Mindfulness

Mindfulness

The truth is, what scares most people isn't the balance in their bank account ... it's the unknowns around money: Am I spending too much? Am I saving enough? Will I run out? Should I feel guilty for wanting something joyful? That's where financial mindfulness comes in. It's not about restriction; it's about awareness, intention, and aligning your money with the life you actually want to live.

One evening in October 2023, I went outside to check the mailbox in our Florida suburb and found a white hearse parked in our driveway. Beneath the moonlight, it glittered like a ghostly apparition. I froze and wondered if death had finally come for us. We'd each recently battled life-threatening health challenges. I'd survived a brain tumor while Tomer had undergone open-heart surgery. We were still in our 40s, and while medical intervention had bought us more time, my anxiety continued to soar.

Things happen at work that are upsetting. Thinking about them for the purpose of problem-solving or processing emotions makes sense. Beyond that, though, continuing to rehash negative topics, either mentally or verbally, only results in reigniting negative emotions. Although it's easier said than done, practice letting go of negative experiences and issues after you've done what you could about them.

When you name what you're feeling you're not just talking. You're helping your brain shift gears. Research shows that labeling emotions reduces activity in the amygdala, the part of your brain that sounds the alarm. At the same time, it activates the prefrontal cortex, the part that helps you think clearly and make good decisions (Lieberman and colleagues, 2007). Naming your emotions helps you move from panic to power.

If you live with chronic pain, you already know how exhausting it can be. Not just the physical sensations but the constant trying-trying to push through, trying to find answers, trying to explain something that feels invisible to others. The search for relief can become its own full-time job, and it's easy to feel discouraged or alone. Over the years of running this site, I've heard from many people who've felt trapped in their bodies, like life was happening around them, not with them.

ROBERT WALDINGER: I am a Zen practitioner and I'm an ordained Zen priest, and I'm a Zen teacher. I'm actually a Roshi, a Zen master. And so I meditate every day. I teach meditation here in the United States and actually internationally, it's a big part of my life. And what I find is that it is an enormous benefit in terms of how I think about my own life, other people's lives, how I think about my research, how I think about working with patients.

Okay, welcome everybody. You can tell it's late summer. Nice to see you all. So, I think most of you, maybe almost everyone has been here before, so you know the drill. We're going to do an hour-long meditation, a guided meditation, and then after that I'll say some stuff and then you guys will maybe have comments or reports or things you want to say, or maybe ask a question.

I love my mom a lot. But whenever she visits, she brings at least a few boxes from the attic - also known as the packed-to-the-ceiling hell where every single thing from my childhood is kept. The boxes she brings sometimes include a treasured piece of jewelry or a timeless toy or a long-forgotten photograph, but they also include lots of broken stuff, out-of-date books, and every single worksheet from second grade.

A visual timer that can help make transitions easier for everyone. Since kids can't tell time, "five more minutes" doesn't mean much. When time is visual, kids can watch the colored portion get smaller and be less shocked when time is up. If you have a kid that struggles with transitions or doesn't want any time but NOW, this timer is for you.

When we slow down enough to truly notice, everyday life reveals quiet moments of wonder. A child's gleeful laughter, the rhythm of a shared meal, or the gleam of sunlight on a playground fountain-these are the small, unfiltered joys of being alive. But in this technological age, these moments are often interrupted. We reach instinctively for our phones, eager to capture or share rather than simply feel.

Despite my husband and my family's belief that our decision to leave the matrix to live on a homestead in the mountains was spontaneous, people don't just wake up one day and realize they don't fit in. That moment of clarity is the culmination of years of being different. After all, in high school, I was voted least likely to conform.

Lately, I've noticed a theme among my clients and, similarly, in myself. Many of us are in seasons that demand sustained focus and mindful energy. We are pushing toward something important while trying to protect our flow from distractions, self-doubt, and emotional noise. I often emphasize the value of self-check-ins and collecting your own data. But what happens when you are in such a driven, purposeful stretch that even pausing to reflect feels like it could knock you off balance?

