If Nothing Is Working Try This Meditation

What do you do when there’s one thing in your life that just won’t change, no matter how much you think about it or try to fix it? In this guided meditation, I invite you to stop pushing against the problem and instead shift your own energy first.

Transcript

So what do we do if there is something in life,

Just this one thing that is not shifting,

Or we can't find an answer to it?

You've tried it all,

You've tried everything,

And it's just stubborn.

What I like to do,

And what I do with my students,

Is first learn how to pull our energy back from it,

From trying to solve it,

Or fix it,

Or heal it,

And shift our own energy.

That is what I have always found to be an amazing first step,

And I want to walk you through a meditation to do that here.

But I want you to notice even before we get there,

What is your energy state right now?

As I even say that,

If something comes up for you,

What is your energy in relationship to this thing?

So are you frustrated,

Or angry,

Or confused,

Or have doubt?

Are you in a lot of control,

Or anxiety?

I've tried it all,

David.

I don't know if you really have,

That's why we're here.

I had a student once who I was working one-on-one with,

And she had a relationship issue.

She just could not seem to figure out.

So I said,

Instead of trying to figure this out,

Or fix it at the moment,

I want you to refocus your attention and energy just on yourself.

Bring your energy back to yourself.

Stop trying to figure it out.

See what your energy state is right now in relationship to it,

And let's see if we can shift it.

And then as we did shift it,

And by the end of the session,

She felt much better.

That person reached out,

And apologized,

And wanted to have some dialogue.

And that synchronicity,

I think,

Happens a lot in life,

Where we shift our energy,

And then the world around us starts to shift.

The key is,

How do we shift our energy when nothing seems to be working?

So let's do that together.

Or you can go eat some potato chips,

Or whatever.

But if you want to spend a few minutes and really shift this,

Let's focus.

So your eyes closed,

Or if you need to keep them open,

You can.

But I want you to choose that one thing that you're having a hard time with,

That just isn't moving,

No matter what you do.

And let that just come up in your mind,

In your awareness.

Could be a person,

Could be a situation.

Something that just does not seem to shift.

Okay?

And once you have that,

I want you to notice how much of your energy you have been pouring into it.

So zero to a hundred.

How much of your life force,

Of your energy,

Your mental attention,

Have you been running through this thing to try to get it to shift?

A hundred being all of it.

I want you to notice.

Is it a lot?

Is it a medium amount?

Is it a little bit?

And once you get a sense of what that is,

Now we got something to work with.

It's like,

Okay,

Yeah,

I've been pouring a lot of my attention and energy into this.

But have you really been doing all you can to understand it,

Heal it,

Solve it?

Or has some of this energy just been anxiety or fear or control or just rumination even?

A lot of times we think we're doing something by thinking about doing something.

Have you done that?

Well,

I sat here thinking about what I wanted to do.

So as you relax your shoulders,

As you start to breathe a little bit more slowly and just settle in,

And you're noticing how much energy you've put out towards this,

Start to just bring your energy more into your body.

Just let yourself settle into this moment with me instead of always trying to be out there.

Can you just be in here?

And then I want you to notice if there was one energy that's been kind of percolating around you,

Almost like a sheath of energy or a layer of energy around your body in relationship to this thing.

What is it?

Is it resistance?

Is it control or fear?

Distraction?

Uncertainty?

You might not know,

But you might just see it as a color.

You might feel it.

You might sense it.

Irritation?

Confusion?

I want you to just get a sense of the energy around your body in relationship to whatever this is.

There might be more than one,

But see if you can settle on a core one.

Like,

Oh yeah,

That's the one that's always kind of right there around me or in the background.

Maybe you find a word for it or you just get a sense of the energy.

And what's interesting is perhaps you haven't been able to solve this thing because this energy is always in between you and it.

And what actually needs resolving or solving or healing is not the thing,

Or maybe it does as well,

That'll come later,

But it's the energy that you're sitting in.

I rarely have seen someone go,

I'm in total inner peace and enlightenment and this thing isn't working.

I'm like,

Well,

You're not really.

I could tell you're frustrated.

I want you to just notice that and just acknowledge it.

And see if you can stop fighting whatever this feeling is,

If you were fighting it or resisting it or avoiding it.

As you do that,

You might notice your whole energy begin to relax.

Let's really let go of whatever the thing is and just notice the energy that we've been in.

Can you acknowledge it?

Can you be honest?

If you were sitting with a person you really trusted or a group of people and you're like,

You know what,

I just have to be honest.

This is actually how I've been feeling and the energy I've been in,

In relationship to this thing.

Almost like getting it off your chest,

But here just to yourself.

And can you,

Let's see if you can just let go of any judgment around this.

It's totally human to be feeling this way.

Whatever it is,

You're a human being.

What do you know?

I mean,

You could be watching this and you're an alien.

That's cool.

I think the same thing goes.

I've been feeling blue.

Yeah.

And just as you sit here with me,

Maybe some of it starts to melt off,

Just that acknowledgment,

That honesty,

That presence.

Maybe some of it just starts to melt off.

So there's nothing in between you and whatever this thing is.

You could be very present and sober and just direct with it.

Okay.

I've been worried about this or confused or angry or frustrated.

And as that starts to melt off,

I could just look at this unsolvable thing with clear eyes,

Be nice and grounded,

And then see what arises.

You might notice a clear step arises.

Oh,

I just needed to be more honest or I need to sit down and really look through every aspect of this without getting emotional.

I need some outside help.

Whatever it is,

You might start to get a clear next step.

Good work.

You might even recognize that your whole system is starting to relax.

It's odd,

But when we ruminate on something,

It might feel like we're paying attention to it,

But it could actually be a form of avoiding facing it.

And when you face the energy you're stuck on and shift,

That's when you're really facing it.

And as you shift,

Maybe this thing shifts.

A lot of shift is happening.

Good work.

We don't have to solve everything all at once.

We're just shifting our energy.

Notice that difference.

And this is a form of meditation and self-reflection.

And there's no one who's a great meditator.

If you can be honest,

Be present,

And self-reflect,

Then you're doing it.

Being human.

So for now,

I want you to just validate wherever you are,

Acknowledge whatever this thing is.

Maybe there's already a shift happening.

And every time you get stuck on it,

Notice the energy first,

See if you can shift it in yourself,

And then see what comes up.

Great work.

All right.

For now,

Let it go.

Let yourself be present.

Live your life.

Be in tune with the rest of life.

See what it wants to teach you and show you.

Great job.

I'll see you next time.

Thanks for sitting with me,

As always.

Reviews

Once I got past the conceptual lingo (“energy” ..?) and understood the basic principle, very helpful in resetting how to approach two long-standing problems with which I’ve been strughling. Now to see if/how that works..

Thanks David. That was a great start for me. I will continue to practice shifting my energy and see if I can move on from there to begin solving my problem. 🙏❣️

Amazingly easy yet profound. Thank you, David!

Wonderful meditation practice ✨♥️ thank you so much. It was eye-opening for me in a particular situation. 🙏🏻

Thanks for a realistic and honest approach David 🙏🏻

Really helpful. Many thanks David 🙏❤️💫

Incredibly helpful, thank you David 😊 🙏

🙏💗

This is so worthy thanknyou
💜🙏🥰🙏💜

Thank you 🙏🏻

I mean, we could acknowledge the feeling AND get some potato chips, right? Hahahaha great meditation, David! Thank you, I feel less anxious

David always has a good insight and way of explaining things. 💜

Great talk & meditation! Thank you. 🙏🏻

So hapeful meditation, thank you David 🙏💙

Thank you for this teaching, I needed it.