The hottest Mindfulness Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Health & Wellness Topics

Listen

Silentium • 159 implied HN points • 02 Nov 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Listening carefully helps you understand what is truly around you. When you really listen, you might discover new insights.
  2. Silence can be a powerful tool for reflection and understanding. Taking time to be silent allows us to connect with our thoughts and feelings.
  3. Joining a community for shared silence can enhance the experience. Being together in silence can create a supportive environment for everyone.

The alms round

Silentium • 59 implied HN points • 01 Nov 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. The writer is asking for support to help cover the costs of running their work, including internet and equipment, as they prepare to move to a new location.
  2. They have experienced unexpected financial strains due to the relocation and the need for a new internet setup, among other things.
  3. The writer encourages readers to consider supporting their work through subscriptions, donations, or participating in their courses, emphasizing that even small contributions are appreciated.

This is the work

Silentium • 419 implied HN points • 29 Oct 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. The essence of the work is about finding stillness and emptiness within ourselves. It's like stepping into a quiet room where you can feel a strong presence.
  2. This path is not limited to one specific faith or belief; it is a shared journey among all mystics. Everyone can connect with this work, regardless of their background.
  3. To truly understand our place and existence, we need to look within ourselves and recognize our connection to everything. Silence and stillness are key to discovering this deeper truth.

In the eye of stillness

Silentium • 439 implied HN points • 25 Oct 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Silence can be a powerful tool for finding peace. Taking time to be still helps to clear your mind.
  2. Embracing moments of stillness can lead to better self-awareness. It allows you to reflect on your thoughts and feelings.
  3. Finding quiet moments in busy lives is important. It can help reduce stress and improve overall well-being.

It's Very Possible To Be Both Happy And Well-Informed

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 3073 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. It's possible to be well-informed about the world's harms and still experience real happiness and gratitude.
  2. Don't find happiness in pretending everything is fine. Root it in real things like close relationships, the natural world, your senses, and the calm inside you.
  3. Practice feeling emotions all the way through and deliberately noticing beauty; these skills let feelings pass quickly and let you live joyfully while staying honest about reality.
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The sacred pause

Silentium • 859 implied HN points • 14 Oct 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Taking a moment of silence can help clear your mind and bring peace. It’s like a reset button for your thoughts.
  2. Pausing can improve your focus and creativity. When you stop and breathe, new ideas often come to you.
  3. Embracing quiet moments in your daily life is important for your mental well-being. It allows you to connect more deeply with yourself.

A well-lived life means wasting some time

Wondering Freely • 1468 implied HN points • 08 Oct 24
đź“– Philosophy Mindfulness
  1. It's okay to waste some time in life. Taking things slow can actually help you enjoy life more than just rushing through every moment.
  2. Living life to the fullest doesn't mean doing everything on a checklist. Sometimes, just relaxing and being yourself is more fulfilling.
  3. Feeling guilty for not being constantly productive is normal, but learning to rest and take breaks is important for your happiness.

Shrine of the heart

Silentium • 559 implied HN points • 13 Oct 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Silence can be a powerful way to connect with yourself and your emotions. Taking time to be quiet allows for deeper reflection and understanding.
  2. Creating a personal space for silence, like a 'shrine of the heart', can help you cultivate peace and focus in your life.
  3. Embracing moments of stillness can lead to greater clarity and insights about your thoughts and feelings. It's important to prioritize time for silence in our busy lives.

Meditation Without the Woo-Woo

Life Since the Baby Boom • 1844 implied HN points • 05 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Meditation is simple and practical — you don’t need special clothes, classes, or religion; just sit comfortably in a way that feels right for you.
  2. Focus on your breath and observe its sensations; when your mind wanders, gently bring it back without berating yourself.
  3. Practice mindfulness in daily life by doing what you are doing, and use simple breathing techniques like box breathing or 4-7-8 to calm and center yourself.

Silence of the heart

Silentium • 439 implied HN points • 09 Oct 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Silence can be a powerful tool for self-reflection and understanding. Taking time to be quiet helps us connect with our feelings.
  2. Embracing moments of silence allows us to find peace and clarity in our busy lives. It lets us step back and appreciate our thoughts.
  3. Listening to our inner voice in silence can lead to personal growth and insight. It encourages us to think deeply about our experiences and beliefs.

