The Science-of-Well-Being

I just finished an amazing free online course called the Science-of-Well-Being.  Since it’s free and focused on mindfulness, I had to give it a try.  Dr. Laurie Santos of Yale University overviews what psychological science says about happiness in order to teach students how to lead a happier, more satisfying lives. The course also gives learners tips to apply wellness activities into their lives.

This class does not treat serious mental health issues like anxiety or depression. However, Dr. Santos’ class does provide space to have much needed conversations about mental health and happiness. And who couldn’t doesn’t want a free lesson on how to live a happier life?

So many of us are suffering from issues, such as relationship problems, substance misuse, physical health problems, job or financial problems, and recent crises.  Why not spend a little of your time to focus on well- being?

The class starts out by going over what you think makes you happy (but really doesn’t) and then in the later weeks, she reveals what actually makes us happy, based on scientific  research.  Spoiler alert:  Dr. Santos gives simple assignments that focus on such things as meditation and gratitude practice.  One week my assignment was to write down 3 things I was grateful for that day.  This simple assignment helped to focus my mind on the positive.  I was, also, so impressed with the questions the students from Yale..  Their insights and questions  made me want to be back on a collage campus.  

The multipart seminar-style series - filmed last year in Dr. Santos’ home - is available for free on Coursera.

The no-charge option for the course doesn’t include all the assignments and class materials — there’s a $49 tuition fee if you’d like all the available materials. I just took the free course and it gives you complete access to all the lectures.

So, 6 weeks later, am I a happier person for taking the Science of Well-Being?  Yes, I think it was time well spent for me.  I learned how to focus my mind and body with the simple tools that Dr. Santos shares in her course.  Thanks to Dr. Santo's and Yale for making this course available to the public for free.  I am grateful to be a student of the Science of Well-Being.

Today is World Ovarian Cancer Day - Help spread awarenss of ovarian Cancer

Today is World Ovarian Cancer Day, an awareness initiative run by the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition.

More than 230,000 women around the globe are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year. The coalition projects that number will increase 55% by 2035, and the number of deaths attributed to ovarian cancer is expected to rise by 70% over that time.

My sister and I lost both of our parents to cancer so we try to remain knowledgeable and vigilant about ways to remain cancer-free. Since our mother passed away from ovarian cancer at the age of 42, we decided to have genetic testing for breast and ovarian cancer when we reached our 40s.  The results revealed that we both carried a mutation on the BRCA2 gene, indicating we have a much higher lifetime risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. With our diagnoses came confusion and questions about our options and the best chances for lessening our chances of a cancer diagnosis.

Knowing that you are at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer can be emotionally confusing and overwhelming. We found that meditation and mindful living have helped immensely to handle the stress and to make decisions about next steps. Taking care of your emotional and mental health and ways to cope with anxiety is what inspire us to work on Be Mindful®

Ultimately, my sister and I both chose preventive surgery.  Michele had an oophorectomy – a surgery to have her ovaries removed and I had an salpingo-oophorectomy - the surgery to remove my ovaries and fallopian tubes - and we both schedule mammograms and MRIs twice a year.

Having lived with loss from cancer, we created Be Mindful®  to provides resources for anyone confronting stress, and to create awareness, explore wellness, mediation, and living mindfully.

Spring Cleaning with Oprah & Deepak - Shedding the Weight: Mind, Body and Spirit

With the start of spring, I decided to do some internal spring cleaning, and I started the latest mediation experience with Oprah & Deepak. Shedding the Weight: Mind, Body and Spirit. I love Oprah & Deepak for their inspirational meditations.  And Shedding the Weight will focus on the adjustment of attitudes, reworking habits, and releasing beliefs that cause harm in hopes of finding what truly nourishes your entire being and lifts the heaviness that has held you back from being your best self.

I have now done approximately 10 of these 21-day mediation programs by Oprah and Deepak, and I love these challenges because they are free, easy to use and always provide such a wonderful source of inspiration for my meditation practice.

The challenge started today, March 21. So, it's not too late to join Oprah and Deepak experience more energy, creativity and light in every facet of your life. Sign up today!

Be well!

Be Mindful of What Gets Your Attention:

Just back from the Wisdom 2.0 Conference in San Francisco where I spent Friday and Saturday learning from a group of leaders in mindfulness and meditation.

I had the opportunity to mediate with Jon Kabat-Zinn  and Trudy Goodman.  Amazing!    

