Download the free Mindful App
 
subscribe

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.
Close-up image of an onion slice, showing its translucent layers with a warm, yellowish coloration towards the base. The intricate patterns and textures of the onion layers are visible, creating a visually appealing composition.
Magazine
Inner Peace is an Onion 

Journalist Jenn Director Knudsen researches how to peel back the layers to find the mind-body connection. Read More 

  • Line Goguen-Hughes
  • January 20, 2011
A dimly lit room features a solitary wooden chair facing a table with a window behind it. Soft, natural light filters through the partially obscured window, casting shadows and creating a somber atmosphere, as if echoing the presence of an unseen wound of great magnitude.
Depression & Grief
A Wound of Great Magnitude 

This excerpt from grief counselor Meg Spinella on the Tuscon shootings sheds light on the losses in Newtown.  Read More 

  • Line Goguen-Hughes
  • January 18, 2011
cushion and apron
Magazine
Cushion and Apron 

Sarah Alisabeth Fox tells her personal story about meditation and waitressing. Read More 

  • Line Goguen-Hughes
  • December 16, 2010
A black and white illustration shows a profile view of a human head with eyes, optic nerves, and brain depicted. Lines represent pathways of sight, projecting from the eyes to objects labeled A, B, and C. A finger points towards these objects.
Magazine
The Magic of Mindfulness 

Health writer Ed Halliwell explains that mindfulness can help improve our mental and physical well-being, if we don’t sabotage the practice… Read More 

  • Ed Halliwell
  • November 30, 2010
Illustration of a woman with orange hair and a pensive expression against a light green background. The image has a mixed-media or collage-style appearance, combining photographic and painted elements.
Depression & Grief
Rebirth 

After experiencing a painful break-up, Misha Becker discovers that in every moment is a death and a rebirth. In the gap is the opportunity for healing and a fresh start. Read More 

  • Mindful Staff
  • August 31, 2010
Close-up of a wilted red flower hanging downwards against a blurred blue and gray background, conveying a somber and melancholic mood.
Depression & Grief
Death Don’t Have No Mercy: A Memoir of a Mother’s Death 

When the time comes is it possible to override the instinct to hold on? Mariana Caplan chronicles the intimate and universal experience of her mother’s death, recounting the resistance, the acceptance, and the many unplanned feelings in between.   Read More 

  • Mindful Staff
  • August 31, 2010
egg on toast in a row of toast
Eating & Body Image
What to Eat in the Morning? 

Food writer John Thorne, author of Pot on the Fire, muses over breakfast—its purpose, its constitution and what it means for your day. Read More 

  • Mindful Staff
  • August 30, 2010
A close-up image showing a black smartwatch with a rectangular screen and three side buttons placed next to a black smartphone on a glossy, reflective surface. The smartwatch is in the foreground, with the smartphone slightly blurred in the background.
Magazine
Taking Back the Time 

Have we equated productivity with speed? Margaret Wheatley explains how slowing down just might be the difference between ideas and action. Read More 

  • Margaret Wheatley
  • August 26, 2010
A person is leaping from one rock formation to another under a clear blue sky. The text overlay reads,
Magazine
Don’t Be So Sure 

Margaret Wheatley explains why now, more than ever, we need a curiosity and a willingness to sit in uncertainty. Read More 

  • Mindful Staff
  • August 26, 2010
Ad for a mindfulness app with meditations, articles, and a section sidebar, shown on a phone held in hand.