We need permission to pause – and to do so during business hours, not on our own time like a public school teacher going broke to buy their own clay and markers.

Taking just 60 seconds to pause thoughtfully amidst the rush of daily tasks and stimuli does wonders for mindfulness, presence, and considered rather than knee-jerk reactions. Building small pauses into your routine allows mental space and perspective that improves decision-making, relationships, stress levels, and overall well-being. Even a minute of consciously disengaging is restorative.

The Value of Pausing

Drive, excellence, information, and activity are positive motivators but can become counterproductive when taken to unhealthy extremes, acting as "time thieves". <ol><li>An overdrive mentality pushes you past capacity. </li><li>Perfectionism spends unnecessary time optimizing minutiae. </li><li>Information overload tries consuming more data than one can process. </li><li>An overactive frenzy mistakes busyness for productivity. </li></ol>These impulses come from admirable human tendencies but require awareness and balance to avoid dysfunction.

The Dark Side of Positive Motivators

Using micro-pauses to notice your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations fosters emotional and self-awareness that often goes unexamined in our busy lives. Without judging or trying to change them, objectively observing your inner state builds EQ. It's only when you pause and pay attention that you gain insight.

Noticing Your Thoughts

When faced with uncertainty, problems, or negative thought spirals, pausing briefly stops counterproductive thinking patterns. Creating even a tiny mental break disrupts rumination and worry to gain fresh eyes. You can get unstuck and see new solutions.

Getting Unstuck  

<ul><li>Pausing thoughtfully before responding in conversations helps us move from reactive listening to deep listening. </li><li>We truly hear others, understand different perspectives, and communicate more positively. </li><li>Pausing builds empathy and strengthens personal and professional relationships.</li></ul>

Connecting with Others: Stop Your Inner Noise and Listen

Taking pauses throughout the day helps dissipate stress because it short-circuits the brain's threat and "fight or flight" response from the reactive amygdala. Pausing allows the logical, thoughtful prefrontal cortex to regain control.

Reducing Stress

<ul><li>Silencing your inner noise and external distractions even briefly creates mental space for original ideas and insights to emerge. </li><li>Pausing lets the brain make new and original connections leading to creativity.</li></ul>

Boosting Creativity 

Micro-pauses bring greater awareness to the present moment rather than getting lost ruminating about the past or anticipating the future. Mindful presence fosters gratitude, contentment, and living in the now.

Being Present

The author makes the case that superior results – and better mental health – come from taking time to reflect and recuperate. She draws on psychology research and cites the experiences of professionals and teams in a variety of industries. Anyone who suffers from overwhelm – and is open to the notion that being busy and being productive aren’t necessarily the same thing – can benefit from this book.

“You’re going to want to share copies of this book with your overbooked friends and colleagues, but before you do, take some time to read it yourself. Funt’s wisdom around making space is priceless.” —Seth Godin, author of The PracticeDo you wish you could stop the mayhem of work and life and just take a minute? Do you sense you could contribute more if there were a little more room in the day? Does busyness deprive you and your burnt-out team of the oxygen your talents need to catch fire?Many have felt that way, yet taking a pause has seemed impossible—until now.In A Minute to Think, Juliet Funt, a globally recognized warrior in the battle against busyness, provides a powerful guide that will give you the permission, framework, and specific direction you need to do the following:<ul><li>Regain control of your overloaded, caffeinated, inbox-worshiping workday</li><li>Liberate yourself and your teams from burnout and busywork</li><li>Reclaim creativity and focus despite the chaos around you</li><li>Bring thoughtfulness into designing your next work norms</li><li>Tame the beast of email and escape the mire of meetings</li><li>Find your precious minute to think</li></ul>You’re not alone in your yearning for freedom from constant reactivity. The global workforce today is so fried that it belongs in the food court of a county fair. We’re relentlessly behind the curve, dousing fires everywhere, and our 3 a.m. insomnia provides the only unscheduled thinking time of the day.What we need reinserted in our lives is the missing element of white space—short periods of open, unscheduled time that, when recaptured, change the very nature of work. White space is the stepping back, the strategic pause, the oxygen that allows the sparks of our efforts to catch fire. White space has the power to radically—and simply—reinvent the way we approach work in this maxed-out, post-COVID 21st-century world.With Juliet’s memorable stories, easy-to-use tools, and razor-sharp instruction, she carves for us an escape route from the overwhelming amount of low-value tasks and the daily avalanche of e-mails, meetings, decks, and reports. Using research, client stories, and a relatable voice, Juliet shows all of us how to reclaim time for thinking and make room for what truly matters. Whether you are an individual trying to build a more sane and humane flow of daily work, a team that wants new levels of efficiency and effectiveness, or an entire organization changing your culture toward thoughtfulness, this book will lead you there.

