When a child is hurt, a caring adult can reach out with a soothing touch and a soft voice to comfort them. That soothing touch and gentle voice taps into the mammalian caregiver response, prompting the release of oxytocin and opiates in both adults and children. Many people don’t realize they can give [...]
I was one of the 21,500 people who joined in to listen to Jon Kabat-Zinn this week. He said, “All of life is the meditation.” How I like to unpack what he means is mindfulness in daily life activities. Anytime you are paying attention to what you are doing when you are doing [...]
The following post was written by Wendy Manwarren Generes, Editorial Director at San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles. Wendy reached out to me for the content, and we developed a nice email correspondence as the world started sheltering in place because of Covid -19. The magazine is not going to stay in business, so I’m [...]
I get asked this question a lot, and the short answer is: No. Mindfulness and meditation are different practices, though they are certainly interrelated. Mindfulness is paying attention to what you are doing while you are doing it, rather than worrying or ruminating. You can turn anything you do into a mindfulness activity, [...]
When I started my journey with mindfulness, I desperately needed to find balance in my life for myself, not for anyone else. I’m not a professor or therapist. I’m just a normal woman who took in what was available, figured it out, and practiced like there was no tomorrow. After a few years [...]
Have you ever heard about opening your heart? Or closing your heart when your open heart feels too much emotion? Mindfulness teachers, and Mindful Self Compassion teachers talk in these terms, but it’s a little vague and abstract until you notice an upwelling of some rush of feeling and need to tame it, [...]
Chaos is a natural part of life, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy to manage. When we’re overloaded, maxed out, stressed out, and overwhelmed, even the beautiful order and rhythm of life’s natural way of unfolding can feel chaotic. Life, death, and everything in between sometimes feels like “just too much to [...]
The other day I was driving down the road thinking, “I just can’t take this for one more minute!” Then of course, I answered myself with “Of course you can, and you will, because you always do - there is no exit ramp, no way out, no way off this roller coaster.” I [...]
I have this memory from 1990 of feeling like my little baby and I were all alone in the universe. The love that I felt for him was heartbreaking. I could sit and watch him sleep for hours, waiting for his little cherub lip to quiver in his slumber. Everything else in my [...]
This year, let mindfulness help you become more resilient. Feel your frustration, disappointment, or whatever it is that comes up for you, then turn to one of these Mindful Methods tools to comfort yourself, as you would comfort a dear friend. You are that dear friend! You can enjoy the present more without [...]
