Mindfulness has been shown to help with stress, depression, and overall well-being. Here are 16 tips to help get the most out of your day and be more mindful!

About the author: Sarah-Kate Rems is an Ivy-league trained Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner licensed in California and New York State with an expertise in preventative healthcare. She considers nutrition and exercise to be the basis of well-being and is a strong advocate for daily physical activity and maintaining a healthy diet. Sarah-Kate is also a co-founder of The Mindful Tech Lab

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When we think about mindfulness, the act of being mindful in our daily lives, we often refer to it as the state of being completely in the present moment. This means no mind wandering about the past or the future. It's difficult, but important if we want to reduce stress and start to build that inner power to resist future stressors - which really do carry a negative impact on our overall well-being.
Here are 15 quotes to help get you into that mindful state and living in the present moment. Really take some time to think about each and apply them to your day.


1. "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." -Buddha​

2. "Every morning ask 'if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" -Steve Jobs

3. "It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." - Sir Winston Churchill

4.  "Time is a created thing. To say "I don't have time", is like saying, "I don't want to"." -Lao-Tzu

5. "Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." -Buddha

6. "How soon, not now, becomes never." -Martin Luther

7. "Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes." -Benjamin Disraeli

8. "Often he who does too much does too little." -Italian Proverb 

9. "A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before we changed." -Earl Nightingale

10. "The shorter way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time." -Mozart

11. "Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without." -Buddha

12. "When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love." -Marcus Aurelius (get more great Stoic quotes on StoicBot)

13. "At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want." -Lao-Tzu

14. "What you focus on expands." - Buddha

15. "Meditation is exercise for the mind." -Chade-Meng Teng

Remember, you can meditate daily for free in MeditateBot, give it a try!

**At The Mindful Tech Lab, we develop and market apps that are easily ingrained into your daily routine to deliver positive results.

​We are most known for our Facebook Messenger chatbots that help you live your best life, you can check them each out by clicking on their links: MotivateBot, MeditateBot, Daily FitBot, HealthyBot, Eat Clean Bot, StoicBot**

Enjoy and have a think on this old Zen parable about living in the present moment...the only time that really matters:

One day while walking through the wilderness a man stumbled upon a vicious tiger. He ran, but soon came to the edge of a high cliff. Desperate to save himself, he climbed down a vine and dangled over the fatal precipice...

As he hung there, two mice appeared from a hole in the cliff and began gnawing on the vine... 

Suddenly, he noticed on the vine a plump wild strawberry. He plucked it and popped it in his mouth...

It was incredibly delicious, the best strawberry he ever had!

Mindful Tech Lab Quick Takes:

• The strawberry represents all of the amazing things around us in life. The vine symbolizes the timeline of life (between the cliff = birth; precipice = death). Choose to celebrate the strawberry (the good things in life), always.
• Forget the past, don't worry the future, and live in the present moment. Only by that way can we live happily.
• Reminds me of this Mark Twain quote, "I've had many worries in my life, most of which never happened."

​Eric Rems
Co-founder, The Mindful Tech Lab - Check out all of our amazing apps to help improve your life here

We’ve all been there before…sitting at the airport…patiently waiting at the gate for our flight to board…excited to kick off our “much needed” vacation…then the announcement…

“This flight has been DELAYED”

Of course, just as soon as you hear the word “Delayed” a series of negative reactions ensue:
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"I told her to book the earlier flight, why did she not listen and book this one!"
"This always happens to me!"
"Who is responsible for this!?"
"There goes my vacation!"
[sound familiar?]

These reactions are referred to as Second Darts. Second darts most often serve no real purpose and disproportionately harm us compared to the inevitable first darts. Simply, they are a result of the mind reacting negatively to the experience.

When first darts don’t even exist
One of the saddest parts of all is that many first darts don’t even exist — they are entirely drummed up in our mind.

Have you ever thought about the scenario of your boss calling you into their office to tell you that you’ve been laid off. Perhaps you’ve been called out in meetings the past few weeks and are feeling less than comfortable about your work product. On top of that, you’ve heard rumors circulating around the office that layoffs are coming soon! So what do you do???
Naturally, you fire off a first dart → I’m going to get laid off. Then, the second darts ensue….

