Often, when I ask about habits, people tell me things like, I make so many promises to myself that I never keep or I keep

telling myself that I'm going to get back into meditation and then I just never do weary

resignation disappointed aspirations. But her reaction is completely different. It's not that she wants habits and can't maintain them. She rejects the entire aim of having habits in the first place. That someone

might feel this way has simply never occurred to me. She looks at me as if she wishes she

could pull out a string of garlic to word me off. So of course I want to push her to see

how far this idea goes for her.

In a string of New York Times bestsellers, Gretchen Rubin writes about happiness, habits, and human nature.

She also hosts the happier podcast, which you might want to add to your list if you're not

already a listener. Her most recent book, Outer Order Inner Calm, traces the connections between

happiness and personal habits and is the inspiration for the meditative story she's about to share

with you. It's a lighter story, one that will make you smile and bring out feelings I bet you can

relate to, but may not have summed up in quite the way Gretchen does here. In this series, we

combine immersive first-person stories, breathtaking music and mindfulness prompts so that we may

see our lives reflected back to us in other people's

stories. And that can lead to improvements in our own inner lives. From Wait What, this is

meditative story. I'm Rohan and I'll be your guide.

The body relaxed, the body breathing.

Your senses open, your mind open, meeting the world. It's a lovely summer night in New York City.

I stand with a bunch of people on the terrace of a sprawling apartment in Midtown Manhattan.

I notice the hot, gritty breeze, the side of the rooftops around us, and the sounds of cars honking far below.

The terrace has an urban minimalist look.

Wood and concrete and lots of spiky plants that I can't name.

...