I understand how difficult it can be to incorporate a regular meditation practice into your life. I teach a meditation and mindfulness program at Google called Search Inside Yourself. Many of the people in the class find it difficult to meditate regularly. My suggestion, which seemed to work – treat meditation much like brushing your teeth. I don’t get up each morning and ask myself – “Do I want to brush my teeth this morning.” I just do it. Meditation practice is the same way for me.

“We can actually focus our minds in a way that changes the structure and function of the brain throughout our lives. . . . [B]eing aware of the present moment without grasping onto judgments offers a powerful path toward both compassion and inner well-being. This is what science verifies and what has been taught over thousands of years of practice.”
- Daniel Siegel, The Mindful Brain

There is a famous Zen dialogue in which the student says to the teacher, I’m feeling discouraged. What should I do?

The teacher responds by saying, “Encourage others.”

Of course, we all sometimes have the experience of feeling discouraged. It is only human for our expectations to not be met, to feel pain and difficulty, to want things to be different than they are. And, encouraging others is a simple, tangible activity -- with our family members, friends, and those we work with.

What are some ways that we can encourage other?

We live in difficult times. There is no shortage of issues and situations to be concerned about; our lives and our world are filled with unknowns. Particularly stressful is the state of the economy – as blue chip companies become penny stocks, and job security becomes job insecurity.