"How am I going to pay for my son’s school!?"
"We are going to have to move in with my parents because I can’t afford our mortgage!"
"The market is terrible, how the heck am I going to find a job!?"
"My wife is going to think I’m a failure!"

Wait. Wait. Wait. You are now thinking about moving in with your parents (which is more than likely depressing you and affecting your current mood) based of an entirely hypothetical situation — getting laid off. Doesn’t this seem crazy?

Negative reactions to positive events
Sometimes we actually react negatively to situations that are inherently positive in nature. Think about a time whenever something that was supposed to be great for you actually resulted in you thinking about it in a negative light.

So your boss just offered you a great opportunity at work to step up and take on a bigger role → you can’t stop thinking about whether or not you’ll fail and disappoint (second dart)…

"What if I look dumb in a meeting with Executives?"
"I’m not supposed to be in charge of something this important?"
Am I even smart enough to do this?
"So what’s happening in the brain"

​It is extremely important to realize that even just thinking about a first dart kicks off a series of effects on the body. To paint the picture a bit more, here is the chain of events that occur once a first dart is set off in the untrained mind.

First Dart: Getting laid off from work…

1. The thalmus (this is the “relay station” in the middle of your brain) sends an alert signal to your brain stem — causing a release of norepinephrine throughout your brain.
2. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) sends signals to your major organs and muscle groups preparing them to“fight or flight”.
3. The hypothalamus (the brain’s main regulator of the endocrine system) prompts the pituitary gland to signal the adrenal glands to release epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol — better known as the “stress hormones”.

How to avoid second darts
The good thing about all of this is that with a little bit of self-awareness and positive filtering of your thoughts, you can save your body and mind from the negative physiological and psychological impacts.Here are a few ways:
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• Accept the inevitable (first darts) — no use crying over spilled milk. Pain and heartache are some terrible aspects of life, but are outweighed by the greatness of it all.
• Look on the bright side — find the positive side of what just happened. Your flight got delayed…go walk around the airport and get some exercise before you have to sit for 4hrs. You are getting laid off…finally you get a chance to find a job you actually want!
• Be mindful of your thoughts — start by noticing when a second dart (or hypothetical first dart) arises and just acknowledge that it’s there. Over time, you’ll notice the second darts won’t try to come in anymore because they know you won’t grasp on to them. Try MeditateBot to start forming a daily meditation practice.
• Practice makes perfect — your brain is a muscle and needs to be trained. The more you act or believe a certain way those neural pathways are strengthened.
• Think about what’s happening in the brain — just knowing that these negative thoughts are sending signals to your body and causing unnecessary stress is sometimes all you need to catch them before you start.
• Relax your body and breathe slow — by doing this you will activate the calming part of your nervous system and halt the fight-or-flight area.
• Understand second darts are unnecessary — our brains have an evolutionary bias to focus on the negative. This was of course back when we roamed with deadly lions and bears and needed to focus our attention on what might harms us.

“There is only one way to happiness,” Epictetus taught the Romans, “and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” 
― Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Eric Rems
Co-founder, The Mindful Tech Lab - Check out all of our amazing apps to help improve your life here

Whether you’re a seasoned Software Engineer, bright-eyed Product Manager, or have never even heard of the term Agile Software Development, you too can live a more productive and happy life by leveraging some of the same Agile principles that are used to build most of the software products we use today (think Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Uber).

By just quickly looking at a few of the basic tenants that Agile software development promotes, it is easy to see that it resembles much of what the self-improvement gurus of today preach:

Simplicity, adaptive planning, reflection, continuous improvement, regular adaptation to changing circumstance, face-to-face conversation

I spend my day building tangible products for a wide range of users, but it’s the time I spend away from my work where I continue to build the most important product of all — my personal life. Without actively meaning to over the past few years, I’ve managed to adopt many of the same Agile principles I use to build software products to now live a better life. I hope you benefit from at least one (if not all) of these simple to adopt concepts…

Product Backlog
​In Software Development: 
The product backlog is considered the “playbook”, or master to-do list, of all the features for the product you plan to build. Without the product backlog, you have just an idea for a product, but no actionable list of what needs to be delivered by the development team (I wrote more on this concept here).

Since the product backlog is used by developers to turn the idea into actual code, and ultimately a tangible product, specificity is key. You can’t just say “Press a button and users can order food”…this would leave thousands of open questions from the developers.

