Weekly Words: "Whistling Swans"

"Do you bow your head when you pray
or do you look up into that blue space? 
Take your choice, prayers fly from all directions. 
And don’t worry about what language you use, 
God no doubt understands them all. 
Even when the swans are flying north
and making such a ruckus of noise, 
God is surely listening and understanding. 
Rumi said, There is no proof of the soul. 
But isn’t the return of spring
and how it springs up in our hearts a pretty good hint? 
Yes, I know, God’s silence never breaks, 
but is that really a problem? 
There are thousands of voices, after all. 
And furthermore, don’t you imagine (I just suggest it) 
that the swans now about as much as we do
about the whole business? 
So listen to them and watch them, 
singing as they fly. 
Take from it what you can."

- Mary Oliver

Happy (long) weekend...

Happy Labor Day weekend! We're headed back up to Maine this weekend, and the forecast looks spectacular. Wishing you a wonderful long weekend of sun and summer. Here are a few things that kept me moving during an exciting and active week:

• Grooving to the classic 1976 jam "Free" by Deniece Williams and feeling instantly lit from inside. Good vibes ahead, friends.
• Enjoying one man's account of his sugar detox in Fast Company's article "How Giving Up Refined Sugar Changed My Brain," and continuing to push myself to consume all whole foods all the time.
• Trying Bon Appetit's take on Brooks Headley's burger-of-the-moment recipe. We're big on homemade vegetable patties and meatballs in this house, so I'm thrilled to add another to the repertoire.  
• Purchasing a beautifully illustrated children's book on microbes. Because I'm still obsessed. 
• And finally, a line from A.A. Milne on the gentle observation of a summer day. I hope you have a chance to meditate on the same this weekend:

"Little soft clouds played happily in a blue sky, skipping from time to time in front of the sun as if they had come to put it out, and then sliding away suddenly so that the next might have his turn"

Happy weekend...

Happy Friday! It has been a wonderful and busy week. I'm really excited about this weekend, as I'll be spending it in the next intensive weekend for my coaching certification. 

• Listening to an awesome podcast on meditation, ritual, and celebrating and practicing gratitude from Rich Roll, featuring tea and Zen master Wude. Thanks to the lovely M. for sharing this! 
• Reading the insightful book WomanCode, which is a great guide for helping women understand just how their bodies work...and how to navigate and manage hormonal changes, cycles, and health.  
• And finally, a gorgeous quote from a post by Sharon Salzberg on "The Challenges of Seeing Meditation Only Through a Scientific Lens" where she explores the effects of meditation on the mind, but also on our souls:

"We need to remember to look at our lives for signs — to consider how we are with our partners, our children, our colleagues at work, or even with strangers. Even more importantly, we need to look at how we speak to ourselves when we have made a mistake: do we blame ourselves, or recognize our capacity for resilience, our ongoing ability to begin again."

Finding Time for Peace

Our days, by nature, are busy. Many of us spend our weeks, months, and years moving and grooving at work, with our families, at events, or in transit. The joys of juggling can be a blessing, akin to the adage that too much business is better than having no business at all. But amidst such movement, it becomes very easy to forget the most basic of tasks on our to-do lists, let alone remember to just breathe.

Recently, something that I've continued to work on in my own life is making the time and space for these moments of peace - a stretch of time where I can hit the pause button and bring myself to the present - clearing my mind, and relishing in a few good mindful breaths before pressing play again on the day. Through experience, I've learned about the power in having a little pause in thinking (aka planning, pondering, worrying, or listening to my own inner critic tell me her opinion) and how it has really helped me use my brain more effectively when I need to again. I'm more mindful about how I create plans and work towards goals. I also sleep better, worry less, and breath a bit easier. 

While in theory, making this space to move into the "now" is technically a meditation, the time and place might not resemble what many might view as the stereotypical act. And within that lies the beauty of it all. 

Building a routine meditation is a personal and individual act. For some, meditation may appear to take place in the classic Zen sitting style - seated lotus position, rear lifted and eyes at a soft gaze for a length of time. But for many people, incorporating that type of practice into their lives is neither practical nor desirable, and may not even be the best way to connect with the present at all. If this is something that has deterred you from exploring meditation, I'd invite you to consider that the many ways to incorporate these spaces of peace and mindfulness into your life, and even begin to schedule it into your day. 

