Our Mindful Nature: Meditation Inspired by Nature to Soothe the Overwhelmed Mind and Ease Anxiety

It takes a deep commitment to self to make a daily meditation practice happen. It sounds good on paper or in theory… but, the actuality of a daily practice is that is takes T I M E. Every. Single. Day. It asks of us to place value on stillness; it asks of us to claim our calendars as our own; and it asks of us to let go of what popular culture tells us about achievement.

If working harder was all that it took to be successful, we’d all be millionaires. Am I right?! We can scramble, hustle, plan, batch, and delegate until we are blue in the face. And, there will still be 1,000 demands on our time. 

Because the truth is, I want a lot for my life, and I bet you do to. I want to be an incredible mom, and a deeply connected and supportive partner. I want a wildly successful business that fulfills me and supports me financially. I want to be healthy, and happy, and to feel free. You too?

Well, if all we had to do was work harder, I think we’d already be there…. So let’s change the paradigm. Let’s place value on connection to self, first. Let’s claim our time as our own and honor that there is nothing on our calendar that we didn’t place there. You want to meditate every day? Write it on your calendar every day.

What can it hurt to try a different way? That to do list isn’t going anywhere regardless ;-)

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***

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Even in the shortest of practices, done on the busiest of days, we can touch into what’s sacred and graceful in our lives. When one of my Teachers asked, “are you practicing out of discipline or out of devotion?” it immediately reminded me of what I most love about this practice. Join me today for this short meditation and feel for yourself what happens when you practice out of devotion.

These mini meditations are meant to support a daily home practice. Tune in every Monday to find your practice for the week! Full episodes are released every Thursday for a longer, deeper practice.

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***

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Recently, the question was posed to me, “are you practicing out of discipline or is there an element of devotion?” and it simply stopped me in tracks. What has happened to my practice?!

Of course, it started with intention, excitement, curiosity… but overtime, in moments of too busy, it sometimes can feel a little rote. Sometimes it can be too rushed. Too much focus on crossing it off the daily to do list…

The same happens to making dinner at night. To cleaning up my home. To all of life’s repetitive chores. We can forget the meaning behind them. We can take for granted the elements of grace that so plainly show themselves to us on a daily basis.

In today’s episode of The Mindful Minute, we are wrapping up our Miracles in the Mundane series with a look at how we can infuse our daily practice with a sense of the sacred. It is an invitation to connect with your intention and to explore some simple ways to keep our practice infused with the devotion of care.

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***

#meditatewithmeryl

Being a native Atlantan, I know a thing or two about getting stuck in traffic. No matter where you live, I’m guessing this meditation will be useful! How often do you get stuck in traffic or waiting on the bus? How often have you thought you planned enough time to get somewhere and then, lo and behold, with zero control of the circumstances, you find yourself 10, 15 even 30 minutes late thanks to traffic.

What does that feel like? Is it frustration? Is it anger? Is it fear that the waiting person will be mad or judge you or not wait for you?

This 5-minute meditation is meant to be listened to in the car. You can continue to drive, obviously eyes open (!!) and let these words guide you back to an awake presence, to help you reconnect to the humanity that surrounds you.

Bookmark the link and the next time you find yourself stuck and feeling some kind of way about it, press play. *please do this safely, only accessing your bookmarks while the car is stopped.*

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***

#meditatewithmeryl

In the midst of our Miracles in the Mundane series, I am home this week with the kiddos while my partner is away for work. I’m re-releasing an old episode that ties in perfectly with our focus on being R E A L this month:

For most of us, we operate with some level of “I am not ok; this moment needs to be FIXED” more often than not. We are continually editing the story of our lives, and we do it in a thick, red Sharpie. With slashes across the page, giant X’s through words/moments/experiences and lots of notes in the margins…

Now, imagine for a moment you simply chose to throw away your Sharpies. Truly, you click the cap back on and dump them (ALL of them) in the trash can. How would that feel? How would it be to simply decide you are ok in this moment and all the moments of your life?