Generally, the most important features appear at the top of the product backlog so the team knows what to deliver first, though items are often refined and re-prioritized over time — this is referred to as “backlog grooming”.

In Life: 
We all have a running to-do list of what we’d like to accomplish in the next hour, day, month, year, etc. (from “sending rent” this afternoon to “get a new job” sometime in the future…), but often lacking detail and prioritization of what needs to be done.

How many times have you said you want to get a new job? Or start working out at the gym? These are two common examples of vague and weak tasks/goals. Just as software developers can’t execute poorly described features, you too can’t action on these vague requirements.
Put your to-do list in an actionable state and the results will come.

1. Sign up for a gym membership
2. Go to gym every Monday, Wednesday and Friday
3. Lose 5lbs by the end of March

Sprints
In Software Development: 
Here is where the prioritization of the backlog comes into play. Since your development team is limited by both time and # of developers (we call this capacity), it is important to deliver the most desired, and value added features first.

In software development we refer to these as “sprints” — normally two to four week periods of time where a development team tackles a series of features from the product backlog.

In Life: 
This is simply taking items from the highest priority on your ever-growing to-do list and actually completing them. Our “sprints” in life often come in the form of weekends because there tends to be little time during the week to tackle to-do list items.

There will always be some low hanging fruit (i.e. take out trash, wash clothes, etc.), but be sure to mix in some of the more larger and difficult items (i.e. refine my resume, look for a new apt) during your sprint.

Stand-Ups
In Software Development: 
Stand-up meetings are daily, time-boxed (normally 15 minutes), meetings that take place during a sprint. The concise nature of this meeting ensures fast, but relevant discussion between team members. During the daily stand-up, each team member answers the following three questions:

1. What did you do yesterday?
2. What will you do today?
3. Are there any impediments in your way?

In Life: 
Ask yourself these very same questions every morning to keep you honest. You’re probably familiar with this Steve Jobs quote:

“I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

These simple questions will help you verbalize (or in your head; on paper/in phone) your daily activities and help you draw in on how you are actually spending these finite days on Earth.

1. What did you do yesterday?
2. What will you do today?
3. Are there any impediments in your way?

Retrospectives
In Software Development: 
Retrospectives are meetings that take place at the end of a sprint (defined period of work) where the team all sits together to talk about what’s working, what isn’t, what opportunities people are seeing, and which challenges they are facing.

It’s about constantly checking in and questioning whether the team’s approach is still making sense given everything new it learned.

On my products, we use the terms ‘Highlights’ and ‘Lowlights’ to list out what we thought to be the good and bad of the last iteration.

In Life: 
Unlike the daily check ins (stand-ups), the retrospective can be more thought of as a longer term review (think weeks or months) of what is working and what isn’t in your life. If you have a significant other it’s great to include them in your “retro” — these conversations can range from your job to living situation to travel to really anything.

A simple way to approach this is take each major category of your life — 1. Career 2. Dating (or Marriage) 3. Health, etc. then talk or list out your ‘Highlights’ and ‘Lowlights’ of each.
Career

Highlights

• Promoted to Vice President
• Delivered a successful presentation to the board of directors
• A junior team member thanked me for spending time working with her to develop her skills

Lowlights

• Been working longer hours
• Tight timeline to deliver the current project
• Change in organizational structure is causing problems with colleagues

Utilize tools where needed
In Software: 
It’s virtually impossible to build complex software without leveraging tools such as Jira, Rally, Trello, etc. These tools allow you to collaborate, organize and effectively track progressive during the development process.

​In Life: 
Life is complex…even more complex than code. So why are you keeping everything you need to do, want to do, have done, in your head (or even a running list in Apple Notes)?

I use the free application Trello (both the web and iOS app versions), which is also often used in software development. I’ve been using Trello as my personal to-do list for a while now, and most recently my fiancee and I have started using it to plan our wedding.

Trello makes it easy to create actionable to-do list items and move them to the ‘done’ folder once completed. Not only does this help you track your progress, but also gives you a nice jolt of joy when you drag and drop from ‘To-Do’ into ‘Done’.

These are just a few examples of how you can leverage Agile, a technique widely used in the software development community which took an extremely complex subject (software) and simplified/improved upon it, to improve various aspects of your life.

