mindful monday

peach blossoms procured at the dupont farmers' market

happy monday. a big merci for your support of the 24 tools of tranquility e-book released last week. i appreciate it greatly and hope that the e-book, essays, and photos help nurture your experimentation with the tranquility tools. 

my weekend was spent at the studio teaching workshops, taking yoga, savoring a mindfulness workshop, and speaking at georgetown's own it summit {recorded talk coming out in this week's love note}. oh, and delighting in this beautiful weather coupled with a farmers' market jaunt, brunch with a social work colleague, and spontaneous date night with le beau. 

i wanted to share a few gems from the mindfulness workshop with the lovely gina sager. 

* when pining for something other than the present moment, remind yourself "nothing else is supposed to be happening." 

* thoughts and experiences are not the same.

* the cognitive mind tries to make sense of feelings to avoid the pain. 

* we tend to be teflon for good experiences and velcro for negative ones.

* watch your thoughts, don't have to solve it. 

* stay and don't abandon self when uncomfortable. 

* we can only control our response to stressful environmental factors. 

* the more you leave the moment, the more dissatisfaction you have.

* at the end of every day, forgive yourself and start over.

* angst comes up when thinking "this isn't right, i'm not supposed to feeling this way."

* meditation changes neuropathways.

* the path is the goal. 

may your week be filled with many mindful moments. bisous. x

{to explore mindfulness further, join the "mindfulness: tranquility within" e-course}