I heard Goldie Hawn speak about Mindup, an organization she founded to teach kids about their brains, mindfulness, and the importance social emotional learning. 

My favorite talk was by Tristan Harris of Humane Technology who shared his thoughts about taking back our lives and attention from our screens. 

Each speaker was there to bring wisdom and compassion to our use of technology. At a conference about Mindfulness, we all took a moment to about slow down and notice how much we are tied to our devices. And to think about how important it is to return to our human connection. I was glad to bring home some tips on how to manage my relationship with technology. Here are three simple changes you can make to live more intentionally with your device:

1- Turn off all notifications. Notifications appear in red because red is a trigger color that instantly draws our attention. But most notifications are generated by machines, not actual people.

2- Go Grayscale. Colorful icons give our brains shiny rewards every time we unlock. Set your phone to grayscale to remove those positive reinforcements. This helps many people check their phones less often.

3- Keep your device outside of the bedroom. Get a separate alarm clock for your bedroom, and charge your phone in another room (or at least on the other side of the room). 

More tips I learned. And check out this Ted Talk by Tristan Harris.

Instead of the 20 minutes you would waste on your phone today, call a friend, walk your dog, or spend time in nature. 

Unsubscribe – 5 Easy Ways to Start Your Digital Detox

Many of us have become hooked on the constant stream of texts, Facebook notifications, and Instagram likes that flood our screens daily and cause emotional highs and lows. Social media habits definitely influence on our mental health, even causing depression and anxiety. So what should we do about it?

In his book Too Much of a Good Thing: Are You Addicted to Your Smartphone? by Dr. James A. Roberts, he suggests that self-control is the key to finding your digital “sweet spot” - where you call the shots instead of your smartphone controlling you. Here are his top five tips:

1. Set phone-free zones. Cell phones should be forbidden in certain places at home and work. Pick and choose where in your house you want to make smartphone “free” zones such as the dinner table or the bedroom. 

2. Out of sight, out of mind. Designate two to three times a day when you allow yourself to check your smartphone for updates and store your phone out of sight the remainder of the time.

3. Focus on friends. There’s nothing more annoying than hanging out with someone who is constantly on the phone. When you’re with friends, resist the urge scroll through your feeds and encourage them to do the same.

4. Pit technology against technology. There are a plenty of apps that monitor and control your smartphone use. Dr. Roberts’ suggests Moment, which tells you how many times you handle your iPhone in a given day and how much time you’ve spent on each activity. It also allows you to set time limits to help you curb your phone and social media use.

5. Set virtual boundaries. Turn off notifications for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. to remove the constant stream of notifications that grab your attention. Then, when you check your phone at the end of the day, all of the notifications will appear on your phone at once, and you can take time to enjoy them. 

We also suggest unsubscribing to any feeds or emails that make you feel bad about yourself or your skills. Social media does not exist to judge you or make you question your worth.

With MLK coming up on Monday, it’s a great time to start your digital diet.  Here in Sacramento, CA there is a Walk for the Dream,  an opportunity to put Dr. King’s words and ideals into practice by inviting others from different races, religions or backgrounds to walk together and listen to one another.  So, this MLK I plan to put down my phone and connect with someone on a walk.

Have any other tips? Share them!

Mindful, Merry & Bright

Things are busy around my house this time of year. The holiday shopping, decorating, and parties are fun, but it can get crazy gearing up for Dec 25, as we celebrate Christmas at my house.
 
If you are looking for ways to create a holiday with more meaning, more sharing, and more happiness this year, check out this list of 15 Tips for Commercial Free, Fun-Filled Family Holidays.

The list was created by parenting and gifting organizations and provides information and links to less commercial gifting, such as giving second-hand gifts, memberships, and experiences instead of the latest gadget. It also suggests limiting screen time, planning family activities, and talking with kids about where all our “stuff” comes from and where it goes. There is even a list of last minute gift ideas to help simplify the holidays.

It's all too easy to let the holidays pass you by without truly enjoying and appreciating their magic. Take a deep breath and try to be present for all those special moments!

Joy and peace to you and yours from bemindful!

Mindful Books for the Holidays

Whether you are looking for a last-minute holiday gift or a book for yourself, we’ve put together a list of five of our favorite books about mindfulness that are especially helpful during the hectic holidays.

The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace - Jack Cornfield

In this beautiful and graceful little book, internationally renowned Buddhist teacher and meditation master Jack Kornfield has collected age-old teachings, modern stories, and time-honored practices for bringing healing, peace, and compassion into our daily lives.

