Meditation Matters

Margaret Atwood is known for her book series The Handmaid's Tale and is regarded as one of Canada's finest writers. She is also an accomplished poet and activist. 

Today's meditation will focus on poetry from Margaret Atwood.

We all feel anger from time to time, both in our personal lives and as we bear witness to injustice around the world. Anger is natural, and if properly directed can lead to positive emotions and actions. 

Today's podcast will focus on releasing anger.

What is humility exactly? It's not the observation of ourselves as small, but rather viewing ourselves as part of something larger. 

Today's podcast will focus on finding greatness through humility.

Bobby McFerrin once sang "In every life we have some trouble. But when you worry, you make it double."

Today's podcast will focus on living a stress-free life. 

Today's podcast will focus on meditation to achieve complete relaxation.

Wendell Berry's poetry celebrates the sacredness of life and everyday miracles. 

Today's meditation will feature a few of Berry's poems, including "The Peace of Wild Things." 

Today's meditation will focus on sending wishes of wellbeing to others.

Today's podcast will focus on expanding our connection with the entire universe.

George Barnard Shaw once said "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

Deciding to bring more playfulness into our lives is a decision to stay young in mind, body, and spirit. Today's podcast will focus on being lighthearted and childlike. 

There is nothing planned for today's podcast, so instead we'll focus on the act of breathing. Sometimes the greatest gift we can give to ourselves is the gift of mindful breathing. 

Sometimes people judge and say "Don't just sit there, do something." But occasionally it's nice to do the opposite.

Today's podcast will focus on simply sitting.

Henry David Thoreau once said that our health requires relaxation and aimlessness.

Today's meditation will focus on letting our breath be our masseuse.

It's been said that spirituality is the bravest journey. Today's meditation will focus on strengthening our connection with the divine and fearlessly peering into the mysteries of life. 

Inner peace is always there. It is not necessarily the solution, but it is a way to the solution.

Today's podcast will focus on welcoming inner peace.

It seems like stress can be a familiar friend, always with us. But stress is not a mandatory part of life.

Today's podcast will focus on enhancing our wellbeing by letting go of stress and releasing worry. 

It doesn't always feel this way, but joy is a state of being that you can choose.

Today's podcast will focus on one of our intentions for 2024, which is to live joyfully present.

When hearing poetry, nothing is supposed to happen. Instead, allow the words to flow through you.

Today's podcast  will include a poem from David Steindl-Rast's book "99 Blessings."

There is always something, even in times of difficulty, that we can be grateful for. But when we focus on the goodness of our lives, we actually create more of it.

Today's podcast will focus on being grateful. 

Through mindfulness and non-judgmental learning, we become aware of the choices we make through every single moment. Once we become aware of those moments, we can choose to let go of anxiety and overcome reactivity.

Today's podcast will focus on releasing ourselves of reactivity and anxiety. 

In times of difficulty and challenge, the resilience that lies within each of us is always there. That resilience is part of who we really are. We are resilient not because we lack challenges, but often because of them.

Today's podcast will focus on resilience in times of difficulty. 

Especially in times of uncertainty or difficulties, it's important that we bring our awareness to expanding hopefulness.

We hear a lot of the importance of being there for friends and family, being there for those who are struggling. Of course, true presence is more than just being there.

Today's podcast will focus on expanding our ability to be there for others.

As the Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast said "in thanksgiving to life, I pledge to overcome fear by seeing in what I might otherwise fear, the opportunity to cultivate courageous trust in life and so to lay the foundation for a peaceful future."

Today's podcast will focus on Trusting Life.

While it may not feel like it with all of the difficulties swirling around us, joy is a feeling that you can choose.

 

Today's podcast will focus on trusting in the universe and being joyfully present. 

While we all have challenges and difficulties, and these are difficult times, we need to remember that we have control over our inner peace. Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to let another person or external event to control your emotions.

Today's podcast will focus on poetry from Julia Fehrenbacher's collection On the Other Side of Fear.

Today's podcast will focus on the third step in our Healing series. Pain and life is inevitable, but suffering is not.

Today's podcast will focus on healing through love. 

 

Mindfulness-based stress reduction, or MSBR, is a training program created by Jon Kabat-Zinn the late 70s. MSBR is supported by a wide body of research that showing that it is it is effective at addressing chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and general stress reduction. 

One key tool of this program is called the body scan, which is what today's podcast will focus on.

Whether it be worry, grievance, pain or any other emotion, we often feel as if there is a storm within us. 

Today's meditation will focus on calming that storm and regaining a sense of harmony. 

It’s been said that conflict in the world is an outer manifestation of the human mind. And thus, in bringing an sense of ease to the human mind, perhaps we will gain an understanding to the true power of peace.

 

Today’s podcast will focus on achieving inner peace and coping with uncertainty in the world around us.

Today's podcast will focus on the Serenity Prayer, often attributed to the American theologian and philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr. The prayer offers us the opportunity in times of great stress and discord to re-center our thoughts and actions where they can be helpful and constructive. 

Today's podcast will focus on poetry from Yehuda Amichai. Born in Germany in 1924, he fled the Nazi's at age 12 and settled in Tel Aviv. He's recoginized as one of Israel's finest poets, and it's been said that he's the most widely translated poet since King David.

 

We all feel anger from time to time. Anger is natural and if properly directed, can lead to positive emotions and change.

Today's podcast will focus on overcoming anger.

Martin Luther King once said "we must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools."

Today's podcast will focus on finding unity.