No boys. No dresses. As a teen, Moj Mahdara, founder of the fashion media company Beautycon, knows she’s different. And growing up in a traditional Iranian household, she struggles to reveal her own true identity. When two long-term houseguests descend — her grandmothers — Moj is shocked to learn that each woman has a surprising story of identity of her own. She learns secrets. She also learns that generations before her, family members had fought to define themselves. And it’s through these old souls that Moj finds the strength to stand in her own truth. Listen here.

Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com

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Lawyer and master communicator Jefferson Fisher loves taking care of other people. You can feel this in the supportive videos he posts on his wildly popular social media channels. Again and again he puts the wants and needs of others ahead of his own. In his story this week, Jefferson discovers the power of showing up for himself, and when he does, he’s given the chance to show up more fully for others.

Find Jefferson on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jefferson_fisher

Find Jefferson on Facebook: https://facebook.com/justaskjefferson

Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com

Sign up for the Meditative Story newsletter: https://meditativestory.com/subscribe

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One icy morning on a Vermont farm, Elizabeth Lesser is witness to a miraculous thing: the birth of a bleary, bleating baby lamb. Years later, as a midwife, she is still filled with this sense of awe and wonder at every birth. It’s through that process of coaching new life into the world, she learns how to sit through the difficult – even the painful – moments in her own: a divorce, a new career, even death. She begins to understand that we must all stay open to the wild pulse of life to give birth to our wiser selves.

Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com

Sign up for the Meditative Story newsletter: https://meditativestory.com/subscribe

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Love sneaks up on us. It’s a sudden awakening from the mundane. It’s divinity in the everyday. In this special episode, Rohan shares a trio of stories about his love, Lucy. The childlike purity and sweeping hold of love will wash over you in this intimate listening experience from Meditative Story’s very own Rohan.

Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com

Sign up for the Meditative Story newsletter: https://meditativestory.com/subscribe

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Maya Shankar is a cognitive neuroscientist and host of the award-winning podcast A Slight Change of Plans. As a girl, she struggles with taking things too seriously: herself, the sufferings of others, the hypothetical misfortunes she imagines for the future. She turns to her father for perspective — and he takes her on a memorable walk, one that helps her understand her place in the universe (spoiler: it’s not not at the center of it). When her adult life brings a new and unexpected kind of sorrow, she turns to these lessons from her father again, to find a balance between the seriousness that comes with loving life and the wise perspective of knowing we're all just passing through.

Follow Maya Shankar: https://www.instagram.com/drmayashankar/

Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com

Sign up for the Meditative Story newsletter: https://meditativestory.com/subscribe

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Midway through a grueling, muddy obstacle course, Shani Tran is so grateful for the support of her father, her teammate, who cheers her on and pulls her through. But in other parts of life, she knows, he’s just not there for her in the same way. And that’s ... okay. She shares three stories — with humor, and with honesty — that build to a lifelong lesson about seeing people for who they are, not who you wish they’d be, and learning to take responsibility for your own happiness. 

Follow Shani on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshaniproject

Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com

Sign up for the Meditative Story newsletter: https://meditativestory.com/subscribe

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

From the outside, Niall Breslin — known by legions of Irish fans as Bressie — appears to have led a charmed life. He’s had a professional Rugby career, achieved national stardom as a musician, and been a coach on The Voice of Ireland. But behind all those achievements lies Niall’s struggle with repressed emotions and generations of unresolved pain. In this week’s Meditative Story, Bressie shares how he learned to embrace the parts of himself he once buried. The parts that showed him how to heal and led him to become one of Ireland’s leading mental health advocates.

Find out more about Bressie: https://www.niallbreslin.com/

Follow Bressie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bressie/

Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com

Sign up for the Meditative Story newsletter: https://meditativestory.com/subscribe

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When the way we talk about our own bodies becomes negative and self-deprecating, it’s time to rewrite that inner monologue. Actress and director Kim Fields, star of The Facts of Life, Living Single, and the Netflix series The Upshaws, leads us through a process of reevaluating the words we say to ourselves. It’s an invitation to send love to every body part, even the ones that make us feel self-conscious or less than, and to find appreciation for all that our bodies can do.

Find Kim on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimfieldsofficial/

Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com

Sign up for the Meditative Story newsletter: https://meditativestory.com/subscribe

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Co-founder of Insight Meditation Society (IMS) and author of several popular books on Buddhism, Joseph Goldstein has been a legend in the world of mindfulness for nearly half a century. But when he returned to US from India in the early ‘70s, penniless and without a job prospect, he had no way of knowing what his future held. This week, Joseph tells the story of how he learned to keep himself open to all possibilities and embrace the uncomfortable feeling of not-knowing.

Find out more about Insight Meditation Society here: dharma.org

Follow Insight Meditation Society on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/insightmeditationsociety/

Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com

Sign up for the Meditative Story newsletter: https://meditativestory.com/subscribe

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As a WNBA player, AD is used to saying, “I’m good” as an automatic response, no matter the injury. It’s what allows them to be a successful athlete, and to wrap their whole self around that identity. But when basketball is fully stripped away from them, they have to look inward to explore who they are — and the full range of identity available to them.

Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story: meditativestory.com

Sign up for the Meditative Story newsletter: https://meditativestory.com/subscribe

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.