How to be Mindful in the face of a pandemic election

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It was nourishing to be able to go back and forth between election news and this extended interview between On Being host Krista Tippett and the Buddhism teacher Sharon Salzberg.

Why?

  1. On On Being's website and podcast feed, one is able to access the extended, uncut interview in addition to the shorter produced show.
  2. I talk with clients every day about the magic of a mindfulness practice. It allows you to separate yourself from the hard emotional experiences of your life, AND it supercharges your body's innate ability to process and release those emotions. (Anyone need that right about now?!)
  3. I love Sharon's description of the Buddhist practice of treating these emotional "hindrances" as visitors to your house. It's so refreshingly concrete and I may steal the analogy for my practice.
  4. This pearl of a poem landed at the end:

"I do the best I can,
I try to learn from my mistakes.
The world is the world...
of constant change
of pleasure and pain
and being thanked and not being thanked.
All of those things.
And that's where equanimity comes in,
as a comprehension,
of this is the way things are." -Sharon Salzberg, as noted by Krista Tippett

Please listen, enjoy, and let me know what you think.