Mindfulness

Mindfulness

Close out 2025 with active compassion at Kadampa Meditation Center San Francisco before ringing in 2026. Our Resident Teacher Gen Kelsang Choma will give a talk on cultivating peace in our world by developing our own inner peace, and the power of making dedications for our loved ones and world. We will then chant short Prayers for World Peace before gathering in our community space for light bites and a non-alcoholic New Year's Eve toast.

You're lying in bed, staring into the darkness, and suddenly an urgent work email pops into your head, unbidden. Or maybe it's that shampoo you forgot to add to your shopping list, or the need to fill up your gas tank in the morning. Your lower back is twinging and your shoulders are tensing in response to your thoughts of all the things you need to do, or already did, or didn't do. It's a pretty universal experience.

This week can truly fly by, so make sure you pause often to take it all in - the twinkly lights, the festive meals, your Instagrammable outfits - and feel grateful. The last thing you want is to look up on. Jan. 1 and think, "Wait, there did the time go?" To really lean into the warm fuzzies this week, get rid of distractions.

All human beings, including you, experience suffering. It is possible to decrease your suffering in daily life. How upset you are depends not only on what happened but also on how much you want things to be different-an experience that can be expressed in the equation Suffering = Pain x Resistance. Resistance is how much you want things to be different.

Death also always makes me contemplate three things: 1. The privilege of community; 2. Whether I've sufficiently upskilled my children at life so they'll be OK if I died tomorrow; and 3. Hinduism. All three of these things community, debilitating anxiety and religion are gifts from my family. I know it's not cool to talk about religion. Throughout human history, we've used it to justify mass murder, colonisation and its related crimes.

Calendars fill, inboxes overflow, and suddenly you're juggling festive plans, family logistics, travel costs, year-end deadlines, and a swirl of expectations. It's no surprise that even the most grounded financial intentions can get pushed aside this time of year. But December doesn't have to be the month where your financial confidence takes a back seat. With a little clarity and a few intentional practices, you can enjoy the season fully while still honoring the goals you've worked hard to set.

I've never believed that change should be reserved for special days, but the New Year tends to carry a sense of promise. It often brings a surge of clarity, motivation, and hope that maybe things really could be different. And then, as January moves along, that initial energy fades. Responsibilities pile up. Our bandwidth shrinks. And before we know it, we're pulled back into the familiar current of obligations, far from the shore we were hoping to reach.

There's no shortage of apocalyptic headlines about the future of work in the era of artificial intelligence. For workers, the technology has inflicted anxiety and uncertainty, provoking questions of when, how many, and which kinds of workers will be replaced. Companies have been propelled into a FOMO fury to integrate AI expediently or miss out on efficiency, cost savings, and competitive advantage. The disruption is inevitable, but from where I sit at the nexus of employee mental health and technology, we're asking the wrong questions.

Early in my career, I found conferences to be so overwhelming that I'd sometimes just hide in the bathroom, go into an anxious spiral of fear and guilt, and then try to convince myself to get out and talk to at least one person. Watching how other people seemed to enjoy these events and easily talk to everyone made me think something was wrong with me.

Despite spending the last 15 years studying behavior change, personality development, and developing evidence-based treatments, I still feel the pull. Why? Because wouldn't it be wonderful if meaningful change were quick and easy? The idea that a single insight, habit, or system could instantly transform how we think, feel, and behave is deeply appealing, especially when we're tired and overextended (which, of course, we are as the holidays come to a close).

My wife and I live in a pretty garden apartment that's almost entirely devoid of furniture. The closest things we have are a bamboo laptop table and two single camping mattresses. At our ages - 57 and 60 - we're expected to invest in matching La-Z-Boys and TV trays, but we spend most of our time on the floor on yoga mats. Honestly, we've never been happier.

Content creator Celeste Polanco 's New York apartment is a celebration of loft living: high ceilings, a wide-open layout, and abundant natural light that her houseplants love. This airy, intentionally decorated space is also a lesson in finding joy in the everyday. Whether it's a restorative cleaning ritual or an extra-soft throw blanket on the sofa, Celeste knows that all the details add up to a larger feeling of peace, calm, and balance.

