This is a mindfulness exercise intended to help you get comfortable with unwanted emotion.
Often,
When we experience strong or uncomfortable emotions,
We can enter into judgment,
Get caught up in the story of the emotion,
Or struggle against the emotion,
Which can create additional suffering.
Here,
We practice noticing and allowing the emotion so that it can move through us at its own pace.
Begin by settling into a comfortable position,
Feet flat on the floor,
Shoulders relaxed.
You can either soften your gaze or close your eyes,
Whatever is most comfortable for you.
Begin by noticing the breath,
Watching each inhalation and each exhalation.
Notice the sensations of breathing wherever they feel most prominent for you.
There's nothing here to be fixed.
There's no need to change anything.
Simply observe.
Now,
Imagine that you are the sky and that each emotion,
Each feeling is like a weather system crossing the sky of your awareness.
Allow each weather system to arise,
Exist,
And subside in its own time without needing to push away or getting caught up in the story of each emotion,
Each system.
See if you can bring an attitude of gentle curiosity,
Compassionate awareness to each moment,
Observation,
Feeling you notice.
If you become caught up in thinking or memories,
What ifs,
Simply notice there's been thinking and then return to just observing the weather exactly as it is in this moment,
Rather than as the mind says it is.
Noticing how it feels in the body,
Where it shows up,
How it changes and shifts over time.
Notice that you are not the weather,
You are the sky.
And no matter how big each weather system feels,
You don't need to make space for it.
You already have space for it.
Notice also that the sky remains unchanged,
Unharmed after the weather subsides.
No matter how big the storm,
The sky was present before and it will be present after.
It cannot be harmed by the weather.
Now take the next few moments to simply observe gently and with compassion for yourself,
What the weather is like in this moment.
Now take a moment to simply return to observing the breath.
Noticing each in breath and each out breath.
Then opening your eyes and returning to the room whenever you're ready.
