Habits & Rhythms

What is a healthy mind? Do you practice mental hygiene? Dr. Richie Davidson’s mission is to cultivate wellbeing as a skill, and relieve suffering through a scientific understanding of the human mind. As a pioneering neuroscientist, a mindfulness and meditation teacher, and a global public advocate and guide—he has been a proponent for healing, wellbeing, and social change, finding evidence that awareness, connection, insight, and purpose are the pillars of a healthy mind—and woven through it all, is compassion. Includes two real-time meditative practices to help integrate empirical and spiritual insights with a practical way of being.

Whole human thriving includes the ability to feel, deal, and heal when we encounter trauma. Psychologist Cynthia Eriksson (Fuller School of Psychology) wants to help us understand the human response to pain, suffering, tragedy, and grief. She’s finding that resilience and recovery comes through a spiritually and therapeutically informed approach that prizes vulnerability, honesty, emotional grounding, attention to our bodies, and mutual presence with and for others. Includes a Meditative Exercise: Cynthia Eriksson guides listeners through a Grounding Practice for Emotional and Embodied Connection. Note: This episode contains content about trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

Dr. Pam King and Dr. Jill Westbrook take a look back on the first season of With & For and its unique approach to exploring thriving and spiritual health. Together they draw upon insights from the twelve expert guests featured in this inaugural season—reflecting on their wisdom, and pulling key moments from each conversation to weave a tapestry of interdisciplinary scientific research, diverse spiritual perspectives, and practical guidance for a life of thriving.

Dr. Davidson leads a practice to bring awareness into our bodies and into the present moment. This practice is intended not only to build capacities for awareness but to develop compassion for others.

Dr. Eriksson guides a meditation practice to connect you to your body and space in order to cultivate a sense of safety and calm. The twisting motion and identification of the space grounds and settles the parasympathetic nervous system.

Dr. Davidson leads a brief meditation on gaining insight into a struggle present in your life. Envision how things might be different with a different set of beliefs and expectations about the situation.

Dr. Miller leads a brief meditation where you set a table before you with those who love you and ask them to tell you what you need to know now. This practice helps develop a connection to a deep kind of spirituality that is intuitive and imaginative and helps one to feel loved, held, guided, and never alone.

Dr. Miller leads you through a practice where you imagine two doors – one red and one yellow. The red door is closed to you and the yellow door is open. How can you use this practice to understand opportunities and direction for your life? How can you identify how you have been guided along the way?…

Guest blogger, Amy Dunn, reflects on being present in the day to day of our lives as we pursue goals and purpose. The journey is where we live, even as we keep our eye on a telos.

What support systems buoy us on our journeys? Blogger, Amy Dunn, offers some ideas and practices to keep us steady during times of change and transition.

Lament is a constructive way to embrace suffering. It aligns our emotions and beliefs, and invites us to action. 

This practice helps build compassion for the struggles of others by shifting our perspective and imagining how we can offer love.

Research has identified four aspects of the mind that exhibit plasticity, and it turns out that we can practice to make our minds healthier.

Wellbeing is something we can actively cultivate through practice, or through a practice of "mental hygiene."

Reclaim joy through examining the rhythms of your life. A series of questions will help you explore.

How do we create regular rhythms between work and rest?

How do we address the problem of burnout in our modern society?

Download this worksheet and work through the practices. We recommend working with a friend and discussing your answers.

Healthy practices help us live into our values, reflect on our choices, and connect us with others and God.

Connect to your spiritual source with this practice.

Gratitude is one of the most powerful ways to attend to goodness. The goodness of gifts, the goodness of givers, and the goodness of ourselves as receivers.

Paying attention to the pattern of our breath is a spiritual practice with power to gain insight into meaning and change our lives.

Nurturing our spiritual health involves times of reflection and connection to our body, mind, and emotions.

If you want to train your brain out of anxiety and/or discover more about yourself, find a trusted friend or small group and work through these questions

A daily spiritual practice focusing on embodied emotions provides insight into what matters most and informs purpose.

Our emotions are linked to how we make meaning of our lives, and attending to our embodied emotional selves leads to spiritual health.

Thrive Fellow, Lauren Van Vranken, offers practices for reconnecting to our bodies and asks us to think about our relationship to our embodied selves.

Gratitude affect happiness and wellbeing primarily through positive relationships. We finding that beliefs matters toward experiences and practices of gratitude.

Practicing gratitude can change your life. Use the 5 As mindfulness practice to offer thanks and live into a practice of gratitude.

Accessing the transcendent can be pursued with tangible practices.

Dr. Cynthia Eriksson offers a 5-tier framework for recovery from trauma and offers practices for regulation and reflection.

Practice attention and emotion regulation using the following.

Finding joy requires practice. Learn how you can be agile and experience more joy in your daily life through our 5-step process.

How do we build resilience and stay connected to purpose in the midst of suffering? Lauren Van Vranken shares 3 practices.

Cynthia Eriksson's psychological and theological framework points to 5 self-care practices to developing resilience and recovery.

