The Mindful Growth

2-minute read A couple of weeks ago, I was in Valencia for a conference, and my friend Timea invited me to share the room with her for some bonus pyjama-party time. 💅 The room was pretty standard at first glance, but then Reader… We started noticing little touches: Chocolate on the pillow, air spray, night kits, champagne, different kinds of hands and refreshing foot cream and just a lot of fancy sh*t ✨👀 including a Japanese toilet that honestly would deserve its own newsletter 🚽 Every night...

2-minute read No, my account wasn't hacked, Reader. And yes, this is a brief football story. ⚽ Last night, I had some friends over to watch a football match. A big one, apparently. Arsenal vs. Real Madrid. My friends were very excited, they explained to me, because this specific matchup hadn’t happened in decades, and Arsenal is right now in peak form. Most of the room was cheering for Real Madrid, but then… something impressive happened. Declan Rice, one of Arsenal’s players, pulled off a...

1-minute read Someone once asked the Buddha skeptically, “What have you gained through meditation?” The Buddha replied, “Nothing at all.” “But, let me tell you what I lost through meditation: sickness, anger, depression, insecurity, the burden of old age, the fear of death." Ok. Should this be of any interest, Reader, here there are a couple of opportunities for us to explore mindfulness together this week. 🪷📢 [ONLINE DROP-IN] FREE MINDFULNESS CIRCLE 📅 Wednesday 9th, 8 AM 📌 Online (link on...

2-minute read You don't need to be a Buddhist to be a Buddhist. (Wait, what?) I know: Buddha statues are everywhere, and even the name Buddhism makes it sound like you have to sign up for a religion.And sure, for some people, it is a religion, Reader. But it’s also way more nuanced than that. The Buddha wasn’t a god. He was just a guy. A (possibly bald) guy who, after spending the better part of his life suffering, said "Alright, that’s enough of that," and decided to try something different....

2-minute read I've got a confession to make, Reader. Here it comes: The sun is giving me anxiety. And the weirdest part? I’m pretty sure mindfulness is to blame. Let me explain: ☀️ There’s a bit of FOMO like, I should be outside! I should be rolling in daisies like a Disney princess on a sugar high! Why am I indoors?! 🔥 I grew up in Italy, so you’d think I’d be a sun-powered solar panel, but nope. My body has officially adapted to the nortern weather (fair after 7 years in Berlin + 2 in...

2-minute read Let's talk about Nirvana, Reader, shall we? No, not those Nirvana. The other one. In our last letter, we talked about how mindfulness isn’t just about stress reduction. So what is it about, then? "Mindfulness is about reaching nirvana," might sound a little... woo woo. So let's beak it down. What Even Is Nirvana? Nirvana is a Pali word (the language at the time of the Buddha) that literally means “going out”, like a flame being extinguished. So when we talk about nirvana, we’re...

1-minute read In our Intro to Mindfulness Meditation training so far, we've been delving deep into what mindfulness REALLY is. We've dissected it, put it under a microscope 🔬 tried to figure out how it fits into the whole Buddhist puzzle, and explored how it's broken down into the 4 establishments. In the first two classes, we went through mindfulness of the Body and mindfulness of Feelings (how the mind, in Buddhist psychology, is seen as a base sense, Reader 🤯). This week, it's the turn of...

2-minute read Dear Reader, Stress is present for me this week. I am hosting this training that is very close to my heart, started a few new things, closed a big project, a relationships' friction, someone visiting and blablabla... Nothing big, just life, lifing. The point is: It would be easy for me to start judging myself and fall into the story "I shouldn't feel this way, I don't want to feel stressed" But last Friday, in our Intro to Mindfulness Meditation, we talked about the first Noble...

2-minute read The world needs your best, most centered, and most aware self Reader. We keep hearing that "just 3 breaths before a meeting" can do wonders. But honestly, in my experience, it doesn't. You might have tried those 3 breaths before a meeting and found it changed absolutely nothing. Maybe you even concluded that this mindfulness stuff is BS, Reader. 🤷♀️ Me still hating Jakob from Accounting after 3 breaths Don't get me wrong Reader, every little bit counts, and it's important to...

1-minute read I am aware that this might be controversial, Reader. Sometimes, offering something valuable for free can raise questions, and I want to be open about it. As you know, our Mindfulness Training for Leaders and Changemakers begins in just one week, on Friday, February 21st, at 4 PM GMT, and today I had a conversation with other business owners about: Why am I offering this for FREE? You can listen to it here if you're curious: 🎥 In short, my reasons are these: These teachings are...