One intriguing question we considered together: Should it be relaxing to practice mindfulness and meditation? As Kristen described, it's not necessarily a comfortable or safe process to fully wake up, and yet it's the only way to be fully alive. We also explored the importance of connecting with ourselves and our bodies, and how we can use physical symptoms as signals for things we need to attend to.

In this enlightening episode, Kristen Manieri, author of BETTER DAILY MINDFULNESS HABIT: Simple Changes With Lifelong Impact, shares how making little changes in your daily habits can yield big results, allowing you to be more mindful every day, and in every way.  

In this enlightening episode, Kristen Manieri, author of BETTER DAILY MINDFULNESS HABIT: Simple Changes With Lifelong Impact, shares how making little changes in your daily habits can yield big results, allowing you to be more mindful every day, and in every way. ABOUT THE HOST:Erica Boucher, host of the ALL WAYS EVOLVING Podcast, is an Author, Yogi, and Group Travel Specialist, hosting yoga retreats and travel around the world. Learn more about her upcoming trips here. *Intro music taken with permission by the artist from the song track, Journeying, on the album The River by Michael Brant DeMaria. Couresty of Ontosmusic/michaelbrantdemaria.

Kristen Manieri is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher through the International Mindfulness Teachers Association (IMTA). She's also a Certified Habits Coach through the Tiny Habits Academy under Stanford University Behavior Scientist BJ Fogg. Besides being a writer and coach, Kristen is the host of the 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, which launched in 2017 and has produced inspiring and thought-provoking interviews with over 130 authors. Her book WHO IS MARK STRUCZEWSKI Mark “Ski” Struczewski (Mister Productivity) works with executives to help them gain control of their time by taming distractions so they can experience less overwhelm, feel a sense of freedom, and enjoy their lives. In addition to being a productivity coach, Mark is a speaker, host of The Mark Struczewski Podcast, and author. His strategies have guided CEOs/Executive Directors, business owners, business corporate specialists, and entrepreneurs to get back control of their time. You can find out more about how to connect with Mark and his mission to create confident leaders at MisterProductivity.com. Become a Mark Struczewski Insider and get productivity tips and exclusive content that I only share with email subscribers. Follow Mark on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. K

Kristen Manieri is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher through the International Mindfulness Teachers Association (IMTA). She's also a Certified Habits Coach through the Tiny Habits Academy under Stanford University Behavior Scientist BJ Fogg. Besides being a writer and coach, Kristen is the host of the 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, which launched in 2017 and has produced inspiring and thought-provoking interviews with over 130 authors. Her book   Become a Mark Struczewski Insider and get productivity tips and exclusive content that I only share with email subscribers.   Follow Mark on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.   WHO IS MARK STRUCZEWSKI? Mark ‘Ski' Struczewski (“Mister Productivity”) works with executives to help them gain control of their time by taming distractions so they can experience less overwhelm, feel a sense of freedom, and enjoy their lives.   In addition to being a productivity coach, Mark is a speaker, host of The Mark Struczewski Podcast, and author. His strategies have guided CEOs/Executive Directors, business owners, business corporate specialists, and entrepreneurs to get back control of their time. You can find out more about how to connect with Mark and his mission to create confident leaders at misterproductivity.com.

For episode homepage, resources and links, visit: https://kristenmanieri.com/episode137/    Description Mindfulness is a powerful tool for staying calm, centered, and steady―but it can be challenging to remember to stay mindful. Meditation is helpful, but real change happens when we can integrate mindfulness into the everyday living of our lives through habits. In this episode, I'm interviewed by my friend and fellow author, Erica Boucher, about my new book, Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact, which comes out July 13, 2021.   Guest Bio Kristen Manieri is the author of Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simples Changes with Lifelong Impact (July 2021: Rockridge Press). She's certified both as a habits coach and mindfulness teacher. She specializes in: stress reduction, energy management, mindset, resilience, focus, habit formation, rest rituals, and prioritizing personal well-being. As the host of the weekly 60 Mindful Minutes podcast, an Apple top 100 social science podcast, Kristen has interviewed over 120 authors and thought leaders about what it means to live a more conscious, connected, intentional AND joyful life. Learn more at https://kristenmanieri.com/work-with-me/.   Host Bio  Erica Boucher is a yogi, author & educator with a background in human behavior and communication. She's the author of Showing Up Naked, a book about self-love, emotional intelligence, relationships, and living the life you want to live. Erica is the creator and founder of Empath Yoga, a heart-centered yoga practice she's shared with thousands of people across the world. She also leads yoga and travel retreats around the world and she's the host of the All Ways Evolving podcast.   Mentioned in this Episode   Guest's book: Better Daily Mindfulness Habits: Simple Changes with Lifelong Impact  https://www.amazon.com/Better-Daily-Mindfulness-Habits-Lifelong/dp/1648769810   Guest's website: https://kristenmanieri.com/   Free Daily Centering Practice Course: https://kristenmanieri.com/five-day-grounding-opt-in-page/ Connect with the 60 Mindful Minutes podcast   Web: https://kristenmanieri.com Email: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/60MindfulMinutes Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristenmanieri_/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kristenmanieri/  

