Parenting is one of the hardest jobs an adult can have. At times as parents it can feel as if you are being put through a tumble dryer, pushed and pulled from all different directions; work, family, partner, family, and the list goes on. Life can sometimes seem overwhelming. So it can definitely become increasingly difficult to find space, time alone, or a place to just be calm and think. Mindful parenting is the practice of checking in, rather than checking out. It involves the capacity to be fully present with one’s moment-to-moment experience as it arises, in a non-judgmental way. It can help a parent find that quiet space within their minds to pause and then consciously choose a way to respond, rather than react. And the great news is you don’t have to add anything to your life in order to do it! Mindful parenting requires nothing additional, is it an internal shift rather than an external one. It is a process where a parent notices their own body physiologically, senses how they are feeling inside their own skin, links those physiological sensations to a feeling, takes a moment to acknowledge their experience of sensations and emotions, pauses, and then chooses a response. In parenting terminology this simply means that when the house has fallen apart, chaos is descending and it appears as if anarchy is imminent, instead of reacting to our children’s behaviour and following the chaotic descent we are taking a moment inside our bodies, inside our minds, to pause and then consciously choose a way to respond to our children, which instills and models a calm environment, where we can work with our children to put the house back in order. This process includes responding to our children’s emotions in a similar fashion: assisting them to notice their feelings, self-soothe, and then choose a behaviour that meets their needs when they are calm. While some may think this sounds impossible, we say it can be simply achieved by following a few general principles. But before we explain how this magical unicorn can become your very own reality, it's important to know why being a mindful parent is so important.

Five ways to be a more mindful parent:

1. Be Mindful. Being mindful can help you as a person become more sensitive and attuned to yourself and your needs, as well as those of your child. When you are consistently checking in with your own feelings and sensations as well as your child’s, you are growing the mindfulness muscle in your brain, and increasing your capacity for awareness of what is really going on. This is accomplished through the process of “checking in” with your own emotions first, before you respond to your child.

2. Develop Self-Awareness: self-awareness improves your capacity for your own emotional regulation in your parenting. The act of noticing your own emotions can have a powerful effect on how much you are thrown by them. The more frequently you check in with what is going on in inside your body by simply pausing for a moment and noticing the sensations and emotions, the more you are able to respond in a calm manner, rather than react with emotion. This then allows you to feel more empowered and positive about your parenting, as you are connecting with the way you want to parent. You can include this in your daily life by choosing times throughout the day to simply stop and notice what is happening around you and inside of you. When eating a meal, when showering, when driving the car, anything that you do regularly can become a place to practice mindfulness. This can also be done as a family at times such as mealtimes or bedtime. A simple one minute check-in where every member of the family notices what is in their body/what they are feeling can be a very simple and effective way to start building and growing this skill.

3. Notice the words you use. Being aware of how you speak to yourself and others is very important. If our self-talk as well as our language to others is critical and judgmental we can create negative experiences in our family interactions. Try to practice noticing any feelings or sensations that may stir within your self or your child. When we notice these emotions we can then make space for it, allowing it to be there. This means that you can cultivate compassion for your own behaviours and actions as a parent, because you are looking at the emotion that is underneath those behaviours, and therefore seeing and understanding why you may have acted in this way, rather then being critical of yourself. Taking some time to reflect each day or each week on your parenting, and noticing with kindness what emotion was driving your behaviours - even if it is just for five minutes, can help to increase this capacity for self-acceptance.

4. Recognise and understand your child's emotions are not because of you. By recognising your child’s needs and feelings, you strengthen your relationship and connection with your child/children. When you are able to respond to your child’s distress with mindfulness, they will feel validated and understood, and it will increase their trust in themselves and in you as a parent, which will help you both feel closer.

5. Stand back from experiences by zooming out. It is important to give yourself some space to respond, without feeling like you have to act immediately. This allows you room for choices in your responding. When you have choices, you can find solutions! Taking a mindful pause before reacting allows you to begin to notice patterns in the dynamics of your family and children. Keeping a diary or jotting down notes on paper, in a phone, or just in your mind about what is working/what isn’t, and how you, your partner, and your children are responding to different situations can help bring out the genius problem solver in you. We all have it in us to be brilliant parents, it’s just a matter of pulling back from the emotional reactions for long enough to see what is really going on. A daunting task, we know! But remember, all it takes is one breath, one pause, and one choice to try something different and see what happens.

