Today we’re investigating how to practice mindfulness meditation  when we feel it is too hard or not possible. Or some other difficulty arises and gets in the way.Mindfulness is key to managing the difficulties and challenges of life. It is how we are in the world. It can be difficult to be mindful. We practice mindfulness meditation so that our mindfulness strengthens, deepens, and opens our hearts.Sometimes it is difficult to meditate. We have pre-conceived ideas about what it is and how well we can do it. Our confidence may be low or missing. Our inner critic may be letting us know all the reasons why we can't do it.The key is to recognize the difficulty that is arising and then to use tools to help you over the difficulty. That's what this podcast is all about.This week, I invite you to start where you are. Begin again whenever you need to. If you are meditating for one minute you you get distracted 10 times or 20 times, it doesn’t matter. No one is watching, judging, or keeping track. Simply notice and begin again. Befriend yourself. You are worth it.The guided meditation this week is a mindfulness of breath meditation. It is on the podcast’s members’ page at www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife.I hope you enjoy the podcast. Thank you for listening and I’d also like to thank the people behind the scenes that make it possible:Gorgias Romero for original music, audio engineering and production;Bill Rafferty for technical web support; Allie Allen for logo and podcast cover design; and Margaret Haas for announcing the showBe well. Be mindful. SUPPORT THE PODCASTFollow or subscribe to the podcast, download the episodes and share them with friends and on social media. And, don’t forget to review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Become a member of the podcast via Patreon. Go to the member page at www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife. All members have access to a new guided meditation each week on the member page. DISCLAIMERThe content in the podcast and on this webpage is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice and guidance of your health professional. Support the show Thank you for listening!Be well. Be mindful.

Hello and welcome. This week we explore the fourth face of love—equanimity. Equanimity is the state of mental calmness and evenness of temper in which the mind is steady and balanced and judging is absent. It is a state that allows us to take in the whole picture of a situation without coloring it and reacting to it, and to be fully aware in the moment. With equanimity our minds are even and imperturbable while at the same time fully engaged with the circumstances of a situation and aware of the present moment. The path to equanimity is to recognize when the mind is unsteady and out of balance— when it is grasping, pulling, pushing or turning away. To recognize when  judging is present and the mind feels chaotic—bouncing here and there.Recognizing the obstacles in our mind blocking equanimity, gives us a starting point to reach understanding and insight so we can let go and simply be with what’s here with clear and steady mind. We may notice that the strength of our equanimity comes and goes. This is understandable. As we practice, with attention and concentration, equanimity becomes stronger and stronger.Start with mindfulness of the breath. It may feel that you can’t pay attention to the breath and this is OK. Noticing this is the first step. Then settle into simply saying “in” on the in-breath and “out” on the out-breath and keep doing it. Or, count each breath (1,2,3…) and when you lose count begin again with “1.” You may begin to judge yourself saying things like, “I can’t do this.” This is OK. Just notice when you are judging and make a soft mental note saying inwardly  “judging” and then return your attention to the breath. This is the practice. Start where you are and return your attention when you lose your place. After awhile you will notice the qualities of equanimity beginning to appear—calmness, evenness, and non-judgment. This week strengthen your equanimity through your mindfulness of breath practice and by repeating a phrase during the day when you feel your mind going sideways. There are many phrases. Here are some.May I see things just as they are and not how I want them to be.May I remain peaceful as the storm rages around me.May I generate the inner resources to help where needed.May I see my limits with clear eyes just as I see the limits of others.This week's guided meditation on Equanimity may be found here on the podcast’s member page or paste  www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife into your browser.I hope you enjoy the show. Thank you for listening and I’d also like to thank the people behind the scenes that make it possible.Gorgias Romero for original music, audio engineering and production;Bill Rafferty for technical web support; Allie Allen for logo and podcast cover design; and Margaret Haas for announcing the showBe well. Be mindful.SUPPORT THE PODCASTWe need you! Please follow or subscribe, and review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.Become a member via Patreon. Go to the member page at www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife to sign up and to access the weekly guided meditations.DISCLAIMERThe content in the podcast and on this webpage is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice and guidance of your health professional. Support the show Thank you for listening!Be well. Be mindful.

