Mindfulness is such a popular buzzword these days, but what exactly does it mean, and more importantly–how do we obtain it?

I’ll be the first to confess-the whole concept of mindfulness, is one that intimidated me for a long time. In my mind, I equated mindfulness with hours spent on a meditation pillow, doing nothing but breathing; and frankly, that sounded really, really boring to me. Thankfully, after studying the topic a bit more, I’ve come to a much clearer understanding of what mindfulness really is and how to incorporate it into my life in small, intentional doses throughout the day. These simple tweaks have allowed me to seamlessly integrate mindful moments into my schedule and reap the benefits of a clearer, more aligned, mind, body and spirit.

If you, (like me), have a non-stop life, but still long for a more mindful existence, try incorporating a few of these simple techniques into your day.

What is it about Scandinavians? They consistently rank as among the happiest people on the planet and they have some of the funniest sounding words (remember my recent post on Hygge, yep that’s a Scandinavian word too). Still…funny vocabulary aside–the rest of us on planet earth could certainly benefit by taking note of some of these Scandinavian words, and incorporating into our routines, the concept that the words define–like for instance, the word sisu.

Oh burnout. It catches up with all of us at one time or another. Maybe we’ve run ourselves ragged trying to keep up with kids, work, mortgage payments…life. Or, perhaps our burnout is the result of chasing our dream, but chasing a little too hard. I’ve experienced both.

The crazy thing about burnout is that it isn’t always easy to recognize. We may feel a little cranky or out of sorts, or maybe we just have a hard time dragging ourselves out of bed in the morning. It comes on subtly and without warning; but without proper tending, burnout can suck us into spiral of depression, lethargy and disconnection that can be incredibly difficult to escape.

The key to overcoming burnout is to reignite your passion for life. There is a huge difference between being “on fire” and being burned out; and all you need to do to go from the latter to the former is to rediscover your spark and then, throw some fuel on it.

The trick is to recognize the early symptoms of burnout and then treat the underlying cause of those symptoms. Here are seven easy ways to do just that…