News
The Value of Retreat ~ Tim Burnett
Checking in to the Zoom room on a Saturday morning in August, I could tell the group was nervous about spending the next six hours in silence. Impressively, everyone in my class of health professionals - doctors, nurses, a researcher - had all shown up and none were...
Patience ~ Tim Burnett
Recently we were asked to provide a workshop for one of our clients on "Pandemic Fatigue" and I realized: yeah - that's a thing now isn't it? It's been a long hard slog for all of us. For some, suffering the loss of someone close...
Talking About Social Justice ~ Tim Burnett & Carolyn McCarthy
Just over a year ago, a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd. Like so many individuals and organizations, Mindfulness Northwest heard this wake-up call. Instead of an immediate public response, we’ve turned inward, toward self-examination. We wanted to...
Considering Posture ~ Beth Glosten
Posture is the structural basis of our upright position. And posture supports our upright position in meditation. But it is tricky. We are guided to be upright, but relaxed – not too tight, and not too loose. But what does this all mean? If I’m “relaxed,” I feel my...
Fierce Meets Tender: Self-Compassion in Action ~ Carolyn McCarthy
The ferry was running late. New to island living, my friend hadn’t planned for the ways wind and water might shape his day. Now he would miss his meeting. Frustrated, he texted a colleague to ask her to cover for him. But wait! They seemed to be speeding up. The boat...
Interview with Executive Director, Tim Burnett: Cultivating Acceptance in Relationships
Explore the important role of acceptance in relationships - what it is and isn't - and how it relates to curiosity, vulnerability, and intimacy. Listen to the Podcast of Tim's conversation with Wise Compassion's Michelle Becker below.
You Do Not Have To Be Good ~ Tim Burnett
You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Right. Remembering these lines I feel something in my gut unclench a bit. I find...
The Calm Within the Storm ~ Michael Kelberer
By all accounts the Dalai Lama is the embodiment of equanimity. In the face of persecution, a lifetime of exile, the responsibility of both an entire nation and an entire religion, he has always seemed grounded, open-eyed and to be acting from a base of strength....
Meeting a Challenging Moment ~ Tim Burnett
Dear Friends, We finally kissed 2020 goodbye a few weeks ago, hoping for more peaceful, healthy, and productive times ahead. And yet as I write this, the U.S. is breaking tragic records for deaths from Covid-19 and Congress is debating whether to impeach President...
When Kindness is the Only Thing That Makes Sense Anymore ~ Teresa Johnson
I have a strong preference for life to make sense, especially the part that involves human interactions. Do you find that, too? So much rides on our ability to see eye to eye and solve problems. I want everyone’s attitudes and actions, including my own, to line up...
Contemplative Self-Care ~ Tim Burnett
Dear Friends, Lately I've been thinking about how I can support myself better in living more deeply in the way I intend: to be more grounded and deliberate in my choices at home, especially. And since I'm home so much more, this matters. Work, play, rest, all is...
Love in a Time of Turmoil ~ Michael Kelberer
With my serenity, sense of well-being, and actual well-being assaulted on many fronts lately, I’ve been feeling desperate to make things better. At the same time, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the size and number of crises in our world right now. Maybe you can...
The Thread You Follow ~ Tim Burnett
Dear Friends, There's a poem by William Stafford called "The Way It Is" that we share in class sometimes: There's a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn't change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the...
Just Float ~ Carolyn McCarthy
In my favorite holiday movie, Home for the Holidays, single mother Claudia Larson (the fabulous Holly Hunter) is living the full catastrophe. In the span of 24 hours, she gets fired, kisses her (now former) boss, and comes down with a cold. She’s headed to visit her...
Wise Neutrality ~ Tim Burnett
I recently ran across this quotation from James Baldwin: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing is changed until it is faced.” Mindfulness and compassion training help us with this practice of "facing" in so many ways. The practices help us be aware...