Hi Friends! Today we are taking a walk down memory lane as we recap our most popular episodes of 2020.  We looked at which ones were the most popular from you based on downloads, and which were my personal favorites. One thing is for certain, we’ve had some incredible guests this year on TOL, and I’m not going to lie, it was hard for me to choose my top five. As I sat down and listened to hours of content, what I found super interesting was that the one common theme that kept recurring from our guests is something that I have been talking about for years:  clutter and disorganization isn’t limited to what you see on the outside, it’s how you feel on the inside. Whether you are riddled with guilt, overwhelmed with fear, or struggling with procrastination, getting to the root of your clutter gives you freedom.  This list runs the spectrum of topics, and includes guests from Boomers to Millennials. If you haven’t already listened to these, I encourage you to go back and check them out.  If you have already listened, I invite you to refresh your memory by re-listening. I know that I picked up some additional nuggets of wisdom the second time around! Top 5 episodes of 2020      1. Ep 162: Decluttering Hacks for 2020      2. Ep 163: How to Choose Your Ideal Wardrobe with Jeannie Stith-Mawhinney      3. Ep 164: Creating a to-don’t list      4. Ep 180: Clutter Clinic Quarantine!      5. Ep 161: Financial Freedom with Rose Lounsbury My fav episodes of 2020      1. Ep 198:  Dispelling Men Myths with Josh Levs      2. Ep 182: Streamline your Inbox with Claire Giovino      3. Ep 176: Clutter, Covid & Mindfulness with Kristen Manieri      4. Ep 167: Emergency Planning with Karen Purze      5. *Tie: Ep 204:  Enneagram 4’s with Ian Morgan Cron & Ep 209: Enneagram 9’s with Marissa Orr I am excited for 2021, and bringing you more great guests, content and inspiration so you feel empowered to live a less cluttered and more organized life. Thank you for showing up each week. I am grateful you choose to share your time with me. xo - Laurie Please support us! SUBSCRIBE to TOL to have new episodes downloaded each week! REVIEW. Social influence is the most impactful way to help others find our show! Struggling with Clutter? Click HERE to take our FREE clutter quiz! Stop feeling like a Hot Mess! Now is the time to reclaim time, find freedom, and feel empowered from the “stuff” that is holding you back. Available on amazon, barnes & noble or wherever books are sold. Connect with Me WEBSITE | FB | IG | PINTEREST

Nearly 20 years ago, my next guest on The Richard Robbins Show was applying for a job at a fairly new company called Richard Robbins International. Naturally she was hired, and we were fortunate to have Kristen as an RRI Team Member for many years. After moving to Florida many years ago, Kristen has spent her time building a business based on mindfulness and meditation, all while balancing her time as a wife and mother. Kristen Manieri, a former RRI team member turned life coach and certified mindfulness teacher, spends her time enriching the lives of her tribe, teaching people how to live more intentionally, feeling more connected and being more conscious. “If I am not good for me, I am not good for anybody else,” Kristen tells me. She knows the secret to living a healthy, restorative and passion filled life begins with self-maintenance and personal reflection. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/2JC20zx

When I was in the early days of my journey to the edge of becoming I listened to a LOT of podcasts – and when I would hear one that talked about something that really caught my attention I would instantly go looking for other, related shows so that I could get more information or a different perspective. I always thought it would be awesome to find some sort of podcast round-up that could do that work for me – which is why I created “Time for Two”. Each Thursday I'll pop in your feed with suggestions for two podcasts that are related to the topic that I touched on that week. I'll tell you where to find them and a little about what you can expect so that you can decide if they're worth exploring. So let's get to it - here's this week's Time for Two!  xoB ✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ Share your thoughts on today's Time for Two suggestions.  DM me on Instagram @unleashyoursoulsong! Time for Two: Jennie Lee Insights at the Edge with Tami Simon, September 1, 2020: Are You Listening to the Questions Life Is Asking You? 60 Mindful Minutes with Kristen Manieri, October 6, 2020: The Power of Questions with Jennie Lee

