A tropical storm is heading our way so we bought lots of non perishable foods and stocked up on water. We even filled up the tub in case we lose power because we're on well water and the pump requires electricity.

But its looking like the storm might miss us completely. Which is a good thing because before making landfall they're reporting it may become a category 1 hurricane.

I guess we now have tons of snacks and won't need to go out for food for a couple of days.

Had a great day. Was able to keep mindfulness throughout the whole day. It was a very pleasant experience and emotions were quite manageable.

I used the timer feature on the fitbit for longer meditations and the subtle vibration feature definitely helps. The apps I normally use have a jarring alarm or ringing sound and they elevate my heart rate too much at the end of the meditation.

Stress comes in 2 basic flavors. Wanting something we don't currently have and wanting to get rid of something we do have. Desire and aversion. Essentially, the mechanism by which stress operates is wanting things to be different than they are. This craving gives rise to painful emotions.

We can't use the same mechanism that causes stress in order to get rid of it. Meaning, we can't get rid of it by wanting it to go away. Instead we need to cultivate the ability to sit with our experiences and merely observe them no matter how painful we find them to be.

Stress can be a wonderful tool if we know how to use it. By observing it until it goes away on its own we are creating a new habit pattern in our mind; one of non reaction and acceptance. This alleviates present stress quickly and starts to change our mind over time.