Wonderful image to remind us of how to take care of and replenish ourselves. Courtesy of Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health.

Nobel prize winner, Elizabeth Blackburn, studied the effects of meditation on telomerase activity and telomere length.

Take five minutes to read this article and or watch this video to learn more about the link between meditation and increased telomerase activity and longer telomeres which leads to improved cognitive ability, less negative thoughts, better purpose of life, improved mindfulness, improved overall health, and longer life span.

Give meditation a chance!

Thrilled to launch my first book: Show Up as Your Self: Mindful Leaders, Meditation, & More available on Amazon.

About the Book
In our fast-moving, ever-changing world, leaders at every level face constant distractions and demands. Becoming less reactive and more intentional, focused, and strategic can be daunting. What overwhelmed leaders lack is a powerful quality that, with practice, anyone can develop: mindfulness.

In Show Up as Your Best Self, executive coach Cathy Quartner Bailey presents a roadmap to becoming a more mindful leader. By applying the techniques she has shared with hundreds of Fortune 500 executives, you will learn how to cultivate a mindfulness practice to help you reach your leadership potential by being more confident, decisive, and grounded—even in the midst of chaos.

An expert on this growing trend, Cathy shows how mindfulness is a matter of carving out reflection time and leading with purpose. In a way that’s clear and accessible, she explains how meditation and other forms of reflection can help any leader become more adept at:

* Managing uncertainty * Setting priorities * Listening actively * Solving problems * Developing and maintaining crucial relationships…and more.

Featuring illuminating leadership stories and interactive worksheets, this is a book for everyone striving to become a better leader while enjoying professional fulfillment and personal well-being.
Ten percent of royalties from Show Up as Your Best Self will be donated to Sheltered Yoga, a wonderful nonprofit organization that facilitates mental health and wellness through yoga and mindfulness education.

BJ Miller, a doctor and triple amputee, defines what it means to be a leader. BJ Miller is a hospice and palliative medicine physician who thinks deeply about how to create a dignified, graceful end of life for his patients. Take the time to savor this moving talk, which asks big questions about how we think on death and honor life.

To watch Miller’s TED Talk: What Really Matters at the End of Life click here.

The Time Square New Year’s Eve ball has officially dropped and it’s now 2017! This year I challenge you to let go of harsh resolutions and explore the idea of being kind to yourself. Not a superficial level of kindness but an authentic, deep kindness where you change how you care for and relate to yourself.

Suggestions:

• Refrain from harsh judgment and criticism toward yourself.
• Unconditionally accept yourself – you are enough.
• Treat yourself like you would treat a good friend. A client of mine found that by doing this she felt better about herself and had more self-confidence.
• Remind yourself that it is perfectly okay to be imperfect. Making mistakes are a normal part of life and that most successes have a backstory of failure.
• Drop the people pleasing and learn to say no so that you can say yes to what matters and is important to you.
• Each day commit to practicing activities that create positive energy and generate a feeling of personal well-being (meditation, yoga, spending time in nature, physical exercise, etc.)
• Spend quality time and break bread with people you easily connect with and are fun to be around.
• Limit and avoid spending time with toxic individuals who drain you.