It's encouraging for me to know that mind-wandering is an important neural activity, especially since I  daydream all the time.

The term "Executive Function" may sound more relevant to business school than elementary school, yet it's crucial to your child's social and emotional development.

What if happiness was a habit that we could teach children? We can. Qualities that lead away from happiness (strong negative emotions) and qualities that lead toward happiness (ethical actions) are all rooted in habits developed in the past. Mindfulness helps children and teens recognize the habits that lead to happiness and break the ones that don't.

As a mom with young children there were times that life seemed to stand still and I wished it would get moving. I remember thinking that the day my kids would be toilet trained would never come, but it did. I remember worrying that my children would never learn to fall asleep alone in their own beds, but they did. I remember thinking life waiting in car pool lines was endless, but it ended. 

Some people think my author husband cultivates an 'edgy' persona and voice.   So this morning, when I saw him tear up watching a YOUtube video I worried that he had crashed head-on into a mid-life crisis.   But when I saw the video he was watching, of Paul Simon as an accidental Zen master, I stopped worrying.

My nephew Jacob was recently ordained as a Presbyterian minister.   I attended his ordination service in New York and was intrigued by a scripture passage that I interpreted to be a reference to 'beginner's mind'.   That passage inspired me, and reminded me, to learn more about the commonalities among contemplative traditions.  

If you are a dreamer, come in.If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire,For we have some flax golden tales to spin.Come in!Come in! -- Shel Silverstein

Have you ever noticed a funny feeling in your body the split-second before doing something that you later regret? Maybe the funny feeling is a tightening in your chest, or a flush of heat rushing to your face, or a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. These funny feelings can take place in what Western meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein calls the about to moment.

What would the world be like if everyone had the capacity to see their life experience clearly and respond to it wisely? That’s what the future could look like due to a growing movement of people around the globe dedicated to sharing secular mindfulness with children, teens and their families. 

Are kids who meditate happier as adults?  Are they more compassionate and altruistic?   Or, having been raised by somewhat “kooky” parents do they tend to be a little nutty themselves?   Written with the idealism of a meditator pursuing a career in law, the following brief essay sheds light, in ways this prospective law student may not yet understand, on the divergent and often conflicting professional experiences of many adult meditators.