'Just meditate' is terrible advice for someone with severe anxiety. Instead, start with awareness in daily life. The tight chest in a conversation. The release of tightness when it's over. The smile knowing you made it through. Mindfulness of these moments shows anxiety doesn't own you.

Sometimes, you need to light a fire under your ass. Other times, the fire needs to ease. Too little fire, and passion goes out. Too much fire, and passion becomes destructive. But finding that balance is key to long-term success.

Your meditation practice should always be something that feels like it’s working for you, not against you. If your practice is feeling like a self-improvement project, it’s a sign to ease up on your effort, change your practice environment, or change your duration of practice. Making one small change can help shift the practice back in your favor.

3 reasons why you shouldn't believe all of your thoughts: 1. Thoughts aren't always true 2. Believing negative thoughts is a one-way ticket to self-loathing 3. Impulsive thoughts lead to impulsive action, and impulsive action often leads to regret What thoughts would you like to stop believing?

Mindfulness isn’t just a type of meditation; it’s a tool of self-discovery. When you become mindful, you become aware. When you become aware, you start to notice a lot more about your thoughts, emotions, actions, and perspective — four essential ingredients for a healthy mind and body. As a result, you start to notice what leads to motivation, joy, and contentment. In the neuroscience world, what produces dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. You also learn what leads to a lack of motivation, upsetness, and anxiety. This patient process of understanding yourself is quite literally the difference between a life that’s satisfying and fulfilling and a life that’s unbearable and soul-sucking. You just have to start paying attention.

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be teaching an Introduction to Insight Meditation course starting on October 31st! The course runs for 4 weeks, and it’ll help you do the following: • Develop a meditation practice that works for you • Quiet your busy mind through breathing and body connection • Cultivate compassion for your feelings • Create clarity of heart, body, and mind through continuity of practice If you’ve been interested in starting a meditation practice, but you don’t know where to begin and want to be supported by fellow practitioners and an experienced teacher, I encourage you to reach out and ask me about the series.

Something we can learn from trees: They stay rooted in nearly any conditions. We too can stay rooted in our lives. We just have to grow our roots strong. To grow strong roots, we mustn't be reactive. To decrease reactivity, meditation can be helpful.

The essence of meditation isn’t to clear your mind, achieve enlightenment, or become Zen. The essence of meditation is to get in touch with your true self. The parts of you that have been drowned out by your caregivers, teachers, friends, and society. Because when you start hearing those parts of you, you start tapping into and listening to your true self. So if you want to discover truth, meditate.

The self-improvement industry is often a self-fulfilling cycle of suffering. Because of how it's packaged, we unconsciously set unreasonable standards for ourselves. We try to accumulate $100,000 in 90 days. We try to lose 40 pounds in 12 weeks. We attempt to heal all of our trauma at a one-week Vipassana retreat. When we don’t achieve those unreasonable goals, we trigger shame. Over time, the shame worsens as we keep falling short of goal after goal. This way of living is toxic. Sadly, it has become habitual for many of us. So it slowly destroys us from both the outside and the inside.

Be careful not to outsource your innate wisdom to those trying to profit off of some “self-improvement” offer. You’re better off tuning into your own heart. Yes, it will take a lot more time and you’ll have to be patient. But it will be worth your while because it will be true to you. Not just another loss of money and trust in yourself.

Many men hide behind suppressed emotions each time they say, “I'm fine”. I know I have. Many times I've said that, underneath the surface, I've been worrying about my health, finances, my purpose on Earth, and whether I've lived a meaningful life. This creates a lot of anxiety, which can manifest as tightness in the chest or stomach. It can create a mind that's busy telling false stories about how you've missed your chance at fulfilling your potential. It can create a central belief system of not feeling like you're enough. As all that builds, it gets heavy. The heavier the burden, the harder it is to lift. But real strength starts with awareness of what's going on in your mind, body, and heart. Once you see what's there, you can start to heal.

