How do we counter "negativity bias," or the mind's tendency to focus on what's wrong about a situation rather than on what is positive? How can we train ourselves to acknowledge what might be hurting or broken, but not allow ourselves to spiral downward into resentment or depression?

This session, led by Michelle Morrison, focuses on "Stopping and Calming" - Thich Nhat Hahn's way of describing śamatha, which is an essential aspect of meditation practice. We will set down our projects and worries, and rest our bodies and minds, so that we can restore ourselves and gain insight into what is truly important.

Please join us Friday for 30-minute Friday Mindfulness at Noon.

We will practice with a Body Scan, evolved to include gentle movement.

Noticing one part of body. Then gently tightening nearby muscles, then releasing and noticing again. Noticing changes, enjoyment, and any wish for a different relationship to the body.

But nothing to achieve, just a new way on listening.... to the body.... who knows what stories it has to tell.

Meditation should be as easy as a child dreaming nice thoughts, but we run into our active minds, our worried minds, we have distractions, we worry we’re not doing it right..... there are so many ways we can lose self-compassion and increase our personal stress.

These days we get caught in judgment all the time.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see things clearly, without being caught in evaluations?

Judgment is a human characteristic, developed over many generations as our species learned to survive in the jungle. We needed to know what was safe, and what wasn’t. Who was safe, and who wasn’t. Judgment is deeply ingrained in our consciousness.

We can’t get rid of it, but we can learn to manage it.

We can train with Mindfulness to manage it.

In this digital age we rush around until we’re dizzy. There is another way. The snail way. Slower. In this mindfulness meditation we cultivate slowness. And then, with the centeredness that comes with it, we ask an important question: What is your heart’s desire? Enjoy.

I considered various resolutions and finally came to resolving to be more connected to living with intention.

Sometimes change can be frightening. At other times, it can be a blessing, as when we recover from an illness, or see a child learning a new skill. But, as Thich Nhat Hahn has said, if we look deeply, we come to realize that change is neither good nor bad -- it just is.

Most of us have an ingrained tendency to judge ourselves and others harshly, based on messages we received from those around us, the larger society, and past experiences. Many of our judgments are unconscious and inaccurate, and interfere with our ability to be open-minded, kind, and truly present.
In this meditation, we practice detecting and releasing any judgments about our moment-to-moment experience, and then review our day to see how many critical judgments may have gone unnoticed. We also sense into the body to see how it feels to judge versus how it feels to let judgment go and see with fresh, or even kind, eyes.