We can train ourselves to identify the “about to” moments in our lives, and notice when a funny feeling accompanies them. By paying attention to the physical sensations that sometimes accompany an “about to” moment, we have an opportunity to pause before acting and reflect on what we’re about to do or say. This is a chance to ask ourselves: “Why choose to act in this way?” “How does it make me feel?...

For instance, your body. It’s really, really nice. I bet it would look great on me. The more I think about it, seeing you in that body makes me feel fat (how dare you, by the way?), and I can’t help secretly hoping that under that shirt are some major arm waddles. But, be well. Envy, the passionate longing for something that someone else possesses—an attribute, a quality, or even a thing—is rooted in a sense of inferiority....

3 Mindful Ways to Work Through Grief read more Rhonda Magee December 7, 2021 Judy Lief January 25, 2022 Bryan Welch April 20, 2021

It’s a truism that being present and mindful is the natural state of a child. Anyone who has watched children absorbed in play knows how they are so caught up in the moment. What I remember most from my own childhood is putting a worm on a path to observe its slow progress and lying in my parents’ bed during the day when I was sick, watching the pattern of the wallpaper as though it were a moving image....

The Warrior Transition Unit was created for soldiers with various types of injuries, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), who are transitioning out of the army or preparing to return to active combat. Yoga is a big part of the rehabilitation. Hylan Hampton, the yoga instructor for the unit reminds veterans that “there’s no judgment, no competition with yourself or with anyone around you.” Yoga combines physical activity and stress relief, but the gentler approach to exercise has some soldiers skeptical....

For much more about meditation, health, and the connection between them, see the Health and Healing section of Mindful.org. You’ll find basics about mindfulness practice here.

Now the view is not of ice sheets but of the sculpted body of land after the retreat of ice: bowl-like meadows, ice-scoured plateaus, uplifted Archean basement rock, polished granite walls amidst crowded peaks, towering cirques, string lakes, U-shaped canyons, and wild rivers that flow into three major watersheds—the Columbia, Colorado, and Missouri rivers, which spill into slow oxbows and hard rapids, straightening and crooking their necks like swans. The Wind River Mountains push southeast like a thick thumb from the wilderness matrix that holds Yellowstone Park, the Tetons, and the Gros Ventres....

In addition to the general desire for your engaged attention, below is a list of what teens are generally very interested in. When these factors are (from the teen’s perspective) being “denied” them, particularly by you, anger can follow. For most teens, anger wells up when they feel they’re not getting: Respect: Your teen will flare up during interactions with you because they are assuming you think they don’t deserve this....

Trust Your Heart When you find yourself stuck in self-judgment, pause for a few moments to honestly face the suffering of believing you are “not OK.” Notice where you feel that suffering in your body. How is it arising in your mind? Then offer some gesture of kindness and understanding to these painful feelings—you might place your hand on your heart and softly whisper to yourself, “Please trust your heart.” Or “Please be kind....

I meet many people who would like to simplify their lives, yet the world grows only more complex. Complexity has taken over how we attempt to get things done in organizations, communities and governments. We can’t seem to do anything simply anymore. Making a decision, creating a plan, holding a meeting—all of these now involve complex and time-consuming processes. A once-simple process, like neighborly conversation, has become a “technique,” an “inter-generational, cross-cultural dialogue,” perhaps....

When we look to mindfulness to block out unwanted emotions or adverse life experiences, we’re bound to be thoroughly disappointed. Mindfulness can’t keep us from hard times. But choosing to live mindfully can keep us from making a rotten situation worse. Whether you experience chronic depression, perpetual ennui, or just a feeling that life is a losing battle, you can find ways to soften the situation, even as the burning bogs of despair burn even brighter....

Authenticity is one of the most important ingredients in creating a healthy and sustainable relationship. Yet it can also be one of the most challenging to practice on a day-to-day basis. Why? the answer is simple: fear. We fear that if we showed up as we truly are—saying, doing, and feeling the real things that are going on within us without augmenting or censoring ourselves in any way—that others might disconnect from us, feel upset with us, or even leave us....

Why We’re Biased Implicit or “unconscious” biases are automatic, internal processes that associate certain characteristics with members of a specific social group. A significant body of research demonstrates that all people have biases, and that our biases unconsciously influence behavior. This doesn’t mean that unconscious bias is always maladaptive. For example, unconscious biases that activate feelings of love and care toward friends enable us to be kind without consciously trying. But many of our biases are far more harmful....

For those who are on this journey, it is important to have faith in yourself and your inner compass that guides you. If you do this, you’ll understand that opportunities for growth and happiness lie in the most unexpected places, ready to be seized if you’re open to recognizing and embracing them. I don’t believe we ever get over a significant loss, but we do learn to move through it and live with it, and perhaps even learn to use it creatively to find our life’s purpose as well as harvest its lessons....

You can touch that thought and gently bounce back to attention on the breath and your body. But you might also say “Oh damn, there I go thinking again, I just can’t get away from this thinking and do this meditation.” We call that “entertaining the messenger.” When the messenger comes to the door and says “Hello, here’s the message,” instead of just taking the message—in this case, a cue to bounce back to the breath—we decide to get into a whole argument and keep the messenger around for a while....

Imagine you’re encircled by people who love you. Sit comfortably, eyes open or closed, and imagine yourself in the center of a circle made up of the most loving beings you’ve met. There may be some people in your circle who you’ve never met but have been inspired by. Maybe they exist now or they’ve existed historically, or even mythically. Receive the love of those who love you. Experience yourself as the recipient of the energy, attention, care, and regard of all of these beings in your circle of love....

It was several years before I realized the great folly of trying to fit into a gender box of someone else’s making. Shallowness and empty spaces in our lives can serve as wake-up calls, after all. Why would I follow someone else’s prescription of how to name and live my gender, my sexuality. Wasn’t this mine, and mine alone? Why wouldn’t I want to celebrate being queer? Being trans? Being connected to my sisters and brothers, my people from across the spectra of gender and sexuality?...

We can learn to work with thoughts in a friendly way. It’s good to remember that changing your relationship to your thoughts won’t happen overnight, and there’s no need to be hard on yourself along the way. It may be a long road, but it’s well traveled. It can be helpful to meet with an authorized mindfulness meditation instructor, either online or in person. Mindfulness practice is a living, breathing part of life rather than something rigid and formalized, so it’s helpful to interact with a person and not only the below instructions....