Over the past year, through a joyful, challenging, and at times, really freaking frustrating, play with meditation, mantras, and mudras, I've learned about the many methods of making space within my mind. I've shared this with friends, praising the wonders of deep belly breathing and quiet serenity I've discovered during some seriously stressful times. With practice, I've learned what works best for me (a series of deep belly breaths, a simple body scan, and a mantra or two) and how to expand or shorten my practice given the availability of time. I've learned to be gentle on myself as I work to explore meditation, and to remind myself that time and space is a gift that can be found anywhere and anytime. 

The good news is, however you choose to incorporate meditative moments, the benefits remain. Read more about the different types of meditation via The Chopra Center, the Institute for Noetic Sciences, and Gaiam. For more on the benefits of meditation, check out Emma Seppälä's "20 Scientific Reasons to Start Meditating Today."

Happy weekend...

Happy Friday, and happy May! Apologies for the radio silence, but I think I've just wrapped up one of the most busy weeks in quite a long time. I feel a shift towards newness and light, and I'm excited for what's to come. I'm looking forward to settling into this new space (literally, and physically) and enjoying some warm weather. Here are a few things that kept me grounded this week:

• Revisiting Paul Simon's "Concert in the Park" this time of year feels so fresh and right, and has me yearning for my years of concerts on the Great Lawn, at Rumsey Playfield and along The Mall, as the sun set in New York City's beautiful refuge.
• Bringing all good vibes to our new apartment by burning some Palo Santo incense sticks.
• Loving this travelogue of a drive up the California coastline, and jonesing to get back to that windy and unplugged open water highway soon.
• And finally, a few gorgeous lines by Katrina Kenison that speaks volumes to the type of things I've been meditating on over the course of a few tough months. I highly recommend checking out the rest of the piece, and sitting with it during times of difficulty or unrest:

"When the going gets tough may I resist my first impulse to wade in, fix, explain, resolve, and restore. May I sit down instead.

When the going gets tough may I be quiet. May I steep for a while in stillness.

When the going gets tough may I have faith that things are unfolding as they are meant to. May I remember that my life is what it is, not what I ask for. May I find the strength to bear it, the grace to accept it, the faith to embrace it."

Sitting with Gratitude

When I was younger, I often found myself frustrated when things didn't go my way. I felt duped by what I couldn't actually control, and let down by how reality didn't seem to align with the high expectations that I set for myself. When I shared these feelings with my mother, she always reminded me to do the same thing: allow yourself to feel let down for a bit, but then work on moving on.

Sitting with emotions.

This activity always seemed like an interesting proposition. On one hand, it gives yourself permission to feel and allows yourself to explore the depths of angst or disappointment. On the other hand, it's a chance to practice letting go and learn how to shift your perspective towards newness and possibility. It allows us to actively manage how our thoughts affect our feelings, and therefore more consciously own those emotions. But something I hadn't considered until recently was sitting with the good feelings too.

We live in an age of not enough, where many people experience FOMO ("fear of missing out"), or are always in search of the bigger and better thing. So often, we spend time focusing on what's next that we forget to acknowledge what is now.

I found myself in a similar situation when I began to plan some activities to get involved and explore the communities in my still "new" city. I built a set of goals that would help propel me forward, expand my network, and help me continue to grow towards this awesome life that I've always imagined. The only issue? My free time was limited, and I was amidst some life changes. 

By probing deeper to understand what I really meant by "this awesome life that I've always imagined," I realized that to some extent, I was already living it. Sure, these goals were still something to actively explore, but it revealed that there was something else I needed to incorporate into my life: more gratitude.

Gratitude involves expressing appreciation for what you have. Exploring it can help boost your energy, encourage optimism, and even make you more successful in the long run.  Robert Emmons, a gratitude researcher at the University of California at Davis, also notes that simple exercises of gratitude add up over time, and incorporating it into daily habits can help encourage your overall sense of happiness and well-being. He notes that "once you get started, you find more and more things to be grateful for."

