Welcome to the worry container exercise.
The worry container meditation is a short mental exercise adapted from the practice of psychology.
It's meant to give you a tool to use when worry or anxiety overtake your mind.
I'll end this meditation with a poem reading of Wendell Berry's The Piece of Wild Things.
This practice is short and sweet and you'll thank yourself later for taking the time to do this.
It's also a meditation you can return to whenever you need to set your worries to the side.
I hope you find it helpful.
We'll start in a comfortable seated or lying down position.
To minimize distractions and fidgets during the exercise,
Find the most comfortable way to position your body.
Once you arrive in physical stillness,
We'll shift the focus to the breath.
Take three deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
And when you exhale,
Feel free to let out a sigh.
Really relax and sink into the breath.
And after three deep breaths,
Return to a natural way of breathing.
Now in your mind's eye,
Imagine a container.
This container can take any form or shape,
So it could be a box or maybe a glass jar.
Anything your mind conjures up is fine.
Just make sure that this container has a lid.
Take a moment to imagine this container in detail.
Now find the thing in your mind that you are stuck worrying about,
The concern,
The looping thought,
The anxiety that is bouncing around your mind.
Imagine moving that thought into your worry container and firmly closing the lid.
Know that this worry container can hold whatever you place in it,
No matter how big or all consuming it seems to be,
Your worry container can handle the contents you place inside.
Now after you firmly close the lid,
Imagine setting this container to the side of your mind.
Know that you can go back to this container and take out your worry whenever you want to,
Or you could leave it where it is.
We're not stuffing this worry deep inside the mind.
Instead,
We're giving this worry a home,
And doing so allows your mind to focus on other things.
By placing this worry and anxiety into a special container,
Instead of letting it run free around your mind,
You'll create space in your mind for other thoughts.
So take a moment to survey the landscape of your mind now that this worry has been contained.
What is there space for now?
What other thoughts or feelings are present?
Is there more space for joy,
For laughter,
For gratitude?
Just notice what you've created space for by taking that worry and placing it in a special container.
Take the next moment to just scan your mind.
Take a moment to just sit down back here for a while,
Ience when you're feeling down,
And after you've done that,
We'll begin to release the meditation.
So keeping your eyes closed,
But coming back to your body,
Maybe you wiggle the fingers and the toes,
Maybe you rock your head from side to side,
Starting to come back into the physical body.
And I'll share that poem,
The Piece of Wild Things by Wendell Berry.
Even despair for the world grows in me,
And I waken the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be.
I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water,
And the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water,
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.
For a time,
I rest in the grace of the world and am free.
When you feel ready,
Take a final deep breath in through the nose and let a big sigh out.
I hope you found this little practice helpful and know that whenever your mind seems consumed with an anxious thought or a worry or concern,
You can take a moment to visualize this worry container and place that thought inside so that your mind has a little bit more space.
Thanks so much for joining me.