It’s so hard when children start to feel like failures during the process of learning in life and begin to disengage. Children, like adults, feel pressure to succeed and be “perfect”. When a child is disengaged from learning, all it means is that they are linking their ‘perceived’ abilities in learning to their self-esteem and how they feel about themselves.

Children can feel bad about themselves when they can’t get things right the first time, or if they make mistakes. This is a type of 'perfectionistic' thinking “if I don’t get it right then I’m not good enough”. We want to teach children that success and failure are Ying and Yang, and that success comes through failure and making mistakes. Life is not about the result at the end, but what we learn during the journey along the way.

Most kids these days are afraid to fail. They see failure in learning as shameful. We often see kids at the clinic who are resistant to parent support and begin to hate the process of learning, as they see receiving help as a failure within themselves, and something wrong with the way their brains work. As parents and teachers, we naturally want our kids to succeed. But what if we recognised failure as a good and a crucial step on the path to learning? Failure is a necessary component of success (NOT its opposite). Failure is the Yang to the Ying of success. In fact, our brain grows and develops in important ways whenever failure occurs. When we don’t know something and we fail, our brain shoots off new neurotransmitters and creates new pathways in our brain. This makes our brain grow and become more efficient. When kids understand this concept, amazing things can happen for them (and for us). Think about your biggest mistakes…. I bet they probably taught you more courage, strength and wisdom than any success could have.

The Learning Pit is an analogy to help students look at their learning as an opportunity for them to keep growing. The Learning Pit analogy helps students understand that they can take control over their own learning, even when it is hard and challenging. The learning pit metaphor is a great way to introduce the concept of growth through challenges to children.

A great way to look at the Learning Pit analogy with real life examples is to find examples of famous people or sports stars they look up to who have used their mistakes and failures as motivators for success and discuss it with them. Even use your own examples, a parent is a child’s biggest role model.

Chances are you have overheard the word ‘Fortnite’ being used frequently in your home or even on the playground of your child’s school. If you haven’t yet heard about the latest gaming craze, you may soon. The latest gaming craze took the world by storm, overnight. Every so often a game can come along and captivate the world of children, teens and adults alike. In comes Fortnite: Battle Royale. According to multiple reports, the game has already generated $223 million in March of 2018 alone. The latest update of the game occurred just recently in May -— with a new theme and skin outfits for players to choose from —.

What is Fornite?

Fortnite is an online virtual game, that mixes the premise of Hunger Games with a MineCraft functionality. It is a game that sees a 100 players leaping out of planes onto a small island, fighting till only one player is left, and deemed the winner. You can build structures, find weapons and trinkets, dance like no one is watching and explore the island landscape around you. As the game continues, the land around you shrinks, forcing players to get closer and closer, so that battles ensure and the last remaining player is the winner. While the game is free, there are many in app purchases, made with V-Bucks, to be bought, such as skins and accessories. Skins are the outfits/people the players inhabit and wear.

The game can be played on PC, Xbox, PlayStation and now mobile phones.

For bewildered and helpless parents, who may be worried that this game has swallowed their children, especially since the mobile phone version was released in late March, here’s some information that may help.

Why is it so Popular?

The main reasons for its surge in popularity is that the game itself is free to download, its multiple player and has a strange and silly undertone of humour throughout. It’s graphics are cartoon-like, the accessories players can wear and purchase are borderline absurd (such as dinosaur outfits and space suits), with players enabled to learn the latest dance moves for their players (such as the money dance, dab and the viral dance video of Floss Dance—If you haven’t seen this already click here). This means, that the game is not only fun to play, but it is exciting and engaging to watch as well. The players of this game also love the fact you can team up with your friends, or virtual friends and compete as duos or in a squad, adding a social element to the game. Participants can even chat through headsets, and message through a thread whilst playing. Additionally, the makers of the game are constantly adding new intriguing features and updates weekly.

As a parent should I be worried?