Ocean of light

Silentium • 459 implied HN points • 06 Oct 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Silence can be a powerful tool for peace and reflection in our busy lives.
  2. Finding moments of quiet can help us connect better with ourselves and our surroundings.
  3. Embracing silence allows us to appreciate the beauty and light in our lives more deeply.

Tuesday Shakeout: Yoga, anyone?

Running Probably • 79 implied HN points • 22 Oct 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Practicing yoga can be like building a running habit; it takes time and a good setup. Setting the right environment makes it easier to stick to your routine.
  2. It's important to approach yoga with a non-judgmental mindset. The goal is to simply do yoga, not to be perfect at it.
  3. Making small adjustments, like keeping yoga props nearby or having a warmup routine, can really help in achieving your practice goals.

how to trust yourself

bookbear express • 1133 implied HN points • 29 Jan 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Trust yourself to know what’s right for you, and learn to live with and forgive both your own mistakes and other people’s.
  2. Talking, confession, and analysis won’t always fix the inner mess — embodied practices, movement, and small everyday routines are what ground you.
  3. Stop chasing approval and fearing others’ reactions; when you stop needing to be saved or fixed you become more honest, calm, and free.

Arthur Brooks: Suffer Like a Marine

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 537 implied HN points • 06 Feb 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Pain is a natural signal and often important for growth, so trying to erase all pain is both impossible and undesirable. Suffering comes from how strongly you resist pain, so lowering resistance is a better goal than eliminating pain.
  2. Nonresistance means accepting pain without fear, anger, or self-pity, which lets you feel pain without multiplying your suffering. When you stop railing against pain, its power over you weakens.
  3. You can build nonresistance by deliberately facing hardship (like tough training) and by practices such as prayer or mental preparation that help you accept what comes. The real skill is applying these habits when pain is unwanted, not just when you choose it.

Let it Go

We're Gonna Get Those Bastards • 10 implied HN points • 09 Mar 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Most anxiety comes from dealing with other people. Ask yourself: did I cause it, can I cure it, can I control it — if the answer is no, let it go.
  2. Codependence and grudges waste emotional energy and rarely change the other person. Focus on what you can control—your own behavior—and stop carrying other people's problems.
  3. Practice acceptance and keep resentments short so they don't sap your life. Gratitude and focusing on the small things you can change free up your mind and peace.

Book Review: Sanity and Sainthood, by Dr. Tucker Peck

Sasha's 'Newsletter' • 1455 implied HN points • 16 Dec 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Meditation and psychotherapy start from different ideas — meditation treats thoughts as transient waves to watch, while therapy treats them as meaningful stories — but both can help and often complement each other.
  2. Combining meditation with therapy creates a virtuous loop: meditation calms and clarifies the mind so therapeutic work is more effective, and therapy helps integrate difficult material so meditation becomes more stable.
  3. This path needs practical guidance and realistic expectations: deep practice can be hard, may lower short-term happiness, and real change usually takes many years of steady effort rather than quick fixes.

Level up: Week 2

Running Probably • 99 implied HN points • 11 Oct 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Running by feel is important. Instead of always checking your watch, pay attention to how your body feels during the run.
  2. Finding the right time to run makes it easier to stick to your routine. Try different times to see when you feel best running.
  3. Adding variety to your running routes keeps things interesting. Explore new paths and take note of your surroundings to make each run fun.

How To Heal When The World Is On Fire

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 1364 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Healing is not the same as feeling safe; it starts by moving into uncomfortable feelings and fully experiencing them instead of trying to escape them.
  2. Healing means tracking reactive habits back to their first moments, listening to and compassionately soothing the small parts of yourself that developed those defenses, which dissolves their power over you.
  3. You can and should start healing now, even amid chaos, because it clears reactivity, restores intuition and agency, and makes you more effective against oppressive systems.

A Weekend Electronics Respite

Tom Ryan, Author • 5640 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. The author advocates for periodic breaks from electronics to enjoy solitude and reflection, touting the benefits of disconnecting and connecting with nature.
  2. There is a promotional subscription offer tied to the author's break from electronics, encouraging readers to subscribe and support Best Friends Animal Society.
  3. The author plans to use the time away from screens to focus on spiritual or reflective activities, such as fasting, pondering, and engaging in 'soul work.'

