Multiplying goodness meditation allows you to grasp the awesome power of compassion. Compassion will benefit you and those to whom you direct it.

This old saying is something that almost everyone has felt at some point, either on the receiving or the giving end. Today I talk about how mindfulness practices can help us navigate our emotions and avoid hurting those whom we love.

Welcome to Informal Friday’s! Every Friday I will give you a little informal (or semi formal) exercise you can use in various times when needed. Today, I give you a practice I’ve learned from two different, amazing teachers.

Today I talk about how the wandering mind can take away our happiness and invite stress into our bodies. And of course I discuss some simple practices to help in avoiding these negative results.

Here’s the TED Talk by Richie Davidson I reference one today’s episode: https://youtu.be/7CBfCW67xT8 Awareness is vital to our well being and today’s practice will help you develop both awareness and meta awareness - the awareness of awareness.

Today I discuss the profound effect that gratitude has on our lives, both in the short term and in the long term.

When the stressors come at you, accepting them won’t make it all better. But not accepting them will certainly make them worse.

This is a great mindfulness exercise you can do any time, but which is particularly effective when dealing with a difficult trigger situation. I recommend doing it daily - it only takes a few minutes - to develop the mental habit so that it will come naturally when you need it in difficult times.

Along with all the automatic thoughts come automatic behaviors. By cultivating non judging awareness through simple mindfulness practices, we can see these automatic behaviors and eliminate those that cause us stress.

To counterbalance the years of reinforcing and feeding the ANTs in our minds, we can practice self compassion.