It is natural as finite human beings to want to feel certain. To our brains, certainty equals safety. It's normal to wish we could control the future, because uncertainty can be unsettling and scary. But as today's teacher observes, as difficult as it is, the only real leverage we have to positively influence the future is to learn to inhabit the present moment fully, without trying to fix it or manage it. This is the most challenging aspect of mindfulness, and its core principle. This 20-minute guided meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn is practice for simply being awake and aware in the moment without agenda. Jon Kabat-Zinn is the founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as well as the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is author of Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness; Wherever You Go, There You Are; Coming to Our Senses; and Mindfulness for Beginners. He trains, teaches, and lectures throughout the world on applications of mindfulness and is Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week. Stay curious, stay inspired. Sign up for our free newsletter mindful.org/signup or download the app for free at mindful.org/app. Show Notes Find more from Jon Kabat Zinn here. Go Deeper Like any mindful skill, learning how to tune into and stay rooted in the present moment takes time and practice. Learn more with these resources on Mindful: How Present-Moment Awareness Can Make Life More Meaningful The Science and Practice of Staying Present Through Difficult Times Why It's Hard to Live in the Present Moment Before Fidget Toys, There Were Beads: The Latest Craze is Part of a Long Tradition of Keeping Your Hands Busy Being Present with Cancer For another approach to practicing present moment awareness, try: A 10-Minute Practice to Fully Experience the Present And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing [email protected].

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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