mindfulness

Mindfulness

communication

Communication

books

Books

Juliet Funt

A Minute to Think

Lean into your senses to understand what you're tasting and how you're tasting it.Ask yourself some questions: Where does the flavor hit your tongue? Do you feel the heat from something spicy? What do you smell? Does the smell impact what you taste? Does the bite you just took feel creamy or silky in your mouth? Does the dish taste bland or is it popping with the flavor of the tomatoes you added?As you start to understand those sensations, you'll be able to figure out what categories of flavors the dish's components fall into: acidic, aromatic, fatty, salty, and sweet.

Get to know your tastebuds

<ul><li>Acids are usually sour: lemon or lime juice, vinegar, or wines, sour dairies like buttermilk, sour cream, and yogurt.</li><li>Aromatics affect the way your dish smells -  the spices and herbs in your dish: garlic, onions, ginger, cumin, paprika, parsley, basil, or cilantro.</li><li>Fatssoften vegetables over high heat, and they can give richness to a dish. Butters, oils, margarine, ghee, cheeses, milk and creams and their vegan alternatives all count as fats. </li><li>Salt: sea salt, kosher salt, table salt, coarse or fine. You can add salt with soy sauce, fish sauce, capers, canned anchovies or bacon bits.</li><li>Sweet ing<warningtag>redients include sugars, maple syrup, honey or molasses.</warningtag></li></ul>

Categories of flavors

One relatively fool-proof way to get your seasoning just right – whether it's the one in your recipe or something you're subbing in: keep tasting your dish as you go.How much you use depends on what your substitute ingredient is. Say you want to swap in dried herbs for fresh ones, like rosemary, basil, ginger or garlic. They're great alternatives to their fresh counterparts, but they're also stronger in flavor, so you'll want to use less than what the recipe calls for.When in doubt, start with less seasoning and add more once your dish is almost done cooking.

Taste as you go – and adjust your seasonings accordingly

Flavor isn't just about the ingredients in a dish, but also about the technique used to prepare it. Cooking is not just a series of recipes, but it's a series of techniques that you can adapt to your own taste.Understanding the techniques can give you a lot of flexibility to figure out what you can substitute – including what type of pan you should use, especially if you don't have the same equipment a recipe suggests.

How you cook your food is just as important as what you put in it

A recipe is there as a guide, but it's not the law.  So if you find yourself reading a recipe that asks for an ingredient that's hard to find or too expensive, ask yourself, "Is this ingredient essential? Is it a deal-breaker if I don't have it? What's lost if I don't use it?"Ultimately, you should make food the way you want it. If an experiment doesn't go quite as planned, that's OK. And if you mess something up, it's not really that big a deal."

Remember that recipes are guides

Use these tips to gain confidence and feel great about cooking

videos

Videos

food

Food

How to Get Started With Cooking

Improvising in the kitchen takes a lot of practice. But when you get to that point in the recipe where you realize you're out of white wine/fresh garlic/brown sugar/whatever you absolutely MUST have for this recipe, being able to swap in another ingredient can really come in handy. Chef and author Kenji López-Alt and cook and food writer Deb Perelman walk us through the basics of food substitutions.

Missing an ingredient from your recipe? Food substitutions are your friend

Usually, when people say meditation, they are referring to sitting meditation. Where you sit with your legs crossed, focus on your breathing and empty your mind.The truth is that meditation is so much more than doing nothing.In our busy lives, between work or class, raising kids or maintaining a social life, how can we find time to stay mindful, aware and calm?

The Love-Hate Relationship With Meditation

The process is very straightforward.You can choose how long you want to do it. All you need to do is find a safe and comfortable space, sit with your feet grounded and flat and breathe slowly. Your eyes can be open or closed.<ul><li>Once you’re in position, bring your attention to all the sensations of your body. Does your head feel heavy?</li><li>Then bring your attention to the events that have brought you to this moment.</li><li>Throughout this process of observation. Don’t linger on any one sensation or thought, you are just making note of them and moving on.</li></ul>

Reset Your Mind

If stillness isn’t for you, you can meditate while eating, writing, gardening or drawing. The key, however, is concentration. When you give something the awareness and concentration to realise its causes and effects, that is meditation.

