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In this moment. Present, Aware, Resilient. (Above par)

Anxiety is the reason I got into mindfulness. I totally agree. I'll suddenly become aware that I'm not taking full breaths at times. When I get like this, I grab my disc golf bag and hit the course. I work from home, so getting out and away from my desk is paramount to my mental health. I've also gotten back into weightlifting after a 6 month hiatus, which I'll never do again. My stress got so bad a few months ago, that I started having vertigo-like symptoms. I was dizzy anytime I was in an upright position. My hypothalamus was the culpret according to my chiro. He gave me some supplements and that really helped, but getting back into the gym and better eating habits have really helped. But I will say meditation has 10X'd the benefits of all those things. Incredibly powerful.

Right now at 10 PM: Content. Thoughful. Tired

In this moment- Still; uncertain; content.

Day 12 What impact did stopping and practicing a minute of silence have on your next activity? By consciously stopping, I noticed how much I can even more slow down and experience the moment to moment awareness with more appreciation. Right now my days are packed with challenges and pausing really helps me to tune in and know how Precious the present moment is. And, in fact, I can be more effective in my tasks without rushing. So let’s Breathe in, breathe out, one step after the other. Also, helps at the computer! By practicing stopping while doing computer work I noticed how much I’m rushing from one task to the other and by just pausing for a quick moment or a minute helps a lot to improve my breathing and relaxing the body.

I want to share an experience I had yesterday. My wife and I like and trust our single female neighbor. We do things like help each other with tasks, work our flower gardens which are adjoining and my wife has taken her for medical procedures. Yesterday, while she and I were both gardening a few feet apart we had a discussion of political ideas. She voted for Trump but did get vaccinated. Now, she is aghast of the unvaccinated saying "well Trump got vaccinated!". I just shared that in my own opinion, much of what he has said is not true. I went on to see that I am a true blue liberal and follow that way of thinking. She replied "to each his own". I agreed. A few minutes later she shared some negative thoughts about Latino immigrants. I calmly said "you don't sound very compassionate." She said "I call it as I see it." We both kept gardening. She asked me if the line of border stones she was putting in looked straight. I invited her further into my yard to get a better view (we don't have fences). She decided to redo her work a bit to make it straighter. I told her her work was turning out really well. She remarked that President Biden will be resigning soon because he is senile. She said she read that on the internet. I said to check her sources as I had not heard that and was pretty sure he would remain in office. We kept gardening. When I finished I wished her a good day and went to a side garden to weed and cut back flowers. She wished my wife a happy birthday. I told her I give my wife her greetings. This was the most honest exchange I have ever had with a person who has followed Trump in the past. We respect and like each other as neighbors. We never quit our joint task of gardening as we talked. She spoke her mind and I spoke mine. I was greatly relieved. She took it in stride and made her own points. For me in this longer relationship of neighbors and fellow gardeners this worked. Neither of us were angry but rather just truthful. This isn't a panacea. However, it was very real and being literally "grounded" in the earth while gardening which my neighbors and I all do, kept us very directly honest but did not hurt our relationship. For me, for us, this worked. Daniel

Hi Everyone- I am happy to report that I have been able to bring mindfulness to groups that cut across a swath of my community as well as online. Today I wrote and put out a new blog post that I wanted to share- called In Service. Hope it resonates and please feel free to share widely. Here is the direct link, and below is the link for my site where meditations and blogs are shared freely and with love! link to blog: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qm8wftizCAlZSsI6BXrvYOCqlLIgdObFVTrUcZkEfBw/edit?usp=sharing link to site: rachelpottsorg.wordpress.com Be well! Rachel

A lot of mindfulness-related notions and principles make a lot of sense when we're feeling balanced and, at minimum, 'okay.' But, it can be so hard to embody this knowing when anxiety or fear arises strongly. Does anyone have insights or specific practices that have proven helpful in these instances? I'm often amazed at how simple breath awareness - even for 10 seconds!! - can greatly reduce any feelings of stress and anxiety when it's risen. However, it's sometimes difficult to even remember this simple trick!

What are your two most compulsive habits? Do you struggle to break them? If so, what would it feel like to accept them and give up on trying to change? I want to compulsive play smartphone when I feel alone and watching my smartphone while I'm eating. Yes, I want to break them because I know I can create many joyful and happy moment with others, enjoy the food and the taste instead of watch drama while I having a meal. I feel appreciated and grateful if I can break those habits.