Hello and welcome. Today we're talking about the third face of love -- Appreciative Joy.Appreciative joy is the quality of love that recognizes the full worth of joy in our and others lives. It is about being happy with other people—delighting in the joy of others and creating joy in ourselves. Appreciative joy blossoms when we recognize our reciprocal and interconnected humanity. We might think that it is easy to feel happiness for the happiness and good fortune of others and ourselves but sometimes it can be hard, especially when we are pre-occupied with all the troubles in the world. The ups and downs of our friends,  family, and ourselves may feel more down than up. We may neglect noticing our own happiness and good fortune and that of others around us when we let the negativity bias of the brain overwhelm the goodness in our and others lives.We can cultivate appreciative joy through our formal practice and by bringing it into our everyday lives. Asking ourselves how we create joy in ourselves and others and how we can respond to the joy around us is a practice that we can do any where or any time.Our capacity for joy is immeasurable. It can grow and grow. It has no limit. The more we practice it, the more it grows. Practice is what matters.This week I invite you to practice appreciate joy. Here’s a phrase that you can repeat whenever you experience someone’s happiness and good fortune. “I delight in your happiness. May it continue.” Say it often and see what a joyous difference it makes.This week's guided meditation on Appreciative Joy may be found on the podcast’s member page on www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife.I hope you enjoyed the show. Thank you for listening and I’d also like to thank the people behind the scenes that make it possible.Gorgias Romero for original music, audio engineering and production;Bill Rafferty for technical web support; Allie Allen for logo and podcast cover design; and Margaret Haas for announcing the showBe well. Be mindful.SUPPORT THE PODCASTFollow or subscribe to the podcast, download the episodes and share them with friends and on social media. And, don’t forget to review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.Become a member via Patreon. Go to the member page at www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife. All members have access to a new guided meditation each week on the member page.RESOURCES/CREDITSPittinsky, Todd L. and Montoya, R. Matthew, “Empathetic Joy in Positive Intergroup Relations,” Journal of Social Issues, Vol 72., No. 3, 2016, pp. 511-523DISCLAIMERThe content in the podcast and on this webpage is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice and guidance of your health professional. Support the show Thank you for listening!Be well. Be mindful.

Today we’re talking about compassion and what gets in the way of our acting compassionately.Compassion is the second face of love. Compassion is the recognition of suffering, the desire to relieve suffering, and the acting to relieve it without any expectations of anything in return.  Check out out Episode 8 that also talk about the four faces of love.Compassion comes naturally but is difficult when obstacles get in the way. Being able to recognize obstacles allows us to mindfully be with them and let them go freeing us to live compassionately.Here are some of what can get in our way:We can’t reach out because we believe that that person has created our suffering. Our pride gets in the way.We shy away from compassion because we’re afraid what others will think about us. We’re afraid of being judged. Our compassion isn’t strong enough to overcome that judgement.We feel obligated to do something for someone and we do it because we want to keep in the good graces of another person. Or, We don’t want to be cast out of the group. Our action is guided.When we feel stressed or overwhelmed it is hard to be compassionate.When we feel we don’t have what it takes to be compassionate or that it will demand too much from us, we shy away from it.Bringing mindfulness to these obstacles as they arise is our path forward. Being with what arises, feeling it and how it feels in the body.  Asking little questions and investigating allows it to come forward and let go. None of us is perfect. We all have traits that we don’t like and we all make mistakes. This is part of the human condition— our common humanity.  When we accept this we can then bring self compassion to ourselves and then bring compassion to others.This week I invite you to sit quietly asking two questions and seeing what rises to the surface not from the head but from the heart. To begin, practice mindfulness of the breath meditation for a few minutes to unit body and mind in presence and sharpen attention and concentration. The first question is, “What value do I put on compassion?” Is compassion one of my core values that define how I live my life? Why? Why not? The second is,“Who do I know who is compassionate and what makes them so?”  Have paper and pencil handy and jot down notes as you sit. This week’s guided self-compassion meditation is on the podcast membership page at www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife. I hope you enjoy the show. Thank you for listening and I’d also like to thank the people behind the scenes that make it possibleGorgias Romero for original music, audio engineering and production;Bill Rafferty for technical web support; Allie Allen for logo and podcast cover design; and Margaret Haas for announcing the showBe well. Be mindful.SUPPORT THE PODCASTFollow or subscribe to the podcast, download the episodes and share them with friends and on social media. And, don’t forget to review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.Become a member via Patreon. Go to the member page at www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife. All members have access to a new guided meditation each week on the member page.DISCLAIMERThe content in the podcast and on this webpage is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice and guidance of your health professional. Support the show Thank you for listening!Be well. Be mindful.

