Life Skills for Young Scientists (LiSYS)
A yearlong mentorship program, Sept. 2024—Sept. 2025
This page is for participants in the 2024 LiSYS program and anyone else who would like to follow what we are doing. An audio recording from a portion of each month’s meeting will be made publicly available, while Zoom meetings, video recordings, and retreats are for participants only. If you wish to be informed when registration for the next program opens, which will likely be in the summer of 2025, kindly sign up for the mailing list.
Logistics
Class meetings will be on the first Thursday of the month from 11 AM to 1 PM Eastern Time, beginning September 5, 2024, at this Zoom link, for which you will need the password that was sent to you by email. Alternatively, you could use the direct link which was sent to you and which is also on the calendar event. The class start time in other time zones is found here.
In addition, there will be quarterly weekend intensives at the above Zoom link at the following dates and times (all given in US Eastern Time):
- Saturday October 12, 2024, 11 AM – 3 PM. Half-day meditation retreat with Tina Rasmussen of Luminous Mind Sangha. Video
- Saturday January 4, 2025, 11 AM – 3 PM. Half-day meditation retreat with Ven. Dhammadinna of Bodhiheart Sangha.
- Saturday April 12, 2025,11 AM – 1 PM. Weekend workshop with psychologist and author Dr. Randy Paterson.
- Saturday & Sunday June 21 & 22, 2025, 11 AM – 3 PM Saturday & 11 AM – 2 PM Sunday. Two-day workshop with conflict specialist Dana Caspersen.
Kindly make sure these times are blocked out on your calendar. For those who are in time zones such that they would not normally be awake during the retreat times, recordings will be available online within six hours of the retreat end, so please block out a suitable time slot as soon as is reasonably possible after that time to participate asynchronously.
Monthly Videos, Homework, and Podcasts
Videos and homework assignments for each month are posted here as they become available. The entire collection of videos can be found on Vimeo. To access these, you will need the password which was sent to you via email.
Videos from the monthly meetings are available only to program participants. The entire collection of videos can be found on Vimeo using the password which was sent by email. Monthly talks are publicly available and the full collection can accessed on Spotify for Podcasters or regular Spotify.
- The Importance of Acquiring Skills, September 2024. Video Homework Podcast
- Getting Meditation Practice off the Ground, October 2024. Video Homework Podcast
- Introduction to Self-Kindness and Self-Compassion, November 2024. Video Homework Podcast
- Cultivating Self-Kindness, and a Meditation November 2024. Video Homework Podcast
Reading List
We will read all or parts of several books during the course. You will be informed at least a month ahead of the time you will actually need each book. While you are welcome to check these out of your local library, these are all excellent resources and it is suggested that you consider purchasing them in hardcopy.
- The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer
- The Assertiveness Workbook by Randy Paterson
- Changing the Conversation: The 17 Principles of Conflict Resolution by Dana Caspersen
About the Name
The acronym LiSYS is pronounced like the Greek word lysis, which in medicine has the meaning of the gradual decline of an illness—a fitting allusion. However, a former student, who speaks Greek, told me that lysis means something else in everyday use that is even more fitting: it means “solution”.