Get Still. Spend some time reflecting. Becoming a mom is what really transitioned to a more conscious person. Dan Harris or Alan Watts (books) Short meditation around 20 minutes or so Awaken Living(on her site) Untethered Soul book She finds anxiety is a large reason people reach out to her and to make improvements in how they feel. Such a simple thing like breathing can be an incredible tool to get back to a more centered state. Simply slow down and actually count 10 breaths. If your brain wanders, start again. Sounds easy but it can be a challenge. Doing this simple practice can make all the difference in the world. Walking is also incredibly therapeutic because it engages both side of the brain and has massive restorative powers. Creativity often happens while out on a walk because of this. 60 Mindful Minutes Podcast  You don’t have to meditate in order to have a mindful life. 60mindfulminutes.com Https://www.johnracine.com/ig Https://www.instagram.com/johnracinejr Https://www.facebook.com/jjracine

“Being a mindful person doesn’t necessarily mean that we face zero adversity — like life just goes so smoothly. It means that we can be with the as-is nature of life not going smoothly.” - Kristen Manieri What speed is your “normal” during a typical day? Are you speeding through life, getting testy when other people are going too slow? Or, are you enjoying each moment? Listen as Kristen Manieri joins Kim Sutton on the Positive Productivity podcast to have a conversation about living mindfully. They share how/when they brought mindfulness into their lives, as well as how it’s used in their businesses, self-care, parenting and more. Highlights 02:45 10-day challenge 03:46 Kristen’s background 08:09 Not-enoughness 11:01 Hustling and comparing 15:13 Different time, different reaction 16:53 The speed we live by 21:17 Keeping the burner on medium 25:47 Making better choices 27:58 Kim address her kid’s attitude 32:39 How the podcast came to be 37:25 Quality vs. quantity 44:02 Silent retreat 47:08 Kristen’s morning routine 55:53 Teaching people how to treat us Check out my website for shownotes Follow Kim on: Instagram Facebook YouTube Pinterest LinkedIn Twitter

Every Wednesday on the Hippie Haven podcast, learn how to live harmoniously with yourself, others & the planet. We talk about all things hippie, including eating vegan, reducing your trash, starting an ethical business, eco-activism, gardening, beekeeping, tiny house living, and so much more.My guest today is Kristen Manieri. She's the host of 60 mindful minutes, a podcast that launched in 2017 to share conversations about what it means to live a more connected, conscious and intentional life. She's a writer with more than a decade of experience and her work has been published in Huffington post, pop sugar, your tango, and the Gottman Institute blog as well as inflight magazines and blogs for international airlines such as WestJet and Virgin. In 2018 Kristen launched her course awakened living and is now taken countless woman through the process of becoming the conscious witness of their lives. As a mindfulness teacher, her goal is to help students become their sturdiest steadiest calmest selves.The Hippie Haven Podcast is hosted by Callee - a zero waste activist & business owner. Formerly a translator for the US Navy, Callee was honorably discharged as a conscientious objector in 2017 following an episode of severe depression & alcoholism fueled by not living in alignment with her core values. That same year, at age 23, she started Bestowed Essentials, a handmade line of eco-friendly beauty & home products that are now stocked in over 100 stores around the US & Canada. Callee began hosting this free podcast in August 2018, as well as speaking at events and teaching educational workshops across the country, as part of her life mission to arm you with the knowledge & tools you need to spark positive change in your community. In December 2019, she opened The Hippie Haven in Rapid City, South Dakota - a zero waste retail store & community space with a little free library - the first of its kind in the state. She’ll be opening a second Hippie Haven in Salem, Oregon in Feb 2021.Follow along on Instagram - @ahippieinavan & @hippiehavenshop & @bestowedessentialsShop zero waste home goods at www.hippiehavenshop.comRead podcast transcripts at www.hippiehavenpodcast.com

With all that’s going on in the world right now ... Read moreWhy Mindfulness Matters with Kristen Manieri