Today we’re exploring the First Face of Love—Lovingkindness. The practice of lovingkindness cultivates our natural capacity for an open , alive, and loving heart. When we dedicate ourselves to a lovingkindness practice, we feel our heart opening and staying open even when troubles happen.It might be hard  to get our heads around the word lovingkindness. Maybe the thought — What other kind of kindness is there? Or, “What has love got to do with kindness?” arises.  When we are loving we show our caring. When we are kind we show our friendliness, generosity, and consideration. So, when we practice lovingkindness we are practicing all these things—friendliness, caring, generosity, consideration, goodwill, and benevolence. And we are expressing our deep connectedness; everyone gets to play; no one is excluded or sidelined from giving and receiving lovingkindness. Note that when we talk about friendliness, we're not talking about friendship or being friends; we are talking about being affable and good-natured towards all. In this episode we talk about how to practice lovingkindness to ourselves and every being around us when there is conflict, doubt, and hurt as well as when our inner critic disparages us.We also talk about expressing lovingkindness to the world in which we live by how we walk in the world. This week I invite you to practice lovingkindness.  One way to engage your lovingkindness practice is through a lovingkindness meditation for the body. I learned this meditation from Sharon Salzberg who learned it from Ananda Maitreya, a Sri Lankan monk, who lived brightly in this world until almost 102 years of age. In this lovingkindness meditation for the body start at the head—the crown of the head. May my head be happy. May it be peaceful. Then continue by visiting each place in the body—the shoulders, arms, hands, and fingers. The back, the chest, the belly, the organs, the pelvis and hips, the legs, the feet, and the toes. May my toes be happy. May they be peaceful.A recorded version of this meditation, is available on the member's page for the podcast https://www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife. If you are not a member you can sign up and access the meditation on the member’s page.I hope you enjoy the show. Thank you for listening and I’d also like to thank the people behind the scenes that make it possibleGorgias Romero for original music, audio engineering and production;Bill Rafferty for technical web support;Allie Allen for logo and podcast cover design; andMargaret Haas for announcing the showBe well. Be mindful.SUPPORT THE SHOWFollow or subscribe to the podcast, download the episodes and share them with friends and on social media. Don't forget to review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.Become a member via Patreon. Go here or paste www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife into your browser.  All members have access to a new guided meditation each week on Thursdays at the member website.DISCLAIMERThe content in the podcast and on this webpage is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice and guidance of your health professional. Support the show Thank you for listening!Be well. Be mindful.

Can you be with delays without getting upset? When trouble hits can you accept it without getting angry? When you become ill can you tolerate it, even accept it?Join me! Announcing a four-week meditation class, The Four Faces of Love, meeting once a week on Zoom beginning June 7, 2023. In this class we will explore lovingkindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. For more information and to register click here or paste https://yourmindfulpractice.com/book-a-class into your browser. Today we’re exploring patience and how cultivating and growing our patience allows us to strengthen our equanimity, accept things as they are, and brings us inner and outer peace.In the podcast we explore how to be tolerant, how to work with anger, and how forgiveness and compassion come into play when we practice patience. We can’t truly be free and at peace unless we are patient. Patience is a characteristic of the mindful person. We’re aware of what is happening in the present moment whether it be delay or harm or pain and we can be with it without allowing frustration or anger to take over. We are tolerant, forgiving, and compassionate to ourselves and others.I hope you enjoy the show and that you’ll be moved to support the show. This week I invite you to practice patience when delay or harm is present. Forgive yourself and others and patiently investigate without blaming; find the root cause; and act with compassion.If you would like to meditate with me this week I am offering a guided meditation to members of the podcast. Go here for the guided meditation or paste to https://www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife into your browser.Support the show by following or subscribing to the podcast where you listen and by becoming a member via Patreon by going here or pasting  www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife into your browser. Don’t forget to download the episodes and share them with friends and on social media. And, review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Thank you for listening and I’d also like to thank the people behind the scenes that make it possibleGorgias Romero for original music, audio engineering and production;Bill Rafferty for technical web support; Allie Allen for logo and podcast cover design; and Margaret Haas for announcing the showBe well. Be mindful. RESOURCES/CREDITSCompassion Institute https://www.compassioninstitute.comThe Forgiveness Project https://www.theforgivenessproject.comSUPPORT THE SHOWFollow or subscribe to the podcast, download the episodes and share them with friends and on social media. And, don’t forget to review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.Become a member via Patreon. Click here or paste  https://www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife into your browser. All members have access to a new guided meditation each week at the member website. DISCLAIMERThe content in the podcast and on this webpage is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice and guidance of your health professional. Support the show Thank you for listening!Be well. Be mindful.