Meditation On Life

Meditation is hard work, but if the idea of sitting still is overwhelming, build in little short spurts of mindfulness into your day

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

meditation

Meditation

Easy wins: ‘If stillness isn’t for you, you can meditate while eating’

Disasters often strike without warning or with little warning. Stocking up the right non-perishable food items can help you weather the storm.
Fuelling your body during an emergency is different from your everyday diet. Your body will use more energy, so you should eat high-energy, high protein foods. In addition, nutritious foods will help to maintain good health.

Food stockpiling for emergency use

Non-perishable food items that have lengthy expiration dates to stash away: <ul><li>Peanut butter is a good source of energy with healthful fats and protein.</li><li>Whole-wheat crackers is a suitable replacement for bread. Vacuum-packing your crackers can prolong their freshness.</li><li>Nut and trail mixes are high-energy foods and convenient for snacking during an emergency.</li><li>Cereal. Choose individually packaged multigrain cereals.</li><li>Granola bars and power bars are a great source of carbohydrates and stay fresh for at least six months.</li><li>Dried fruits, such as apricots and raisins, offer potassium and dietary fibre.</li></ul>

Always keep these in your pantry

Keep a can opener on hand at all times. <ul><li>Canned tuna, salmon, chicken, or turkey can last two years in the pantry. They provide essential protein.</li><li>Canned vegetables, such as green beans, carrots, and peas.</li><li>Canned soups and chilli. Look for low-sodium options.</li><li>Dry pasta and pasta sauces.</li><li>Bottle water, at least a three-day supply. You need at least one gallon per person per day.</li><li>Sports drinks, such as Gatorade or Powerade, contain electrolytes and carbohydrates to help you rehydrate.</li><li>Powdered milk.</li><li>Sugar, salt, and pepper and other basic seasonings.</li><li>Multivitamins.</li></ul>

Non-perishable foods to stock

When there is still time to run to the market, buy fresh produce and food items with shorter shelf lives. Foods to buy:<ul><li>Apples can last up to three months when stored in a cool, dry area away from fruit that ripens more quickly, like bananas.</li><li>Citrus fruits contain lots of Vit C and will keep you hydrated.</li><li>Avocados, if unripe, can last at least a week outside the refrigerator.</li><li>Tomatoes.</li><li>Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams are suitable for side dishes.</li><li>Cucumbers and summer squash can be eaten raw.</li><li>Winter squash will keep for a few months.</li><li>Dry-cured salamis.</li></ul>

What to buy right before an emergency

<ul><li>Refrigerated food that spends more than four hours over 40º Fahrenheit is not safe to eat. However, if food is still cool to the touch, they're safe.</li><li>If you don't have electricity, heat food outside on a charcoal grill or propane stove. For indoors, keep a can of Sterno, or heat in a can.</li><li>If you need regular medication or have a small child, stock up on those items too.</li><li>If you live in an area at high risk for flooding, consider buying all pantry items in cans.</li></ul>

Emergency food advice

Natural disasters-a flood, hurricane, blizzard-often come with little or no warning. Stocking up now on the right non-perishable food items will help you weather the storm (or global pandemic) with less stress.

health

Health

Best Non-Perishable Foods to Stockpile for an Emergency

It is a well-known fact that exercise is beneficial for our health and well-being. It also lowers blood pressure, improves our sleep and leads to better glycemic control.
New research on exercise reveals that group exercising may have other positive effects that were overlooked before. Our thoughts and attitudes are influenced by the people around us, and when we get to know people who exercise regularly, we start to view the activity as desirable, doable and appealing.

The Benefits Of Exercise And Social Aspects

If the motivation we have to exercise is intrinsic (coming from our inner being), we are more likely to continue with the behaviour or activity, as it is both enjoyable and satisfying by itself. If the motivation is extrinsic (an obligation or just to lose weight) it becomes difficult to maintain the same.
Group exercise is enjoyable and rewarding even if it is difficult. The social aspect turns the otherwise boring and monotonous activity into fun.

The Motivation Of Friends

<ul>
<li>Social exercise provides a sense of autonomy, making us feel more self-reliant.</li>
<li>It increases connectedness with others and promotes better mental health.</li>
<li>It makes the process easy and habit-forming, with your friends becoming both your cue and your reward for your actions.</li>
<li>When one sees others sweating hard, it provides a raw motivation and renewed confidence, making you go the extra mile. This would not be possible alone.</li>
<li>Friends provide reminders and regular doses of encouragement, helping us stay on track.</li>
<li>It is easier and more fun to travel with friends to the gym.</li>
<li>Friendly challenges and competition boost the intensity of our effort.</li>
<li>Exercising can become a life-long habit due to the social aspects.</li>
<li>Social exercising results in people attending regular sessions, coming on time and not dropping out in between.</li>
</ul>

Benefits Of Group Exercise

The pandemic has severely affected social exercising, but there are few ways out. Several yoga classes have participants at safe distance from each other, and there are many running clubs where people wear masks.
Virtual classes for Yoga or aerobics are the next-best thing and offer several new benefits like flexibility of schedule and connecting with people all over the world.