Mindfulness in the Marketplace - Allan Hunt Badiner

Mindfulness in the Marketplace suggests a reorientation of consumers from passive purchasers to aware, responsible citizens who see the dynamic connection between their purchases and their values. The Middle Path of Buddhism is not to avoid all consumption, but to consume mindfully in a manner that protects ourselves and all living systems.

Mindfulness - An Eight Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World - Mark Williams and Danny Penman

Mindfulness reveals a set of simple yet powerful practices that you can incorporate into your daily life and to help break the cycle of anxiety, stress, unhappyines and exhaustion.  It promotes a kind of happiness and peace that stays with you.

Wherever You Go There You Are - Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life - Jon Kabat-Zinn

In this book, the author maps out a simple path for cultivating mindfulness in one's own life. It speaks both to those coming to meditation for the first time and to longtime practitioners - anyone who cares deeply about reclaiming the richness of his or her moments. 

The Awakened Family - A Revolution in Parenting - Shefali Tsabary

Parenting should not be a competition with winners and losers. Parents need to recognize their children for who they are, and in her groundbreaking new book, Dr. Shefali Tsabary challenges the modern myths of parenting that define how a child is “supposed to be.” Dr. Shefali teaches us how to control our expectations, embrace the present moment, and let go of the anxiety surrounding how best to parent our children.

Happy holidays! Send us your suggestions for other mindful titles!

Yoga for Grief Relief

As we move into the holidays, many people find it difficult to connect with the spirit of the season due to grief. Grief is not always about death. We all have experienced grief, from failed love to the loss of a job, a friendship, or a valued material possession. In addition to the emotions experienced, grief can manifest itself in a variety of physical forms such as poor posture, insomnia, lack of energy, shortness of breath, and even physical pain.

While on a yoga retreat recently, I was privileged to attend a three-day workshop with Antonia Sausys, a psychologist and yoga therapist specializing in grief therapy.

Antonio’s grief relief protocol centers around a physical and spiritual routine called ‘Yoga Sadhana’. Included are six elements of yoga: Pranayama, Asana, Shatkarma, Relaxation, Sankalpa and Meditation. Pranyayama are breath exercises that restore a sense of calm and control and reconnect our conscious and unconscious selves. Asanas are physical poses that address physical symptoms of grief. Shatkarma are yogic cleansing techniques releasing suppressed emotions and thoughts. Relaxation practices, including Shavasana, reduce stress levels. Sankalps resets the mind so the body can manifest your deepest inner wishes. Breath meditation helps calm the body and mind.

If you are currently working through grief, you may want to try some yoga therapy during the holidays. Or if you are simply feeling the stress of shopping and the long lines that the holidays bring, you may want to try this mindfulness practice to remember to treat yourself with loving kindess.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and much gratitude to our readers!

by Michele Garvey

Every Kid in a Park

Fourth-graders are officially the coolest kids in school now that the National Parks Service announced that it will continue its popular “Every Kid In A Park” Program, allowing fourth graders and their families free admission to public lands. By targeting fourth graders, the program works to ensure every child in the U.S. has the opportunity to visit and enjoy our national parks by the time he or she is eleven years old.

The program was developed based on research showing that children ages nine to eleven are at a developmental stage in their learning where they begin to understand how the world around them works in more concrete ways. At this stage, they are receptive to new ideas and most likely to hold positive attitudes towards nature and the environment.

The program gives fourth grade students and their families free admission to all national parks. So if you have a fourth grader in your family, plan a trip for the 2017-2018 school year. The pass admits a fourth grader and any accompanying passengers in your car in parks that charge a fee for each vehicle. In parks that charge per person, the pass is good for or a fourth grader and up to three adults. The pass does not cover fees for camping, boating, parking, special tours and certain other in-park activities.

The year of free access aligns with the school year — Sept. 1, 2017 to Aug. 31, 2018. The passes can be requested and printed online. As the mother of a fourth grader myself, my family loves the program and have already made trips to Alcatraz and Yosemite.

Using the "Every Kid in a Park" program is easy.

Step 1: Get the pass. G. Get and print fourth-grade passes to our national lands and waters. Fourth grade teachers can also print passes for each of their students.

Step 2: Plan a trip. With input from their parent or guardian, fourth-graders plan a fun place to visit. 

Step 3: Hit the road. 

I love this program and spending time outdoors with my kids!