In the past, I've tried to practice gratitude on a daily basis. I've done gratitude journals, gratitude jars, and explored other methods of thanking myself, but then I closed the book or put the top back on the jar, never to explore those feelings again. So I brainstormed a bit, and came up with an idea on how to incorporate it into something I already do on a daily basis,

My challenge to myself? Three times a week, I will incorporate gratitude into my daily meditation. This is something that will allow me to continue making my twice-daily meditations a habit, and build a practice of gratitude towards the life that I am already living. My desired outcomes? Feeling more grounded, present, and proud of myself on a daily basis.

Interested in learning more? Here's how it works:

1.  The night before your meditation, spend some time thinking about what you are grateful for...right now. It could be something as simple as having a great phone call or eating a good meal. It could be as complex as finding a new place to live or accomplishing a big goal at work.
2. Write it down somewhere that will be easily accessible in the morning. For me this involves updating the subject line of a daily alarm I've set as a reminder to do my meditation. You could use a notebook or sticky note as well.
3. On the following day, or when you do your meditation, re-read your note of gratitude, and fully embody it while meditating. This could be by imagining the words in your mind's eye or chanting it as a mantra. It could be by using the feeling of gratitude to send warmth towards anything painful that you notice while scanning yourself in the moment.
4. Focus on how this feeling of gratitude resonates through your body.
5. Practice this type of gratitude a few times a week or whenever you need to reminder of what you're doing well in life. And take note of how this type of noticing and awareness feels, and if you find yourself being more present on a daily basis.

Happy weekend...

Happy holiday weekend! It's a cozy gray morning, and we're on the train headed down the New England coast to Connecticut for a few days. I anticipate that there will be a lot of good eating and time well-spent with family on Easter. Before we head off, here are a few things that have moved me this week:

• Grabbing some new music inspiration from the always excellent playlists pulled together by Sarah Tolzmann of Note to Self. That March-April 15' playlist is really on point.
• Loving this essay on "The Potential in the Pregnant Pause" from On Being about how breaking free from habituation can open the door to transformation.
• Revisiting some classic thoughts on mindfulness from Jon Kabat-Zinn, and gearing up for a sitting at the Cambridge Zen Center later this spring.
• And finally, some words to close the week from Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on how understanding ourselves better frees up our hearts to love others:

“ The essence of loving kindness is being able to offer happiness. You can be the sunshine for another person. You can’t offer happiness until you have it for yourself. So build a home inside by accepting yourself and learning to love and heal yourself. Learn how to practice mindfulness in such a way that you can create moments of happiness and joy for your own nourishment. Then you have something to offer the other person...

...If you have enough understanding and love, then every moment — whether it’s spent making breakfast, driving the car, watering the garden, or doing anything else in your day — can be a moment of joy.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

Happy weekend...

Happy Friday! It's been a long first week of spring, and I'm looking forward to enjoying some time at home before hitting the road again on Monday morning. I hope you have a restful and fun weekend as well! Here are some things I've been fancying for the past few days:

• Revisiting Joni Mitchell's "Ladies of the Canyon" and getting overly excited about spending a July weekend up in Woodstock, NY with my own ladies in a gorgeous modern barn.
• Thanking my lucky stars, and this Black Elderberry Syrup, for keeping me healthy this past week after the flu hit our house and I spent a few hours on a plane.
• Slowly increasing my daily meditation to 10-15 minutes, twice a day, thanks to apps like "OMG. I Can Meditate!" and "Simply Being." It really does help induce restful sleep and peaceful living.
• And finally, a gorgeous quote on sowing positivity and growth to take you into the weekend:

“When you open yourself to the continually changing, impermanent, dynamic nature of your own being and of reality, you increase your capacity to love and care about other people and your capacity to not be afraid. You’re able to keep your eyes open, your heart open, and your mind open. And you notice when you get caught up in prejudice, bias, and aggression. You develop an enthusiasm for no longer watering those negative seeds, from now until the day you die. And, you begin to think of your life as offering endless opportunities to start to do things differently.”

— Pema Chödrön