Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Taking Care of Your Anger Take the moment between stimulus and response to choose.  Act. Don't re act. This is one of my favorite mantras with my kids. Act. Don't re act. They have been taught how to look for the warning signs that they're getting angry. Clenched muscles. Tight jaw. Faster breathing.  And then to use one of their techniques to keep an even keel and be deliberate about what they do rather than just give in to impulse.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod),  Weathering Strong Emotions  I'm calm. I'm quick. I'm incisive I'm kind and helpful. I'm a good influence. I'm a good listener and give solid advice. I encourage others when they do well, praising them in front of their peers. I support those who keep trying to improve. I am usually ready to overlook small accidents and errors. I try to teach others what I know and to respect others enough to learn from them. These are all things I can bring to the table besides emotions. I should do that more.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Blocks and Knots I know I've blocked some things from becoming cancerous in my mind since I've begun studying Stoicism more in depth and Buddhism at all. I know there are things I would have let dwell rent-free in my head without my training and pokopton status. I'm working on it. I'm always working on it. Or, at least, I should be. I'm supposed to be. I'm not way too often. But sometimes it has 100% saved me from myself. And saved future me from now — but not here, now — me.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Blocks and Knots Accept, acknowledge, appropriate, assuage. Smiling at pain indicates an acceptance of it. It shows me that I can see it and recognize it without bowing to it or being submerged by it. It is an important step.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Seeds Identify and interrupt the pattern. Start there. Mindfulness brings me there. Concentration takes me deeper. Seeing deeply shows me roots. I want to write 'And treat myself with loving kindness' here, but I don't know why.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Seeds Accept and repurpose rather than fight and reject. This can solve that particular problem. End that cycle. Try not to start a new one.

Today's Meditation: The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Seeds Choosing the wrong even when I know it is right is a recurring problem for me. Now I know I can blame my jerk forebears who set me up. Serioudly though, it's definitely a habit energy I need to acknowledge, accept, and adapt to my life.