It is bewildering and worrying to see your child or teen completely consumed in a virtual game. You may be worried what the repercussions of such a game could have on your child’s brain. Let’s start with the good news. Whilst Fortnite is essentially a shooting game, the graphics are not life-like or high definition. Although players may be hurting one another, there is no blood visuals to depict injury or death. In contrast the visuals are bright, comic-like and friendly, creating a non-threatening and non-realistic virtual world. Shawn Green, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has extensively researched the impacts of videos games on people and he notes that "there’s really no evidence that playing a violent video game would take someone who has absolutely no violent tendencies and suddenly make them violent.” Additionally, it is a social experience. While the game can be played in 1-player modes, it is often played with friends and “squads”. You may have already had Fortnite parties with your children and their friends, or even walked into the room only to see your child Face Timing their friend and playing. The game is great in the sense that it supports Pre-Frontal Cortex and Spatial skill development. Teams must coordinate strategies, alert teammates to threats, whilst cheering for one another and trading social banter. Fortnite is also a great way to connect with and ‘be’ with your child. Many children and teenagers can’t get enough of talking about the game and all its funny, novel nuances. Therefore, Fortnite can be the perfect way to enter into the world of your child or teens life.

Now for the bad news. Too much of anything is good for nothing. The game itself is addictive, and consumes and captivates its audience. The part of Fortnite that is extremely addictive, besides its fun features and weekly updates, is that it incorporates the element of luck and chance. The same principles with gambling applies to any addictive habit. If you believe that good fortune is around the corner or moments away, it’s hard to walk away. Players of this game get drawn into the “Near Miss” phenomenon, which makes people feel like they’ve just missed out on winning versus perceiving the loss, creating the urge and need to continue playing so that they can 'win'.

How to limit play-time without being the bad guy

It will be important to limit time playing –especially if your child has a habit of siting on it for endless hours. It is important to be a consultative parent, as opposed to being authoritative. In the consultative approach, it is important that you start any discussion with the intention that neither you or your child is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Successful conflict resolution involves both parties feeling heard and comfortable with the outcome. Therefore, focus on your teen being comfortable with the decision reached. The messages we send to our teens now will impact the way they view themselves, and how they begin to develop their ability to make decisions. It is important to project belief in our children that they are trusted, that we believe they can make helpful choices, that they are empowered within their lives.

Parent: I noticed today that we were having a lot of arguments around the Xbox. I don’t want that, because I love you and don’t think it’s good for either of us to be unhappy. What are your needs around the using the Xbox?

Child: I want to play with my friends on the weekend and after school.

Parent: Oh ok. Its an important family value to be balanced. Ideally we could balance the Xbox, being with the family, doing your homework, any chores you have and being active outside. Do you think we could come to some sort of solution that could meet both of our needs?

Then, LISTEN to your child. He or she may have a better idea to solve the problem

than you could have come up with on your own!

You can also use rewards to reinforce behaviour. After you consult your child and decide what is fair together, they may be desperate for a new skin (player outfits that need to be bought within the game), use this as your carrot. If your child is compliant with the gaming boundaries for a period of time, use this as a reward.

Starting the new year motivated can be difficult. And many of us can relate to a post-holiday comedown, which experts coin ‘The Blues.” This term is a psychological term that is often used to describe feelings of disappointment and deflation following returning to normal everyday routines after a period of holiday, partying and fewer responsibilities. Sound familiar? Thought so. Here’s how to cultivate and sustain motivation… especially when it feels like you have to dig (really) deep.

1. Power pose

It might seem strange but our body language can affect the way we feel. Research into confidence found that people who stand in the power pose for at least two minutes have increased levels of testosterone, a body producing chemical associated with confidence, and creates a reduction in the production of cortisol, our stress hormone. If you want to feel motivated from the inside out, stand up straight, chest out, lifts your arms above your head like a V and keep your legs hip distance apart.

2. Stay committed

While we all think motivation is the number one ingredient for success, the truth is commitment is the real foundation. Research into elite athletes found, that just like us, athletes have days when they are flat and motivation is at an all-time low, but the difference between successful, elite performers is that they maintain their commitment – however difficult it might be.

3. Routine and rituals

Incorporating a daily ritual or routine that creates calm and relaxation within your body and mind can help build a foundation of mental clarity. Motivation and focus occurs when we are relaxed and having a routine every day incorporates activities or rituals that help create calm. This morning walks, reading or cooking – these all help us gain clarity and calm down.

4. Goal setting

Goal setting is directly correlated to task performance and motivation. Research into the field of employee motivation found that when people create predetermined goals and are working towards them through fixed deadlines, motivation and performance increases. A way to cultivate motivation is through S.M.A.R.T goal setting. This acronym stands for goals that are Sustainable, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-sensitive. Pick resolutions or goals that are specific and not vague, that can be measured so that you can track your progress, attainable as well as realistic and that have a time frame or deadline associated with them.

