I took a few days off last week basking in the glow of a rare and beautiful sunny sky in Portland, Oregon. It felt like heaven. I almost forgot what it felt like to really live, to have the kind of day I think Leonardo da Vinci is talking about when he said, “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.”

And it didn’t take much to make me feel that way.

Just a bike ride near the water, dinner with friends, a trip to the zoo with my nephew. But in comparison to the daily grind, the to-do lists that never get finished, the endless amount of tasks that pile one atop the other, the feeling of just being for the sake of being was pure bliss.

I realized that what was so sublime about the experience was that I was completely living in the moment. Slowly obligations, responsibilities, worries that had been holding my mind hostage had began to wane. I realized how stressed and overwhelmed I had been.

If you’re in need of a little mini-vacation from the stress of life too, a few of these articles this week should provide much needed respite.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

New Study on Mindfulness: Turning the Volume Down in Your Brain

(Mindfulness & Psychotherapy) – I have a friend who cannot think, concentrate or write if he hears even a slight bit of distraction (people laughing, phone ringing, chairs scraping the ground). I think he would benefit from a little mindfulness. You may too. Read this to find out how being mindful can make you more attentive and focused even amidst distraction.

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