Kristen Manieri is a certified Mindfulness Fundamentals with Mindful Schools She has written more than 100 freelance writing stories for places like Huffington Post, Your Tango, Pop Sugar, West Jet Magazine, and Food Network. She became a regular contributor to The Gottman Institute. She has won awards like Best Blogger, Women of the Year, 40 Under 40, and Emerging Leader. She started a non-profit (Do Good Date Night) that inspired hundreds of people to volunteer. She has appeared on affiliates for Fox, NBC, and The Weather Network. Please enjoy! Please visit https://nishantgarg.me/podcasts for more info. Follow Nishant: Instagram: instagram.com/garg_nishant Facebook: facebook.com/nishant.garg.5245 https://www.facebook.com/NishantMindfulnessMatters/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishant-garg-b7a20339/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nishant82638150

Hi Friends! Today I am joined by Kristen Manieri who is a writer, mindfulness teacher and host of the 60 Mindful Minutes podcast. I invited Kristen onto our show during this crazy time of COVID-19 to talk about how mindfulness can help to reduce stress (something we are all dealing with during quarantine!). During our conversation, we talked about: Kristen’s journey into mindfulness How mindfulness has given her coping strategies to become a more patient mom What to do if you struggle with quieting your mind, or even finding the time to get started Helpful tools to keep inside your “toolbox” How to keep from passing your anxiety onto your kids or spouse The link between outer order and inner calm Resources, including books and apps to guide you along the way (see links below) Kristen shares advice for parents who have younger kids who miss their friends, and are tired of being cooped up at home, but may not have the language or maturity to articulate how they are feeling. Today is a great day to begin your mindfulness practice. Kristen’s recommendation: start with 5 minutes per day and work up from there. Make sure to check out all the links to help you get started, including her free 5-day course! xo - Laurie  A special thanks to our good friends at CURIO-PRESS for sponsoring this episode of This ORGANIZED Life! They have an incredible line of personalized stationery, lists & notepads. Visit CURIO-PRESS.COM and enter the code ORGANIZED at checkout to receive 15% your entire order *Please shop local when you can, small businesses have been greatly impacted by COVID-19 and appreciate your support.  For sponsorship inquiries and collaborations  click here Links Mentioned in this Episode Insight Timer App  | Bliss More | True Refuge | The Untethered Soul | Desiderata poem Promo Codes for You! 15% OFF CURIO-PRESS WITH CODE “ORGANIZED” | 10% OFF YOUR COLOR GURU WITH CODE “ORGANIZEDLIFE” Please Support Us! SUBSCRIBE to TOL to have new episodes downloaded each week! REVIEW.  Social influence is the most impactful way to help others find our show! Struggling with Clutter? Click HERE to take our FREE clutter quiz! Stop feeling like a Hot Mess! HOT MESS: A Practical Guide to Getting Organized is my witty little survival guide that helps you get to the root of your clutter. Learn about the 3 types of clutter, Physical, Emotional, and Calendar, along with how to avoid the 5 Clutter Pitfalls.  Now is the time to reclaim time, find freedom, and feel empowered from the “stuff” that is holding you back. Available on amazon, barnes & noble or wherever books are sold. Connect with Kristen WEBSITE |  INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK| PINTEREST Free Five-Day Course Connect with Me WEBSITE | FB | IG | PINTEREST

In this brand new episode of the Frame of Mind Coaching™ Podcast, Kim Ades and Kristen Manieri, Founder of Orlando Date Night, dive straight into the perfect balancing act of entrepreneurship, parenting & relationships.

Kristen Manieri with The Gottman Institute shares how to stay connected as a couple through the holidays. Episode 592: How to Stay Connected as a Couple Through the Holidays by Kristen Manieri with Gottman Institute on Marriage The Gottman Institute understands that the human family is in crisis, and that all individuals are capable of and deserve compassion. It is their mission to reach out to families in order to help create and maintain greater love and health in relationships. They are committed to an ongoing program of research that increases the understanding of relationships and adds to the development of interventions that have been carefully evaluated. It is their goal to make their services accessible to the broadest reach of people across race, religion, class, culture, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. Want to improve your marriage in 60 seconds or less? Over 40 years of research with thousands of couples has proven a simple fact: small things often can create big changes over time. Got a minute? Sign up for The Gottman Institute's Marriage Minute at http://OLDPodcast.com/marriage The original post is located here: https://www.gottman.com/blog/how-to-stay-connected-as-a-couple-through-the-holidays/ Visit Me Online at OLDPodcast.com & in The O.L.D. Facebook Group and Join the Ol' Family to get your Free Gifts

