Resources for Mindfulness & Managing Stress

Videos:

Are you still holding your glass of water?
A short motivational clip titled “Are you still holding your glass of water?” where a speaker uses the metaphor of setting down a glass to inspire viewers to let go of burdens and move forward with intention.

Christina Costa: How gratitude rewires your brain | TED
Christina Costa explains how practicing gratitude can rewire the brain to enhance well-being and resilience by shifting focus toward positive experiences and strengthening emotional responses.

How mindfulness changes the emotional life of our brains | Richard J. Davidson | TEDxSanFrancisco
A TEDxSanFrancisco talk by neuroscientist Richard J. Davidson explaining how mindfulness practice can reshape the emotional life of the brain and support resilience, well-being, and mental health.

Stress Bucket
A short educational clip explaining the “stress bucket” analogy—how daily pressures accumulate like water in a bucket and how understanding and managing different stressors can help prevent overflow and support healthier coping strategies.

The Possibility of Cognitive Kindness | Karen Yu | TEDxUniversityoftheSouth
A TEDx talk by Karen Yu on “The Possibility of Cognitive Kindness,” exploring how being thoughtful and generous with others’ mental resources and thinking can foster deeper understanding and more compassionate interactions.

Articles & Other Resources:

10 Things To Remember When Going Through Tough Times
A reflective guide outlining ten resilience-building reminders to help you accept reality, draw on past strength, and navigate difficult periods with clarity and confidence.

Conscious breathing can reduce anxiety and depression – tips for how to do it
A The Conversation article explaining how consciously directing your breath can help lower anxiety and depressive symptoms by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system, slowing the stress response, and offering practical tips for integrating mindful breathing into daily life to support emotional regulation.

Don’t Just Set Intentions, Rewire Your Brain. Here’s How. – Generation Mindful
A Generation Mindful Mindful Moments blog post guiding readers to choose a single intention word for the year to shape how they want to show up in daily life, using mindful reflection rather than traditional resolutions.

Finding Reality Through Cartooning
A NAMI first-person account of how an artist living with bipolar I disorder uses cartooning as a therapeutic tool to “reality test” past delusional experiences and better understand and cope with the condition.

Give yourself the break of meditation by Maxine Milstein and Jill Dobriner
A Boston Children’s Hospital Discoveries article explaining how meditation works, how beginners can get started, and the mental and physical health benefits it can offer for stress, anxiety, focus, and coping skills.

Harvard Medical School Study “Giving Thanks Can Make You Happier”
A Harvard Health article explaining how cultivating gratitude is linked with greater happiness, improved emotional well-being, stronger relationships, and better health outcomes.

Hope Starts With Us: Male Mental Health and Music
A Hope Starts With Us podcast episode where NAMI CEO Daniel H. Gillison Jr. talks with singer Drew Lachey and Sound Mind Live’s Chris Bullard about men’s mental health and the uplifting role music can play in wellbeing and connection.

Hope Starts With Us: Stress Awareness Month
A NAMI “Hope Starts With Us” podcast episode where NAMI CEO Daniel H. Gillison Jr. talks with mental health advocate Jon Hosking about recognizing and managing stress during Stress Awareness Month, including connections between stress, physical activity, barriers to care, and overall mental health awareness.

How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain
A concise summary of the core concept and benefits of mindful walking, including simple guidance on how to practice it and why it supports mental and physical well-being.

Managing Stress
A NAMI guide on managing stress that explains how recognizing stress triggers and adopting healthy self-care practices like scheduling time, physical activity, and relaxation techniques can support overall mental health and resilience.

Mindfully Weathering the Storm with R.A.I.N.
A Fuller Life Family Therapy article explaining the RAIN mindfulness technique—a four-step (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) self-compassion practice designed to mindfully “weather the storm” of overwhelming emotions instead of reacting to them.

Neuroscience Says Your Body and Mind Get Stronger When You Focus on This 1 Thing
Neuroscience shows that regularly focusing on gratitude can strengthen both your mental and physical health, boosting exercise habits, reducing stress, improving sleep, and supporting emotional and cardiovascular well-being.

Stress Busters in Challenging Times
A Kripalu Stress Busters in Challenging Times article offering five mindfulness-based steps—like expressing feelings, staying present, and self-compassion—to help readers understand and skillfully work with stress.

The Buddha, The Angry Man and The Gift
A blog post by Keith Rosen that uses a parable about the Buddha and an angry man to illustrate how emotional awareness and choice empower people to respond constructively instead of reacting impulsively.

Two Types of Self-care and How They Can Positively Impact Your Mental Health
An overview of the two types of self-care — physical habits like sleep, nutrition and exercise, and mental/emotional practices like coping skills, connection and boundaries — and how both can reduce stress and support overall mental wellbeing.

What’s Happening in our nervous systems?
An On Being conversation with neuroscientist Christine Runyan exploring how our nervous systems process stress, connection, and trauma, and what that means for well-being and human experience.

What Is Mindful Walking? — Mindful Walking Meditation
An article that explains what mindful walking is, how to practice it, and the mental and physical benefits of bringing awareness to each step.

Yoga Can Slow Effects of Stress and Aging, Studies Suggest
A Psychology Today article reviewing research that suggests a regular yoga practice may slow the physical effects of stress and aging at the cellular level—potentially reducing inflammation, protecting DNA, and lowering biomarkers linked with accelerated aging.