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Talk + Meditation: Five Ways to Feel Less Anxious
January 24, 2026

When fear and anxiety feel woven into the fabric of everyday life — from global crises to personal health worries — it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, helpless, or stuck in a loop of dread.

So this week I explored how to meet anxiety with mindfulness and compassion, find real refuges that steady the heart, take meaningful action without burning out, and hold life with a wider wisdom perspective.

When we relinquish what no longer serves — harsh self-judgment, false hopes, and unnecessary worry — we can live well, meanwhile, even in a world that can feel profoundly uncertain.

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Talk: Five Ways to Feel Less Anxious

Download the Talk: Audio | Transcript
Timecodes & main topics:
  • 00:00 — Finding refuge in meditation during a busy, anxious week
  • 01:27 — Bringing fear into awareness: physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts
  • 05:07 — The “miracle of mindfulness”: naming fear to create space and compassion
  • 09:19 — First foundation: mindfulness and compassion as ways to meet anxiety
  • 12:08 — Second foundation: finding true refuges inside yourself and in the world
  • 19:09 — Third foundation: taking action to restore agency and counter helplessness
  • 26:40 — Wisdom perspective: first dart vs. second dart suffering and interdependence
  • 32:29 — Fifth foundation: relinquishing, self-kindness, and “living well, meanwhile”

A Meditation: In the Quiet That Opens into Everything

Download the Audio of this Meditation

A gentle meditation to soften the edges of the self and rest in a sense of shared being. You’re invited to let go of differences, feel yourself being breathed by life, and settle into a quiet, spacious belonging.

These teachings are offered freely, at no charge. 

And if you like, you may wish to participate in the age-old tradition of generosity through making an offering yourself – called “dāna” – to support Rick and the Wednesday Meditations. Generosity itself is a beautiful practice that opens and gladdens the heart, relaxes the contraction of “self,” and ripples out into the world to touch many people – and perhaps, eventually, even oneself. 

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