Journey Forward with Joree Rose

One of the hardest and yet most powerful practices in mindfulness is the practice of equanimity. This is mental calmness despite what is arising around you. It is radical acceptance at the deepest level, and when you can come to accept what it is - even if you don't like what is - things begin to shift; you are no longer stuck in cycles of judgment and reactivity. This provides you freedom because you are no longer dependent on external circumstances to determine your mood, your emotions or your present moment experience. Equanimity does not mean you don't care; in fact, it's the deepest wisdom to acknowledge that "it is what it is." It is the ability to see things as they are, without instantly judging it as "good or bad" or "positive or negative." Equanimity can also serve to regulate our nervous system, helping us to stay calm even in overwhelming situations.

I'm hosting my yearly end of the year workshop Let Your Sh*t Go (which this year of course will be a virtual zoom event) on Wednesday Dec. 30 at 10am PST. Register here: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=17719296&appointmentType=18892514

And if you like what you hear, and want to be part of my Journey Forward community, visit www.joreerose.com or join my Journey Forward Facebook group.

Suffering exists; it's the first Noble Truth as defined by the Buddha and mindfulness offers the pathways out of that suffering. In this week's episode, I share how and why compassion, self-compassion and lovingkindness are practices that you need to be practicing right now. While these tools don't negate the pain or challenge in your life, they simply offer a different lens through which to see the world, helping you shift your focus of attention from rumination into a softening of mind, heart and spirit. Especially as we are closing out the end of 2020, probably one of the most difficult years we've collectively experienced in our recent memory, it's more important now than ever to maintain your emotional and mental health as a foundation of your physical health. No matter where you are, or what your situation, compassion, self-compassion and lovingkindness are always available to you; the key is to remember to practice, which I will guide you through during this episode.

If you like what you hear, and want to be part of my Journey Forward community, visit www.joreerose.com or join my Journey Forward Facebook group,

In a continuation of mini master classes in mindfulness, this week's episode I talk about how to be more mindful of your thoughts. I see people most getting stuck in one of two areas (or both!): their emotions and their thoughts. When we get stuck in our thoughts, we ruminate, the thoughts never seem to slow down, we get caught in a cycle of reactivity, we believe our thoughts as truth, we focus on the negative, we don't know what to believe when we think one thing and feel another...and so much more! But when we are able to simply observe the thoughts, and see them for simply what they are, the less power they have over us. I take you on a journey through a time I went ghost hunting in New Orleans to demonstrate the power of mindfulness when related to our thoughts.

If you like what you hear, and want to be part of my Journey Forward community, visit www.joreerose.com or join my Journey Forward Facebook group,

You often hear the phrase, have an attitude of gratitude...and while your attitude and mindset are important factors of how you bring gratitude into your life, what's more important is your action. In this week's episode, another mini masterclass in a mindfulness practice, I talk about the power of gratitude, the research that backs it up, and some of my favorite ways to practice being more grateful, not just this week for Thanksgiving, but for all year long.

If you like what you hear, and want to be part of my Journey Forward community, visit www.joreerose.com or join my Journey Forward Facebook group,

In a continuation of each episode through the end of December, I'm offering a mini masterclass in the application of mindful tools to help you get unstuck and journey forward to living your best life. In this episode, I talk about how to get through the tunnel of emotions from which you are stuck. It is said that emotions have a cycle, and emotional exhaustion, burnout and feeling overwhelmed doesn't come from the emotion itself, but from our inability to let the natural cycle of the emotion complete. There is a beginning, middle and end, and we tend to not know how to move ourselves through. Mindfulness - the ability to be present, increase awareness with compassion, acceptance, equanimity, observe what's arising, respond and not react - are all great ways to begin being with whatever emotion is present. But if that's not helping, and you're still feeling stuck, then what? Tune in to hear me go through 7 tangible tools to help you move through your emotions, as outlined in the new book Burnout, by Emily and Amelia Nagoski.

