Meg Van Deusen

What Have You Learned During the Pandemic?

Amid the losses of the pandemic, slowing down can reveal what matters most. I reflect on self-care, everyday moments of beauty, and the freedom that comes from wanting less and being more present.

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How to Affect Change Through Agency

When life leaves you weary or discouraged, how do you find the energy to act? I share three steps for building agency: naming the problem, encouraging yourself, and taking one manageable action at a time.

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Mental Health Facts

Feeling anxious, sad, or unmotivated during a crisis is not a personal failure. Drawing on the emotional toll of the pandemic, I explore how validation, self-compassion, and purposeful action can help us move through difficult times.

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How to Decrease Stress When the World Seems to be Falling Apart

When the news feels relentless and the future uncertain, worry can crowd out everything else. Widening your perspective, adjusting your expectations, and offering yourself compassion can create room to breathe, even when circumstances remain difficult.

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Is the World Making Us Weary or Wise?

How do we respond when injustice and uncertainty leave us overwhelmed? Reflecting on the protests and upheaval of 2020, I consider how listening to our hearts can help us meet exhaustion with compassion, purpose, and action.

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How to reduce your stress

Three simple practices can offer a little breathing room during stressful times: self-compassion meditation, mindful time in nature, and a wider perspective on life. Each invites us to reconnect with ourselves, others, and what remains possible.

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Coronavirus Takes A Toll on Mood—Here’s What to Do

The uncertainty and isolation of the pandemic can make the future feel painfully small. I explore how widening our perspective can help us acknowledge real losses while finding opportunities for connection, creativity, and hope.

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Coronavirus Reminds Us What’s Important

The disruption of the early pandemic prompted a simple question: what really matters? I share seven ways to care for ourselves and one another, from taking breaks from the news to reaching out with kindness.

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Coping with Loneliness on Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day can sharpen loneliness, especially when we compare our lives with other people’s romances. A kinder relationship with ourselves and small acts of generosity can help us find connection beyond the idea of a perfect couple.

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Finding Hope for the New Year

Hope grows through meaningful goals, practical pathways, and the belief that our efforts matter. In a conversation with hope researcher David Feldman, I explore how to build realistic hope without denying life’s difficulties.

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How The Tao Helps Us Navigate Stress

What can Taoist wisdom teach us about facing change without becoming overwhelmed? Drawing on Diane Dreher’s The Tao of Inner Peace, I reflect on impermanence, interconnectedness, and responding to uncertainty with openness and compassion.

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Existential Anxiety, Kids and 2019

When young people face frightening news about their future, reassurance alone may not be enough. I reflect on how honest conversation, compassionate boundaries, and our undivided attention can help them feel connected and hopeful.

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How to reduce your stress

Three simple practices can offer a little breathing room during stressful times: self-compassion meditation, mindful time in nature, and a wider perspective on life. Each invites us to reconnect with ourselves, others, and what remains possible.

Three Ways to Reduce Stress Amidst the Pandemic

  1. Self-Compassion Meditation: Sit with your eyes closed and let your mind initially rest on the air moving in and out of your body. Focus on the sensations, such as temperature or touch as the air enters and leaves your nostrils or your lungs. Let this rhythmic and mindful breathing calm and center you. Then, say silently and repeatedly the following mantra: “I care for myself every day with kind attention” Do this for 10-20 minutes, setting a timer to gauge the time.
  2. Sit in Nature: No matter where you live, find 20 minutes each day where you can go outside and look out at natural beauty. This could be a lake, an ocean, a wooded area, the dew on a spiderweb or simply the day or night sky. Being in nature, with mindful attention, reduces stress and helps us feel less alone.
  3. Widen the Lens: If your mind is fixated on worries, allow yourself to think about the bigger picture in life, which may include what’s going well and what is possible still. One exercise is to write a letter to yourself, documenting how you want your life to be in two years, including your relationships, your health, your lifestyle and your work. OR, write a letter to someone else, letting them know what you appreciate about them—their perspective, their help, their talents, or the way they make you laugh. This exercise prompts you to think beyond your narrow view of danger and expand your perspective to what is good and what is possible. It also helps you connect to your future self and to others. Connections with ourselves and others are the key to our wellbeing.

For a more in-depth understanding of stress and how to reduce it, pick up a copy of my book, Stressed in the U.S.: 12 Tools to Tackle Anxiety, Loneliness, Tech-Addiction and More!