Loving-kindness meditation + self-compassion during hard times + finding relief in comedy

We had October Teacher of the Month, Sebene Selassie, back for this week’s live meditation and Q&A—joined by executive producer DJ Cashmere. The meditation portion is free for everyone, and paid subscribers can watch the full replay.

Sebene kicked things off with a self-metta (aka self-loving-kindness) meditation—the same practice a teacher once assigned her for six straight months during cancer treatment. It involves offering yourself the same goodwill you might offer to a dear friend or even your five-year-old self.

From there, she and DJ covered a wide range of great questions from all of you. Here’s a peek at what they covered:

• Living with worry (rather than fighting it): How to make space for fear instead of resisting it—and why sometimes the wisest move is to change the channel entirely (Sebene’s go-to: standup comedian Josh Johnson).

• Mindfulness ≠ mind-policing: If your mindfulness practice starts to feel like an exhausting mental audit, drop back into the body—feel your feet, breathe, or put a hand on your chest.

• Remember: the system stinks: Sebene adds an unofficial fourth step to Kristin Neff’s self-compassion model for dealing with layoffs, burnout, healthcare chaos, and other systemic messes: remember, the system stinks. It’s not cynicism—it’s about not blaming yourself for structural problems.

Thanks again to everyone who joined live. As DJ mentioned, we’ll be hosting these lives on Zoom starting next Tuesday, November 4, for paid subscribers. You can find information for how to join beneath the paywall below. We’ll also post it in the subscriber chat for easy access.

See you on Zoom Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. ET—I’ll be leading the meditation and Q&A. Keep an eye on tomorrow’s subscriber chat to share your questions ahead of time.

IPMF,

Dan

Paid subscribers get the 10% Happier podcast ad-free, as well as:

• A cheatsheet for each episode — with key takeaways, time-coded highlights, and a transcript

• The ability to comment on posts and participate in subscriber chats

• Access to our weekly live video sessions, in which I and/or our meditation Teacher of the Month guide a meditation and take questions

• Tailor-made meditations every Monday and Wednesday, led by our meditation Teacher of the Month and designed to pair with the podcast episodes

Join the party.

Join Us Live on Zoom

Starting next Tuesday, November 4, our weekly Live Meditation and Q&A for paid subscribers is moving to Zoom!