Vincent, bald headed with a full bushy red beard, told me an interesting story as he was grinding his elbow into my piriformis muscle at physical therapy this week. “I was special operations forces in the Coast Guard for 20 years. I just got out in 2016. I trained here in the USA, [...]
The lab technician came to the waiting room and called my name. I followed her to the cubicle with the padded brown chair that has the armrests that flop over the front of the chair. “Okay, Julie, the first thing I need to tell you is that I am an intern.” I smiled [...]
A friend recently asked me, “How long is it going to take to figure out this life stuff?” I said, “I don’t want to sound demoralizing, but it’s really a lifetime practice managing your emotions and your stress and your sorrow. It takes a lifetime.” Mindfulness is a tool that can help us [...]
Years ago, before I started my mindfulness training, I was devastatingly, clinically depressed. I even considered suicide. Luckily, I got help immediately with a very good therapist and anti-depressant medication. This gave me the space I needed to begin the very hard work of learning to soothe myself. This life we live in [...]
“Oh, you have a stone?” he asked. “Yes, it’s a here and now stone… a kind of a meditation thing. Is it okay if I hold it in my hand during the procedure? I mean, can I take it in the CAT scan machine?” “Sure, I don’t see why not,” he said. This [...]
We all know what it feels like to be going about our business and be emotionally blindsided by someone in a state of anxiety, anger, or unrest. Even if we had been feeling pretty alright before that, it can be challenging to leave those kind of interactions without absorbing some of those emotions [...]
Have you ever called yourself “sweetheart?” If not, I highly recommend it. It cracks me up every time, and cracking up makes me feel better. If sweetheart doesn’t do it for you, come up with something hilariously, comfortingly perfect from your own imagination. Lovey? Sweetums? Schnookie Bear? (*cringe*) But seriously… if it brings [...]
What happens when you say to yourself, “I’m so fucking finished” and you know that actually, you can’t quit. Actually, you aren’t finished… you are in it until the end… so what are you going to do to make it work??????? Oh my Jesus… Where does radical self-care start? Baby steps! That’s where [...]
One of the most beautiful things about being a mindfulness author and teacher is that, as much as I get to share these invaluable tools with others, I also have an ongoing opportunity to deepen my own mindfulness practices. In fact, I frequently share examples of mindfulness adventures from my own life on [...]
The landscape in the Sea of Cortez is magnificent. I imagine sailors hundreds of years ago witnessing the rugged cliffs, the jagged and smooth shapes and colors of burnt sienna, reds, beiges, and greens, awed by the gifts of nature. I kept snapping photos, trying to picture how I might paint such a [...]