Yes, Alcatraz is free for up to 5 people as part of the Every Kid in a Park Program.  Tip: Call this # to visit with your 4th Grader: 1-415-981-ROCK (415-981-7625)

My kids on our tour of the Rock

My 4th Grader in Yosemite!

Mindfulness at School

October is here, and my kids are in full back-to-school mode. Math, Reading, and Science are all part of the curriculum at our school, and so is mindfulness.

While there are many mindfulness programs aimed at adults, more and more schools are bringing Mindfulness, Kindness, and Social Emotional Learning into the classroom.

Why kids need mindfulness?

The school environment can be very stressful as kids deal with issues from home, bullying, and performance in class, etc. Having a mindfulness program in school can help change this environment. 

At my children’s charter school here in Truckee, CA, we are lucky to have a program called Life Ingredients, which empowers kids to navigate their days with a greater sense of calm. Life Ingredients provides daily audio lessons that teachers play for their students. Each morning my kids listen to a five-minute audio session to start their day. 

Life Ingredients founder Deb Kelly, lives here in Truckee, but you can sample her audio lessons for free here. Life Ingredients also provides an amazing mindfulness program for parents and kids to listen to together at home. By giving our students the tools to live a more intentional, purposeful, and self-aware life, we can change the future

Bring mindfulness to your school

Mindful.org offers ways to contact the teachers and administrators in your school to add mindfulness to your school’s curriculum, but, as always, the best way to teach children to be mindful, is to demonstrate mindfulness in our own homes and in our daily lives. 

Does your school offer mindfulness program?  We would love to hear about it.

Join Oprah and Deepak Making Every Moment Matter

With summer ending I am looking forward to the inward-focus that comes with the cooler days of Fall. It's a great time of year to start some grounding health practices.  I am so excited for the latest Meditation from Oprah and Deepak, Making Every Moment Matter.  Tap into your inner wisdom to let goof things that no longer serve you, and transform your perception of time to feel less stressed and more purposeful.

I have now done around 9 of these 21-Day Mediation programs by Oprah and Deepak and I love these challenges because they are free, easy to use and always provide such a wonderful source of inspiration for my meditation practice.

The Challenge starts on Oct 30th. Join Oprah and Deepak to create a life filled with experiences, people and moments that truly bring you joy, sign up today!

Be Well!

Peace One Day

Sept 21st is International Peace Day. We all know our world is in need of peace.

The nonprofit Peace One Day was founded in 1999 to institutionalize an annual day of global unity and intercultural cooperation on a scale that humanity has never known. Thanks to the organization’s efforts, the United Nations unanimously adopted the first ever annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence in 2001, making September 21 International Peace Day.

Here in Truckee, I plan to attend a celebration at For Goodness Sake on Thursday, September 21. Attendees can drop in to meditate for peace for 10 minutes or stay all day. Check out the schedule here. And the Peace Celebration here in Truckee will continue this weekend at the Peace Day Celebration at the Truckee Amphitheater on September 23. There will be music, yoga, live art and more from noon to 5pm.

In Michele’s hometown of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Free Thought Community is hosting “Peace Like a River, A Three Rivers Celebration of the International Day of Peace” on September 21.  Learn more here.

If you are planning to go to a Peace Day event in your community, share it with us in the comments section.

How to Help with Hurricane Relief

If you haven’t been hiding under a rock, you know the extent of the damage caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Texans are looking at months of recovery, and Floridians are finally headed home after one of the largest evacuations in US history. Meanwhile, the the devastation in the Caribbean is of epic proportions.

Those of us mindful folks watching from the sidelines want to help, but knowing which kind of aid to send can be confusing.  If you’d like to donate to Harvey and Irma victims, here are some mindful ways to do so.

According to the Salvation Army, the best thing you can send is money, Monetary contributions support local economies and ensure that businesses can operate when relief supplies diminish. If you’d rather send goods, it’s wise to go through a trusted organization instead of mailing them on your own. 

Although the Red Cross has been criticized for a lack of transparency in how it distributes relief funds, the organization is always among the first relief services on the ground and says that ninety one cents of every dollar goes to the victims.

Additionally, Feeding Florida and Feeding South Florida and Houston Food Bank are food banks in need of monetary donations.

Global Giving connects nonprofits, donors and companies in nearly every country around the world.  They are currently focusing efforts on the Mexican earthquake as well as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

To help animals in need, the Humane Society is doing great work sheltering and feeding lost and stray animals in both Texas and Florida. They need monetary donations and dry cat and dog food.

