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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.
Today I'm going to talk about
self-improvement versus self-love.
So often in life, we become quite fixated
on the idea of improving ourselves.
Right?
And I think when people initially come to
mindfulness, they have the idea of that
that's what mindfulness is really about.
It's about improving ourselves.
But mindfulness is not so much
about improving ourselves, fixing
or changing ourselves in any way.
It's actually about knowing ourselves
and being ourselves more fully.
It's actually about unwinding from
the thoughts that tell us we're
not enough yet, we're not there
yet, we're not okay as we are.
And it teaches us to abide in a deeper
place within ourselves, a place of
wholeness, calm and contentment.
And I can tell you from firsthand
experience that it's such a
profound relief when we can learn
to simply accept ourselves as we
are and finally let ourselves be.
Now, this doesn't mean that we're never
going to do anything to improve our
life circumstances, we're not going
to give up on our morals or values.
Rather, it means just unwinding from
the stories that tell us we're not good
enough, that we're deficient and that we
need to be fixed so that we can live our
lives and make our choices from a place
of confidence, fullness and self-love.
So we do things in other words,
from mindset of love, rather
than the mindset of deficiency.
So the difference between
self-improvement and self-love is
summed up really beautifully in this
passage from a Bob Sharples book.
And the book is called,
Meditation: Calming the Mind.
So in it, he says, "Don't meditate
to fix yourself, to heal yourself, to
improve yourself, or to redeem yourself.
Rather do it as an act of love, of
deep, warm friendship to yourself.
And in this way, there's no longer
any need for the subtle aggression
of self-improvement, for the
endless guilt of not doing enough.
It actually offers a possibility
of an end to the ceaseless rounds
of trying so hard that wraps so
many people's lives in a knot.
Instead, now there's
meditation as an act of love.
How endlessly delightful and encouraging."
So today, here's my invitation.
Rather than trying to make yourself
into something else, see if you can
switch the focus today to just loving
and accepting yourself just as you
are, right now, no strings attached,
no ifs, no buts, no conditions.
And if the inner critic pipes up,
don't buy into those thoughts.
See if you can drop all of that self
prodding, smile at the mind's antics and
just bring the focus back to acceptance.
And when we stop trying to
change ourselves, we can then
learn to simply be ourselves.
And then we can touch down on
that endlessly, delightful and
encouraging place within ourselves.
And there you are.
There's the loving awareness and the
wholeness that you are seeking all along.
On that note, let's settle
in for today's meditation.
And as always thank you for your
practice and your presence here with us.
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- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
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Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
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