Hi, and welcome to your

Daily Mindfulness today.

We're going to explore the practice

of growing good mental habits,

ones that lead to more calm,

joy and happiness in our lives.

So there's a saying in neuroscience,

neurons that fire together wire together.

And this refers to the fact that the

more you do something, the stronger

the neural pathways in the brain become

that reinforce that habit or behavior.

So when we practice anything enough,

whether it be a sport like tennis or

playing an instrument like the piano, it

eventually just becomes second nature.

You know, eventually you just play tennis

without any thinking about it at all.

It's just ingrained.

Most of us have experienced this

effect with driving a car, right?

We don't really have to

think about it much anymore.

The same effect occurs with our

mental and emotional patterns.

So for instance, If you dwell on

angry thoughts, a lot, you gradually

become a more angry person and you

lay down ingrained neural pathways,

and eventually you might react to even

the slightest annoyance with rage.

If you dwell continuously own worries,

the mind can become prone to anxiety.

And if you dwell constantly on

gratitude, you can hardwire in

feelings of contentment and joy.

The term neuroplasticity refers to

the fact that we can train our minds

and transform those neural pathways.

We can train our mind to change that

tendency to dwell on worry or anger.

We can become less reactive, more

happy, confident, and focused.

You could say that your mind

is a little like a garden.

You can cultivate it to be

happier, healthier, and stronger

by planting seeds of happiness and

pulling the weeds of suffering.

We can use our attention and awareness to

nurture the seeds we want to grow, and we

can choose to stop giving our attention

and awareness to the things we want to

let go of in our minds and our lives.

So with intentional effort, we can

stop tending to the habits that really

aren't serving us and focus our energy

and intentions on the things that do.

And every time we think, do or say

anything, it sends a little bit of

energy down the pathway of the mind.

And when we're restraining certain

impulses and habits, it's stops sending

that energy down the pathway of the mind.

And now there's no better way

to cultivate a more calm wise,

clear and compassionate mind than

through the practice of mediation.

With every single practice, we're

building positive neural pathways

in the mind that eventually moved

from being just a state to a trait.

So we're gradually becoming

the best version of ourselves.

So in today's meditation, we're

going to be training our minds to

cultivate the seeds of contentment,

joy, and happiness in this way.

As always thank you for your

practice and for your presence here.

And let's settle in

for today's meditation.