Mindfulness

My name is Dan Huston. I am a member of NCA and the Spiritual Communication division. I have been planning to submit a proposal to this year’s conference, but I have not decided through which division yet.

I am writing, therefore, to get your opinion as to whether or not the following topic would be appropriate for the Spiritual Communication division and possibly the preconference.

Two colleagues and I recently submitted a paper to a special edition of an NCA journal focusing on spiritual practices in communication. We submitted a paper about our findings in a study done last year at my community college. For over ten years now, I have been using mindfulness meditation in the teaching of communications. It has been very popular among students and I have lots of anecdotal evidence of its success.

We finally conducted a controlled study using pre and post tests to measure mindfulness and positive reappraisal. Students taking the mindfulness version of the course improved significantly in mindfulness compared with controls and their form of positive reappraisal differed from that of the control group in significant ways, namely they got better at identifying and expressing emotions when faced with difficult situations, while the control group was simply more likely to shift blame on themselves or others. Also, there appeared to be a direct correlation between increases in mindfulness and increases in positive reappraisal.

I would love to present not only on the study but on the curriculum itself. Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks for your time.

Dan
dhuston@ccsnh.edu

Let the Collaboration Begin

As submissions for the NCA are a little over a month away, it is high time to kick off this year's Spiritual Communication Preconference Collaboration. There are a few ways you can use this site:

1.) Recruit panelists for a paper session
Have an idea for a panel, but need a couple more contributers? Email spiritcomnca@gmail.com the title of the possible session, a 75 word abstract, any additional info (theoretical underpinning or rationale) and the contact information for the person putting together the panel. We'll post it, and potential collaborators can contact you directly. This format also works if you are looking for a coauthor.

2.) Get feedback
Have a paper idea and want feedback? Email spiritcomnca@gmail.com the title, a 75 word abstract, and possibly a short sample (no more than 400 words). We'll post it, and people can respond to the posting with thoughts and suggestions.

3.) Looking for a reference?
Go to http://spiritcom.blogspot.com/p/literature-review.html, our new community citation library. Feel free to add what we are missing!

4.) Start a discussion
If you have a interesting topic, compelling paradox, or another form of discussion starter, feel free to send it in. We can also take video recordings, though do be in touch about the size and format.

Let the collaboration begin!