An Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation

For the most part, I’ve been living in a glow of happiness and healthiness since my kidney transplant. But this week, stress crept back into my life.

Three reasons:

First, my kidney doctor thinks I’ve been pushing too fast with exercise and wants me to slow down. So I’m walking more, running less and avoiding weights altogether. I’ve lost an important stress reliever.

Second, I’ve been commissioned to write a book. I owe a chapter a week. The timelines are easily manageable, yet I’m allowing these external deadlines to create stress I don’t get when working on my own projects.

Third, it’s been three months since my transplant. Doctors advise kidney recipients to plan to go back to work three months post-transplant. Even though I’ve been working for weeks, I’m allowing this artificial date to impose expectations on my productivity.

In the months before my transplant, I was feeling…