Personal Essays

First-person stories about what mindfulness looks like in real, messy, everyday life. These essays are honest, personal, and often funny - written by people who've found that paying attention changes everything.
Woman with hands on heart, cultivating a sense of inner calm.
Magazine

Inner Calm: The Key is Letting Go 

Allowing our emotions to arise, be felt, and dissolve helps us cultivate equanimity and inner calm. From this place of balance, we’re more resilient to what life throws at us. Read More

  • Shalini Bahl
Read more
Friends enjoying a sunset at the top of a climb
Magazine
Finding Your People 

While contemplative and mindfulness practices are often seen as solitary pursuits, Mindful founding editor Barry Boyce offers a case for why our search for peace and freedom is a group effort. Read More 

  • Barry Boyce
  • December 19, 2025
Navigating body grief
Eating & Body Image
Coming Home to Heal 

Traveling the path of body grief isn’t weakness. We can deeply embody our life as it is, finding our way to self-compassion and body trust. Read More 

  • Mara Gulens
  • December 17, 2025
embrace deeper confidence and self-compassion—through extending a friendly invitation
Loving-Kindness & Compassion
The Reluctant Host: How I Left Loneliness By Inviting People In 

Navigating life can be an intensely lonely experience—but sometimes the world is just waiting for you to invite it in. We can not only learn to host a bigger, more connected community, but we can also embrace deeper confidence and self-compassion—through extending a friendly invitation. Read More 

  • Sharon Ross
  • December 17, 2025
you can learn to trust yourself
Loving-Kindness & Compassion
You Can Trust Yourself 

Stephanie Domet digs deep into her own journey toward building real, unshakable trust in herself, what that even means, and how you can discover your ability to meet the moment. Read More 

  • Stephanie Domet
  • December 17, 2025
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