One of my favorite teachers, Thich Nhat Hanh, often wrote about how we each have the seeds within us to either be happy or unhappy, angry, patient, kind, mean-spirited, violent, peaceful, and the like. He called these the seeds in our store consciousness. It’s up to us to choose which seeds we want to water at any given time.

Let’s look at calming strong emotions. Painful feelings are part of all of us, but if we fight those painful feelings, we’re actually fighting ourselves. Today, practice noticing the painful feelings as they arise, and calm them by going back to your ground state of being. …

There are many forms of meditation. The meditation I have been trained in and practice twice a day is a silent, mantra-based sitting meditation.

Sitting meditation gives us an opportunity to settle in to the stillness and return to our ground state of being, that state of stillness and emptiness. It’s an opportunity for us to take time away from the busyness of our daily life and its distractions and give full attention to and care for ourselves.

Life coaching is a partnership with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires you to maximize your personal and professional potential.

From a spiritual perspective, the ultimate purpose of mediation is to reawaken you to your true self. But this is almost impossible when we are caught in a cycle of chronic stress, an endless "to do list" and too much on our plate. A meditation practice can help.

Now I want to share one last secret which will put you on a path to freedom where you can find your true purpose and reignite your life!

Sitting on a cushion with an agenda will never produce the result you might be seeking. You can’t show up to meditation with the same agenda and mindset that put you to sleep to begin with.

To embark on your spiritual practice or enhance your current one, consider connecting with expert certified mindful life coach and meditation instructor Maggie Kelly.

Being "in control" is a big issue in most people's lives. Most of us are uncomfortable being out of control because it brings anxiety, uncertainty, confusion, panic, and a loss of self-confidence, depending on how severe the loss of control is. 

Honestly, I can't tell you how many of my students tell me the "can't meditate, my mind won't stop chattering!" Do you feel the same way? We'll, let me debunk one of the biggest myths about meditation + mindfulness: you AREN'T SUPPOSED TO STOP THINKING in meditation!!  The very fact that you might have attempted to meditate and notice all of the chatter in your mind literally indicates that you are on the path toward a healthy meditation practice!  The path begins with you actually noticing. That is the practice of meditation! That we come out of our fog of thoughts long enough to notice we’ve been stuck on automatic pilot for years and not really even living our life.

There are no “quick-fixes” to the stress and craziness we have settled into as the “norm” these days. The practice of meditation is not fast-food spirituality. Developing a meditation practice that leaves you feeling centered, joyful and serene takes time and dedication. Start where you are. If you miss a day or two, that’s ok, start anew. Just start.