It’s a New Year, and while most of us are busy cleaning up from the holidays and making goals for 2024, there’s one resolution I hope everyone makes: one to be kinder to yourself. You might wonder if self-kindness can actually make a difference beyond just your feelings - but truthfully, it can be life-changing!

Most of us can are often extremely critical - both of ourselves and others - and tend to assume the worst in people. We often “react from a place of defensiveness, fear, or self-protection” rather than a place of love, grace, and healing. A mindful practice to reverse this trend in new year can transform how we think and, accordingly, how we live our lives.

I hope that you breathe out and relax a little when I tell you that all of us can - and should - be kinder to ourselves. All of us will experience negative emotions in our lives - doubt, fear, uncertainty, anger, grief, sorrow, to name a few - and the better we learn how to deal with these the quicker we can move back to joy. In the words of Tara Brach, who wrote this inspired article, “I have to love myself into healing.”

So what is the first step towards healing in the mist of difficult emotions?

If you are on my blog, then you probably already believe the practice of mindfulness can help you. You may not realize, however, the amazing amount of benefits this practice can bring. As this article points out, mindfulness is about more than just keeping your mind at peace. There are huge mental, emotional, and physical improvements you can see over time! Here are a few…

One of the core values I observe when teaching mindfulness is listening. Contrary to what you might believe, being a good listener does not happen on accident. It requires intention and practice, much like any skill or craft that you work to improve in your daily life. In fact, it quickly becomes obvious when you talk with someone who has not taken the time to improve his or her listening habits. It is easy to become distracted in conversation, turn the focus on yourself, or completely miss the purpose behind what the other person has to say.
None of us want to be known as bad listeners, especially to the people who matter most in our lives. So what can we do to practice mindful listening? Here are a few strategies…

The practice of journaling is by no means a new idea - it has been around for hundreds of years and though it comes back en vogue every once in awhile, countless people around the world write down their thoughts and feelings on a regular basis. This practice has many benefits, including increased motivation, better self-awareness and, for our purposes, mindfulness.

It’s a fact: when your kids can breathe easier, so can you, and oftentimes a slow and steady breath rate can make us all a little bit calmer. What won’t work, though, is suggesting to your small child that they practice breathing as a form of fun. After all, they want to be engaged in exciting activities for their minds and bodies!

Everywhere you look, there is a new way to ‘do more in less time.’ From adding in exercise while you stand at your desk to checking off to-do lists while you wait for a doctor’s appointment, multitasking has been the buzzword of the past decade. After all, who does not want to accomplish more in less time? Dear reader, I am here to tell you there is a better way.

We live in a world where technology is a constant interruption, among all the other things going on in our day. From life to work to the never-ending phone notifications, it often feels like our attention span is completely out of our control. For most of us, we are so used to living with these interruptions, we often cannot even recognize when our brains are no longer able to focus on the task at hand…

If the past 18-months have reminded us of anything, it’s that being a human being is just downright difficult. We knew this and acknowledged it before a global pandemic upended our lives, but spending so much time alone allowed us all to further indulge in the negative self-talk that was already such a big player in our headspace. So much of what we say to ourselves would never be acceptable to tell someone else, yet we often find it impossible to break the cycle…

While mindfulness is a practice that has been growing in popularity for years, in many ways it has not yet been fully embraced in the realms of mainstream medicine. Cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Fisher incorporates the many benefits of mindful meditation into his medical routine to treat patients with conditions ranging from small to severe. This growing trend is both exciting and timely.