Hey there, Jen here, and this is a happy bit. Earlier this week in our episode with Ariel Garden,

she talked about meditation and the brain. And I want to share my experience with meditation.

I believe my practice of meditation began in a church class when I was in eighth grade.

We came in all unruly from a hot day after school in

September, and our pastor wanted us to calm down. And so she led us through a meditation. And I

fell in love. I didn't even know about those sensations in my body of being calm and quiet.

It felt blissful.

That euphoria a lot of people describe when they relax or meditate or get still.

I experienced that.

So I continued to do many guided meditations throughout high school.

I remember often just lying in my bed and thinking, kind of praying, and I call that a form of

meditation. I loved sitting in nature or going on walks alone just to think. And the longer I've

done all of this, the more I love it. I love long, juicy baths where I can just think. And for me,

thinking means planning sometimes, but often just being quiet

and receiving divine guidance, getting my downloads of what my next best step might be,

understanding something I might be afraid of, like we talked about in the episode earlier this

week, when my amygdala might be firing too fast, too heavy,

and making me feel anxious or afraid of something. And then I can involve my prefrontal cortex

and bring it back down. So if you didn't listen to that interview, definitely do so.

It's at genridea.com slash 182. And I've been thinking about it ever since. I love what she said about generating

the feelings of love and connection in our hearts. She left this as a challenge at the end.

So often we are desperate to feel loved and connected. And we think it's going to come from

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