Reflections on starting again, embracing our own rhythms and the choice available to us in every moment.

…I'm not advocating for the feelings of pain or sadness to take residence in our beings, but instead, as my mom put it, might we bear witness to the difficult things we're moving through?

Listening is a deeply generous act. It's being present with all that someone is offering. It's not simply hearing the words but noticing all that surrounds the language–the tone, the emotion, the things left unsaid.

It can be tempting to stay in the safe zone, doing what is known and familiar. But by taking little risks, by navigating through the muddy waters of insecurity, we can find moments of connection. We can see each other and support one another.

We can choose to run along with the mind as it sniffs and roots around. Or we can pause, connect to the feeling of our feet on the ground, or take refuge in our breath.

You see, mindfulness meditation is not about stopping thinking. You needn’t push thoughts away or try to tamp them down. It's about learning to direct our attention, intentionally to the present moment. To what is here right now.

When I first sit for meditation or start a movement practice, I notice my awareness is often quite zoomed in… through the space of practice, I find I'm able to zoom out a bit. It is in these moments the breadth of awareness reveals itself.

Oftentimes, when someone offers help, it's also their way of saying. Hey, I'm thinking about you. I care about you, or even, I love you.

And that's the thing with practice. It's not only about the moments in formal practice, sitting for 30 minutes on a cushion. It's how that practice translates to our everyday lives.

I realized, as I watched this spider, that she had cast hundreds, if not thousands, of invisible threads that were at some point broken. Her creations disrupted by weather, humans, or some other interference. And yet, she continued to try again.

I've learned over the years that when I find myself in a bit of a funk, it can be helpful to revisit my practices. To consider the things that I'm doing daily, weekly, and monthly that help me feel grounded, connected, and nourished.

The thing is, it’s possible to make the good experiences a bit more sticky as well. It’s possible to train the brain to have a firmer grasp on the good. To feel these experiences seep into our being.