Group Exercising And The Pandemic

Your most important piece of exercise gear may be the friends you buddy up with to work out.

exerciseandfitness

Exercise & Fitness

mentalhealth

Mental Health

Group exercise may be even better for you than solo workouts – here's why

Agoraphobia is a mental health condition that makes one experience an intense fear of leaving their premises. The person is terrified of going outside their homes, and can also feel that it is hard to escape a certain place. Agoraphobia can take many shapes and is accompanied by chronic anxiety and panic attacks.
Example: If a person has a panic attack at a subway, they may start to avoid going to a subway, associating it with fear.

Agoraphobia: Being Confined To A Room

The act of avoiding something scary can itself turn fearful. Panic attacks amplify agoraphobia, and the pandemic has increased the anxiety levels of the general population according to many new studies.
The pandemic has in fact normalized agoraphobia and getting back to normal requires some time.

Agoraphobia And The Pandemic

Agoraphobia has many symptoms:
<ol>
<li>Fear of being alone.</li>
<li>Being afraid to go to a place where escaping may be hard.</li>
<li>Depending on others, and feeling helpless.</li>
<li>Feeling detached or separated from others.</li>
<li>Feeling that our body or our environment is not real.</li>
<li>Being agitated or angry for no reason.</li>
<li>Staying inside your home or room for long periods.</li>
</ol>

Symptoms Of Agoraphobia

One can break the fearful cycle by forcing oneself to go outside, and not avoiding certain situations out of fear.
If the problem is out of hand, consult a mental health expert. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is generally prescribed to patients, along with medication.
It also helps to take a walk in nature outside, preferably with a friend, trying to lessen the anxiety.

How Agoraphobia Is Treated

Netflix's new movie "The Woman in the Window" portrays a woman with agoraphobia. Here's what to know about the anxiety disorder, including symptoms, causes, and treatments.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

This Anxiety Disorder Seen in 'The Woman in the Window' Often Starts With a Panic Attack

<ul>
<li>In 1891, James Naismith, a physical education teacher, created a new game to keep his students engaged during the winter months. The game had to be playable indoors and accommodate several players at once. It needed to provide exercise without a chance for more severe injuries.</li>
<li>Two peach baskets nailed to the lower rail of the gymnasium balcony served as goals. The students would play on teams to try and get a ball into their team's basket. The first game was a complete brawl.</li>
<li>During the first game, the students were tackling, kicking and punching. One boy was knocked out, some had black eyes, and one had a dislocated shoulder. Afterwards, they nagged Naismith to let them play again.</li>
<li>He created some rules and continued to modify them into 13 rules - known as the original 13 rules. Some of the original rules are still part of the modern game today.</li>
</ul>

Origins of basketball

The first public game of basketball was played on March 12th, 1892, in a YMCA gymnasium where the teachers played against the students. About 200 spectators attended.
Within weeks the sport's popularity grew. Students from other schools introduced the game at their own YMCAs, and then it was introduced to many foreign nations. High schools began to teach the game, and by 1905, basketball was officially recognized as a permanent winter sport.

Basketball: First public games

<ul>
<li>The sport was introduced at the 1904 Olympic Games as a demonstration event and recognised as a medal event in 1936. The 1976 Montreal games included women's basketball.</li>
<li>The first professional league was the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1898 and consisted of six northeast teams. It lasted five years. The league was reintroduced in 1937 with a new support system and 13 teams.</li>
<li>At first, basketball was segregated. The sport was only integrated in 1950 when the Boston Celtics drafted Chuck Cooper.</li>
</ul>

Basketball's growth in popularity

The first NCAA tournament in 1939 included eight teams. The first collegiate basketball national champion was the University of Oregon, who defeated Ohio State University.
68 teams of the 1,000 collegiate basketball teams play in the annual March Madness tournament. The best college teams from each conference compete for a place in the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, and the national championship.

College basketball

The first game used baskets as hoops and turned into a brawl. Soon after, basketball evolved into a pillar of American sports.

history

History

sports

Sports

entertainment

Entertainment

Here's the history of basketball—from peach baskets in Springfield to global phenomenon

Many people eat three meals a day. But we don't have to eat this way. 
In trying to find a new routine while working from home, many Americans are drawn to eating a Big Meal once a day when they're ready to have it. A Big meal is large and can be eaten at any time of the day, typically in the late afternoon. It is not a diet, just a convenient way of eating.

