My name is Sam, and I'm writing from Austin, TX USA. I've always known about mindfulness but didn't really get fully interested and start practicing myself until sometime this summer.
I've had chronic headaches for a long time - 5 years maybe? And talk therapy has really helped me be so much more at peace with a lot of my life - I guess that's where my first real introduction to mindfulness came from, and then this summer I deepened my practice on my own.
I really like Sharon Salzberg (her podcast is incredible), Thich Nhat Hanh, Brene Brown, and Jerry Colonna (who is an exceptional Buddhist entrepreneur coach and also has a great podcast called RebootIO). I've been reading and listening to all of the above and learning a lot.
The most incredible thing for me has been really starting a daily meditation practice. I use the Headspace app, and have been going through the Pain Management pack. It's pretty unbelievable to me, but the frequency of my headaches is measurably lower since just starting to meditate. I'm so grateful and amazed.
Anyways, that's my current journey. I've also made video games that are focused on internal life and tuning in to your emotions for a while so I guess you could say that's been leading me to this new "formal" mindfulness practice as well
I'm glad to have found this forum - it looks amazing.