Do you ever find yourself making excuses such as “I didn’t have time.” “I had to do errands.” “I got busy and forgot.”Hello everyone and welcome. Today we’re investigating the practice of diligence and how it can not only help us get things done—like for example, our daily meditation—but also how it is about opening to our natural joy and how cultivating a joyful attitude towards what needs to get done helps us complete our tasks and makes us feel good.We look at the reasons we need to apply diligence to doing our meditation practice and everything else worthwhile in our lives. For example, we need diligence to move from where we are now to some new place. Effort is required but often our minds are lazy. The mind likes the status quo because it likes patterns and habits. And, so we find ourselves being lazy, making excuses, and not doing something even when we know the benefits of doing it. Diligence helps us to overcome the inertia of the mind its laziness.Diligence also protects us from idleness and defeatism.Bringing joy to diligence is a game changer. Instead of “I have to,” that sense of “I get to” even if it is hard gives us the uplifting energy we need to see it through.And, we talk about what to do when it feels difficult or the inertia feels insurmountable.This week I invite you to practice joyful effort and see how it changes your practice and every day lives and don’t forget to access the guided meditation on the podcast’s member page or paste https://patreon.com/yourmindfullife into your browser.Beginning June 7, join me in a four-week class on Love. Each week we’ll explore a different aspect of love including lovingkindness, compassion, joy and, equanimity. This class is live on Zoom. To learn more and book the class go  here or paste https://www.yourmindfulpractice.com/book-a-class into your browser.Thank you for listening. I so appreciate you and the people behind the scenes that make the podcast possible.Gorgias Romero for original music, audio engineering and production; Bill Rafferty for technical web support; Allie Allen for logo and podcast cover design; and Margaret Haas for announcing the show Be well. Be mindful. WEBSITEwww.yourmindfulpractice.comSUPPORT THE SHOW Follow or subscribe to the podcast, download the episodes and share them with friends and on social media. And, don’t forget to review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Become a member via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife. All members have access to each week's guided meditation on the member website or paste https://www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife into your browser. BOOK-A-CLASSRegister for the mindfulness meditation class live on Zoom on June 7, 14, 21, and 28. During these four weeks we will explore the Four Faces of Love. For more information or to register click here or paste https://www.yourmindfulpractice.com/book-a-class into your browser.  DISCLAIMER The content in the podcast and on this webpage is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice and guidance of your health professional. Support the show Thank you for listening!Be well. Be mindful.

Do you have a favorite place or time of day to meditate? If the space around you is noisy, do you feel that you can’t meditate? Or maybe you feel that other conditions are necessary to be able to meditate? Do your preferences dictate your experience?Today we’re talking about how preferences can intrude on our ability to be with it all—to be mindful—in our practice and everywhere else.We are continuously striving for comfort—even in our meditation practice. We like what we like. Maybe a certain chair or cushion, a time of day, a space or room. What happens then when conditions change and what we prefer is not available to us?Some of us may go with the flow; and others might say, “This isn’t OK.” I can’t meditate in these conditions.What goes on on the the cushion or chair is also what goes on in our every day lives. The constant wanting comfort; the wanting things to be how we like them.Often we are not even aware of how we strive for comfort and for everything to be just so. It’s automatic unless we begin to be aware and pay attention. So, how do we get to know our preferences? That's what we talk about today and also talk about practicing mindfulness of feeling tone.  As one of my students recently said, “Practicing feeling tone of experience is really powerful; it wakes me up!”I invite you you to recognize your preferences and to be aware of the feeling tone of experience. Then let go and be in the moment with whatever is happening and however it is happening. This week the guided meditation on my Patreon page is a Feeling Tone of Experience meditation. Members can access it under Posts. If you’d like to access the weekly guided meditation become a member by going here or by copying and pasting https://www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife into your browser. Enjoy the show. I’m grateful that you are here and I’m grateful for the people behind the scenes that make the podcast possibleGorgias Romero for original music, audio engineering and production;Bill Rafferty for technical web support; Allie Allen for logo and podcast cover design; and Margaret Haas for announcing the showBe well. Be mindful. SUPPORT THE SHOWFollow or subscribe to the podcast, download the episodes and share them with friends and on social media. Review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Become a member via Patreon. Click here to become a member. All members have access to a new guided meditation each week at the member website. That’s www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife.DISCLAIMERThe content in the podcast and on this webpage is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice and guidance of your health professional. Support the show Thank you for listening!Be well. Be mindful.