Eric Rems
Co-founder, The Mindful Tech Lab - Check out all of our amazing apps to help improve your life here

Over the past few years, Facebook Messenger has become the go to place for over a billion people worldwide to engage in their daily conversations. Though over the past year, it’s also quickly become the place where these same people are getting their daily news, weather updates, booking travel, style advice and much more. 

This phenomenon began back in April 2016 when Facebook opened up their API for developers to create chatbots — programs to simulate human conversation. The rise of chatbots are giving brands an entirely new way to communicate with their audience at scale, a way that is so innately human…through conversation.

New Habits are Hard
When launching a new technology product, one of the biggest challenges is getting people to use it daily. New apps struggle with this often. Think about all of the times you’ve downloaded an app, used it once or twice, then deleted it or never opened it again. It’s hard to create that stickiness that keeps people coming back.

This same issue product makers face with getting people to use their apps daily, we all face in our lives with trying to creating a new positive habit.

Want to start working out? Ok, you go to the gym three days straight, then something comes up and you can’t make it, then again you miss it. A few weeks later the thought of going to the gym is so far in the back of your mind it never resurfaces.

In my opinion, the key to forming and sustaining any new habit is two fold:

1. Making the barrier to entry as low as possible. 
2. Working it into your existing daily routine.

An Idea
As I thought through this with one of my own habit struggles, meditating daily, I decided to test the forming of a new habit by leveraging the power of Facebook Messenger — a place which already had my eyeballs as it was quickly becoming part of my morning routine for news, weather, etc.

The end result of a weekend personal hack-a-thon was MeditateBot — a Messenger chatbot that teaches the benefits of meditation, surfaces a variety of meditations, and even lets you schedule a daily reminder — all for free within Facebook Messenger.

I’m extremely happy to say that after 4 weeks since launch I have successfully meditated daily using MeditateBot. And more importantly, so have over 25,000 other people :)
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Here’s how I made it habit forming enough for me keep it up a daily practice for 4 weeks and counting…

Schedule a Daily Reminder​

To help you in your mindfulness journey, we've rounded up 11 of our favorite and most accessible books on mindfulness. Each will help you apply various techniques to your daily life and bring peace within.

If you're like us and find it hard to find time to read, give audiobooks a try with Audible - tap on the banner below for a free trial.

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1. Declutter Your Mind: How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking

Feel overwhelmed by your thoughts? Struggling with anxiety about your daily tasks? Or do you want to stop worrying about life?

The truth is...We all experience the occasional negative thought. But if you always feel overwhelmed, then you need to closely examine how these thoughts are negatively impacting your lifestyle.

The solution is to practice specific mindfulness techniques that create more "space" in your mind to enjoy inner peace and happiness. With these habits, you'll have the clarity to prioritize what's most important in your life, what no longer serves your goals, and how you want to live on a daily basis. And that's what you'll learn in Declutter Your Mind.  Get it here

2. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values 

One of the most important and influential books written in the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live . . . and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better. Here is the book that transformed a generation: an unforgettable narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest, undertaken by a father and his young son.

A story of love and fear -- of growth, discovery, and acceptance -- that becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions, this uniquely exhilarating modern classic is both touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence . . . and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward. Get it here

3. When Breath Becomes Air 

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.

When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. Get it here


4. Balance: Angie's Extreme Stress Menders Volume 1

Coloring time is calming time! Best selling coloring book artist Angie Grace invites you to relax and explore the intricate and exquisite world of stress mending circular whimsical art. Stroke by stroke, shade by shade, tension and worries fade away as you transform Angie's beautiful black and white lines into your own unique, personal and beautiful keepsake art piece.

This book has been drawn for connoisseur colorists and is suitable for adults and older children coloring with fine tipped markers, colored pencils or brush tipped markers. 50 delightfully detailed original designs printed on one side of the page. Get it here

5. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Through Dale Carnegie’s six-million-copy bestseller recently revised, millions of people have been helped to overcome the worry habit. Dale Carnegie offers a set of practical formulas you can put to work today. In our fast-paced world—formulas that will last a lifetime!
Discover how to:

• Eliminate fifty percent of business worries immediately
• Reduce financial worries
• Avoid fatigue—and keep looking you
• Add one hour a day to your waking life
• Find yourself and be yourself—remember there is no one else on earth like you!

