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Mindfulness practices that really work

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  • “just for One Day” Practices

    Late last year, I posted a series of “mindfulness quickies” – practices that could be done in 2 minutes or less. Today, I’m going to present some practices that are exactly one day long. Before I present some of these practices, I’d like to describe what I think is the ideal mindset with which to Read more

  • Thinking on Purpose

    Have you ever heard a child who has broken something or hurt someone exclaim “I didn’t do it on purpose”? That line is used as a kind of excuse, a justification suggesting that it was accidental, not intentional, and therefore the kid shouldn’t be punished for it. I’d like to apply that concept to the Read more

  • The four Apps Practice

    First, a metaphor: You know how your cell phone can tell you how much energy each of your apps is consuming at any point in time, even though some of them are running in the background? This gives valuable information about what’s happening in your phone. This is a good metaphor for our minds and Read more

  • Simplifying mindfulness

    I have an issue with most of the widely accepted definitions of mindfulness. They never resonated with me. They kind of don’t make total sense. Here’s what Wikipedia provides as a definition: “Mindfulness is the cognitive skill, usually developed through meditation, of sustaining meta-attentive awareness towards the contents of one’s own mind in the present moment.” Seriously?! Good luck selling Read more

  • My New Year’s Intention

    It’s not quite the same thing as a New Year’s resolution, but a New Year’s intention is more open,  more flexible,  more spacious than the word resolution has room for. I hope you’ll join me in trading your resolutions for intentions. An intention leaves more room for false starts, wrong turns, and screwups. An intention Read more

  • How to have a mindful holiday

    The holiday season is upon us and for a lot of people, that can mean additional stress that, frankly, we don’t need. Typical stresses include the stress of long-standing family patterns playing out, or abandoning our diets and exercise routines, or spending money we don’t have, staying up late and over-consuming. How can we bring Read more

  • My pet peeve: people who say there’s no wrong way to meditate

    Maybe you’ve heard or read this: someone is trying to explain meditation, and at some point they insert the comment “there’s really no wrong way to meditate”. And immediately, I feel some anger arising in my gut. For me, that’s like saying “there’s really no wrong way to do bodybuilding” or “there’s really no wrong Read more

  • Mindfulness “Quickie” for the Super Busy: #4

    This is the last in a series of four mindfulness quickies for the super busy. I’ve tried to keep them simple and very quick. They shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes to do. They’re no substitute for a mindfulness practice, but they’re better than nothing. This last quickie is a reflection exercise. It Read more

  • Mindfulness “Quickies” for the Super Busy: #3

    This is my third instalment of a series for the super busy. You know who you are! This Quickie is all about your emotional state. Spending a minute or two inquiring into your emotional state can help prevent your emotions from hijacking your mind and actions. Here’s a 3-step process I like to use for Read more

  • Mindfulness “Quickies” for the Super Busy: #2

    No time to meditate? No problem! Look, I’ll be honest – if you want to increase your capacities of concentration and mindfulness, you’ll have to, at some point, sit down and do some serious practice. Just as there’s no substitute for doing physical exercise for getting your body in shape, so there’s no substitute for Read more