How Do I Work with Procrastination?

Procrastination is a very common human experience and tendency. With small things or big things, we can at times not want to deal with it at the moment, and defer to a future time instead. It’s good to have that flexibility, but when we keep putting things off that need to be done, anxiety canContinue reading “How Do I Work with Procrastination?”

How Do I Practice with Uncertainty?

The human mind is very good at collecting and analyzing information in order to generate knowledge and understanding. Not only do we have a thirst for knowledge, we also crave certainty. We love certainty so much that we even figured out a way to be certain about how uncertain we are about something — confidenceContinue reading “How Do I Practice with Uncertainty?”

How Do I Work with Situations I Can’t Control?

There is probably nothing more stressful and scary than the feeling of not having control. Most of us have reacted in some way (anger, sadness, anxiety) when we felt that we did not have control over a situation, others, and/or ourselves. The need for control is so deeply conditioned within us that we may notContinue reading “How Do I Work with Situations I Can’t Control?”

How Does Mindfulness Work?

Mindfulness works on a number of levels: On a physiological level, mindfulness practice activates the relaxation response: Your heart rate drops, breathing slows down, blood pressure drops, and you feel calmer and more relaxed. In other words, this is activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the “rest and digest response.” OnContinue reading “How Does Mindfulness Work?”

How Do I Work with Fear and Anxiety?

Practicing mindfulness with fear and anxiety is to bring nonjudgmental awareness to our experience in the present moment. That means paying attention to our fear and anxiety in a particular way, consistent with the mindfulness technique. We typically do two things with thoughts and emotions, or anything that arises in our consciousness: Hold on toContinue reading “How Do I Work with Fear and Anxiety?”