5. Visualise goals

It’s important to define your goals, but also to visualise them physically. Yes, you’ve heard of mood boards, and it’s time to create one for 2018. Sitting down to physically collage your 2018 goals can help you find clarity around what you are wanting to achieve and manifest for the year ahead. Research into goal setting has shown that those who write down or collage their goals are more likely to achieve them than those who just think or talk about their goals.

6. Reward yourself

Yes, you heard us right! Rewarding yourself for achieving goals is singly one of the best ways to cultivate motivation. Studies into exercise and fitness programs found that those who had external reward incentives such as money for working out had higher attendance and motivation to finish the fitness program. This suggests that not only is it important to map out each goal and aspiration you have in 2018, you should also link them to a specific reward for once you’ve achieved it.

7. Acceptance

Be kind to yourself, it is normal to feel down after holidays. Holidays are a time to recharge, refocus and rest. It is often an opportunity to help us gain some space in our life to see whether there are things we want to change or add into our life to create more joy and less stress. When we come back to our everyday routine after having this period to recharge, we may feel a bit deflated as things have not changed and we are coming back to old habits and behaviours that we may want space from. Be aware that nothing happens instantly. We all have good days and bad days, and having compassion for yourself can help you bounce back from the bad days, faster.

Whether you love it, or loathe it, New Year's Eve is often hyped up as the biggest celebration of the year.

And while critics may put their distaste for the event down to the unrealistic expectations it generates, a psychologist has revealed that deeper, subconscious feelings may be at play.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Australian clinical director at MindMovers Psychology, Jaimie Bloch, explained why many of us don't look forward to bringing in the New Year, and how the date can be better approached.

YOU FEEL PRESSURES FROM YOUR PERSONAL AND WORK LIFE

The end-of-year period can generate additional pressures which aren't present during the rest of the year, Ms Bloch said.

There may be an increased demand to finalise a work project by the end of the year, which increases anxiety levels as time runs out.

But there can also be a variety of new pressures that stem from our personal lives as we draw nearer to NYE.

'These stressors may include managing money ... planning NYE, as well as holiday related schedules with the added stress of managing more interpersonal relationships than usual,' Ms Bloch said.

YOU FEAR CHANGE

NYE's association with a fresh start can cause people to start feeling anxious about change on the horizon.

'The symbolism of NYE may increase levels of worry and anxiety for some, due to the pressure and anticipation of potential behaviour change related goals,' Ms Bloch said.

A diet overhaul, potential career switch or a promise to make other lifestyle changes can increase anxiety levels as the year's finale draws near.

YOU ARE EXPECTED TO FEEL HAPPY

'Not only are there high expectations around the night of NYE, but there also exists the added expectation of being happy, fun and connected to others,' Ms Bloch said.

The behavioural expert added that the gathering of people during the holiday period can potentially highlight any existing feelings of social isolation, or a conflict with a family member or friend.

In turn, NYE can exaggerate feelings such as sadness, loneliness, anger and grief, Ms Bloch said.

YOU OVERPREPARE

Despite the cliche, it rings true that those who expect too much are often disappointed, Ms Bloch said.

'A big reason why there is a large number of people who no longer enjoy celebrating NYE is the let-down many feel after the night, as well as feelings of worry prior,' Ms Bloch said.

'Research into why there is such a big phenomenon of disappointment linked to NYE found that people who had spent a lot of time planning and preparing, and anticipated enjoying the celebrations, were the most likely to feel the most disappointed.'

HOW YOU CAN ENJOY BRINGING IN 2018

Ms Bloch said that keeping a lid on your expectations for NYE is the first step to better enjoying the night.

She added: 'This doesn't mean you can't or won't have fun.

'If your expectations of the evening are low, you are more likely to exceed them, which will then have a positive influence on your overall enjoyment and happiness for the evening.'

Ms Bloch also encouraged people to not place too much pressure on themselves to complete all their goals by the end of the year.

'There is no such thing as perfection. Take time out to breathe - the less stress you have, the more enjoyment you can experience during this busy time of the year,' she concluded.