If you don’t have the resources to make a financial donation, you can still contribute by volunteering, donating blood, or simply sending your good thought and prayers for the victims.

If you know of other mindful resources for donations, please share them with us in the comments below. 

Living Mindfully with BRCA

As September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month, I wanted to share some important information about resources available to those who may a family history of these cancers. 

My sister and I lost both of our parents to cancer so we try to remain knowledgeable and vigilant about ways to remain cancer-free. Since our mother passed away from ovarian cancer at the age of 42, we decided to have genetic testing for breast and ovarian cancer when we reached our 40s.  The results revealed that we both carried a mutation on the BRCA2 gene, indicating we have a much higher lifetime risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. With our diagnoses came confusion and questions about our options and the best chances for lessening our chances of a cancer diagnosis.

Knowing that you are at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer can be emotionally confusing and overwhelming. We found that meditation and mindful living have helped immensely to handle the stress and to make decisions about next steps. Taking care of your emotional and mental health and ways to cope with anxiety is what inspire us to work on Be Mindful®

We want others to know that there are resources for assistance and a variety of choices available for those with BRAC1 and BRAC2 mutations and their loved ones. A few that we like are BeBRCAware, Color, Bright Pink, Facing Our Risk, Cancer Support Community.

Ultimately, my sister and I both chose preventive surgery.  Michele had an oophorectomy – a surgery to have her ovaries removed and I had an salpingo-oophorectomy - the surgery to remove my ovaries and fallopian tubes - and we both schedule mammograms and MRIs twice a year.

Having lived with loss from cancer, we created Be Mindful®  to provides resources for anyone confronting stress, and to create awareness, explore wellness, mediation, and living mindfully.

The Power of Love

I was driving in the car with my two children.  Out of nowhere my son asked, “Mom, what’s the strongest emotion?”  It took me a minute to process the question and I asked, “Do you mean emotions like joy, fear, anger, happiness…”  And as I was speaking my daughter interrupted with “it’s love, it has to be love.”

From a child’s perspective, the answer is clear. In light of recent national and global events, there is so much hatred and fear in the world right now that I’m not sure how we can get back to love. Maybe the key is to approach life with the eyes of a child.

Music, poetry, mindfulness, and mediation can play an important role in focusing on love. Study after study has shown that people can change. Hearts can open, and love can conquer hate. Mindfulness and meditation play an important role in building the capacity to see and respond to suffering.

Here is a six step process from Everyday Mindfulness for mindfully dealing with difficult emotions that I have found helpful and we can learn to turn our difficult emotions into our greatest teachers.

Desire and Destiny - 21 Day Mediatation with Oprah and Deepak, starts July 17th

I am so excited for the latest Meditation from Oprah and Deepak.  Check out one of the most popular 21-Day Meditation Challenges,  Desire and Destiny.  This meditation explores your heart's deepest desires and learn the keys to making them reality. 

I have now done around 8 of these 21-Day Mediation programs by Oprah and Deepak and I love these challenges because they are free, easy to use and always provide such a wonderful source of inspiration for my meditation practice.

The Challenge starts on July 17th. Start your journey to passion and purpose now, sign up today!

Be Well!

Plastic Free July - Take the Challenge

At our current rate of plastic production, consumption, and disposal, the oceans will contain more plastic then fish by 2050! 

So, what can we do to stop this plastic consumption? I decided to take the Plastic Free July Challenge. This month, I join tens of thousands of people around the world in an attempt to forgo plastic.

Our throwaway culture makes it difficult to break free of plastic.  I have been following blogger Bea Johnson at Zero Waste Home.  She and her family having been living Zero Waste lifestyle since 2003, and she now travels the world teaching others to do the same. She says, “Zero Waste living is a lifestyle that is rich in experiences rather than things, a life that is based on doing and being rather than having”

So far, I have made a few simple changes in my home. I love Fill Good.Co, a zerowaste refill service for skincare and household products, so when I was in the Bay Area last week, I picked up bamboo toothbrushes for me and the kids, as well as glass jars for our soap and cleaning products.

Simple ways to remove plastic from daily life:

              ·         Bring your travel mug to the coffee shop if you’re getting a cup to go

             ·         Use a reusable water bottle everywhere

             ·         Bring bags with you to any shopping destination

             ·          Bring a glass container for takeout food at restaurants.