To learn more about mindfulness and how to apply it to your life, visit www.joreerose.com or join my Journey Forward Facebook group,

It's an easy pattern to get stuck in our thoughts and in our emotions...mindfulness can help free us from that old pattern. We are not often taught to manage our emotions...we cling to positive emotions, and resist difficult emotions. So a big question is, How do I manage emotions when they take over? How can I sit in the discomfort without denying, resisting or ignoring what's arising? Equanimity is a tool to help: it's radical acceptance.

We often don't know what to do with our emotions - and yet, the only way out is through. The key is to acknowledge the emotion and then pause to decide what to do with it. But allow yourself to feel what you feel; you don't have to act on it immediately.

Want more guidance in how to do this? Join my FB group where you'll get daily tips and tools in bringing more mindfulness into your everyday life. Click here to join the FB group: join my Journey Forward Facebook group,

This week's podcast episode is a continuation of these mini "masterclasses" in mindfulness I'm doing from October through the end of December. Mindfulness is a practice to help get you out of your head (where we tend to overthink, over-rationalize, over-analyze almost everything!) and get into your body where you can not only get into the here and now, but where you can learn to embody your experience and trust your intuition. Our Western culture socializes us to believe logic and reason, and while that's helpful, it often serves to dismiss the message the body is telling us, often taking us out of alignment and into cognitive dissonance (where you think one thing, but feel another). This episode covers four different areas of body awareness as it relates to mindfulness - mindful movement, sensations, intuition and the mind/body connection.

If you'd like to be in greater community and conversation on how to integrate all aspects of mindfulness into your life, please join my FB group: join my Journey Forward Facebook group.

Awareness sucks. Why? Because with awareness comes responsibility. Awareness is hard - it's like holding the mirror up to our own selves, and our contributions to the areas of our life that we are struggling with. Without awareness, it's easy and possible to stay stuck in whatever spiral of reactivity you are currently in. It's easy to externalize, blame, judge, and not take action towards creating the change that you most need and want in your life.

But yet with awareness, we give ourselves the opportunity for change. With awareness you gain greater clarity and with that insight, you are on the path towards greater peace, happiness and joy. It's not a direct path - it does take work. But it is the path out from being stuck and ultimately towards the life you want to be living. So...if you don't want to do any of the work, and you would rather stay in frustration and reaction, then don't be aware. But if you want to have the freedom from judgments, from anger or depression, from sadness or anxiety, from fear or expectation, then start with awareness - and this episode will show you how.

And to join my 5-day meditation challenge in my FB group, this week Oct. 26-30, click here to join my Journey Forward Facebook group,

Mindfulness isn't something you add to your "to-do" list - it's something you have on your "to-be list." But before I go more into that - oops! I forgot to share in last week's episode one of the most common myths I hear about meditation that often stops people before they start. After I cover that final myth, in this week's episode I delve into the differences between mindfulness and meditation. People often use these words and practices interchangeably, which is inaccurate. And knowing the difference matters; they are related, but are two different things. In a nutshell, think of meditation as going to the gym and mindfulness as being able to have the strength and endurance for whatever you want to do in your life. I go into great detail of what this means and how it looks in your everyday life.

And join me for a 5-day meditation challenge that I'm doing between Oct. 26-30. Join my FB group for all the details. Click here to join my Journey Forward Facebook group,

Meditation has so many myths that prevent people from cultivating and maintaining a practice. In this episode, I go through 12 different reasons that stop people before they are starting to meditate. I see meditation as the root of all wellness; it's the ability to be observant without judgement. When we are able to strengthen that muscle, we are more resilient with all of life's challenges. I hope that hearing me debunk these myths will allow you to find ways to bring meditation into your life. Join me at the end of October, for a 5-day meditation challenge.

To join me in my Facebook group where I'll be leading the challenge: Click here to join my Journey Forward Facebook group, to participate in a community interested in gaining tools to be more present and calm.