Life Skills for Young Scientists (LiSYS)

Imagining what it would be like if the culture of scientific communication were founded on curosity and collegiality, and how this relates to the work we have been doing in Life Skills for Young Scientists.

In this episode we discuss how all the resources we've been gathering all year can be brought together as support for directly facing investigating the anxiety, fear, and angers that disturbs our lives.

A discussion of how focusing on abstract or impersonal qualities can help us to effectively receive feedback without taking things personally, as well as to communicate ourselves smoothly.

How to get started on the journey of becoming more assertive, beginning with the giving and receiving of positive feedback.

An introduction to assertiveness as a skillful communication style, and how it relates to the self-kindness work from the previous months.

After discussing some fine points of self-kindness as scientists, traditional metta meditation is introduced as a way to integrate self-kindness into our daily lives.

How we can practice the skill of being kind to ourselves, and how we can employ kindness as a powerful antidote to excessive self-criticism.

Why learning to be kind to yourself is the most important thing you can do for the world, why it's a lot harder than you think, and how to get started.

A discussion of why meditation is important and how to navigate some common challenges, together with an introduction to bringing meditative awareness into everyday life with mindfulness.

An introduction to meditation for scientists, including why meditation is important, how it works, and how to get started.