Do you ever wonder how you can step away from getting carried away by emotions? Or, how you can step away from reacting when something goes wrong or isn’t turning out as you expected it to? Or have you ever caught yourself reacting via automatic pilot and then wished you hadn’t?Hello and welcome everyone. This week we're investigating how pausing is a powerful ally helping us to stay balanced even when emotions are running strong.Often we react on automatic pilot. We automatically lash out. In this mode we are not aware of how we are reacting. And, often feelings of regret swamp us when we realize what we have just done or said. Automatic pilot is sometimes helpful. We don't have to think how to drive a car each time we get behind the steering wheel. We don't have to remember how to tie our shoes or type. We just know.But when someone says something we don't like or a situation is different than what we expected and we lash out either through words or actions, we suffer. The pause is the path to mindfulness and away from this suffering. The pause gives us time and space to focus our awareness on the breath and calm down our overwrought nervous system. It gives us space and time to ask ourselves "What's happening now?" helping us to wake up our awareness. It gives us time to consider what our intention is so that we enquire if that intention serves us or not.It gives us time to WAIT asking ourselves "Why Am I Talking." It shows us how silence and listening help.When we pause we slow down the interaction, we give ourselves time for our thinking brain to come on line. We give ourselves the opportunity to respond appropriately. I hope you enjoy the podcast and invite you to pause often.Thanks for listening and thanks to the people behind the scenes that make the podcast possible. Gorgias Romero for original music, audio engineering and production; Bill Rafferty for technical web support; Allie Allen for logo and podcast cover design; and Margaret Haas for announcing the show Be well. Be mindful. SUPPORT THE SHOW Follow or subscribe to the podcast, download the episodes and share them with friends and on social media. And, don’t forget to review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Become a member via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife. All members have access to a new guided meditation each week on the member website. That’s https://www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife. DISCLAIMER The content in the podcast and on this webpage is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice and guidance of your health professional. Support the show Thank you for listening!Be well. Be mindful.

Do you ever wonder why we are always talking about the body when we talk about mindfulness? Do you wonder what the body has to do with knowing the mind? Hello and welcome everyone. This week we are talking about the body and why the body is essential to our practice of mindfulness.It's simple. We live our lives through the body. We practice mindfulness through the body. Remember our very first meditation is mindfulness of the breath! The body and mind are intricately linked. But it is not so simple. We are conditioned to have an adversarial or unrealistic relationship with the body. We are taught to ignore the body.We explore how the body supports training our minds. How we decondition the mind from beliefs about the body by understanding how the body is a portal to the mind--the seat of our dissatisfaction and suffering. The body tells us exactly what is happening in the moment and with this information we can be with what is happening, enquire about what's behind it, and allow it to unwind and let go. I hope you enjoy the podcast. Thanks for listening.I’d also like to thank the people behind the scenes that make it possibleGorgias Romero for original music, audio engineering and production;Bill Rafferty for technical web support; Allie Allen for logo and podcast cover design; and Margaret Haas for announcing the showBe well. Be mindful. SUPPORT THE SHOWFollow or subscribe to the podcast, download the episodes and share them with friends and on social media. And, don’t forget to review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Become a member via Patreon.  All members have access to a new guided meditation each week at the member website. Become a member and get your meditation at https:// www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife.RESOURCES/CREDITSGaleano, Eduardo, Walking Words, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1997DISCLAIMERThe content in the podcast and on this webpage is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice and guidance of your health professional. Support the show Thank you for listening!Be well. Be mindful.