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living deals with fundamental emotions and ideas. It is fascinating to read and easy to apply. Let it change and improve you. There’s no need to live with worry and anxiety that keep you from enjoying a full, active and happy life! Get it here


6. The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself 

Copublished with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) The Untethered Soul begins by walking you through your relationship with your thoughts and emotions, helping you uncover the source and fluctuations of your inner energy. It then delves into what you can do to free yourself from the habitual thoughts, emotions, and energy patterns that limit your consciousness. Finally, with perfect clarity, this book opens the door to a life lived in the freedom of your innermost being.

The Untethered Soul has already touched the lives of countless readers, and is now available in a special hardcover gift edition with ribbon bookmark—the perfect gift for yourself, a loved one, or anyone who wants a keepsake edition of this remarkable book. Get it here

7. Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

There is no better person to show a beginner how to harness the power of meditation than Sharon Salzberg, one of the world’s foremost meditation teachers and spiritual authors. Cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society, author of Lovingkindness, Faith, and other books, Ms. Salzberg distills 30 years of teaching meditation into a 28-day program that will change lives. It is not about Buddhism, it’s not esoteric―it is closer to an exercise, like running or riding a bike.

From the basics of posture, breathing, and the daily schedule to the finer points of calming the mind, distraction, dealing with specific problem areas (pain in the legs? falling asleep?) to the larger issues of compassion and awareness, Real Happiness is a complete guide. It explains how meditation works; why a daily meditation practice results in more resiliency, creativity, peace, clarity, and balance; and gives twelve meditation practices, including mindfulness meditation and walking meditation. An extensive selection of her students’ FAQs cover the most frequent concerns of beginners who meditate―“Is meditation selfish?” “How do I know if I’m doing it right?” “Can I use meditation to manage weight?” Get it here


8. The Miracle of Mindfulness 

In this beautiful and lucid guide, Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh offers gentle anecdotes and practical exercise as a means of learning the skills of mindfulness--being awake and fully aware. From washing the dishes to answering the phone to peeling an orange, he reminds us that each moment holds within it an opportunity to work toward greater self-understanding and peacefulness. Get it here

9. Wherever You Go There You Are

When Wherever You Go, There You Are was first published in 1994, no one could have predicted that the book would launch itself onto bestseller lists nationwide and sell over 750,000 copies to date. Ten years later, the book continues to change lives. In honor of the book's 10th anniversary, Hyperion is proud to be releasing the book with a new afterword by the author, and to share this wonderful book with an even larger audience. Get it here


10. From Stressed to Centered

As your stress increases, the first thing to go is often what would help the most - your self-care. If you are feeling more tired, overwhelmed, distracted, or overextended lately, there is a simple first step on the journey to feeling better: read From Stressed to Centered: A Practical Guide to a Healthier and Happier You.

From Stressed to Centered offers a uniquely comprehensive approach to stress management and self-care by helping you understand and tackle your stress at all levels. It covers the trifecta of stress - assessment, management and future prevention!

Written by Dana Gionta, Ph.D. and Dan Guerra, Psy.D., two experts with over 30 years of combined experience, this groundbreaking book is solidly based on science and utilizes anecdotes, exercises, and practical strategies to help you:

• Assess your current level of stress
• Build up your resilience to future stress
• Develop a lifestyle program of guilt-free self-care
• Live a healthier and more fulfilling life

Get it here

11. Taming the Drunken Monkey

In today's busy world, the mind can often behave like a drunken monkey―stressed, scattered, and out of control. Instead of falling victim to frustration and anxiety, learn to be calm, focused, and free of unwanted thoughts with this easy-to-use guide to mindfulness.

Drawing from Western and Eastern psychology, health systems, and wisdom traditions, Taming the Drunken Monkey provides comprehensive instruction for developing and improving three basic behaviors of the mind: concentration, awareness, and flexibility. Discover the power of breathwork exercises based on yogic pranayama, Chinese medicine, and Western respiratory science.
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Apply meditation and other mindfulness practices to your life for newfound focus, creativity, body awareness, and spiritual awakening. As you progress from novice to master, you'll effectively enhance the health of your mind, body, and spirit. Get it here