It is important to check ourselves on the things we value. The more we value things that are out of our control, the less control we have. Recognizing what we can and cannot control, most importantly in those life situations we want to value most, can help us to significantly reduce our struggles.

Have you ever started your day, or a part of your day, thinking, "this isn't going to be good"? When we let our thoughts move in this direction, we lose sight of how simple it can be to change the tone of our day. In this practice, we contemplate the wisdom of one of the teachings of Taoism, ‘One rock can change the path an entire river.’

One of the most important things that mindfulness and meditation can bring us is an awareness of when we are doing something that makes us feel good; that truly makes our soul feel happy.

In our meditations, we want to practice with an awareness of the things we do in that help us feel better and move us toward our intention.

I like to think of enchantment as a practice of taking mindfulness one step further. Mindfulness invites us to be present; to be aware of our surroundings, our inner body, our emotions and our thoughts. Practicing enchantment along with mindfulness, invites us to be more mindful to all those little things we tend to look past or miss, but that do delight us when we notice them.

Have you ever considered walking for your meditation? We all know that being out in nature can be very calming ... for that matter walking just about anywhere can be calming.

Meditate on being with feelings of being overwhelmed. When we resist feelings and sensations of being overwhelmed, we actually create more struggle and difficulty in the situation. Breathe and be with these feelings and sensations and move away from the struggle.

Allowing yourself to be human is one if the most empowering choices you can make. And meditation is the perfect space to begin that practice.

Have you ever sat somewhere and noticed a speck of dirt on the floor, or dust on the shelf? And your mind wouldn’t let you stop thinking about it? What about remembering an insult you received last week, or last month or last year or overthinking an upcoming event or appointment? They are all specks of dirt, aren’t they? Meditate with me and let the speck of dirt go.

Join me for this practice of presence and mindfulness as I guide you to what you really see when you close your eyes and how calming and soothing that can be.

Life is so busy any more and we spend so much of our time 'doing' to the extent that we find ourselves 'doing' our meditation. Today, take the opportunity to let go of the doing and simply be in your meditation. (Note: the meditation practice begins at 3:30)

Join me today as we go back to basics with our meditation; the breath. While there are an infinite number of meditation techniques available to us, turning to the breath is at the heart of meditation and, to effectively practice meditation, we need only turn to the breath as our meditation, nothing more