Mindfulness What, Why

and How?

Mindfulness What, Why and How?

____________________________________

Your Brain Are you using it, or is it using you???

David L. Boardman, MD Oregon School Employee Wellness Conference

23 March, 2015

Objectives of this Workshop

• Learn what mindfulness feels like • Learn what mindfulness means • Learn why mindfulness is SO HARD • Learn why mindfulness feels SO GOOD • Learn how mindfulness is studied and applied • Learn how to pursue mindfulness to improve

your personal wellness

Disclaimers ________________________________

• This is NOT formal Mindfulness Training • I am not a Mindfulness scholar • The content of what I present is NOT original • In this context, the subject may be ‘artificially

interesting’ • Don’t be surprised if you feel some difficult

emotion

Physician Burnout

_______________________________________

A collision course between the persistent failure of modern medical

practice to live up to our expectations and

our deeply ingrained inability to accept these conditions, outside the context of

these expectations

What is

Mindfulness? ________________________________

Intentional Attention to the Present Moment without Judgment

____________________________________

Awareness WITHOUT

Assessment

The Human Brain (one honey of a computer)

• It contains billions and billions of separate circuits, hundreds of thousands of which can run simultaneously without undue confusion

The Human Brain (one honey of a computer)

• It is completely mobile, with no external power cord required

The Human Brain (one honey of a computer)

• It can run for two hours on the energy of a single peanut

The Human Brain (one honey of a computer)

• It can run 24 hours a day, for 60-100 years, with no scheduled maintenance or downtime required

The Human Brain (one honey of a computer)

• It comes in its own waterproof shock-resistant container

The Human Brain (one honey of a computer)

• And best of all, it can be mass produced, inexpensively, but unskilled labor

- Wolfgang H. Vogel, PhD

The Human Brain our greatest asset

AND our greatest liability

Emotion ________________________________

A passive signal in the brain declaring the sustainability of the

GAP between what IS,

and what is EXPECTED/DESIRED/SOUGHT

Any idiot can face a crisis. It’s this day-to-day living

that wears you out.

- Anton Chekhov

Mindfulness ________________________________

The Science and Study of Spirituality –Brain anatomy –Neuroscience –Psyschology –Sociology –Health and Wellness

Mindfulness ________________________________

• New Knowledge –Neuroplasticity –Epigenetics –Bidirectional Pathways –Inherent ‘Goodness’ of Man

Resources

Some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is

about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what is

going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity…

- Gilda Radner

Thank You