If a post didn't get a like within two minutes, I'd delete it and try again, often asking friends to like it and comment just to keep up with appearances. When I lost a follower, I'd look at an app to see who it was. I was constantly refreshing, hoping to get more than 100 likes in an hour. I drove myself crazy.

For years, I tied my identity to productivity. My self-worth hinged on how much I could accomplish in a day, how many boxes I could check. The busier I was, the more valuable I believed myself to be. But that constant need to perform left me mentally and emotionally drained, disconnected not only from others but from myself. The shift didn't happen overnight. There wasn't a single moment of clarity, but rather a quiet unraveling of old habits and a tentative embrace of new rhythms.

Twenty-two foam nubs protrude from the bottom of this shoe. When I slide it on, it almost feels like I'm walking on bubble tape-or like, with every step, an octopus tentacle is suctioning to my foot. Even through a thick cotton sock and all that foam, I can feel textures underfoot. I sense the individual blades of grass on a soccer pitch, and dragging my sole along a textured running track feels a bit akin to licking the roof of my mouth.

Many stressed-out people are attracted to eastern meditation, believing that it will give them relief from their "monkey mind" and lower their anxiety about life. Unfortunately, the monkey usually wins because people find the mental focus required for meditation devilishly hard. On a trip last year to India, I asked a Buddhist teacher why Westerners struggle so much with the practice. "You won't get the benefit from meditation," he said, "as long as you are meditating to get the benefit."

The sun shifted into piercing Scorpio just after midnight, so you may feel the hot and intense energy of Scorpio season as you begin your day. Direct your passionate energy into laser-focused action or research. By mid-morning, the moon - also transiting steady Scorpio - links up with perceptive Mercury and calculating Mars. Any goal is possible when you are ruthlessly determined. Get clear on what you want, but think twice before firing off the first thought that springs to mind.

They often opened their home to extended-stay guests. A friend would be going through a divorce and needed a place for a few weeks while looking for an apartment, or a meditation teacher would be in town from India, bringing us tiny clay buddhas and new dishes at the dinner table. One year, my parents hosted a violinist who was performing at the local symphony for about a month. I remember watching her play violin at the top of our entryway stairs.

We all have a relationship with money, and for most of us, it's... complicated.

Practicing yoga for anxiety is a balance of sitting with the accompanying emotions and moving just enough to allow new energy to flow through you. Yoga teacher Taylor Lorenz understands this. In just over 10 minutes, she moves you through calming cycles of Cat and Cow, some gently challenging seated postures, and a reinvigorating breathwork exercise, each easing anxiety while welcoming a more grounded sense of spirit.

Visiting Shasta Abbey can be a little like experiencing a time-warp. On a dark night when the grounds are covered with snow, and black-cloaked monks, solitary figures against the white, walk to and fro around the cloister's unfinished boardwalk, one can easily imagine having stepped several centuries back in time. The silent, one-story monastery, cast in the yellowish glow of small lanterns placed at intervals around the walk, is a tranquil presence in the night. An occasional bell blends with the stillness.

Emotions evolved through natural selection as a way to get humans to avoid things that would threaten their survival and approach things that would serve them. Fear prompts us to defend ourselves. Love motivates us to connect, nurture, and cooperate. Anger arises when something threatens our values or boundaries. In essence, emotions condense our judgment about what's happening around us, driving us to make the "right" decision for survival and adaptation.

As an advisor to many CEOs of Fortune 500 companies over the years, I've found a common thread that might surprise you: CEOs work hard but they also know how to recharge faster and better. Just like in fitness, recovery is a key part of exertion. At work, learning to micro-relax better can increase energy, productivity and, quite frankly, joy.

Although they would describe it as the labor of love, pastoral work is definitely labor-which can lead to stress, anxiety, and burnout, just like in so many other professions. Although we acknowledge and celebrate pastoral work in October, pastors' jobs are emotionally and spiritually overwhelming all year long. Thankfully, there are ways to achieve physical and spiritual refreshment, as research explains.