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***

#meditatewithmeryl

This moment is all anyone has. So, if beauty/grace/joy are to exist, they must exist now. In this everyday, commonplace moment.  In an ordinary moment.

Tune in to today’s mini-meditation from The Mindful Minute for a short guided meditation inviting us to come fully into the present moment and to savor the grace within it.

These mini meditations are meant to support a daily home practice. Tune in every Monday to find your practice for the week! Full episodes are released every Thursday for a longer, deeper practice.

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***

#meditatewithmeryl

A friend recently sent me an article about Toni Morrison’s parenting advice. In that article, Morrison asks what happens when your child walks into the room - does your face light up? Or do you jump to fixing what needs to be fixed?

That advice hit home for me as a mama, but equally important, that advice hit home for life in general - 

When you wake up in the morning, does your face light up? Does your heart? Or do you jump into fixing the moment immediately?

If you only listen to one episode of The Mindful Minute this month, I hope it is this one, because this class truly gets to the heart of why we meditate. There is a reason every single wisdom tradition has some version of this teaching - 

“How we spend our days is how we live our lives.”  ~Annie Dillard

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***

#meditatewithmeryl

Some days it just too much to sit down for a full meditation practice. Maybe one of the kids is home sick. Maybe the work day or school day is too full. Maybe you just aren’t up for it… 

This practice is one of my FAVORITE ways to sneak in a meditation because you better believe no matter what is happening in my life, I’m going to get in my morning cup of coffee!

Take five minutes today to grab a warm cup of coffee or tea, pop in your headphones and take the time to come to presence.

These mini meditations are meant to support a daily home practice. Tune in every Monday to find your practice for the week! Full epsiodes are released every Thursday for a longer, deeper practice.

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***

#meditatewithmeryl

Today’s episode of The Mindful Minute was recorded just after the mass shootings that took place in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. In these moments, when tragedy occurs on a large, national stage or within our own private lives, our practice can be a lamp within that darkness.

In times of deep, conflicting emotions - hurt, scared, overwhelmed, furious - it can be easy to get stuck in a place of feeling frozen. I want to help and I feel helpless in the same moment.

A meditation practice won’t change anything today, it won’t erase pain or anger or fear. A meditation practice will:

Offer us a safe space to feel. This is vitally important to keep us engaged and active in world that demands our voices, our care and our action. 

Allows us to extend care to ourselves. If we are falling apart and unsafe internally, there is no way to be an effective agent for change. There is no way to care for others if we are unable to care for ourselves.

Honors our deep knowing that we are all connected to every single being on this planet. 

I hope you’ll join me in today’s meditation practice for yourself and for every single being on this planet.

Within today’s practice you will hear a recitation of the Shantideva prayer:

May I become at all times, both now and forever

A protector of those without protection

A guide for those who have lost their way

A ship for those with oceans to cross

A bridge for those with rivers to cross

A sanctuary for those in danger

A lamp for those without light

A place of refuge for those who lack shelter

And a servant to all in need

For as long as space endures,

And for as long as living beings remain,

Until then may I, too, abide

To dispel the misery of the world.

I hope it helps your heart as much as it helps mine.

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***

#meditatewithmeryl

Just sit. This mini-episode is a meditation only. It is the perfect daily practice to use each week while you wait for the next full episode of The Mindful Minute to air. If you want the full goodness, be sure to listen to the full length episode “Ferocious Joy” to hear the Dharma Talk that inspired this meditation. 

Connect with me on Instagram {@merylarnett} to get bonus meditation tips, mini-meditations, and the occasional baby spam: https://www.instagram.com/merylarnett/ 

***Did you know I have a FREE Meditation Starter Kit on my website merylarnett.com? It is full of my favorite tips, stories and ideas for starting and maintaining a daily meditation practice. Grab your copy today! --> http://bit.ly/meditationstarterkit ***

#meditatewithmeryl