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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 the importance of acceptance. So there's a story about this. There once was a man who was determined to have a beautiful lawn around his house. So he worked on it every week, watering it, seeding it, but he had a problem.
No matter what he did, dandelions kept growing up through the lawn. So whenever he saw the dandelions, he got really annoyed, went out and immediately pulled them all out. But they just grew right back. So after a few weeks of frustration and anger with this situation, he went to the store, bought some weed killer. He's like, I'm going to sort this out.
He sprayed it all over the place. And it worked for a while, but it also damaged the lawn. And then after it rained, the dandelions we're growing back again. So frustrated, he decided the problem must be the type of soil they were growing in. So he pulled up the entire lawn, put down new soil turf.
This time he thought, I've got this licked. So he started to relax. But of course he looked over and again, within a few days, dandelions were growing up through the new grass. Now he was getting really worked up and really frustrated and really stressed. So he concluded that the dandelions, after all of this, must be coming from the neighbor's yard.
So he went on a secret campaign to kill all the neighbors dandelions in the whole neighborhood. He weeded, he sweated, he sprayed, he snuck around in the night. But a year later, after totally exhausting himself, he still had dandelions growing up through his lawn. So after trying everything and coming to the end of his wits, he finally wrote to the Department of Agriculture and he wrote to them saying, telling them the story about how horrible this war with dandelions is for him. So after some time he got a letter back and he was so excited.
As he opened the envelope, he thought, finally, I'm going to get the help I need. The letter read, Dear Sir, we have considered your problem carefully and consulted with all of our experts. We believe that we have the very best advice for you. Our advice is that you learn to love those dandelions. So this story can serve as a great metaphor for how we too can get stuck in a quite, unhelpful attitude sometimes of resistance towards life.
Like the man in this story, we all have times when the reality of our lives contains dandelions of one kind or another. There's just, there's things that arise that are annoying or unpleasant or unwanted and painful that we just can't control no matter how much we try. And as they arise, it's wise to remember that we do have a choice in how we handle the situation. We can resist it, or we can accept it. We can wage war with life, or we can wage peace.
We can make ourselves miserable and agitated about what's happening or we can learn to find peace and even joy amongst the dandelions of our lives. So if we can set aside our ideas of how we think life should or shouldn't be, relax our agendas and just accept day-to-day life as it is, we're going to find greater degrees of peace, equanimity, and presence in the middle of it all. So as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here. And let's settle in for today's meditation.
The Problem With Dandelions
Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:
Duration
Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.
Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to talk about the importance of acceptance. So there's a story about this. There once was a man who was determined to have a beautiful lawn around his house. So he worked on it every week, watering it, seeding it, but he had a problem.
No matter what he did, dandelions kept growing up through the lawn. So whenever he saw the dandelions, he got really annoyed, went out and immediately pulled them all out. But they just grew right back. So after a few weeks of frustration and anger with this situation, he went to the store, bought some weed killer. He's like, I'm going to sort this out.
He sprayed it all over the place. And it worked for a while, but it also damaged the lawn. And then after it rained, the dandelions we're growing back again. So frustrated, he decided the problem must be the type of soil they were growing in. So he pulled up the entire lawn, put down new soil turf.
This time he thought, I've got this licked. So he started to relax. But of course he looked over and again, within a few days, dandelions were growing up through the new grass. Now he was getting really worked up and really frustrated and really stressed. So he concluded that the dandelions, after all of this, must be coming from the neighbor's yard.
So he went on a secret campaign to kill all the neighbors dandelions in the whole neighborhood. He weeded, he sweated, he sprayed, he snuck around in the night. But a year later, after totally exhausting himself, he still had dandelions growing up through his lawn. So after trying everything and coming to the end of his wits, he finally wrote to the Department of Agriculture and he wrote to them saying, telling them the story about how horrible this war with dandelions is for him. So after some time he got a letter back and he was so excited.
As he opened the envelope, he thought, finally, I'm going to get the help I need. The letter read, Dear Sir, we have considered your problem carefully and consulted with all of our experts. We believe that we have the very best advice for you. Our advice is that you learn to love those dandelions. So this story can serve as a great metaphor for how we too can get stuck in a quite, unhelpful attitude sometimes of resistance towards life.
Like the man in this story, we all have times when the reality of our lives contains dandelions of one kind or another. There's just, there's things that arise that are annoying or unpleasant or unwanted and painful that we just can't control no matter how much we try. And as they arise, it's wise to remember that we do have a choice in how we handle the situation. We can resist it, or we can accept it. We can wage war with life, or we can wage peace.
We can make ourselves miserable and agitated about what's happening or we can learn to find peace and even joy amongst the dandelions of our lives. So if we can set aside our ideas of how we think life should or shouldn't be, relax our agendas and just accept day-to-day life as it is, we're going to find greater degrees of peace, equanimity, and presence in the middle of it all. So as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here. And let's settle in for today's meditation.
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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.
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I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
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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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