Joseph Goldstein | Meditating In A Pandemic
Joseph Goldstein, a meditation master, shares a meditative toolkit for navigating the current crisis. He discusses grounding in the present, skillful emotional responses, cultivating compassion, and confronting mortality, offering actionable advice for all levels of meditators.
Deep Dive Analysis
13 Topic Outline
Initial reflections on current global crisis
Personal experience with fear and vulnerability
The contagious nature of calm and self-care
Grounding in the present moment through body mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness of thoughts and emotions
Distinguishing recognition from full mindfulness
Understanding and applying mental noting
Cultivating compassion in times of suffering
Managing overwhelm and news consumption
Extending compassion to difficult individuals
The historical and cosmological perspective on crises
Confronting mortality and the inevitability of death
The path towards deep peace and understanding
7 Key Concepts
Mindfulness of the Body
A practice of staying grounded in the present moment by paying attention to physical sensations, especially movement, as the body is always present and tangible. This helps detach from distressing mental projections and worries about the future.
Self-Distancing (from thoughts/emotions)
A mental practice where one observes thoughts and emotions as they arise without getting caught up in them or identifying with them. This creates space to respond more skillfully rather than being swept away by unhelpful mental patterns.
Recognition vs. Mindfulness (in emotions)
Recognition is simply acknowledging an emotion's presence (e.g., 'I'm worried'). Mindfulness goes deeper by observing how one relates to that emotion, aiming for acceptance without aversion or identification, which allows the emotion to flow through naturally.
Mental Noting
A technique used in meditation where one softly and silently labels whatever is arising in the mind (e.g., 'thinking,' 'worry,' 'pain,' 'stepping'). This objective labeling creates distance from the experience, sharpens observational capabilities, and can be applied to both mental and physical phenomena.
Half-Life of Emotion
The concept that emotions, if left to their own devices without neurotic re-upping or obsession, will naturally arise and pass relatively quickly. Mindfulness helps prevent prolonging emotions beyond their natural duration by allowing them to disintegrate on their own.
Compassion (Karuna)
A state that arises from being willing to come close to the suffering of others (and oneself) combined with the desire to help. It is an ennobling quality that replaces unskillful states like fear and can motivate helpful action, transforming suffering into a field for positive qualities to grow.
Brahma Vihara Practices
A suite of meditative practices, including compassion and loving-kindness, that systematically cultivate positive emotional states like friendliness and goodwill towards oneself and others. These practices are considered skills that can be developed through consistent effort, leading to salutary psychological and behavioral impacts.
8 Questions Answered
We can help by taking care of our own minds, cultivating calm, peace, and understanding. The work we do on ourselves will inevitably have a positive impact on everybody we come into contact with, whether physically or virtually.
The easiest way is to practice mindfulness of the body, as it is always with us, obvious, and tangible. Focusing on movement, even simple steps, can serve as an anchor to bring us back to the present.
Practice being mindful of thoughts and emotions as they arise, asking 'Is this thought helpful?' If it's not, this question can cut the seduction of unhelpful patterns, giving energy for a more appropriate response.
Recognition is simply acknowledging an emotion's presence, but mindfulness involves observing how one relates to that emotion. True mindfulness includes acceptance without aversion or identification, allowing the emotion to flow through naturally.
Practice titrating news consumption by asking 'Is this helpful?' and include oneself in compassion practices, understanding that helping oneself to stay grounded can enable one to help others more effectively.
Instead of wishing them happiness, which might be difficult, one can wish for them to be free of the harmful mind states (e.g., hatred, fear, anger) that lead to their unskillful actions.
Viewing current events within the long sweep of history (e.g., past plagues, rise and fall of civilizations) can create a sense of spaciousness and inner balance, providing a larger context for relating to immediate challenges without stepping back from them.
It's crucial to explore the question 'Am I prepared to die?' and accept death as a natural, inevitable part of existence. Reflecting daily on the impermanence of life can lead to a more peaceful relationship with mortality.
31 Actionable Insights
1. Prioritize Mental Self-Care
Actively take care of your mind by exploring emotions and learning skillful ways to handle difficult feelings, just as you would physical health.
2. Use Meditation as Foundation
Establish meditation as a foundational practice to understand your mind and monitor what truly helps or hinders your well-being.
3. Ground with Body Mindfulness
Practice mindfulness of the body to stay grounded in the present moment, especially when feeling lost in mental chatter or future worries.
4. Practice Mindful Movement Daily
Incorporate short periods (5-15 minutes) of walking meditation or mindful movement into your day, feeling your body move during ordinary activities.
5. Use ‘Each Step’ Mantra
When practicing mindful movement, use the simple mantra ’each step’ to focus your attention on the present moment, one step at a time.
6. Observe Thoughts and Emotions
Practice mindfulness of thoughts and emotions as they arise, allowing you to observe them without being carried away or caught up in their patterns.
7. Self-Distance from Thoughts
Create a healthy distance from your thoughts and emotions, observing them rather than becoming entangled or identified with them.
8. Mindfulness: Recognize and Relate Wisely
Beyond merely recognizing thoughts and emotions, pay attention to how you relate to them, avoiding aversion or identification, which can feed difficult states.
9. Practice Acceptance of Emotions
Cultivate acceptance of unpleasant emotions like fear or anxiety, letting go of aversion to allow them to flow through naturally, rather than feeding them.
10. Investigate Emotions with Curiosity
When strong emotions arise, bring a sense of interest and investigation by asking what you’re feeling, how it manifests in the body, and what thoughts it generates.
11. Utilize Mental Noting
Employ mental noting—softly and silently labeling experiences like ’thinking,’ ‘worry,’ ‘fear,’ or ‘stepping’—to create distance and objective awareness.