How I know my meditation practice is working: Stubbed my toe on a chair; didn’t even react.😂

I’ve seen a lot of hate directed at insight meditation. I’ll be the first to admit that, yes, meditation can create adverse effects like triggering trauma and meditative psychosis. However, from my research and direct experience, there has been a lot more good than bad when it comes to helping people transcend their suffering. Most of those adverse effects arise when people aren’t fully aware of what might come up during an intense retreat. That gets amplified when they don’t have skilled teachers. So, if you’re someone who wants to start an insight meditation practice, I encourage you to reflect on a few questions: 1.) What’s my intention for practice? 2.) Where can I practice to feel supported? 3.) What credentials do my teachers have? The most important question is the last one because without a skilled, qualified teacher who has a connection to a lineage, you might be getting yourself into a dicey situation. But if you do your homework, it’ll all be alright because you’ll get the support you need.

Meditation is really simple. The practice begins with resting your attention on an object. It could be: • Your breath • A soft gaze at the floor • Body contact with your seat When you notice your attention has wandered, gently bring it back to the original object without judgment. Begin resting your attention on the object again. When you notice the mind has wandered, return and begin again. Practice this way, and the mind will slowly settle, connect, and concentrate. It just takes patience and persistence. Author’s note: This is a form of meditation to cultivate concentration. Some teachers may call it concentration, rather than meditation. Other teachers may call it Samatha. Other teachers may call it focused attention practice. At the end of the day, don’t get caught up in the semantics. It’s more important to practice.

Most people would rather scroll Instagram Reels than sit with their reeling mind. I get it. I've been there, too. And I can still get lost in that sauce because it's easier to numb what you don't want to see or feel. And it takes courage to fully see and feel what's happening inside your mind and body. That's why the present moment is an acquired taste!

The greatest gift we can give to ourselves is tending to our attention. These days, technology, news, social media, and marketing yank our attention around like a determined parent pulling their kid around by the arm in the grocery store. So, our attention rarely rests in one place. It’s no wonder why we feel so tired. It’s no wonder why we feel like it’s hard to focus. It’s no wonder why we just want to simplify our lives. Fortunately, tending to our attention can help us do all of that. And it doesn’t have to be a grand gesture or massive life overhaul overnight. It can start with being present for things we already do each day: • Brushing our teeth • Folding our clean laundry • Sipping our morning coffee When we can be present for these activities, it gives our attention an opportunity settle. And when our attention settles, our body can settle, and our mind can start to collect itself. Over time, this collection of mind can lead to a shift in how our attention functions. Instead of feeling like a kid being pulled around in a grocery store, it can feel like its strolling through the aisles of life with ease. But it all starts with one decision to tend to what we’re doing in this moment. So, how will you tend to your attention today?

Mindfulness isn’t always the stress reliever it’s cracked up to be. In fact, many times it’s the opposite — especially in the beginning of your practice. When you become mindful, you become aware. And when you become aware, you stop ignoring all the negative thoughts, unprocessed emotions, and physical discomfort you’ve been experiencing. Because now, there’s no social media to soak in, TV show to tune out to, or food to consume to avoid your suffering. It’s just you, your mind, your body, and your heart. At that point, it gets very vulnerable. But the more you can lean into that nakedness and intimacy of your direct experience, the more you can start using mindfulness as a means to heal from all the unprocessed pain in your life. It just takes courage, kindness, and right effort. But you have to be willing to start. And you have to be willing to continue.

In meditation, the wanting mind can be demonized. All because the Buddha said that the ending of craving leads to the end of suffering. I’ve experienced the truth of that statement. The less I want this or that, the more content my heart and mind are. However, that doesn’t mean all wanting is bad. You can have the wholesome desires to break a bad habit, start a meditation practice, and be a little kinder to yourself. Those desires can lead to good karma for yourself and those around you. But when the wanting becomes an irritant, that’s when things get a little tricky in the heart and mind. When I’ve experienced this, I always return to my intention. Because intentions are what create the karma of our actions. So, if you want to make a change in your life, go for it. But before you do, ask yourself: What’s my deepest intention? And let your heart answer the call.