Hi there,
And welcome back to Insight Timer.
I'm Stephen,
And I'll be your guide for this meditation.
Take a moment to settle in.
Find a position.
That's as comfortable as you can make it right now.
That may be sitting.
Lying down,
Or maybe standing feels right for you.
If you'd like,
You can close your eyes.
Or maybe.
.
.
Let your gaze soften.
And let's take a deep,
Grounding breath together.
Inhaling fully.
And letting it go,
Maybe with a slow,
Heavy sigh.
Sometimes we're moving through our lives,
Perhaps enjoying what feels like a smooth ride.
And we suddenly deviate from the course of joy.
In an instant we can be thrown off balance.
Might experience a reality that we simply didn't choose.
Might feel like an accident.
I recently had a literal experience where a bike accident left me with an injured shoulder.
And my immediate reaction was,
Oh,
Well,
My summer is ruined.
This is all bad.
Let's be honest,
I spent my fair share of hours feeling sorry for myself,
Seeking comfort in ice cream.
It's entirely natural to grieve lost plans when the course changes.
But when the dust settles,
We see choice in how we view such deviations.
In the German language,
There's a phrase Glück and Unglück.
It translates roughly to luck and misfortune,
Or maybe a blessing in disguise.
It's an acknowledgement that even when a situation looks undeniably tough,
There's space,
There's a thread of grace woven through it if we're willing to look.
For me,
It was the mathematically absurd odds of crossing paths with a world-class medical specialist right when I needed her most.
The injury was the misfortune,
And the care I received was the luck.
Both coexisting Shakespeare's Hamlet famously said,
There is nothing either good or bad,
But thinking makes it so.
While it's incredibly difficult to erase the categories of good and bad entirely,
We can begin to ask.
.
.
Can I allow the external event to be an event?
Can I notice the weight that my mind assigns to it?
I'd invite you to bring your awareness into your body right now.
Notice what feels tight or loose.
What feels warm or cold.
When things don't go our way,
We often hold a physical no inside of ourselves.
We might grip our shoulders,
Clench our jaw,
Or tighten our chest in a silent,
Tense protest against reality.
Notice where you are holding onto a should.
Where are you fighting with what is present?
And as you breathe,
See if you can soften around that tight space.
We don't have to love the situation we're in.
We don't have to pretend it's perfect.
Just breathe into the space of what is.
The legendary basketball coach John Wooden once said,
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
If you're facing a setback right now,
You might feel like you have no options,
Like your hands are metaphorically tied.
But it merits a closer look at the hand,
Knowing it's not empty.
You still have cards to play.
We can ask ourselves.
What is not in my control right now?
What is it that I cannot do?
Maybe you exhale and let that part go.
We can also ask ourselves.
What can I do right now?
Even if it's incredibly small.
Playing the cards we're dealt is not a one-time decision.
It's an active,
Everyday choice.
Possibility.
It's the practice of finding our agency in the middle of adversity.
Take one more deep,
Expansive breath,
Completely filling your chest.
And exhale,
Letting it all go.
As you move back into your day,
Let this be a gentle reminder that you don't need a perfect hand to play the game.
Look for the possibilities in your detours and trust your capacity to adapt.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
I look forward to practicing with you again soon.
