What if the more you practice hanging with the discomfort of the I-don't-know-ness rather than trying to distract yourself from it or solve your way out of it, the more strength and trust that you can handle whatever life throws at you you'll start to own within yourself?

We can't tap into our most essentially creative power or the flow of abundance when we're rushing forward.

Our fullest power and potential are only available when we're firmly grounded in this present moment. 

The truth is, beating yourself up all day isn’t actually making you more productive.

The habit of beating yourself up as an attempt at motivation is actually likely damming your flow up way more than you realize.

Placing rigid demands on how your desires manifest blocks the flow of abundance.

If you're pushing 100% of the time, there's no room to receive what life wants to deliver you. And who knows, maybe life has something even better than what you'd been imagining in store for you?

It's true; as your mindfulness muscle is just starting to grow, it can make you feel more in your head than ever. You're suddenly paying attention to everything, so it can feel like things are even crazier than before.

But the reality is, your mind was just as wild before. It's just that you're finally noticing it.

All we need to do to get unstuck from a sticky moment - aka a sticky thought - is to: Pause. Step back. Take an objective look at what's actually happening (not in your mind, but in reality). And get curious about what's under the microscope, with no clinging to or pushing away whatever you discover.

You never know whose life you might be changing for the better right this second by just showing up. There's no different way, no "more” you need to be to positively impact someone's life right now.

I thought there was something defective about me that I hadn't been able to figure out how to kick these maddening, self-defeating eating habits.Then one day this question crossed my mind and really hit my gut: "I wonder what I'm using food to distract myself from?"

Once we acknowledge what's really up for us in this moment, we can appropriately address it and clear it through that awareness. We keep the channels clear by staying as honestly and objectively aware as possible of what our energy and emotions are up to in the present moment.

In 2009 when I moved from San Diego back "home" to the Bay Area I was sad. In more grief than I'd ever known I could be, in fact. The move took place after the first man I'd ever really opened up to loving and being loved by died in a car accident. And I had no clue what I was going to do next. All I knew was that just "being" was the only right thing in that moment.

But when we stop taking our "small s self" so seriously, our "capital S Self” reminds us it's been there all along. And the (capital S) Self is constant. It's whole and centered and perfect and at ease, and its wholeness depends not one ounce on concepts or circumstances. It just is.

The ability of a consistent mindfulness practice to enhance our physical and emotional wellbeing, among a long list of other benefits, is truly profound. And ultimately most profound in its ability to open us up to the reality of how inextricably interconnected all beings are, and the love and compassion that gets uncorked with that clear seeing.