Kristen Manieri with The Gottman Institute shares how to stay connected as a couple through the holidays. Episode 592: How to Stay Connected as a Couple Through the Holidays by Kristen Manieri with Gottman Institute on Marriage The Gottman Institute understands that the human family is in crisis, and that all individuals are capable of and deserve compassion. It is their mission to reach out to families in order to help create and maintain greater love and health in relationships. They are committed to an ongoing program of research that increases the understanding of relationships and adds to the development of interventions that have been carefully evaluated. It is their goal to make their services accessible to the broadest reach of people across race, religion, class, culture, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. Want to improve your marriage in 60 seconds or less? Over 40 years of research with thousands of couples has proven a simple fact: small things often can create big changes over time. Got a minute? Sign up for The Gottman Institute's Marriage Minute at http://OLDPodcast.com/marriage The original post is located here: https://www.gottman.com/blog/how-to-stay-connected-as-a-couple-through-the-holidays/ Visit Me Online at OLDPodcast.com & in The O.L.D. Facebook Group and Join the Ol' Family to get your Free Gifts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kristen Manieri with The Gottman Institute on stop creating gratitude lists and do this instead. Episode 1448: Stop Creating Gratitude Lists and Do This Instead by Kristen Manieri with Gottman Institute on Gratefulness The Gottman Institute understands that the human family is in crisis, and that all individuals are capable of and deserve compassion. It is their mission to reach out to families in order to help create and maintain greater love and health in relationships. They are committed to an ongoing program of research that increases the understanding of relationships and adds to the development of interventions that have been carefully evaluated. It is their goal to make their services accessible to the broadest reach of people across race, religion, class, culture, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. Want to improve your marriage in 60 seconds or less? Over 40 years of research with thousands of couples has proven a simple fact: small things often can create big changes over time. Got a minute? Sign up for The Gottman Institute's Marriage Minute at http://OLDPodcast.com/marriage The original post is located here: https://www.gottman.com/blog/stop-creating-gratitude-lists-and-do-this-instead/ Visit Me Online at OLDPodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kristen Manieri with The Gottman Institute on stop creating gratitude lists and do this instead. Episode 1448: Stop Creating Gratitude Lists and Do This Instead by Kristen Manieri with Gottman Institute on Gratefulness The Gottman Institute understands that the human family is in crisis, and that all individuals are capable of and deserve compassion. It is their mission to reach out to families in order to help create and maintain greater love and health in relationships. They are committed to an ongoing program of research that increases the understanding of relationships and adds to the development of interventions that have been carefully evaluated. It is their goal to make their services accessible to the broadest reach of people across race, religion, class, culture, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. Want to improve your marriage in 60 seconds or less? Over 40 years of research with thousands of couples has proven a simple fact: small things often can create big changes over time. Got a minute? Sign up for The Gottman Institute's Marriage Minute at http://OLDPodcast.com/marriage The original post is located here: https://www.gottman.com/blog/stop-creating-gratitude-lists-and-do-this-instead/ Visit Me Online at OLDPodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kristen Manieri with The Gottman Institute on stop creating gratitude lists and do this instead. Episode 1448: Stop Creating Gratitude Lists and Do This Instead by Kristen Manieri with Gottman Institute on Gratefulness The Gottman Institute understands that the human family is in crisis, and that all individuals are capable of and deserve compassion. It is their mission to reach out to families in order to help create and maintain greater love and health in relationships. They are committed to an ongoing program of research that increases the understanding of relationships and adds to the development of interventions that have been carefully evaluated. It is their goal to make their services accessible to the broadest reach of people across race, religion, class, culture, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. Want to improve your marriage in 60 seconds or less? Over 40 years of research with thousands of couples has proven a simple fact: small things often can create big changes over time. Got a minute? Sign up for The Gottman Institute's Marriage Minute at The original post is located here:  and in  and !

