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.
What Happens When We Reconnect With Nature—Photo of a view looking off a cliff down into a green valley with a small village and clear blue skies.
Magazine
What Happens When We Reconnect With Nature 

Why take your mindfulness practice outside? Rochelle Calvert explains how being in nature releases us from needing to “try” or “do,” so that we can feel more connected to the world around us. Read More 

  • Rochelle Calvert
  • April 29, 2022
The only constant is change
Magazine
The Only Constant Is Change 

Mindfulness practice can help us change for the better. It can also allow us to sit with the things we can’t change and help us work with the inevitable changes life brings. Read More 

  • Barry Boyce
  • April 8, 2022
The Work It Takes to Forgive
Loving-Kindness & Compassion
The Work It Takes to Forgive 

Rage and bitterness toward those we see as causing our pain can tear us apart. The brave and gentle practice of forgiveness can help you turn toward the future instead of resenting the past. Read More 

  • Christiane Wolf
  • March 28, 2022
How COVID Reminded Me We’re All Connected
Magazine
How COVID Reminded Me We’re All Connected 

Founding editor Barry Boyce delves into the ever-present balance between personal independence and our natural interdependence, two ways of seeing that touch every aspect of our lives. Read More 

  • Barry Boyce
  • March 17, 2022
Where Music and Meditation Meet
Creativity
Where Music and Meditation Meet 

Longtime mindfulness practitioner and musician Grant Jones is bringing his two passions together in a project that aims to make mindfulness more accessible for communities of color. Read More 

  • Ava Whitney-Coulter
  • February 19, 2022
What We Bring to the Table
Eating & Body Image
What We Bring to the Table 

Partaking in good food and good ideas is a long-held human tradition we shouldn’t underestimate, writes founding editor Barry Boyce. Read More 

  • Barry Boyce
  • February 16, 2022
How We Find Resilience in Boundless Care
Loving-Kindness & Compassion
How We Find Resilience in Boundless Care 

We all yearn for loving attention right now—but before we can offer this to others, we need to replenish care for ourselves, writes editor-in-chief Heather Hurlock. Read More 

  • Heather Hurlock
  • February 15, 2022
How to Stay When You Want to Run
Breathing Meditations
How to Stay When You Want to Run 

Mindful meditation might overwhelm you some days, and underwhelm you others. With a little practice, you can stay curious and engaged, when you might otherwise run. Read More 

  • Elaine Smookler
  • February 15, 2022
What MS taught me about the pandemic
Magazine
What MS Taught Me About the Pandemic 

The experience of navigating chronic illness can help us all deal with COVID anxiety through taking stock of what’s real right now, and of what we can and cannot control. Read More 

  • Gordon Shotwell
  • February 12, 2022
Ad for a mindfulness app with meditations, articles, and a section sidebar, shown on a phone held in hand.