As mental health awareness grows, Pamela King reflects on the tools we need to live coherent, purposeful lives.

Our research-based framework highlights the 5 modes in which we can actively develop and strengthen your thriving "muscles."

Dr. Pamela King invites us to find daily spiritual practices that will draw us closer to ourselves, others and God.

Summary The COVID-19 pandemic has caused extraordinary emotional turmoil and stress in the United States and globally. As first responders in crises, clergy and faith leaders have to contend with increasing grief and trauma reactions in their faith communities. Faith leaders must understand and recognize trauma, and its multidimensional impact in times such as these. This webinar provided practical and faith-based tips to reduce stress and promote resilience and trauma healing in the clergy and their faith communities. Psychologists, Lisseth Rojas-Flore and Joseph Currier and theologian, Tommy Givens also address critical theological insights in responses to trauma and recovery.   Additional Resources When Your Whole World Changes, COVID-19 Special Ed.—Downloadable devotions and resources by Biblica (also available in 30 languages). COVID-19, ICE, and the Betrayal of Latino Children—Article by Lisseth Rojas-Flores on FULLER Studio.

Summary Parenting can be challenging and stressful, especially during an ongoing pandemic. Mindfulness experts and clinical psychologists, Joey Fung and Patricia Broderick discuss how parents and caregivers can practice mindful parenting at home. In this webinar, you will learn: (1) how to manage stress and anxiety related to parenting, (2) ways to address emotional exhaustion and caregiver fatigue, (3) how to model and practice mindfulness in the family, and (4) how to practice self-compassion as a method for self-care.   Additional Resources Guide to Applying Mindful Parenting Based on webinar, Joey Fung outlines ways parents and caregivers can integrate mindful parenting practices to their daily lives, as well as how they can cultivate self-compassion and gratitude. How to Practice Mindful Breathing Patricia Broderick shares a step-by-step guide on how parents and caregivers can practice mindful breathing and self-compassion…

Practicing mindful breathing can help us pause, check in with our bodies, manage our emotions, and redirect our attention.

Move from surviving to thriving by using the six tips in this post. Explore the links for deeper understanding.

Research shows that humor can ease stress during hard times. Dr. Susan Mangan shares 3 evidence-based practices to help us get started.

Part of our journey towards thriving involves agility. Pamela King explains how we can be agile through a 5-step process.

Dr. Pam King shares 8 tips on how to simplify and thrive during challenging times.

Dr. Pamela King reviews the elements of a thriving mindset, providing tips on how to pursue purpose and agility.

Student researchers share 3 research-based techniques to increase relaxation, support positive behaviors, and create a structured routine for kids.

Student researchers recommend 3 evidence-based interventions that parents can use to help regulate kids' stress and emotions at home.

Dr. Joey Fung emphasizes the importance of mindful parenting and how parents can thrive during this pandemic.

A key to thriving is learning how to respond to our emotions in the face of loss, grief, and pain. Here are 6 ways you can start doing this.

Dr. Joey Fung discusses the myths of grief, offering 3 ways mindfulness can help us manage our emotions during times of grief.

Dr. Pam King discusses how spirituality can help us stay grounded, connected, and directed throughout difficult challenges.

Dr. Joey Fung shares 5 mindfulness practices to help us check in with our bodies and manage grief during change and difficult times.

Guest blogger, Stephanie Trudeau talks collective loss and how we can approach our feelings with compassion and grace.

Dr. Susan Mangan shares activities that help build resilience and beat the blues.

Guest blogger, Dr. Angela Gorrell emphasizes the importance of nurturing our spiritual health in order to thrive during COVID-19.

We share 4 mindful parenting practices to help parents become more engaged and less stressed when interacting with teens.

Dr. Susan Mangan provides 3 at-home exercises that can increase our positive emotions during times of difficulty.

Dr. Pamela King reflects on the importance of contemplative practices as the key to thriving during difficulty.

Dr. Stephanie Trudeau breaks down the Mamba Mentality framework and offers tips for how to integrate it into our own lives.

What does research tell us about gratitude? Explore the key benefits of gratitude and how you can nurture it in kids.

When used properly, technology can help us thrive. Our research team shares the 9 apps that can boost relationships, beliefs, and purpose.

Summary Pamela Ebstyne King, executive of the Thrive Center, shares a variety of practices that have helped her spiritual life, including Ignatian spiritual exercises, silence, and carefully reflecting on achievable goals.   Author’s Note This interview was originally published on FULLER Studio.   About the Author Pamela Ebstyne King Pamela Ebstyne King is the executive director of the Thrive Center and serves as the Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller Theological Seminary. Her primary academic interests are applied research at the intersection of human thriving and spiritual development. Dr. King’s work combines theology, empirical research, and community engagement to further understand what contexts and settings enable all people to thrive.

A student researcher shares the integral role his parents played in fostering positive youth development through sports.

Learn about the 10 research-backed techniques coaches can adopt to positively influence a young athlete's development.