About Kim’s Writings
My work has developed over nearly 40 years of practice and is taking shape now across books, field guides, and ongoing more personal writing in articles and on Substack (see the Newsletters section below).
Together, my writing explores how we work with conflict, attention, and what we carry from one moment to the next, from one table to the next.
Books & Workbooks
Forthcoming publications include the foundational book, Meditation with Mercy
The first book in the At the Tables of Life series
Free Newsletters
The Messy Middle
The Messy Middle is my most personal newsletter, published on Substack for now, as I gradually bring my writing home to this living library.
I write it for anyone in a new season of life, and especially for women in the middle of theirs: essays on my practices over time, the transitions across the tables of my own life, and the experience of living through the messy middle while it is still messy.
These essays work the middle movements of the framework, See and Soften: looking clearly at what a season of change is asking of us, and meeting what we find with mercy. Over time, that practice comes to feel like reflection, and like letting go.
I write this personal newsletter because I want to model that you are not alone, and because watching one reinvention in progress makes the next one, yours, feel possible.
Practice Presence
Practice Presence is my newest series of short reflections, published here on my blog. Each one models the framework at the center of my books, Settle · See · Soften · Return, in the middle of ordinary life: at the desk, in moments of conflict, and in the small transitions of a full day, using a range of contemplative practices.
The reflections begin with the first two movements, Settle and See: giving the racing mind an anchor, then looking clearly at what we are carrying. Together, these two movements are how presence is cultivated. The series then models the third and fourth movements, Soften and Return: meeting what we find with mercy, and setting down the emotional residue that work and life leave with us, so we can return to our lives steadier than we left them.
Read the first reflection at the link below.
Decoding Food Labels
Decoding Food Labels is my second Substack newsletter, and the place where my two practices meet.
I write it for anyone who buys groceries: for the consumer standing in the aisle, trying to make sense of what is actually in the cart, so you can walk into a grocery store as an educated, empowered eater. It draws on almost thirty years in food law, and it is now expanding to include secular mindfulness practices, because reading a label clearly and choosing what nourishes you are both, in the end, acts of attention and intention.
I write it because what is on those labels should be much easier to understand than it is, and because more mindful choices, whatever that means for you, begin with knowing what you are looking at.
I also teach this material as a free workshop for selected schools, churches, and civic organizations. Contact me for more details.
Compassionate Professionalism
Compassionate Professionalism is my monthly newsletter, which will be published on LinkedIn
Starting in August 2026.
I write it for the people who hold everyone else together: lawyers, social workers, mediators, caregivers, founders, and leaders whose work asks more of them than a person should carry alone.
Each issue offers one idea for working with more steadiness and less self-judgment, and one meditation or mindfulness practice small enough to survive a full calendar.
I write it because I believe compassion is a professional skill and a personal birthright: compassion for yourself first, rippling outward to colleagues, clients, families, and communities, so that the people who serve can keep serving without losing themselves.
FAQs
Where can I find essays on the framework movements in everyday life?You can find essays on how to settle, see more clearly, soften, and release in everyday life in the Writings and Essays sections of KimMilone.net. These writings explore meditation, mindfulness, ordinary life, aging, responsibility, conflict, food, attention, letting go, and the emotional residue we carry from one season of life to another.
What kinds of writing are included in this living library?This living library includes short notes, long-form essays, letters, book updates, reflection prompts, and writings on meditation, mindfulness, ordinary life, professional responsibility, food labels, conflict, grief, aging, and life review. Some pieces are brief invitations to pause. Others are longer reflections on how we meet the tables of life with presence, reflection, and letting go.
What makes you different?I combine 40+ years of practicing meditation and mindfulness with 35+ years practicing law and ADR. I have also practiced in the Episcopal faith for 30+ years. I formulated the framework of Settle, See, Soften, Release through my lived experineces in family, relationships, and work through the lens of my interfaith practices in Buddhism and Christianity.
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