The Mindful Word

INTELLIGENCE: What if it isn’t what we think it is?

George Cassidy Payne — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 18:00:00 +0000

A whale can remember the voice of a companion for decades. A human being can invent a mathematical proof no one has ever imagined. A machine can generate an essay in seconds by detecting patterns across billions of pieces of text. We call all three intelligent. But what exactly are we naming when we use the word intelligence? We tend to think of intelligence as something we possess. Some people have more of it, some have less. We measure it […]

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WHAT THE PIANO TAUGHT ME: 3 life lessons learned during my first few months of practice

Emma Terry — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

I can play “Happy Birthday.” I can play “Jingle Bells” and I know what the word pianissimo means. Most importantly of all, I now know the importance and power of daily practice, and that goes for any skill. I’ve seen the beautiful results of letting yourself be terrible and incompetent and continuing to try anyway. Six months ago, I started taking piano lessons. I’ve practiced for half an hour, six days a week since I had my first lesson and […]

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WRITING FOR OUR LIVES: 6 meaningful reasons to express yourself with words

Aine Greaney — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

For years now, I’ve read and loved the writings of Penelope Lively, a Cairo-born British author. In addition to her Booker-prize-winning Moon Tiger, my other favourite of hers is Making it Up—a 2026 novel based on pivotal moments in the author’s own life. However, instead of writing down or fictionalizing those moments, Lively asks: “What if?” As in: “What might have happened or unfolded if, back when, I had chosen or followed a different or alternate path?” The result? A […]

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THE RELATIONSHIPS THAT KNEW OUR OLD SELVES: Can they make room for who we’ve become?

Feon Chau — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Recently, my shoulders began hurting again. It was the ache I used to get when I was working in a place I no longer work. Since leaving that job, I’d been taking better care of myself: sleeping, exercising, eating well and living more of my life. So when the ache returned, it caught me off guard. I’d been putting off thinking about it because there was no easy way to deal with what I suspected. When I told my husband […]

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YOU’RE NOT MEDITATING—YET: And that’s a good place to start

Yiyang Tian — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

I sit quietly in front of my students at the start of every meditation session, and this is where the idea for this article came to me. I watch the students settle. I hear their breathing soften. There is a particular energy in that moment—not yet meditation, but not nothing, either—and it kept pulling at me until I understood what it was. We call it a “meditation session.” But in that first moment, none of us are actually meditating. Not […]

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THE “UGLY AMERICAN” SHADOW: How the Dalai Lama and Toni Morrison can dispel its darkness

James Farwell — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

We’re living at a time when lying, misinformation, alternative facts and conspiracy theories have replaced truth itself. American citizens are frequently caught between different pieces of misinformation, and often, people can’t tell the difference between misinformation and truth. The problem is: If we can’t believe what we’re being told, how can we make essential decisions regarding the welfare of our country? The truth is: We can’t. A good example of this is the creeping re-entry of White Christian Nationalism into […]

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THE INNER CONVERSATION: Using imagination to change our state of being

Michael Sutherland — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

I didn’t come to this work through curiosity. I came to it through a crisis. In my late teens, I walked away from a strict, rule-heavy upbringing that had given me plenty of answers but very little room to actually question anything. For the next 25 years, I drifted. I wasn’t lost, exactly, but I was searching in the way a lot of people search: through work, through relationships, through whatever seemed like it might finally make things click into […]

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THE RITUALS WE CARRY: Religion is just one expression of the human desire to create meaning

George Cassidy Payne — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Long before we built temples, wrote scriptures or gathered beneath stained-glass windows, human beings were already searching. We looked into the darkness of the night sky and wondered. We buried our dead with tenderness and ceremony. We marked the turning of seasons, the arrival of children, the passage from one stage of life into another. We created songs, stories, symbols and rituals to remind ourselves that we weren’t alone. Religion emerged from this ancient human longing: The desire to find […]

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RENUNCIATION: How to practice it with the help of the Buddha’s 4 Noble Truths

Emma Terry — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 18:00:00 +0000

“Renunciation” is a word associated with Buddhist monks that often conjures a mental image of men with shaved heads, clad in orange, walking silently in a line. We don’t tend to think of renunciation as a daily practice for ordinary mindfulness practitioners to implement in their lives. And that’s a shame, because I’d argue that it’s an accessible practice anyone can use to eliminate suffering, have fewer problems and handle life maturely. If you practice mindfulness, whether it’s secular or […]

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THE MISSING PIECE OF SELF-CARE: Without self-compassion, it won’t last

Jenn Sims — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 18:00:00 +0000

When people think of self-care, they often picture bubble baths, vacations, spa days or taking a break from work. While those moments can be enjoyable, they’re only temporary. True self-care isn’t something we do occasionally; it’s the way we consistently treat ourselves every day. At the heart of sustainable self-care is something much deeper: self-compassion. Self-care without self-compassion won’t last Many of us are experts at caring for others. We encourage our children, support our co-workers, comfort our friends and […]

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