Original article posted on the DailyMail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5196967/The-REAL-reason-dont-like-New-Years-Eve.html#ixzz56C2feVtN F

As practising psychologists we often have parents and children presenting to us with complex problems, where parents are unsure of their exact therapy goals. Most often I hear from both parents and teachers alike that they are deeply concerned about our children and teenagers, and how they are managing and coping with the pressures of modern living. Research shows there is declining health and wellbeing in our young people — increasing numbers of who are succumbing to depression, emotional instability, mental illnesses, obesity, and low educational and social competence.

Today’s children are struggling. Many of the pressures that children and teenagers are struggling with are hidden, as they encompass our everyday lives now. Some examples of these hidden pressures are mobile phones, the Internet, and even TV. These once luxurious and unattainable technologies are now everywhere, school, home, the bus, and even planes! Most people in a modern 21st Century first world country have access to one if not all of these things. Although beneficial in many ways, it creates quite the challenge when trying to raise resilient children. Why you may ask? Before the era of technology many of these items were unattainable, and if attainable it required the family, child or teenager to save and wait for the thing they desired. For instance the very experience of having to save for something or wait for it makes the receiving of what is desired so much sweeter. Research has shown that delayed gratification is seen as key quality needed to create emotionally mature persons.

This generation has immediate access to nearly everything and the temptations that it brings; this is before they even have the maturity to manage the full consequences of their actions. These are attributes of motional intelligence. We now know more than ever before how the human brain develops and grows, and this has massive implications for parents and parenting.

What is resilience?

Resilience refers to one’s ability to successfully manage life and to successfully adapt to change and stressful events in both healthy and constructive ways. In simplistic terms, it is our survivability and “bounce-back-ability” to life experiences and that means both the really advantageous ones as well as the really challenging, traumatic ones.

Young people have always needed effective coping skills, however the modern landscape has become even more challenging than ever before, and it appears that many young people have fewer resources to deal with adversity than in previous generations.

Our main concerns today involve the increasing numbers of our young who are anxious, stressed, aggressive, depressed, suicidal and engaging in maladaptive coping strategies such as substance abuse and anti-social behaviour. Even younger children are engaging in maladaptive coping strategies. What we often see are young children who just cant cope, specifically with negative affect and internalise many of their experiences as meaning something negative about themselves, rather then seeing it as an experience to learn and adapt from.

The importance of developing resilience in childhood is essential for parents to understand and help develop. Understanding the importance of resiliency will offer insights into how to protect our children from the damaging effects of the pressures of our increasingly chaotic and changing world. Every parent reading this blog will relate to the idea that homework, especially in primary school is not what it used to be. It is complex, it is a lot, and it is now a more competitive environment. The pressures to perform at school are increasing, not to mention the social pressures children face, to be liked and seen as “special” or “good enough” by their peers is ongoing.

Resilience should be seen as the underlying foundation when parenting all children. Creating and teaching resiliency is a process that should direct our interactions with our children as we strengthen their ability to meet life’s challenges and pressures with confidence and perseverance. We want to teach our children to get back up on the horse, to not internalise every experience as negative. Without resiliency children have low and poor self-concepts.

While some parents try and avoid their children having negative experiences it is actually much needed. A child needs to experience disappointment, challenge, failure and a lack of boundaries to fully develop the specific interpersonal, personal and social skills that are needed for people to live in communities. They also need to learn to develop their own voice, and age-dependent moments of autonomy where they get to have a sense of control over their life. (However, too much will lead to overindulgent, permissive and unpleasantly challenging behaviour that will create conflict and distress).

Young children need scaffolding and help in learning how to manage strong negative feelings. They also need to practice and be taught how to communicate their needs to significant adults. Unmet needs are the main driver for inappropriate behaviour in children – therefore helping them understand what need is unmet is unbelievably important for now and in later life. This is where children learn the difference between assertiveness, passivity and aggression.

We as adults have a toolkit of life skills that we have learnt throughout our lives through experience. Children on the other hand have an imaginary toolkit hanging off their shoulder. A simple metaphor to remember in building resilience in children is the more tools in their toolkit, the more resilient they will be.

At MindMovers Psychology we help not only build your child’s toolkit, but we also teach them to develop self compassion by harnessing their strengths and developing their perception of their growth edges. We know the importance of resiliency development, so much so, each one of our programs has built in modules that not only look at resiliency skills and development, but target each child’s strengths and characteristics to help them learn to rely less on the external forces and factors (such as doing well in tests, friends being nice to them, wining awards) and rely and believe more in themselves as real human beings who will have many up and down experiences in life. We have seen first hand the powerful change that occurs in a child’s mind when they realise they are the only ones who can control their lives, whether that be their perspectives, thoughts, feelings or behaviours.

