One way or another, meditation can help you, but I can’t tell you exactly how. So here are four possibilities based on stories that friends and family have sent me in the past week:

• Get a grip on heart disease. Researchers at Brown U. have found an association between mindfulness and cardio health. Read more at https://news.brown.edu/articles/2014/10/mindful
• Heal the Red-Blue divide. Washington DC powerbrokers are sitting down together for a little shared quiet time. Who knows what will come next? http://pagesix.com/2014/10/25/meditation-sessions-become-a-hit-in-dysfunctional-congress/
• Keep brain scientists in their labs (and off the streets). Scientific American reveals what neuroscientists are learning about the effects of meditation. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican1114-38 (paywall)
• Prevent the Robot Revolution. Famed Zen Buddhist D.T. Suzuki once wrote, “We must realize that modern civilization is thoroughly oriented towards dehumanizing humanity in every possible way; that is to say, we are fast turning into robots or statues with no human souls. Our task is to get humanized once more.” Meditation could be part of how we recover our humanity. http://www.tricycle.com/parting-words/humanized-once-more (paywall)