Day 13 Self ~ compassion I found the expressions in The end of the video very helpful to offer ourselves a sense of compassion and kindness through difficult and challenging times. 1. Areas of my life where I can be more forgiving are … This reminded me of the forgiveness prayer that personally helped me a lot to forgive moments from the past in Childhood. 2. If I were more forgiving of these areas, it would allow me to…. As I was able to forgive that was the first time that allowed me to let go and move forward much easier with life. Thanks for this self compassion video, It feels always “connecting” to bring a sense of self compassion to the moment and yourself.

Hi everyone! Excited to be in this group! I've been studying mindfulness and spirituality for about a year now, so I'm pretty new to everything. I'm starting to realize that I've had some experiences before. Unconscious competence, if you will lol. I remember lots of times as a kid when I'd just lay out on my trampoline or some other random place, and kind just space out completely, listening to everything going on around me. I could go from bored to serene. Losing track of time while just simply being present. I'm trying to be more intentional about it, rather than randomly sliding into meditation, but it's challenging to force myself into a session on a schedule. Any advice on this?

This week's question asks: What three words best describe your experience in this moment? Without overthinking this question, tune into your experience of this moment. What three words do you want to share about it? These can be adjectives, verbs, or nouns - whatever comes up for you.

I love life. I am a life enthusiasts. I believe we are here to make life better. Our job is to lead by example and show others the way. I am the Mindful-Coach. That is who I want to be when I grow up.

Day 13 Relieving Stress Meditation Pick an activity today that has the potential to trigger you or cause you stress. Perhaps it’s a commute to work, or a particular job or activity, or possibly an interaction with a difficult person. When you begin that activity, make a commitment to notice any trigger or stress response and try using SBNRR (Stop, Breathe, Notice, Reflect, Respond) to navigate the activity. 1 Q.) What were the signals that a trigger response or stress was present? Today I sat with someone in a car (the drive was about 40 min) for a longer period of time and this person is talking non-stop, either this person is highly enthusiastic and euphoric or super emotional neg or pos...after 20 min or so this behavior triggered in me a feeling of almost becoming short-tempered today. It was 5.30 AM in the morning. I was aware of a shallower breathing pattern and I had to "breathe out" the tightness in my traps and belly... what a morning After a while I looked out of the window and asked myself.. what happens if I don't engage so much in what this person had to say but rather listen to it as if it was a play on stage.... and this made it much easier for me to "handle" this at that moment. 2 Q.) What parts of SBNRR were easy for you? Difficult? Stopping, breathing, noticing are more on the easy side. Then reflecting on it and responding is another challenge. Actually I didn't really focus on "reflection", but with hindsight, I could have just observed his face, appreciating his many good qualities and his good intentions in everything he is doing... by doing this I would feel more understanding and compassion. 3 Q.) How did practicing SBNRR impact the outcome of the situation? A huge impact. It teaches me on how to respond wiser and just make decision from a point of centeredness. High five to "SBNRR"

Thanks Gillian for your input. As I read your post I could sense a soothing feeling of the warm sun touching my eye lids, just by imagining it

Thank you Rachel! For me in this moment: Quiet. Observant. Soft breeze. (Four words... as I felt that the 'breeze' was incomplete with an adjective.)

Thanks for sharing this, Jane. I read this and took a minute of silence before responding. It was great to close my eyes, to feel the sun through the window, and to just breathe.

Day 51: I Am - Meditation If you could earn the same pay no matter what job you did, would you pursue another profession? Nope. I love what I am doing now as a fitness coach and a leader in my company. It comes to how smart am I using the money I earn, and expand the income with conscious investment. If so, what would you choose, and why? I love what I am doing now. I am making a difference one step at a time, one people at one time.