A Few Big Ideas That Made My Life Better

Vonnik’s Newsletter • 39 implied HN points • 15 Oct 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Taking care of your body improves your mood and thoughts. Simple actions like exercising or breathing deeply can boost your energy and change how you see challenges.
  2. Making small changes in your habits is much easier than trying to change everything at once. Starting with tiny steps, like doing one pushup, helps build lasting habits.
  3. Being mindful of distractions and focusing your attention are key to reaching your goals. Managing your environment and your thoughts can help you stay on track.

Living In Dirt

The Unpublishable • 7724 implied HN points • 13 Jul 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Take time for self-reflection and consider letting go of the pursuit of perfection in various aspects of life.
  2. Sometimes, finding freedom and happiness may involve stepping away from strict routines and allowing yourself to be more fluid.
  3. Allowing yourself to let go of control can open up space for new experiences and perspectives to come in.

do i secretly love all the things i hate?

Both Are True • 183 implied HN points • 30 Jan 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. If a painful pattern keeps happening, that having can be evidence that some part of you secretly wants it; admitting that possibility opens a new way to understand your behavior.
  2. Deliberately trying on the idea that you might like the things you hate (existential kink) can turn shame into curiosity and play, making those feelings less powerful.
  3. Noticing that fear can feel like excitement and that you may enjoy roles like being a failure loosens self-judgment and lets you respond from choice instead of shame.

Real life

Bits of Wonder • 3812 implied HN points • 24 Jan 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Real life is not something to wait for, it's the moments we experience every day.
  2. Don't let others dictate your path - find your own way to live fully.
  3. Embrace each moment and seek the lessons it offers rather than always waiting for something better.

Sound Bathing, Minus the Nonsense

Superb Owl • 4029 implied HN points • 29 Jun 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Sound bathing can create deep, pleasurable experiences that evoke strong physical sensations in the body, similar to meditation or music.
  2. Meditation helps people notice and amplify their bodily sensations, leading to a connection between emotions and physical feelings.
  3. Practicing sound bathing and meditation can help dissolve negative emotions and create a sense of bliss and unity with oneself and the environment.

Why solitude isn't optional

The Stoic Journal • 223 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
đź“– Philosophy Mindfulness
  1. Solitude lets you think without performing, so your thoughts can be honest and unfinished.
  2. Private practices like journaling and morning reflection are essential for self-knowledge and real progress.
  3. Real solitude means uninterrupted aloneness (no phones or watchers), and it’s a necessity, not a luxury.

My Art of Accomplishment Retreat

Erik Torenberg's Thoughts • 468 implied HN points • 23 Dec 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Change happens by feeling and moving emotions, not by blocking them; noticing and questioning the inner critic as separate from you weakens its power.
  2. Avoiding painful feelings makes you recreate the same problems and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; inviting fear or shame in and feeling it through lets the pattern stop.
  3. Long-term change comes from self-compassion, speaking your truth, and clear boundaries rather than shame or pure willpower, and regular practice plus community support makes progress durable.

Do you need to reinvent – or should you just cut yourself some slack?!

The Shift With Sam Baker • 3854 implied HN points • 04 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Reinvention is a popular theme for New Year's resolutions, but it's worth questioning why you feel the need to reinvent something in your life.
  2. Consider what aspects of your life truly need change and why before jumping into reinventing yourself.
  3. Don't feel pressured to follow trends like 'New Year, New You' if it doesn't resonate with you; it's okay to not feel the need to constantly reinvent yourself.

a nest in time

Secretum Secretorum • 353 implied HN points • 30 Dec 25
đź“– Philosophy Mindfulness
  1. A "nest in time" is a recurring, bounded stretch of time devoted to a particular activity that creates its own private psychological environment.
  2. For a time-nest to work it must be a desirable activity and be treated as inviolable, reliably protected from interruptions.
  3. These regular blocks focus your energy and attention and refresh you by freeing you from other concerns, building a clearer sense of self and a deeper kind of freedom than scattered distractions.

True Strength

The Stoic Journal • 86 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Real strength is quiet: it looks like responding to anger with patience, insult with understanding, and aggression with calm.
  2. Gentleness and listening persuade people more than shouting; treating someone with respect reveals their dignity and opens them to change.
  3. Not attacking back protects your character and shows true power under control. The strongest people don't need to prove their toughness.

