Well-Being in Meetings #4: Generosity

Generosity turns out to be its own reward. According to neuroscientist Richie Davidson, “There are now a plethora of data showing that when we individuals engage in generous and altruistic behaviors, they actually activate circuits in the brain that are key to fostering well-being.”         Generosity is one of the four building blocks of well-being identified by Davidson. The other three ingredients are resilience, outlook, and attention. They were the focus of the last three … Read more…

Well-Being in Meetings #3: Attention

Years ago a colleague remarked, “Attention is a limited resource.” Although I agreed with her at the time, I could not have appreciated then the deeper truth of her words because 25 years ago we did not know much about how attention worked in the brain. We now know that focusing attention and inhibiting or avoiding distractions uses lots of energy in the very part of the brain that plays an important role in paying … Read more…

Well-Being in Meetings #2: Outlook

According to neuroscientist Richie Davidson the four factors or ingredients of well-being are resilience, outlook, attention, and generosity. Last week we investigated resilience. This week let’s look at outlook and its role in meetings. Outlook refers to our customary point of view or frame of mind. Do you maintain a high level of interest and engagement even when things don’t go your way? Are you able to appreciate and even dwell on positive experiences? Do … Read more…