12. Monitor Mental Note’s Tone
Pay attention to the tone of your mental notes; a judgmental or aversive tone reveals underlying reactivity, which you can then address with more kindness.
13. Ask ‘Is This Helpful?’
When experiencing difficult thoughts or emotions, ask yourself, ‘Is this helpful?’ to cut through their seduction and create space for a more appropriate response.
14. Embrace ‘Welcome to the Party’
When you notice difficult thoughts or emotions and find yourself being self-critical, use the phrase ‘welcome to the party’ to foster self-compassion and acceptance.
15. Affirm ‘It’s Okay’ for Openness
Remind yourself with the phrase ‘it’s okay’ to cultivate openness and acceptance towards whatever difficult feelings are arising, allowing them space to flow.
16. Cultivate Compassion from Suffering
Allow suffering and distress, both personal and global, to be fertile ground for cultivating compassion, which is an ennobling and uplifting quality.
17. Open to Suffering (Wisely)
Be willing to take in information about the suffering of others to foster compassion, but do so mindfully to avoid becoming overwhelmed.
18. Ask ‘How Can I Help?’
Let compassion motivate you to ask, ‘How can I help?’ considering your unique circumstances, skills, and interests, and stay open to opportunities to be of service.
19. Include Self in Compassion
Extend compassion and loving-kindness to yourself, recognizing that self-care allows you to be more effectively helpful to others.
20. Practice Formal Compassion (Karuna)
In formal meditation, visualize someone suffering and silently repeat the phrase, ‘May you be free of this suffering,’ to cultivate a stronger sense of compassion.
21. Distinguish Empathy from Compassion
Understand that while empathy is feeling others’ feelings, compassion adds the desire to help, which can be empowering and prevent overwhelm.
22. Manage News Consumption
Consciously manage the amount of time you spend consuming news and online information, asking if it’s serving you or leading to overwhelm.
23. Be a Source of Calm
Strive to cultivate a calm demeanor, as your inner state can positively influence those around you, just as panic can spread.
24. Seek Diverse Support Systems
Explore various modalities for support beyond meditation, such as connecting with friends/family, engaging with music/poetry/art, exercise, or therapy.
25. Strengthen Mental Pathways
Understand that consistent meditation and mindfulness practices strengthen neural pathways, making skillful responses and states of mind more habitual and default.
26. Discover Personal Mental Tools
Actively explore and investigate different creative ideas and tools that help you achieve the right balance in your mind, as individual approaches vary.
27. Write Poetry for Clarity
Consider writing poetry as a practice to find clarity in confusing situations, as the form itself can demand and foster clear thinking.
28. Gain Perspective from History
Reflect on historical or cosmological perspectives (e.g., the ‘pale blue dot’ image) to gain a sense of spaciousness and inner balance, providing a broader context for current events.
29. Contemplate Your Mortality
Engage in the challenging but profound exploration of your relationship with death and mortality, asking yourself if you are prepared to die, as this can lead to a more peaceful understanding of existence.
30. Daily Reflection on Impermanence
Practice daily reflection on the impermanent nature of life, acknowledging that whatever is born, grows old, gets sick, and dies, is a natural part of existence.
31. Join 10% Happier Live
Join the 10% Happier Live daily sanity break on YouTube (10%.com/live) every weekday at 3 PM ET / noon PT for guided meditation and Q&A with teachers.
6 Key Quotes
While panic is contagious, calm is contagious too.
Dan Harris
We should practice some social distancing from our thoughts and emotions.
Joseph Goldstein
What we have, when we have aversion to something, we're actually feeding it, even though we think that the aversion is going to help us get rid of it.
Joseph Goldstein
Empathy is talked about as feeling other people's feelings. Compassion is empathy plus the desire to help.
Dan Harris
Birth, that is the cause of death.
Joseph Goldstein
I never promised you a rose garden.
Joseph Goldstein
4 Protocols
Grounding in the Present Moment
Joseph Goldstein- Practice mindfulness of the body, as it is always with you and tangible.
- Engage in walking meditation for 5, 10, or 15 minutes, even in a small space (e.g., 5 steps in one direction, 5 in another).
- Alternatively, practice being mindful of any ordinary movement throughout the day (e.g., dressing, brushing teeth, cooking).
- Use the mantra 'each step' to focus on one step at a time, making the practice manageable.
Mindful Engagement with Difficult Emotions
Joseph Goldstein- Practice becoming mindful of thoughts and emotions as they arise, creating 'social distancing' from them.
- Ask yourself, 'Is this thought helpful?' or 'Is this emotion helping in some way?'
- If it's not helpful, use the energy gained from this recognition to observe the emotion without getting caught up in it.
- Investigate what the emotion actually feels like in the body and what kind of thoughts it generates, bringing interest and curiosity to the experience.
Compassion (Karuna) Meditation
Joseph Goldstein- Sit in formal meditation and imagine or visualize a person in a lot of suffering.
- Hold that image and connect internally with the suffering they are experiencing.
- Repeat the phrase silently: 'May you be free of this suffering.'
- Extend this practice to include yourself, asking 'How can I be of help to myself now in order to be able to help others?'
Reflecting on Mortality
Joseph Goldstein- Engage in daily reflection on the nature of existence.
- Understand that 'whatever has the nature to grow old, to get sick and to die, will grow old and sick and die.'
- Ask yourself, 'Am I prepared to die?'
- Explore how you are holding this basic fact of existence, whether through fear, acceptance, or other feelings.
- This can be done anytime, including during walks, by imagining one's own dying process and observing one's reactions.