Author: marina
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Respond / React?
I love the redwood forest. When I enter the forest and start taking in the cool crisp air, I feel a sense of calm and steadiness throughout my body. I have found it to be very beneficial to meet the stresses of life from a place of steadiness and calm. However, it’s not always easy…
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Do Judgments Reveal Your Inner World?
For the past decade, I have mostly looked at judgments through Marshall Rosenberg’s lens: “Even criticism, judgment, diagnosis, and expression of anger is the tragic expression of an unmet need.” When I receive a criticism or sense I”m being judged, I try to figure out what this person’s unmet need is. When or if the unmet…
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Perceptions of a Kettle
I recently heard Ying Chen’s (a guest dharma teacher at Insight Meditation South Bay) talk titled Dancing with Elements. She gave a great description of how to practice mindfulness of the body along with an example of how thoughts cloud reality. Ying described a time when she saw children running around the pool while dropping…
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My Mindful Self-Compassion Journey
I was very fortunate to have been able to stay home to raise our two children who are young adults today. In 2014, I wanted to re-enter the workforce. I was telling myself “Who would hire me?”, “I don’t know how to interview.”, and “I’ll never find a meaningful job.” This inner dialog made the…