From the time we're young, we absorb unspoken expectations about when things should happen: graduate by ___, build a career by ___, marry by ___, peak professionally by ___, retire by ___. None of this is written anywhere, yet these "life scripts" quietly shape how we judge our progress and, more dangerously, what we allow ourselves to want. And in a culture fascinated with youth, we begin to equate timing with value.

We've been trained for years, if not decades, to go at a certain pace, react fast, and constantly strive for success. But at what cost? Workplace culture can breed constant reactivity, where multiple demands dominate our days. The question is about balance: how do we sustain good energy and personal growth throughout our careers, remaining curious and creative without burning out? We're actual humans needing a more inclusive, balanced approach to live well. That's really been the key theme, regardless of industry or level

Do you ever repeat affirmations to yourself, maybe while looking in the mirror or driving in your car? It feels weirdly powerful, especially when you say them out loud. And the ThinkUp app wants you to harness that power. Instead of listening to pre-recorded mantras from a stranger, you get to record your own very specific affirmations and play them whenever you like. The goal? To boost your mood, feel more self-assured, and maybe even manifest a few dreams.

Most of us are addicted to motion. We fill every moment because slowing down forces us to face what is really happening inside. Sitting still, truly being with yourself, can feel unbearable at first. It is uncomfortable, but it is also where truth lives. If you can sit quietly, even for a few minutes, you will start to hear what is real instead of what you are performing. That is the beginning of clarity.

Simple cleaning tasks like washing dishes can be a mindful act of self-care, but they can also snowball into a massive list of things to do that requires the lion's share of a weekend just to feel like your home is back in hand. This isn't ideal, which is why the internet is awash with methods, rules, and routines, like the 6/10 method and the 20/10 rule, to help conquer chores.

Much of the time we spend on social media is often described as mindless. Users reach for their phones and find themselves scrolling out of habit rather than doing so through a deliberate, conscious decision. We are triggered by boredom or by a notification and trip into our endless feeds quite on accident, all in accordance to the Hook Model, as described by Nir Eyal, of building a habit-forming product. Trigger (notification) Action (check Instagram) Variable Reward (see posts, likes, messages) Investment (I'll check again later)

For most of her adult life, Niro Feliciano's checklist for the holidays looked like this: Host the family gathering, write greeting cards, shop for gifts, decorate and peel carrots for Santa's reindeer all while raising four kids and going to work every day. All the effort to make things perfect for her family left Feliciano feeling frantic and disconnected when the holidays finally arrived.

Like so many technological and cultural innovations, video games went through a phase of being blamed for all manner of society's ills as they became more popular. But as all but the most committed opponents gave up on the idea that video games might cause violence, a possibly more productive question has emerged - in what ways might playing games actually be good for us?

As we settle into today's practice, take a moment to notice the breath moving effortlessly in and out. The breath is one of our greatest teachers of abundance - always arriving, always renewing, without us having to earn it or fight for it. Abundance isn't something we chase. It's something we uncover. It's already here, beneath the layers of tension, fear, scarcity, and overexerting. When we soften, we make space. When we make space, we receive.

We live in a world that worships polish. Perfect photos on Instagram. Seamless podcasts with no awkward pauses. Articles that read like they've passed through a dozen editors. And now, with AI tools that can produce mistake-free writing in seconds, the bar feels even higher. Machines can generate flawless sentences, perfect grammar, and shiny ideas on demand. Meanwhile, I'm over here second-guessing a paragraph, rewriting the same sentence six different ways, and still wondering if "Best" or "Warmly" is the less awkward email sign-off.

Your pull for the week is Temperance, a major arcana card that represents balance, peace, and harmony, as well as patience and the need for moderation. If you feel like your life has been quietly spiraling out of control, then this one's for you. When Temperance pops up in a tarot reading, it's a reminder to analyze your routine to see what needs to be adjusted. If you happen to be overdoing it - or even "underdoing it" - this is your cue to softly land somewhere in the middle.