Kristen Manieri with The Gottman Institute on stop creating gratitude lists and do this instead. Episode 1448: Stop Creating Gratitude Lists and Do This Instead by Kristen Manieri with Gottman Institute on Gratefulness The Gottman Institute understands that the human family is in crisis, and that all individuals are capable of and deserve compassion. It is their mission to reach out to families in order to help create and maintain greater love and health in relationships. They are committed to an ongoing program of research that increases the understanding of relationships and adds to the development of interventions that have been carefully evaluated. It is their goal to make their services accessible to the broadest reach of people across race, religion, class, culture, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. Want to improve your marriage in 60 seconds or less? Over 40 years of research with thousands of couples has proven a simple fact: small things often can create big changes over time. Got a minute? Sign up for The Gottman Institute's Marriage Minute at http://OLDPodcast.com/marriage The original post is located here: https://www.gottman.com/blog/stop-creating-gratitude-lists-and-do-this-instead/ Please Rate & Review the Show! Visit Me Online at OLDPodcast.com and in The O.L.D. Facebook Group and Join the Ol' Family to get your Free Gifts! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/optimal-living-daily/support

Most Bloggers have come to prominence in the past couple of years and usually last a couple of years. What I love about this week’s Cocktails and Conversation Guest, Kristen Manieri, is her dedication to pumping out quality content over the past 14 YEARS! That’s pretty impressive, as is her story of how she started Orlando Date Night Guide. If you are in a relationship, this site is a no brainer. Basically you will NEVER run out of Date Night ideas. So join us at as we sip on some delish Tito’s Handmade Vodka cocktails for the eternal Summer we have in Florida.

Do you feel like you and your partner are ships that pass in the night? Do spend all your time and energy on everything other than your relationship? Do you only talk to each other about logistics or items on the to-do list? If so, then Kristen Manieri, writer, podcast host, and creator of DateNightGuide.com, has the secret to … Read more about this episode...

Are you ready to spice up your date nights? Do you ever stress about making your quality time with a significant other memorable? Are you ready to find out how you can date your mate forever? Join me and this weeks guest Kristen Manieri as we have an Intimate Conversation about Life, Love and Lust and explore ways to help the sparks fly and keep your intimate nights as exciting as your first date together. As well as, my weekly ‘Wise Whispers’ segment from down under with Dr Philip Morphew.

Martin Dasko and Kristen Manieri discuss the importance of dating in marriage and why it could be the best investment you make. We review dozens of date night ideas to get you inspired!

We've all been there. We know relationships take maintenance, but sometimes that maintenance turns into just another "to do" on our never ending list. Tune in with my guest, Kristen Manieri (author, motivational speaker, creator of www.datenightguide.com) for some great advice and motivation to help you foster more connection with your man in less time than it takes to make your to-do list. This is a must hear whether your relationship is wonderful or if you're really struggling to connect at all.   To learn more about Kristen and the resources mentioned in this episode, visit www.drzoeshaw.com/27   Don't forget! Text the word “join” to 38470 to get on my newsletter for monthly inspiration, tips, and encouragement for sometimes struggling superwomen. 

Over $100,000 in Ad Revenue - a Dating Ideas Blogger Tells Her Story It’s the beginning of January, and I want to wish you all a Happy New Year. You may want to kick off the new year with our Start a Blog Course. Today we're resuming our series of blogger stories where I hand the podcast over to you, our listeners, to tell your stories and tips of starting and growing your blogs. Kristen Manieri from Orlando, Florida started a blog with no real plan to make money. Kristen writes about dating ideas for a particular location, and her blog has grown to the point where she's making over $100,000 in advertising. Links and Resources for From Passion Project to Over $100,000 in Advertising Revenue Orlando Night Guide Register for ProBlogger's FREE Ultimate Guide to Start a Blog Course Facebook Group Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Hey there, it’s Darren from ProBlogger. Welcome to Episode 226 of the ProBlogger podcast. ProBlogger is a blog, a podcast, event, job board, a series of ebooks, and soon to be a course all designed to help you to start an amazing blog, to create a blog with great content that’s going to serve your audience, and to build some profit around that blog as well. You can learn more about ProBlogger over at problogger.com. It is the first of January as this episode goes live. I do want to pause and wish you all a very Happy New Year. I hope you had a good holiday period, no matter what you did, and ready and raring to go for a great year of blogging ahead. We’ve got a massive amount planned for you this year. Starting on the 10th of January, with our new course, The Ultimate Guide To Starting A Blog, which is a seven-step guide to starting a blog that has the foundations to be profitable. We want to talk you through how to set up a blog but we want to take you a little bit back from that and get you starting a blog that’s on the right topic and is well-thought through in terms of what you’re going to be creating. That starts on the 10th of January. If you head over to problogger.com/startablog, you will have an opportunity there to reserve your spot in that course, it’s a free course, and be notified when that goes live. Today, we are continuing our series of blogger stories where I’m handing the podcast over to you, as listeners, to tell your stories of starting a blog. It’s all about trying to inspire as many people as possible to start and grow their blogs in 2018. Today’s story is an amazing one. It’s of a blogger who started a blog about dating and dating ideas in a particular location. She has grown that blog, which started as a passion project, with no real intent of making money. She’s over the years built that up to the point where it’s making over $100,000 a year in advertising just on writing on dating ideas for a particular location. She tells a little bit more about how she’s going to expand that to more than one location as well. This is a great story. I hope you enjoy it. You can find today’s show notes with all the links to our course as well as the blogger that we’re featuring today over at problogger.com/podcast/226. After she shares her story, I’ll be back to point out a few things that I love about the story and give you a few more tips of my own. Thanks for listening. Kristen: Hi, this is Kristen Manieri from Orlando, Florida. I wanted to tell you all about my blog, orlandodatenightguide.com. I started Orlando Date Night Guide in 2007. It’s a total passion project. My husband, Mark, and I just moved to Orlando the year before. I was immediately struck by how much there was to do outside of the theme parks and by how often when I would share these things with people who already lived here, even people who’d been here for five years or more, how many had never heard of them or hadn’t ever bothered to check them out.

