In so many of my dharma talks and conversations lately, boundaries have come up. Boundaries showed up in our meditation series on Passion & Paychecks with Tiffany Johnson. Boundaries showed up in our discussions on worry and on fierce self-compassion. Boundaries also show up for me perpetually in relationships, and are something I spend a good bit of time thinking about and working on.

Join me for today’s talk and guided meditation practice as a first step in clarifying and working with your own personal boundaries.

There are 3 guiding principles I incorporate into my meditation practice to help guide me in the ongoing balance of making tender choices and tough choices to best support my ultimate intentions:

Listening: "To listen is to continually give up all expectations and to give our attention, completely and freshly, to what is before us, not really knowing what we will hear or what that will mean. In the practice of our days, to listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear." {from Mark Nepo}⁠

Courage: In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant "To speak one's mind by telling all one's heart."  {from Brene Brown}⁠

FIERCE Compassion: What is the action that moves me in the direction of my ultimate intention? {from Dr. Kristen Neff}

Join me for today’s meditation.

It is way too easy to tell ourselves we just have to meet the deadline, get through the holiday, finish the cleaning and THEN we will practice. I have several years of experience to tell you that you almost never actually get around to practicing… I wasted years doing this dance.

When is choosing to take a break the compassionate choice and when is choosing to push through the struggle the better choice?

Join me for today’s discussion and guided meditation as we learn how to balance listening, courage and action within our meditation practice.

When we worry, it is only because we care deeply about someone or something, and there is something that feels threatening or unsafe to the person or thing we care so much about.

Worry has its roots in fear, and that overwhelming, suffocating feeling often comes from trying to ignore what it is we fear most in this situation… So our first step in moments of worry, is to create and nurture a sense of safety for ourselves.

I know some of you are thinking, “but that sounds a little selfish to put myself first when someone else might be struggling or suffering…” I know we’ve been taught this is the case. We should be helping! Doing something! Staring at the phone anxiously awaiting an update!

If/and/but, I am doing all that while spiraling out of control on the inside, I can’t actually be there to help when or if it is needed. I can’t show up as my best if I’m an emotional basket case. So, let’s take a few minutes to settle down and create a sense of safety for ourselves so that we can show up how we need to for the moments ahead.

Worry is such an interesting paradox isn’t it? It feels truly terrible when we are in the throes of it. Our bodies, our hearts, and minds can feel overwhelmed or suffocated by worry. And yet, worry only happens because we care deeply about someone or something; it feels like something that we must accept as an unavoidable experience in life.

Worry has its roots in fear, and that overwhelming, suffocating feeling often comes from trying to ignore what it is we fear most in a particular situation… So our first step in moments of worry is to create and nurture a sense of safety for ourselves.

Join me for today’s talk and guided meditation designed to nurture a sense of safety within moments of worry.

**This episode is a replay of the 2020 Summer Solstice. Enjoy!**

The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year; the most light we see in a 24 hour period.

Today’s meditation is a practice of shining the light. Let’s get to it.

Today’s episode is a special interview with Thomas Moore, author of one of my favorite books - Care of the Soul. He is here today to talk about his new book, Soul Therapy.

Today, I introduce a new series to the podcast called Meditation IRL, and it is simply stories.

Stories about how one meditates. What their practice is like. What they love and what they struggle with. How they learned and the tools they use.

It is simply stories; an inner glimpse of private meditation lives.

My hope is that we find threads of connection and ways to lean into even those that challenge us the most so that we can remember that we belong to each other.

And with that, I want to introduce the FIRST Meditation IRL guest: long-time student and friend, Dr. Ashanté M. Reese