Changing the three-meals-a-day norm

Moving away from three meals might at first feel unnatural, but that eating schedule is both very recent and born out of social convenience. We don't eat three meals because of nutritional science or a natural human inclination.
It is mostly the consequence of industrialization, which took the population away from home regularly. Before that, people worked during daylight, pausing midmorning and later in the afternoon. It was a two-meal schedule based on outdoor physical labour.

Industrialization and the three meals per day norm

The three-meals-a-day was created to bend human life around the necessity of leaving home to work elsewhere.
Now with online working and turning back to home-life-work, people are bending once again around an entirely new set of challenges. Our old eating schedules are changing to fit our new circumstances.

Eating during the day: Adapting to a new routine

Adjusted eating patterns are more useful or satisfying in the conditions people are living in.
It is hard to see how life might be made more flexible after the pandemic. For now, eat when you feel like it. There is no reason to eat when you're not hungry or to force yourself to cook when you're tired and would be happy with a lighter meal.

Adjusted eating patterns is not a cause for alarm

Your weird pandemic eating habits are probably fine.

There’s No Real Reason to Eat 3 Meals a Day

Sunshine has repeatedly been found to increase moods, dampen negative moods and reduce tiredness. 
People are happier and more helpful when the sun is out. A study showed that Minnesota diners tip more generously in sunny weather and American studies observed better daily stock returns on sunny days. Sunshine also affect our mental sharpness.

Sunshine is intimately tied to mood

Temperature can affect our mind and behaviour separately of sunshine. 
<ul>
<li>The more the temperature moves away from 20°C, the more discomfort we feel. Higher temperatures are linked to physical and verbal aggression.</li>
<li>Humidity tends to make people more tired and irritable. </li>
<li>Atmospheric pressure fluctuations can alter moods and trigger headaches. </li>
<li>On rainy days, some people report lower satisfaction with their lives.</li>
</ul>

Weather affects our behaviour

<ul>
<li>One possibility is that the effects of weather on mood are mostly physiological. Heat causes discomfort by taxing our bodies to regulate temperature, leading to irritability and aggression.</li>
<li>Sunlight produces vitamin D and promotes the production of serotonin - which is a mood lifter.</li>
</ul>
However, the weather will only influence us if we expose ourselves to it. In industrialised societies, people only spend 7% of their time outside.

Why the weather influences our psychology

The weather supplies many metaphors for our changeable minds. Moods can brighten and darken, dispositions can be sunny, futures can be under a cloud and relationships can be stormy. Like the weather, our…

Here comes the sun: how the weather affects our mood

<ul>
<li>Music can increase antibodies that boost your immunity and protect your body against bacteria.</li>
<li>A 2017 study of choir members found that singing in a group improved a person's well-being. It created a social connection and cognitive stimulation.</li>
<li>Singing and driving is a fun alternative to meditating and other forms of stress management.</li>
<li>By listening to music, drivers can replace negative thoughts with more positive thoughts through rhythm and beats.</li>
</ul>

Singing and driving is good for your health

You're getting a heavy dose of dopamine when you're singing.
<ul>
<li>Dopamine affects your emotions, including sensations of pleasure.</li>
<li>It boosts your motivation and drive, resulting in less road rage and friendlier driving.</li>
<li>Singing out loud with the music makes individuals happier. In turn, it creates a more positive environment when they arrive at home or work.</li>
</ul>

Singing has a positive effect on dopamine levels

Tension occurs when your body thinks you're being threatened. A common response to anxiety is shallow breathing. It can turn into a habit and reinforces the feeling that you're threatened.
While deeper breaths feel good, natural breaths, like when you're singing at the top of your lungs, feel even better. Deep breathing also improves your ability to sleep.

Singing releases tension in your diaphragm

When we sing lyrics that we can relate to, we feel less alone.
Even a sombre song can help you process your emotions in a healthy way. Depending on your mood, different types of music feels therapeutic.

Singing can help you with unprocessed emotions

Science suggests that a driving karaoke session can massively improve your well-being.

A Minute to Think

Missing an ingredient from your recipe? Food substitutions are your friend

Easy wins: ‘If stillness isn’t for you, you can meditate while eating’

Best Non-Perishable Foods to Stockpile for an Emergency

Group exercise may be even better for you than solo workouts – here's why

Teagan P.