Recently, my husband, Marc, and I have started testing out a new ritual. We're habit people and find that when we can put key aspects of our connection on auto-pilot—that is, we get them to happen without having to think too much about making them happen—we seem to find each other more in the slightly chaotic, sometimes harried, often muddled, basket weave that is the life we've assembled together. For over a decade we've carved the habit of a weekly date night into our family blueprint, amassing a dugout of equally delightful and reliable babysitters and teaching our kids that mom and dad time is the norm, no different than morning breakfast or nightly tuck-ins. It's just what we do. This is simply how the Manieri family rolls. Call us overly self-indulgent, but we find that after 13 years of marriage, we'd actually like even more couple time together (gasp!). Sure, we see each other every day, but the bevy of hurried, innocuous and sometimes snippy interactions Marc and I experience throughout our busy day feel more like baton passes in a relay than anything close to meaningful connection. So, we've started the practice of meeting once a week for tea (wine or seltzer works just as good, if that's your fancy). And rather than let the day's headlines or our endless checklist guide our conversation (Did you call the roofer? Should I book the flight to Atlanta before it gets too expensive? Are you going to call the bank about those extra fees?), we anchor our interlude in two questions that have completely changed how we spend those 30 minutes together. What would you like to be acknowledged for? What would you like me to know about your life?   Connect with the 60 Mindful Minutes podcast   Web: https://kristenmanieri.com  Email: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/60MindfulMinutes Instagram: @kristenmanieri_ 

Human connection is the multivitamin we all need more of. On a cellular level, we are wired to connect and the extent to which we sync with others, even strangers, has a huge impact on our lives, inside and out. Imagine if our lives could be exponentially upgraded just by bringing more intention and presence to the way we connect with others.    About Your Host  - Kristen Manieri  To me, life is about constantly evolving as a human being. It's about using the experiences presented to us every single day to upgrade our consciousness, even if it's only by the smallest amount.    Have a conversation with me and within minutes you'll discover that I am an insatiably curious lifelong learner, reader and podcast devourer. I'm on a journey to learn more about how to maximize what researchers have found is the most critical factor in our health, happiness and well-being: the way we connect with others.    I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and I've been a resident of Orlando, FL since 2006 I launched a lifestyle blog in 2007, the same year I started freelance writing for magazines both locally and beyond.    In 2017, my award-winning blog (Orlando Date Night Guide) celebrated its 10th anniversary and I launched my digital media company, DNG Media, which oversees a network of Date Night Guide websites across the country.    I'm a seasoned speaker and a sought-after television news guest. But mostly I'm just a human being, trying to figure it all out, not make too much of a mess of things, and learn a few things along the way.     Connect with the 60 Mindful Minutes podcast   Web: https://kristenmanieri.com  Email: Kristen@kristenmanieri.com    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/60MindfulMinutes Instagram: @kristenmanieri_