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Sometimes, all we need is a simple road map to get us started—or restarted, if it’s been some time since we practiced. Here are five essential elements to creating a mindfulness meditation practice in daily life: 1. Prepare Yourself Before even attempting to do any practice, it’s important to understand that your practice is not a performance. Each practice doesn’t need to be evaluated about whether it was a “good” meditation or a “bad” meditation....

It’s time for The Pause. Impatience is inside us. Technology is outside. In moments of impatience, pause, and bring your attention to your breath: Breathe in, breathe out. Try three long slow breaths, noticing the breath and nothing else. Pausing, even for three breaths, before reacting to a difficult situation is a form of patience. Patience includes perseverance and acceptance of truth. And it also allows us to not return harm, rather than merely enduring a difficult situation....

For more information, click here. And to register, click here. Please note that payment is processed through the information site. The “Gathering of Mindful Professionals,” taking place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, brings together professionals in a contemplative environment to share their experiences, support one another, and explore new contemplative applications. The gathering begins on Thursday with a keynote talk titled “The Mindfulness Movement: Can the Quiet Revolution Go Mainstream?” delivered by James Gimian, publisher of our upcoming magazine—Mindful....

Like some European leaders, such as in Britain and France, for example, the officials say they want to move beyond the traditional measures of success (such as economic growth) to promote policies that produce more than just material well-being. In order to rate happiness, this spring officials sent, along with the city’s census forms, a questionnaire asking residents to rate their happiness on a scale from one to 10. So far, more than 7,500 people have mailed back the survey....

He began working at MetWest in the fall of 2020 and had not previously met his students in person. Given the complex and deeply human nature of his work, he knew it would be a challenge over Zoom. The community he serves—93% students of color and 70% who live under the poverty line—has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Making matters more challenging, teens often opt to turn their cameras or even mics off in remote class....

If we take a look at our conversation style based on five elements, we might find valuable doors open and take us into more mindful and artful conversation. Be present: “Con” means together with. If you want to have a conversation, be present, fiercely. Since the value of a conversation lies in what all parties have given and/or gained, if you’re not present, there will be no exchange. Think before you speak: Take the time you need to craft your language....

C — Choose to stay open As we make the conscious choice to stay open, raw, and vulnerable, we can be brave, tender, and present to the technicolor experiences that reveal life’s texture and richness. H — Have awareness of what is unfolding, moment by moment The key to mindfulness is training ourselves to notice the details: Which thoughts are here? Which emotions? Which body sensations? As we stop trying to resist what’s coming our way, we can become scientists of our own experience—full of wonder at each new discovery....

I was rehearsing, ready to give the most important talk of my life, and after the third line into the talk, my mind would go blank. The words, drowned deep down inside me, just couldn’t make their way to my mouth. I tried three times and failed each time. I heard myself thinking, Maybe I should gracefully bow out and give this talk when I am better prepared. The irony wasn’t lost on me....

Although my son didn’t stay mad for long, kids, like adults, can hold on to intense anger when they feel wronged. At its most extreme, this anger can lead young people to ruminate about betrayal and seek revenge through acts like physical aggression that can devastate families and communities. Can we teach our kids to forgive instead? As psychologist Robert Enright and psychiatrist Richard Fitzgibbons write, forgiveness is a choice to let go of anger toward someone who hurt you and to think, feel, or act with kindness toward that person....

From his perspective, he was being forced to audition for “character roles” (“which is code for not attractive in the entertainment industry” says Gaffigan) instead of the archetypes his physique fit into. Then he had a realization: he might strike others differently. “I remember this realization like why am I being cast as this? That’s just how I come across,” says Gaffigan in a recent video for Bigthink. “And I’ll often meet people and they’ll say ‘You’re much taller than I thought....

The program is open to youths age 14 to 18, and includes expeditions that last either five or seven days. Students live on a thirty-foot wooden boat with three sails. It’s seven feet wide and carries a crew of 13. There is no motor. When there is no wind, the students propel the boat using eight large oars. Each night the oars are laid across the hull to create a platform on which the students bed down in sleeping bags....

“Scientists have known for a while that both of these activities alone can help with depression,” says Tracey Shors, a professor of exercise science at Rutgers and co-author of the study. “But this study suggests that when done together, there is a striking improvement in depressive symptoms along with increases in synchronized brain activity.” The study included 52 participants—22 diagnosed with depression. For eight weeks, volunteers meditated for 30 minutes and completed 30 minutes of aerobic exercise twice a week....

Water flows from high mountain sources. Water runs deep in the Earth. Miraculously, water comes to us and sustains all life. Even if we know the source of our water, we often take its appearance for granted. But water is what makes all life on Earth possible. Our bodies are more than 70 percent water. Our food can be grown and raised because of water. Water is a good friend, a bodhisattva, which nourishes the many thousands of species on Earth....

My favorite season to cook with onions is in springtime when you can get them fresh. Fresh onions are a little milder than their dried counterparts because the drying process concentrates heir flavor. Regardless of which variety you use, onions are a flavor powerhouse. They can form the base for a hearty soup or stew, they can shine as the star of a dish, or they can be used sparingly as a garnish, adding zing to any meal....

Perfectly Ordinary Days Childbirth and Beyond Adoption 8 Mindful Practices for Parents Barbie Dolls and Bottom Lines Grandmother Mind Love is the Measure of Our Practice Sprouting Seeds of Compassion The Art of Losing: On Writing, Dying and Mom Death Don’t Have No Mercy: A Memoir of a Mother’s Death

Jeremy, a fellow in his forties who worked for a city fire department, suffered from an inflexible routine. In our first meeting, he described the weekly inspections and the standard of cleanliness the firehouse enforced with almost military strictness. Jeremy also described how each day after returning home from work, instead of greeting his family, he headed straight for the kitchen to do an inspection. If there were any dishes in the sink, he immediately started washing them—and fuming at the same time....