One of the most valuable things I’ve done in the past year is mindfulness training. Essentially this is training to become more conscious and in control of your attention. This might sound banal, but it can help you step out of the auto-pilot in which we spend much of our time thinking and reacting. It’s clinically proven to make people less stressed and anxious, and feel happier more of the time. I’m still at an early stage in my journey but already I can see how mindfulness practice is life-changing.

If you have a healthy skeptical mind and are curious about the science behind mindfulness, here’s a fantastic video which includes some fascinating studies such as the effect of mindfulness training on troops serving in Afganistan.

OK, I appreciate that this video is over an hour long, and here on the Internet we only have very short attention spans. But perhaps that’s the point.