Sometimes the simplest practices are the most helpful. When lost, overwhelmed, sad or scared, I often find myself simply walking outside, lying down, and staring up at the sky. There's nothing specific to do, nothing specific to feel. It's simply a moment to watch the movement of the clouds or stars, and to remember that the earth is nothing more than a pale blue dot rotating in a vast galaxy of stars, planets, moons, and more. This practice connects us to something larger than ourselves and this one moment in time. What we experience through the cosmos surrounding us tells us about ourselves.

A little perspective is always a good thing. Join me for today’s 10-minute meditation; it is perfect for a reset, a brain break, or a moment of calm on a hectic day.

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Thank you to Brianna Nielsen for production and editing support. Find her at https://www.instagram.com/brianna_podcastpro/

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The Mindful Minute has a NEW NAME and NEW LOOK! After 8 years, I have updated the name to more accurately reflect the content offered here. Welcome to Our Mindful Nature!

“Back when humans lived in communal caves and tribal encampments, we told stories about the stars. When we started sailing, we used these same pinpricks of light to estimate our own location. When we began planting, we relied on the constellations and the Sun to plant and sustain crops. Yet today, most modern humans have lost this deep connection to the cosmos that was once central to our daily lives.” ~Sarah Scoles

Today’s episode is a replay of a 2022 interview that is still one of my favorites and is a perfect fit for our astronomical focus this month. Enjoy it!

I have devoted more episodes to the night sky and the cosmos surrounding us than any other singular topic, and today’s interview with science journalist and author Sarah Scoles perhaps best sums up why the skies above serve as such a powerful connection to our meditation practice and our deepest selves.

Sarah, along with astronomy professor Chris De Pree, wrote a unique guidebook (and a perpetual guest on my nightstand) titled Astronomical Mindfulness.

In today’s episode of Our Mindful Nature, Sarah and I talk about the power of the sun, moon, stars, and planets to offer engaging exercises that deepen your knowledge of the solar system, help you take necessary pauses every day, and foster a renewed sense of presence in the universe. The focus is on short, simple practices that immediately create a sense of connection and provide context for the hectic moments of our day-to-day lives.

Whether you look up at the night sky or not, the skies above us are perhaps the most central, ubiquitous element of human storytelling and identity. Humanity has looked up for as long as we have ever found a record of. The earliest cave drawings and the earliest indentations carved into the earth were made in reference to the sky above.

What we experience through the cosmos surrounding us tells us about ourselves.

Join me for this exploration of the cosmos, mindfulness, and some new practices you can try tonight. At the end, I offer a 10-minute guided meditation inspired by this conversation.

Sarah Scoles is a freelance journalist and contributing editor at WIRED. She is the author of Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers. Learn more about Sarah at: https://www.sarahscoles.com/

Sign up for my newsletter at https://merylarnett.substack.com/ to receive free mini meditations each week, creative musings, and more.

Make a donation or learn more about my free offerings and live classes by visiting merylarnett.com

instagram.com/merylarnett

youtube.com/@themindfulminutepodcast

Thank you to Brianna Nielsen for production and editing support. Find her at https://www.instagram.com/brianna_podcastpro/

#meditatewithmeryl

​​The Mindful Minute has a NEW NAME and NEW LOOK! After 8 years, I have updated the name to more accurately reflect the content offered here. Welcome to Our Mindful Nature!

Today, we are kicking off a month of astronomical-inspired meditations and interviews in honor of next week’s total solar eclipse.

A solar eclipse happens when, at just the right moment, the moon passes between the sun and Earth blocking the sun’s light. On April 8, 2024, 13 states will experience a total solar eclipse, for many others we will witness a partial solar eclipse.

In honor of this, I am sharing a meditation I recorded a few years ago titled ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ (hehehe). While this meditation references a total lunar eclipse, the energy behind this meditation remains the same whether it is the sun or the moon having its light blocked.

Do you feel this in your life sometimes? That something comes up creating a block in your energy, your attention or your ability to move forward? I think these might be the moments I am MOST grateful for my meditation practice.

When we meditate, we develop an awareness of our habitual reactions to life and create the space for movement. We learn to pause just long enough to acknowledge what is blocking us, to let it move out of the way, and to once again feel illuminated.

In this meditation, we listen to Rialto Beach at midnight. There are full, dynamic waves, and with each wave we feel the drifting pull of the ocean. The invitation to pause and then allow movement is clear here between the quiet of a wave landing on the beach and the crescendo of the wave retraction.

Big thank you to sound artist and acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton for the use of today’s soundscape. I highly recommend headphones, if you have them available.

The Quileute were some of the first people to hear the sounds of land shared in today’s meditation.

Sign up for my newsletter at https://merylarnett.substack.com/ to receive free mini meditations each week, creative musings, and more.

Make a donation or learn more about my free offerings and live classes by visiting merylarnett.com

instagram.com/merylarnett

youtube.com/@themindfulminutepodcast

Thank you to Brianna Nielsen for production and editing support. Find her at https://www.instagram.com/brianna_podcastpro/

Thank you to Gordon Hempton for the use of today’s soundscape. Learn more about Gordon here: https://soundtracker.com/

#meditatewithmeryl