Hi Gillian, thank you for your kind response. It has been several days now since the conversation my neighbor and I had. We have talked every day. There is no rupture of this overall good and meaningful relationship. We really did just express and move on. I liked your comment about conversations while you worked on the farm in Costa Rica. There is something bigger than opinions in working with the earth and its' plants or flowers. That helps the speakers to keep perspective. My encounter is nothing like what I am going to mention next but it does involve the earth. It is said that the night Buddha spent under the Bodhi tree before his enlightenment he was tormented with doubts by the god Mara. Finally, Buddha drove his hand into the earth and told Mara that he swore by the earth itself that he had found the truth about existence. It is said when he swore by the earth itself, Mara realized he could not conquer Buddha with doubts and disappeared. Buddha was enlightened. A conversation with my good neighbor is not on this order. However, the earth itself and the soil and rocks that we can feel offer us something greater than we usually consider. Something larger and more profound. Daniel

Glad my words were helpful for you

Day 11 Integrated Body Scan Q1) The way I use my body has an impact in such that if I consciously remind myself to be aware of breathing deeper and allowing more ease to into the body, at the same time I can allow myself to be more connected to others, to nature and to myself. Q.) How others respond? How does attention on your body language and breathing impact your communication? I believe others can really sense, even unconsciously as well, the state of my being that I am emanating from my body. Regarding my communication, If I am more aware of bodily sensations and the emotional state of being I can communicate and speak more from my heart, intuition and sense of wisdom rather than reacting solely from my intellectual mind. This integrated body scan was indeed very focused, relaxing and I could feel more blood circulation, vibration, and aliveness in each body part I was consciously focusing on. Thank you very much.

Would you rather spend a month on vacation with your parents or put in 4 weeks of uncompensated overtime at work? Of course spend a month on vacation with my parents and I miss travel a lot especially during this pandemic. If I can bring them to travel for 2 weeks and back home stay with them 2 weeks is such a grateful experiences in my life. We can create many beautiful memory while we are connected with each others and I would love to do that rather than put myside in to uncompensated overtime at work. I don't see what's the meaning for doing that and I feel my parents are important for me compare to my job.

Day 49: Breath and Peripheral Awareness Do you find it so hard to say no that you often end up doing favors you don't want to do? If so, why? Yes. I do realised I love to say YES rather than NO. I feel sad that I unable to fulfil one another's need as they reaching out to me for me. Asking for help also taking courage. I also realise it is okay to say NO. I am equally important too. When you have to tell people something they won't want to hear, do you tell them directly? If not, why not? Yes, I will tell my observation to the person directly. However, one thing I always will do, is to ask them permission if they are open for my assessment/feedback first. It is a good practice that so that we are all responsible of what being said and listened.

Yes, Gillian, this is exactly what I meant. I felt relieved when you said it is natural To not being aware of the breathing all the time, which of course makes total sense. Thanks, this is wonderful advice to check in from time to time with the breath and over a period of time my awareness will naturally broaden. I love this Explanation. Thank you!

I do not know many people. I have a possible friend, it will be nice to hang out with him tonight!

I feel grateful that we are healthy (knock on wood) as I know a few people that I personally know that have really challenging dis-eases right now.

Totally can feel you here:)

DAY 9 FULL BODY BREATHING How does stopping to take a whole body breath affect your mood or attitude? Never thought of a “transition time” and to stop right there before diving into another task. This for sure is helping a lot with being more alert and observant about my breathing and kind of setting the tone for the next task with more intention. I really love the expression "stopping during the transition time" - it definitely affects my mood or attitude in a positive more engaging way and being prepared and more focused. So many good tips and it is just day 9 ha ha.... can't believe there are still 91 days following until 100, but let's stay present thanks (it is amazing how often I hold my breath when I am typing in front of a screen, I am wondering how you can be mindful to breathe deeply during all these tasks at the same time... watching, thinking, reading, typing... all at once... if you guys have ideas on this, feel free to share it please.... thanks

Day 47: Pausing If you had to either change professions or move to another part of the country, which would you prefer? I would move to places rather than change professions. I love what I do now! I love supporting people via fitness and coaching. What new career or location first comes to mind? Sabah or Sawarak in Malaysia. I want to change state, not change country. After went and stayed for weeks at many countries, I still love Malaysia culture the best. Oh, and the food is heavenly. No where else does the food best than Malaysia. The reason I chose the East Peninsular of Malaysia, is because I have not experience the wild rainforest of my country for weeks. I would like to give what I have to the people at the state. Is the idea of being forced into such a change appealing in any way? Nope. I don't like to be forced. I want to know it is my choice to shape where I am going in my life.

Hi Gillian! Thanks for the great link. What an awesome in depth article. I especially learned from the paragraph where they were talking about "to listen not only to the physical words, but what emotion, thoughts, etc are behind the words".... I can imagine this can be very helpful if you are dealing with highly emotional people or difficult customer. This way I am not so overpowered by "challenging" energies...Thanks!

