At our first Hack Your Mind lunch program today, Zan Barry fo Community Wellness gave an engaging overview of the research on mindfulness as a means to reduce stress and increase productivity. The foucs was on the individual: How can I be happier, healthier, and more creative?

Then Zan led us in a short meditation. All of us - over 50 students, alumni, faculty and staff - straightened our spines and softened our eyes. We followed Zan's instructions to carefully relax our bodies one muscle at a time, including ones I don't usually think about like the inside of my cheek. We tried to focus our attention on the sensations of the moment - cool air, ambient noise, our own pulse - and not on the busy productions of our brains, which "secretes thoughts the way the mouth secretes saliva." (I love this image of stray thougths as mental spit.)

When we opened our eyes again, Zan asked for responses. One of the first people to speak was a student who was having a difficult time with a lab mate. "Now," he said, "I'm in a more empathetic frame of mind." 

This is the foundation of the ethical life: the ability to step back from our first, instinctive responses and choose compassion instead. We didn't promote Hack Your Mind as an opportunity to grow as an ethical person. But it was happening anyway. To recover our best selves, sometimes all we need to do is to stop and take a breath.