My daughter is taking chemistry during her freshman year at the University of Southern California. That gave me reason to try to recall what, if anything, I could remember from having taken chemistry umpteen years ago in high school. I remember something about “covalent bonds,” though I can’t for the life of me remember what they are. And I remember the term “catalyst.”

That word, catalyst, kept bouncing around in my brain the rest of the day. It occurs to me that meditation and mindfulness training are catalysts for our mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health. Meditation and mindfulness spur growth in our lives where it might not otherwise occur, and they increase the pace and magnitude of our personal growth.

The point of meditation practice, and of living mindfully, is not to be an expert meditator or to be really in the moment. Instead, being experienced at meditation and being in the present moment enable us to achieve goals in our lives that we otherwise would not be able to. The goals vary from person to person, but the “chemical reaction” is the same when meditation and mindfulness are introduced as catalysts: they empower us, strengthen us, support us, embolden us, and spur us on to do wonderful things.