This meditation is called Resting with Difficult Emotions.
Taking a little time to settle in a comfortable but alert,
Supported posture.
And as you settle,
Perhaps noticing what's happening in your inner world.
There may be thoughts.
Feelings.
Sensations.
Perhaps something that has been troubling you.
Knowing that the time of this meditation is a time for not doing something about it.
Not trying to suppress feelings or block them.
Or make them go away.
Or indulge feelings.
This is a time as best you can of allowing yourself to be aware of what's here.
It can be very helpful if,
Even for a little while,
You can let go of the story around the feeling.
The thoughts about why it's here and what it means.
What should have happened.
What might happen.
All of these really useful functions of thoughts.
Asking if they'll give you a little space at the moment.
To gently drop down into the body.
And take a long,
Easy breath out.
And feel your body.
Feel the weight and solidity of your body.
The support underneath you.
The simple experience of being here.
And rest.
Can you spend a few moments simply resting in the body?
There can be so much holding and contraction around difficult emotions.
Course they can.
It's so understandable,
So human.
So much effort.
So much caring.
So much wanting things to be different.
Perhaps just for a few moments you can actually let some of that go.
I take another longer breath in and out.
If you're familiar with belly breathing,
You might allow the breath to fill the belly on the in-breath.
Flat the belly on the out-breath.
And a simple reminder.
Whatever is happening.
Let it be here.
Just for now.
Good or bad?
Right or wrong.
Pleasant or unpleasant.
Just for this moment.
Letting it be.
It's so natural that we become very tightly held around the things we care about.
We care deeply.
If things feel wrong,
We want things to be different.
And of course we want things to be okay,
Of course.
And perhaps just as a little experiment.
We can soften around that caring.
Not because it doesn't matter.
Not because we don't care.
Because perhaps we don't need to hold it quite so tightly.
Perhaps having another long breath in and out.
Perhaps continuing with that belly breathing,
So supportive for difficult emotions.
Allowing the body to soften just a little.
Maybe finding a way of caring that's just a little gentler.
A little more spacious.
A little less striving and effort.
Enough care to remain present without needing to hold everything together.
And another gentle breath out.
And relax.
Allowing yourself to slowly come back to whatever feeling is here.
Not looking for a particular feeling.
Not trying to create openness or peace or even rest.
Simply being aware of whatever is already here.
Perhaps being a little kind to it.
There's no need to make anything happen.
With a little softness and kindness,
Feelings change by themselves.
Sometimes quickly.
Sometimes slowly.
Sometimes very subtly.
Can you let them be as they are,
Moving in their own way?
There's something powerful about allowing change rather than demanding change.
You can't force a flower to open.
Just does given the right conditions.
We can simply give our feelings space.
And white.
Perhaps patiently waiting,
Is itself a form of kindness.
Doing our best not to judge what is here is kindness.
Doing our best not to demand that it be different is kindness.
Just being willing to stay.
To be present.
To see what happens.
Perhaps underneath all the activity on the surface.
There might be a little more space and openness.
A sense you don't have to hold everything so tightly.
Really notice even brief moments of okayness.
They might be quite subtle.
Notice moments of Sensing being here,
Breathing.
Alive.
Supported by the ground beneath you.
It's okay to feel okay.
You don't have to earn it.
Don't have to get rid of all the difficult feelings.
And if there are some moments of feeling okay,
You don't have to hold on to those.
Just noticing.
There may well still be sadness or anxiety,
Perhaps loneliness or disappointment or other emotions.
And alongside these things,
There can sometimes be something.
Quieter a little capacity to be here.
To be a little open.
Care without holding on tight.
This is not a one-off practice,
We might return to this again and again.
Not as a special state that we need to achieve,
But a way of meeting,
Of relating to our experience.
Being here for whatever is here.
Over and over just coming back to the feeling,
The body,
The awareness.
Resting here.
Perhaps allowing the experience to unfold by itself.
And at some point,
Maybe you notice a little more space.
A little more openness.
Perhaps even a tiny bit of kindness emerges.
Kindness towards our emotions.
Towards ourselves.
You might even notice if you bring to mind other people in the world that may be feeling the way you are right now.
Is there even a little sense of kindness towards those others?
This is not about shoulds or forcing anything.
Just may emerge if we're a little less defended against what is difficult.
And now though,
There's nothing you need to do.
Just resting.
Feeling what is here.
Allowing it to change.
Or not change.
Letting it be.
Letting yourself be.
Maybe there's even a bittersweet beauty in this that simple beauty of being alive.
With all its difficulty,
Its uncertainty and its possibility.
Just here.
Just now.
Open.
Away.
Resting.
Alive.
And as you come towards the end of the meditation.
Noticing the effect of resting.
Of not going into battle.
Allowing aliveness.
Opening.
Kindness.
And if this is not what emerged,
This is not a failure.
This is information.
Can you allow that?
Can you rest in that?
Perhaps giving yourself a little appreciation for being willing to do this practice.
Knowing that you can return to this as much as you'd like.
Thank you.