Children are not coping well with the new modern day landscape, while the world has changed and rapidly grown, a child’s brain development trajectory has stayed the same, this is something that cannot be “speed up”. We now need to teach our children about resiliency and help them develop this much needed survival skill, without it in their toolkit our children we not cope now and when they become adults in the future.

For more information about our group programs that involve resiliency modules please contact us at info@mindmoverspsychology.com.au

1. Model Mindfulness for your Child We can’t show adolescents the benefits of a mindfulness practice without modelling it ourselves. This doesn’t mean we always need to be paragons of contented bliss, but we should demonstrate our ability to manage stress and respond, not react, to setbacks.

Last year, as I handed out a revised course calendar to my high school students (due to having lost five days of school to the cold weather), one of my students said, “You seem so stressed out about this! Normally you’re so chill!”

Her comment actually surprised me. I’m pretty intense and active when I teach (who wouldn’t get fired up about European history?), but apparently, I still demonstrate a “chill” demeanor.

If we want students to take mindfulness seriously, they need to see it in action. They need to see us paying attention and handling challenges skillfully. Those millennial Holden Caulfields can spot a phony a mile away.

2. What’s in it for Them? Teenagers may see mindfulness as completely unrelated to their busy and connected lives. Here are a few research findings that you could share with them:

Studies show that students who meditate before an exam perform better than students who do notMindfulness practice can improve concentrationMindfulness-based interventions have been demonstrated to reduce the symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression (three things I see all too frequently in my students)

(For more information about the benefits of mindfulness and meditation, contact us.)

3. Teach Teens About Their Brain Adolescents are fascinated about how their brains work. We can teach teens how mindfulness instruction is like getting the owner’s manual for their brain. This TEDx talk by Dan Siegel, author of Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, has a great demonstration that you can use with teens (or even younger kids) to teach them about the parts of the brain, using their hands as a model. (The demonstration starts at about the 12:00 mark).

The demonstration focuses on three structures of the brain: the brainstem (our “reptilian” brain, responsible for breathing, heart-rate, etc.), the limbic system/amygdala (our “mammalian” brain, involved in emotion and memory) and the cortex (our “human” brain, responsible for thinking and self-regulation). The hand model reveals how close the amygdala is to the pre-frontal cortex, and how mindfulness can help the thinking part of the brain process the raw emotion of the limbic system. And that can lead to better decision-making — it allows a mindful pause, a skillful response instead of an unthinking reaction.

We can teach teens that mindfulness is a form of training for their brains: meditation has actually been shown to increase gray matter in the portion of the brain responsible for self-awareness and compassion. Mindfulness can play a role in the neuroplasticity of the brain — our experiences can actually transform our brains, the way exercise can transform our bodies.

4. Teach Teens About Their Mind When I teach mindfulness to my high school students, I use the analogy of the monkey mind, constantly jumping around from branch to branch, thought to thought.

When I did a mindfulness exercise with my students during a stressful week of finals, I explained that a lot of our anxiety is truly “in our heads” — our stress comes from our worrying brains ruminating on all the worst possible scenarios. I gave this example: “You may think, ‘I’m going to fail the final, my parents will be furious with me, I’ll never get into a good college, and I’ll never find a job!’” One student exclaimed, “Omigosh, have you been inside my head!?!”

When we practice mindfulness, we learn that much of the chatter of the mind is just that: chatter. It’s not reality — it’s worry, it’s anxiety, it’s baseless projection. Mindfulness teaches teenagers to be aware of their thoughts, perhaps simply labeling them as “worrying.” They can acknowledge anxiety, without getting caught up in the negative thoughts it generates.

Adolescents can discover that there are ways to approach the mind skillfully. This is often eye-opening!

5. There’s an App for That! I realize there’s a bit of irony in recommending apps to practice mindfulness, especially to get teens to practice disconnection from their uber-connected cyberworlds. I use the Insight Meditation Timer when we practice mindful breathing in class, and students always want to know what app I am using. They love seeing the map graphic on the Insight Timer that shows all the locations worldwide where people are meditating.

This post originally appeared on Sarah’s blog on Left Brain Buddha