I am gratitude to my Coach Ariana and Mentor Vero today. We are in different countries and timezone. Yet they are willing to support my growth and well-being. I am so happy to have them in my life. I wish to be able give hugs to them one day.

If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? The most regret is I didn't tell my family I love them and I can't even give them a goodbye hug. At least I want them to see my smile face that can keep in their forever instead my dead body. What good might come out of telling them now? I can just express my love to them and just show up myself that I love them so much. I'm grateful to grow up in this family and let the love flow between us. The best thing will happened when I tell them I love them.

If you missed the email or aren't signed up for it, here are Sean's 5 mindful musings for the week: enhancing non-judgmental moment-to-moment awareness Hi All! Here is your weekly dose of "5 Mindful Musings", a brief list of what's helping me live a more mindful life. What I Am Grateful For Free Meditation Downloads from Sounds True. These audio downloads are available freely online (just Google "sounds true free downloads") from "The Self-Acceptance Project", "The Practice of Mindfulness", and "Meditation Music". What I Am Learning Relaxing Anxiety During Stressful Times. This is a wonderful conversation between Dr. Rick Hanson (a personal hero of mine) and Forrest Hanson (his son) on what it means to live with less anxiety these days. To help this information sink in a little deeper, the link above includes handy timestamps of the audio with expanded notes of the conversation. Highly recommended. Free Mindfulness Audio Downloads 8 Mindful Tips for Difficult Conversations. The road to connection, understanding, and healing is often quite challenging and frequently involves difficult conversations. How can we more mindfully and effectively navigate tricky subjects and situations that need to be worked through? In this comprehensive guide to mindfulness for difficult conversations, we will explore: - The Power of Mindful Communication - How to Approach Difficult Conversations - 8 Mindful Tips for Difficult Conversations What I Support How to Increase Energy & Banish Fatigue, by Dr. Mike Hansen. Dr. Hansen is a leading medical doctor who's taught over 10,000,000 people around the world through his popular platforms. This step-by-step course may help you increase your mental energy, your physical energy and your sleep. Please let me know what you think. A Quote I Am Pondering “Basically, when you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. I know people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is — your life is a disaster." - Warren Buffett For more free mindfulness exercises, subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Wishing you well, Sean Fargo - Founder, Mindfulness Exercises - Former Buddhist Monk of 2+ Years - Instructor for the mindfulness program developed at Google - Founder of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Program http://mindfulnessexercises.img-us6.com/mauricio/jack_kornfield.jpg “Sean is a wonderful teacher, well practiced in the teachings of mindfulness and compassion, dedicated and thoughtful.” - Jack Kornfield, Best-selling Mindfulness Author and Founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center

If you had to either change professions or move to another part of the country, which would you prefer? I think it need to depend on my age, if I was young then I will move to another part of the country to create a new life experience that I haven't experience it before but I will change my professions based on my age right now because I want to accompany my family especially my parents because the time is fling and I 'm more cherish on the time spending with my parents. I still young can learn new things but my parents are different, they can't wait me because they are getting older. What new career or location first comes to mind? I think I will choose to become a coach or a trainer because I'm interested. Is the idea of being forced into such a change appealing in any way? Actually not, I had experienced it before and I started feeling stressful and depress on myself and I throw back temper and anger back to my parents especially my mum and I really feel sorry about it so I'm looking something I really passionate with right now and those feeling disappear immediately. Instead of focus my mind into being forced I more recommend to put my mindset on what I want to create in my day so that I respect on my choose and take the responsible on my own choose.

I can definitely relate. There are times when I'm speaking with someone and they bring something up that triggers a thought in me. I feel this urge to want to share it, holding onto it in a way, which then makes it difficult to really be present for them. It definitely helps to simply notice this, and I often just remind myself, "Just set it aside for now. You will have time later to share this." There's a great article up on the website about mindful listening: https://mindfulnessexercises.com/what-is-mindful-listening/

Day 46: Affectionate Breathing Do you think the world will be a better or a worse place 100 years from now? Truthfully, 100 years from now, year 2121, is going to be very innovative and different than today. Human body modification might happen. Environment and ecology system will change drastically. At first, I think it is going to be bad when ecosystem is going to be destroyed. However, I also believe the power of next generation, the information of 5-year-old kids get are so much more than I was. If to change the world for a better place, be the role model for the kids to follow. Do you see our present world as a better than the world of a century ago? How so? Yes, our present world is better than the world a century ago. I see in the sense of information exchange rate is so much more accessible to anyone. How a person can change the world with a click of button to help someone in need at different places and time. I also see from the perspective of how technology connects and disconnects human relationship. It comes back to a person who consciously aware of the choice on technology usage.

