This workshop will explore the common predicament of thinking we have too much to do that doesn't contribute to our wellbeing and happiness, while having too little time to do what is really meaningful and fulfilling for us.  Workshop leader Nancy Natilson will lead us on an exploration of simple, easy mindfulness practices and tools that can help us redirect our energies so we are able to create and maintain balance in life and enjoy increased wellbeing, personal satisfaction and ease.

We will discuss what it means to have a balanced life; how our aspirations, both of doing and being, are reflected in how we spend our time; and which activities we can change from the outside (e.g. New job, less screen time, more family time, new volunteer commitment) and which activities are necessary but which we can relate to differently from the inside (our attitudes and perceptions). 

Registration: 9:00-9:30

Presentation:    9:30 -12:30 

CE’s: 3

Participants will:

1.       Gain an understanding of mindfulness, what it is and how it relates to living a balanced life;

2.       Discuss factors of a balanced life as it relates to money, time, personal happiness & well-being.

3.       Examine how mindfulness (or lack of mindfulness) is a contributing factor in achieving balance.

4.      Examine time spent at work, at home and during leisure activities and compare to how much it contributes to personal satisfaction and ease in life.

5.      Discuss the pros & cons of multi-tasking in terms of the quality of mindfulness of the present moment verses the myth of investing in payback in some future moment.

6.      Learn strategies to create and maintain a mindful balance in your life.

Class Activities include:

·         Mini-presentation of balancing factors to provide discussion framework

·         Sharing in pairs of challenges to balancing your life and reporting back;

·         Individual exercise to graph time spent on various activities compared to contribution to satisfying personal aspirations.

·         Discussion of strategies to create and maintain mindful balance in your life.

Presenter’s Bio

Nancy Natilson has been practicing mindfulness for 12 years.  With support of this practice, she is able to balance a successful and satisfying international career, while at the same time raise a family, take vacations, kayak, sail and volunteer for non-profit organizations and serve on boards of directors of international development and women’s rights organizations. 

Ms. Natilson is a fellow of the Gates Summer Institute at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received a Master’s in Business Administration in International Finance from New York University in 1979. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in l973, Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and Elementary Education.

Nancy Natilson has recently traveled to Kenya, Malawi, Ethiopia and Vietnam where she develops microenterprise projects and provides training and technical assistance in business skills training, financial risk management, strategic planning and financial sustainability. Her clients include owners of small rural health clinics, microfinance institutions and non-profit organizations, Ms. Natilson values compassion, social justice and generosity. She is fluent in Spanish.