…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.

I then went one step further, realizing that with each breath, I was not only communing with the trees around me, I was connected with the other creatures that contributed to this air. With each breath in, I was able to reach those who had breathed here before me. With each breath out, I was not only nourishing these trees, but also creating nourishment for future beings that would be in company of these trees.

But none of these factors diminished the pleasure of this experience. I realized as I floated and swam and moved about I was also smiling. Joyfully exploring this new practice.

Every second, our subconscious can perceive up to 10 million bits of information, while our conscious mind can only process about 40 bits.

Receiving feedback can be a profound and inspirational experience. It can help unstuck a sticky situation and provide a new perspective; it can be the spark that reignites a creative fire. It is also something that can be difficult to navigate if it’s not provided with compassion and care.

Last week I did something I've dreamt of doing for years; I left my full-time agency job to pursue a career rooted in my passion for mindfulness.