·          Bring containers to use at the deli or bulk goods section in the grocery store

·          Create your own home cleaning products using recyclable glass jars

·          Create your own reusable travel kits

·          Put leftovers in glass bowls and cover them with another dish

             ·          Donate or sell plastics you don’t need

Plastic epitomizes our consumer, throw-away culture. It represents the kind of thinking (and action) that has led to our current environmental crisis. We’re addicted to convenience, much of which plastic makes possible. We demand immediate gratification, we want it cheap, and we dispose of it without thought. We consume mindlessly and behave as though we have infinite resources

Take the plastic free challenge with me this month and send us your ideas about how to use less plastic! 

Second Hand Is My First Choice

I was an avid thrift shopper in my youth, and as I’ve been recently renovating my house, I’ve begun visiting resale shops again with an awareness of the need to reduce waste and recycle goods. I both donate and purchase items and the fact that many resale shops reinvest money in the community is just another reason to spend - and enlarge my vintage Pyrex collection and passion for all things midcentury modern. 

There are still great deals to be found while thrifting, but much has changed since I was a college student looking for cool clothes. Bargain hunting has become a big moneymaker in the post-recession era, with websites and apps now competing with charity shops. In fact, the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops reports the overall resale and thrifting industry is growing at a rate of seven percent per year

For profit sites like eBay and Craig’s List have long dominated the resale market, but I also frequent q number of newer sites that offer great merchandise at terrific prices. 

·         Chairish - resale site and app specifically designed for gently used (largely designer) furniture and home decor.

·         Tradesy - a website and app that specializes in resale of gently used designer handbags, shoes, clothing, and accessories.

·         ThredUp - site to buy and sell high-quality secondhand clothes

·         OfferUp  and LegGo – websites and apps promoting local, peer-to-peer commerce.

These brands have created steep competition for nonprofits like Goodwill and Salvation Army, which has resulted in improving both online and in-person shopping experiences.

Like this post if you are a thrift shopper!

Michele Garvey
editor, bemindful.com

Random Acts of Kindness

I love my town of Truckee, CA!  This week my local radio station, 101.5 FM - Truckee Tahoe Radio, is honoring acts of kindness. I’m thrilled that they are taking time to celebrate folks in my community for their random acts of kindness. It can be anything, from cleaning up the park, helping an elderly neighbor with yard work, or buying a tank of gas for a stranger. If you are here in Tahoe you can post an act of human kindness on Facebook using the hashtag #tahoekindness, and the station announce these acts of kindness on the radio.  

If you want to pay it forward, another site I like is 1460 Days of Kindness where you can submit random acts of kindness and help show the world that our country is one of love, care, and compassion. 

Following the results of the 2016 election, the creators of 1460 Days of Kindness decided that they wanted America's legacy to be one of empathy and understanding rather than hate and fear. In that spirit, they decided to complete a random act of kindness for every day our president serves in office and encourage anyone who reads their blog to do the same.

Spread the love and kindness!

Digital Detox – Cut Down on Screens This Summer

The kids are almost out of school, and the countdown to summer break is on at our house.  As a mom of a 9 and 11-year-old, I am looking for ways to keep them off screens this summer.

It’s no wonder that digital detox camps and low-tech resort vacations are on the rise.  I just read that kids ages 8-18 now spend, on average, of 7.5 hours in front of a screen for entertainment each day, 4.5 of which are spent watching TV, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.  Those numbers are scary and made me want to try a digital detox in our house or at the very least, cut down on screen time over the summer months.

A digital detox is like a food cleanse, except instead of bad food, you cut out screens. Phones, iPad, computers, and TVs take us away from each other.  We know that screens make us less focused, that constantly checking our email, text and Facebook makes us less productive and disconnected from our real lives.

Here are some ideas cut down on screens

-       Move your phone out of the bedroom at night and don’t let kids have screens in the bedroom

-       Don’t allow screens at the dinner table

-       Increase outdoor activities: hiking, biking, sports, gardening

-       Read a book, off line

-       Walk in nature

Looking for more information on how to find balance in the tech heavy world? Check out Sabbath Manifesto, a site that provides tips on how to slow down our lives in an increasingly hectic world and learn how to take part in their Unplug Challenge.  Another site I like is Folk Rebellion, a movement and lifestyle brand that encourages and inspires people to become mindful of the technology they use. A portion of all their profits are donated to the Children and Nature Network, which helps to create a world in which every child can play, learn and grow outdoors.

Hope you get to disconnect from technology this summer and connect more with family and friends!