Gentle Math for Meditators: Vibration

Superb Owl • 6044 implied HN points • 23 Feb 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Everything around us vibrates, and our experiences—like thoughts and feelings—are made up of different vibrations. Understanding this can help us better describe our mental states.
  2. Waves and circles are key concepts in understanding how vibrations work. These shapes help us visualize and relate to how things move and behave in cycles.
  3. We can create different sounds and movements by combining waves. Each wave has its own properties, like size and speed, and by mixing them, we can create complex patterns like music.

Will nobody save the world?

Neckar’s Notes • 222 implied HN points • 08 Jan 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Relying on a single hero or ego-driven collective to "save the world" is probably a misconception, since the same ego that made the problems can't easily fix them.
  2. Opening to feeling and giving loving, attentive presence matters more than clever fixes; emotional work and connection change how we relate to the world.
  3. Big crises can be catalysts for change, and by anchoring in gratitude, compassion, and small healing acts we create space for wiser, collective transformation.

want what you have

Mind Mine • 2456 implied HN points • 25 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Desire what you already have, rather than constantly seeking something more.
  2. Focus on being present in the moment and appreciating what you already possess.
  3. Changing your perspective to appreciate the current moment can bring deep satisfaction and fulfillment.

On Stretchly, Shabbat, and Present-Mindedness

Human Programming • 51 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Regular, scheduled short breaks (like Stretchly) can interrupt constant work and give you small moments of mindfulness, movement, and presence.
  2. Modern life often flattens time into a continuous push to advance projects, while practices like Shabbat create differentiated time that encourages being present with people and the world.
  3. Software micro-pauses are helpful as "micro-Shabbats," but they're not a full substitute for larger communal or intentional rhythms; they can, however, be a practical step toward building those bigger pauses.

Insights from a Week-long Silent Retreat

Superb Owl • 4945 implied HN points • 11 Feb 25
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Taking a break from information, like phones and books, can really clear your mind. After a few days, many thoughts are about the practice itself, which helps you focus more.
  2. Meditation can lead to strange experiences, like hallucinations or feelings of disappearing. These moments offer new insights but can also feel intense and overwhelming.
  3. Building trust with meditation teachers is important. Having friends who support your practice can make you feel safer and more open to deep meditation.

How I Won My 10 Year Battle With Procrastination

Insight Axis • 1955 implied HN points • 21 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Procrastination often stems from the conflict between a part of you that wants to do a task and a part that's holding you back.
  2. Direction is more important than speed - focus on progress over perfection to combat procrastination.
  3. Cultivate curiosity to overcome procrastination by being open to discomfort, using techniques like doing tasks slowly and practicing mindfulness.

Morning as Training Ground

The Stoic Journal • 60 implied HN points • 08 Feb 26
đź“– Philosophy Mindfulness
  1. Use the morning as a deliberate practice: aim to think clearly, act fairly, and accept what’s beyond your control.
  2. Treat everyday annoyances—commute delays, difficult people, missed deadlines—as chances to train patience, gentleness, and persistence.
  3. Look for what will go wrong because those moments build your character; choose to face the day ready to get stronger instead of complaining.

My mind transformed completely, and there were some tradeoffs

Sasha's 'Newsletter' • 5472 implied HN points • 01 Dec 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Mindfulness
  1. Meditation can change your way of seeing the world. It makes past and future thoughts feel lighter, almost like they are just wispy thoughts instead of heavy burdens.
  2. Practicing meditation often feels like having a hobby that others don’t understand or appreciate. You may see benefits in your life, but sharing that with others can be tricky because many might not be ready to commit to it.
  3. Even after lots of meditation, you might still experience normal emotional struggles. You can feel calm and connected one moment and then get upset over something small, which can be confusing and humbling.

“Fear is Excitement without the Breath”

Seven Senses • 299 implied HN points • 06 Jul 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness
  1. Fear and excitement often go hand in hand. When something new and thrilling happens, it's common to feel both excited and a little scared at the same time.
  2. Breathing is key when dealing with the mix of excitement and anxiety. Taking deep breaths can help calm those overwhelming feelings and bring clarity.
  3. Both fear and excitement activate similar responses in our bodies. Learning to identify these feelings can help us manage them better and enjoy the positive parts more.