Mindfulness Mode

Dr. Kristen Lee, Ed.D., LICSW, known as “Dr. Kris”, is an internationally recognized, award-winning behavioral science clinician, researcher, educator, speaker, and comedian from Boston, Massachusetts. Her episode is entitled Worth The Risk.
As the Lead Faculty for Behavioral Science and Faculty-in-Residence at Northeastern University, Dr. Kris’s research and teaching interests include individual and organizational well-being and resilience, particularly for marginalized and underserved populations.
Dr. Kris works with organizations and leaders around the world on how to use the science of behavioral change and human potential to build healthy mental health cultures that help prevent burnout and promote organizational and human sustainability.
She is the author of RESET: Make the Most of Your Stress, winner of the Next Generation Indie Book Awards Motivational Book of 2015, and best-selling Mentalligence: A New Psychology of Thinking-Learn What it Takes to be More Agile, Mindful and Connected in Today’s World and Worth the Risk: Learn to Microdose Bravery to Grow Resilience, Connect More, and Offer Yourself to the World, 2022 The Next Big Idea Book Club nominee. She is the host of Crackin’ Up: Where Therapy Meets Comedy and is a regular contributor to Psychology Today and Thrive Global. Dr. Kris’s work has been featured at Harvard and on NPR, Fast Company, Forbes, and CBS radio. Her TEDx talk, The Risk You Must Take is featured on Ted.

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Contact Info

• Website: www.kristenlee.com
• Book:Reset: Make the Most of Your Stress: Your 24-7 Plan for Well-Being
• Crackin' Up With Dr. Kris; Where Therapy Meets Comedy

Most Influential Person

• Thich Nhat Hanh

Effect on Emotions

• It helped me be more self-compassionate, less anxious, more focused, and more measured. So
• So I think it helped me create those retreats or those air pockets in my life that I need. Because I tend to just be an over worker, I love what I do.  There's a lot of need in the world. So it helped me be more present with myself and not let my mind be a runaway train. 

Thoughts on Breathing

• Above all, I love the box breathing method. So
• It's a nice four-count holding and then releasing. So
• The reason I like it so much is that it's sustainable because sometimes if I make things too grand and too complex, I might stay with it for a while, but then fall off track. So

Suggested Resources

• Book: The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation By Thich Nhat Hahn
• Book: Reset: Make the Most of Your Stress: Your 24-7 Plan for Well-Being By Dr. Kristen Lee
• App: Calm

Bullying Story

• I think it was very commonplace, like in middle school, I was very keenly aware of the bullying that was happening. So
• I was that loud person that would stand up if I saw someone being hurt.
• Understanding the impact on one's life when these things happen, and how to help teach social-emotional skills and kindness are things that weren't necessarily present on the school bus in the 1980s. So
• Therefore, mindfulness would have helped me probably be a little bit more self-compassionate, and it would have helped me deal with that override of anxiety and fear that I was doing in those moments. So
• I love the exercise of thinking like, what would your past self say to yourself? Or what would you want your future self to say to the now. If I could look back I would say to myself, this is going to help you develop your empathy, this is going to help you be more mindful in how you show up and you contribute to the world.
• Don't internalize the messages of the meanness of the people, doing this kind of bullying that doesn't define you.  Worth The Risk

Related Episodes

• Enjoy The Gift of the Present; Jennifer Ibbotson Rodriguez
• Move The Body, Heal The Mind; Dr. Jennifer Heisz

• Myung Sung: The Korean Art of Living Meditation with Dr. Jenelle Kim

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