Tag: anxiety

How to Keep Meditating When You’re Angry at Social Injustice

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A close-up of a pair of hands appearing to hold fire sparks that glow bright orange and yellow. The half-face seen above the hands appears to be male and is calm and relaxed.

How do you keep meditating in the face of rage against injustice? It isn’t easy to consider anger and outrage in a meditation practice. Any meditation practice. And certainly not one in which you try to focus on universal love. I mean, who wants to love their enemy? Someone who destroys the values that you hold as important. No one, that’s who. But are the benefits worth the effort? The answer to every question is always love. I believe that, I know it to be true. But when you feel the breath of the enemy on your face, do you…

8 Common Meditation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, Part 1

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A young woman with long brown hair is seated outdoors at a peaceful riverbank, her hands folded as if to meditate, but her brow is furrowed.

There are many scientific benefits of meditation, including stress relief, increased self-awareness, and even a longer lifespan! However, without the proper meditation techniques, you may not be able to receive all of these benefits as you meditate. In part 1 of this 2-part series, get ready for a deep dive into just 4 common meditation mistakes and specific suggestions for how you can avoid them. 1. Holding onto Your Thoughts Meditation is a practice that allows you to clear your mind. Or, perhaps better said, it can allow you to allow your mind to clear.  Often, the chatty mind seems…

Picture Yourself Happy to Make Yourself Happy

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Not too long ago, a virtual stranger – a Twitter friend I’ve never met in person but have been interacting with for years – shared with me in private that she’d gotten married. Suddenly, unexpectedly. She found love where she least looked for it or anticipated finding it. It came into her life, she felt it, she embraced it, she claimed it. She was overflowing with happiness. And her happiness flooded into my mind, and my heart. It was the best I’d felt in months. This wasn’t a Buddhist mudita exercise. It was a core experience of being me, and…