How to Prime Your Brain For Joy—with Dr.Wendy Suzuki
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Take a moment to recall one of your most joyful memories. Now, close your eyes and relive it. Where were you? Who were you with? How did you feel? Focus on your senses. What did you see and hear? Smell and taste? Spend a few minutes reliving this memory. How did this mini-meditation make you feel? This is a practice called Joy Conditioning, created by Since learning it, I’ve started my morning meditation by from the day prior. This simple ritual transformed my energy; Inspiring feelings of awe, abundance, and appreciation to start the day. Dr....
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An Activist’s Journey Leading the Clean Living Movement
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After graduated from college, she was seeking a job in the environmental non-profit space. Despite being passionate about climate change, she landed a role in consumer safety. Soon after, she was invited to meet with one of the top environmental organizations in Minnesota. They hoped she’d support their advocacy efforts to remove toxic chemicals from baby products. Kids weren't on Lindsay’s radar. Still, she said ‘yes’ and returned to her office for a late night of research. Her discoveries changed the course of her life—and yours. Lindsay’s research revealed that toxic...
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Letting Go as an Act of Self-Compassion—with Sharon Salzberg
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When was teaching at a meditation retreat, a student asked her: Has anyone ever died of restlessness in meditation? Sharon said: Not from one moment at a time of it. “We have physical pain, disappointment, restlessness, and anxiety,” Sharon shared. “Whatever it is, we tend to compound it, not only: This is what I'm feeling right now. But, this is what I'm going to feel like next year. Everything congeals and feels permanent and heavy. But, when we realize that it's one moment at a time of it. Then, we can explore. What we see is that even though something may last over time,...
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How to Live with Ease—with Dr.Thema Bryant
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While preparing for my interview with , I was struck by an exercise she shared. During a podcast, she invited listeners to fill out the prompt: “I miss me who…” I was surprised by how quickly a simple prompt awakened dormant longings; And, eager to learn how to rediscover the lost parts of ourselves. In reflecting on her journey, she shared: “In healing, I return to the truth of myself.” Her sentiment captures why the prompt stood out to me: Too often, we wait too long to embody our essence—or never do it at all. In our conversation, Dr.Thema leads us on our path back...
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In Stillness, What You Need Finds You—with Pico Iyer
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The first time I read my favorite poem, On Prayer, this stanza stood out to me… For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether? And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space, it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart. And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer, she should spur you again and yet again, though weeping, until you shall come laughing. When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very hour, and whom save in...
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Revitalizing Our Attention with Katherine May
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Before my interview with , a Mary Oliver quote resurfaced that felt representative of Katherine’s work: “This is the first, wildest, and wisest thing I know, that the soul exists, and that it is built entirely out of attentiveness.” Katherine’s books, most recently and , are testaments that the quality of our attention transforms the quality of our lives. “I firmly believe that the depth of attention we crave can only happen if we let ourselves slow down," she says. "Most of the time, we are speeding so far past everything that we don't have a chance to engage with it....
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Awakening to Our Blessings
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was on her way to lead her community, —a Jewish community she founded 20 years ago with a new vision of how faith can center and connect us—in the sacred ceremony of Tashlikh, when she stopped to buy index cards and sharpies. It was an unexpected stop, given the day’s holiness: Every year between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the two holiest days of the year, the Jewish community visits a body of water to release their sins, or anything they don’t want to carry into the new year, into the water. Still, Rabbi Brous was reflecting on the dying wishes of her dear friend and community...
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Anne Lamott on the Love that Holds Us Invisibly
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“When we are paying attention, we see how much love holds us invisibly.” This is the line that stayed with me most from Anne Lamott’s new, and 20th book, I read it during a stressful weekend and it illuminated the beauty of my family and friends’ care. As Anne says, “humanity is another synonym for God.” Anne’s gift is her rare ability to combine spiritual wisdom and laugh out loud humor into an operating manual for life, even, and especially, amidst its imperfection. In our conversation, we explore our ongoing journey to find our center and cultivate the sense of peace we...
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Learned Excellence
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once said “I want to risk hitting my head on the ceiling of my talent. I want to really test it out and say, ‘Okay, you’re not that good. You just reached the level here.’ I don’t ever want to fail, but I want to risk failure every time out of the gate.” This bold and farsighted perspective is a key ingredient that Eric Potterat and Alan Eagle highlight in their work with and observation of a wide-ranging group of elite performers across business, extreme sports, and the militarily. In their book - Mental Disciplines for Leading and Winning from the...
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The Cultivation of Freedom and Happiness
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‘When we can combine our urge to be happy with wisdom instead of ignorance it becomes a homing instinct for freedom.’ This is one of the insights I was most eager to explore with renowned Buddhist teacher from her new book, . I was curious why, despite devoting so much time to learning about happiness, I continue looking for it in the wrong places. Sharon introduced us to the yearning held within our grasping in and I was similarly moved by her wisdom in this one. “In most strongly emotional times, we're not looking at the emotion itself to try to see what’s at the heart of it and...
info_outlineWhen Sharon Salzberg was teaching at a meditation retreat, a student asked her: Has anyone ever died of restlessness in meditation? Sharon said: Not from one moment at a time of it.
“We have physical pain, disappointment, restlessness, and anxiety,” Sharon shared. “Whatever it is, we tend to compound it, not only: This is what I'm feeling right now. But, this is what I'm going to feel like next year. Everything congeals and feels permanent and heavy.
But, when we realize that it's one moment at a time of it. Then, we can explore. What we see is that even though something may last over time, within itself it’s moving. It’s changing and flowing. It’s in the live system. As a friend with a severe chronic pain condition said: "I found the space within the pain.”
How do you discover the space within the pain?
As a renowned author, teacher, and meditation pioneer, Sharon has made a transformative difference in my internal dialogue; Most significantly, in helping me avoid being overcome by my emotions. (My most repeated Sharon phrase is: The point isn’t not to have the emotion. It’s not to be overcome by it.) In our conversation, we explore how to discern the add-ons to our internal narrative, let go of those that don’t serve us, and cultivate compassion towards ourselves and others.
Sharon describes mindfulness as skills training. With sustained practice, these tools become ingrained; Surfacing to help you question your thoughts and redirect your energy in the moment. “Situations are complex,” she added. “But, if we’ve practiced that skill, we remember to go back into the body and feel what we're feeling. We cultivate a certain sense of balance—That's the skill.” If you feel inspired to listen to our past conversations, you can tune in here: The Cultivation of Freedom and Happiness and The Journey from Contraction to Expansiveness