Day 8 FOCUSED ATTENTION Q.) What impact does bringing your full attention to a conversation have on you or those around you? The Mindful listening practice is really interesting. Sometimes I experience that as soon as the other person stops finishing their last sentence, I immediately need to share what came up on my mind . But by putting all of the attention on the person you are talking to, I was more mindful about how to respond (without effort or thinking) giving the conversation a mutual basis with more similarities and a "lighter" flow.. Has anybody here experienced similar situations maybe... just curious.. Thanks Gillian!

I am so glad to hear you are feeling a shift, Jane. That's wonderful. In regards to what challenge you are signed up for, maybe you can forward me a copy of on of the days you've received. The emails should be entitled 100 day mindfulness challenge. If not, I will check with the person who manages these emails to see what you're registered for. I will send a private message with my email.

Have your character and humanity been forged more by pleasure and success or by pain and disappointment? If you could somehow protect your loved ones from pain and failure, do you think they might ultimately end up diminished by your efforts? My character and humanity is forged more pain and disappointment when I was a kid then I noticed I was a happy kid when I was young just because of the parent's disagreement and their way to educate the children end up I feel more pain and disappointment compare to pleasure and success. If I want to protect my loved one from pain and failure I think they will ultimately end up diminished because they can't take the pain and failure because I'm trying to protect them to feel it. I think I forged with pain and disappointment while my parent trying to avoid and protect me from pain and failure yet I still feel myself are diminished so I don't think protect is a way but experience the pain and failure is a way to grow myself therefore I only know the feeling about pleasure and success .

Hello Wellness Community, I am Aimee and I live in Sedona AZ. My interest are many! I am here to learn and be inspired by my fellow travelers on this journey of mindfulness. I will be watching and listening! I just enrolled in the full training course. I have prior education in Science Human Services and Liberal Arts. I am looking forward to the lessons! Thank you Sean and the rest of you beautiful people. Best regards. Aimee

We are all students in life!

Lovely to read this, @Paggie and @Jane. I think it is such a sign of courage to be able to abide by one's inner truth.

Absolutely! As Jane mentioned, you can sign up for the challenge here - https://mindfulnessexercises.com/100-day-mindfulness-challenge/ The first 28 days come from the official 28 day mindfulness challenge, which you can find here. It is helpful to still sign up for the emails (whether you want to do 28 days or 100) so that you will be prompted each day to practice.

OMG, speaking of Mindfulness Zombies there really is a show about them. Check out the Netflix series The Midnight Gospel.

Thank you so much for this thoughtful reflection David! It's an interesting point you make about being overly idealistic. It's not something I've thought about too much when I've explored this subject (in my own mind, through readings and teachings, etc), but I can absolutely see what you are saying. I think this also comes down to perhaps a misperception along the lines of, "Surely there has to be a peaceful, pain-free resolution to this." Perhaps that's not a conscious thought, but I think we sometimes expect common ground to be peaceful - or maybe we just hope for it to be. But as you said, sometimes our compassion is fierce - and sometimes it's not comfortable. I think this is all a part of the human experience. Have you heard of the work of Dr. Marshall Rosenberg? His work on Non-Violent Communication is really inspiring. I often refer to his work to better understand what's going on in the world. For example, one of his main points is that beneath whatever our 'position' is, there are certain needs wanting to be addressed. When we are actually able to identify the needs on either side of an argument, it's easier to find a resolution. Here's a link to his 'Needs Inventory' if you're interested in reading more: https://www.cnvc.org/training/resource/needs-inventory

As a child, some of the people I wanted to be like (at various stages) were: Posh Spice, Shania Twain, and Sandra Bullock. Now, the people I admire and whose energy and wisdom I would love to embody include: Mary Oliver and Rupert Spira.

Great idea! As a kid, I wanted to be like Indiana Jones. In my 20's, I wanted to be like Yoda. Now I want to be like both.