Meditation Matters

Today's podcast will focus on using meditation to deal with difficult times. 

Fortitude is the ability to walk through fear, doubt and uncertainty.

Today's meditation will focus on embracing our inner courage and inner fortitude as we pray for unity and strength around the world.

It's been said that while being self-centered is the source of grief, being centered is the source of freedom.

Being centered means being aware of the calmness and quiet inside of you. As you become centered, you experience timelessness.  

It's said that a calm mind is a best cure for life's challenges. 

Today's podcast will focus on relaxing our bodies and calming our minds.

Today's podcast will focus on poetry from Wendell Berry. 

The most important thing about meditation is that it gives us the opportunity to hear our soul speaking to us. Today's meditation will focus on listening to our souls. 

There is no better time than autum to imagine that we are standing like trees, our inner selves unadorned by decoration, ready to rest and regain our strength. Growth requires release.

Today's podcast will focus on renewal. 

We all make mistakes. Other people, even those close to us, can hurt us from time to time. But if we hold on to grudges forever, it's like adding an entire new injury to the experience.

Today's meditation will focus on forgiveness.

Reb Nachman advocated for an unstructured and spontaneous form of prayer, often in solitude. His goal was to see the divinity inherent in all beings.

Lovingkindess has no conditions and no expectations. It is ideal, pure love which exists within each of us.

Today's podcast will focus on expanding love towards ourselves and others. 

Today's podcast will focus on the wisdom of William James, the great American philosopher who once said "the greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another."

Today's podcast will focus on Mindful Breathing.

This week's Poetry Friday will focus on Khalil Gibran and his poem "On Self Knowledge". 

This week's Poetry Friday will focus on poems about hope.

Through love, we connect to our true spiritual self, without flaws or imperfections. Through love, we connect to the infinite, perfect stillness which is always with us.

 

Inner peace always begins with choice. In the words of the American Nun Pema Chödrön, inner peace begins the moment you choose not to let another person or external event control your emotions. 

In today's podcast, we'll focus on a simple exercise that will help us choose peace. 

In celebration of National Relaxation Day, today’s meditation will include a Relaxing Awareness Massage. 

We are resilient not because we lack challenges or burdens, but because we each have the capacity to continue on despite those challenges.

Today's podcast will focus on increasing strength and resilience. 

In today's podcast, we'll celebrate National Lazy Day by including 10 minutes of silent meditation in addition to our normal opening and closing. 

Sometimes being present is the greatest gift we can give others.

In today's meditation, we'll walk through four intentions to strengthen our ability to be there for those who are important in our lives.

Happiness is not dependent on what it happening. It is already within us, just waiting patiently for us to call upon it.

Today's meditation will focus on embracing happiness more fully. 

A beginner's mind is a mind for of curiosity and wonder. It is free of pre-conceptions, curious, and fresh.

Today's podcast will focus on expanding an cultivating a beginner's mind.

Today's meditation includes poetry from the 8^th century Chinese poet Li Po. His poetry emphasizes harmony with nature, appreciation for the present moment, and stillness. In this way, Li Po's poetry reflects many of the themes of our daily meditation. 

Rabbi Joseph Gelberman, a renowned Kabbalah teacher, once said "the most important thing about meditation is that it allows us the opportunity to hear our souls speaking to us."

Today's meditation will give us the opportunity to allow our souls and the divine presence to speak to us. 

Today's meditation is a version of one we did in March of 2020.

In today's meditation, we'll reflect on some timeless lines by Randy Meisner. 

Mental health professionals teach us that by increasing gratitude or gratefulness, we improve our resilience and optimism. 

Today's podcast will focus on expanding an attitude of gratitude. 

All of us from time to time become frustrated with events in life. We can become upset even at little things that aren't exactly right, often a reaction to stress and anxiety. 

On today's podcast, we'll focus on expanding our ability to go with the flow.

Disappointment is a feeling that follows the failure of expectations. We all feel disappointment sometimes, but we need not be defined by it.

 

Today's podcast will focus on dislodging any disappointment we may be carrying.

 

The greatest gift of meditation is simply the opportunity to pause and go within.

In today's meditation, we'll focus on taking a moment to breathe.

In today's meditation, we'll reflect on poetry from Thich Nhat Hanh.

Our ability to choose one thought over another is our greatest weapon against stress.

Stress in not a mandatory part of life. Today, let's choose to let go of the thoughts that cause stress.