Letting Go Of Worry While Waiting For Important News

A meditation to supporting us in dropping the worry when find ourselves waiting for important news about our future. It is a core truth that our life is still happening- even when we are anxiously waiting for something! We each only have a finite number of days and we’d be wise to live them all fully - even when it feels like we are in a holding pattern until we hear. We will practice letting go of what doesn't serve and learn to let life do what it will- finding relaxation, relief, and restored faith.
Music: Tranquility Base by Kevin MacLeod

Transcript

So welcome.

This is a guided meditation on how to drop the worry when we are waiting for important news about our future.

In this meditation we will find wisdom about when we are waiting and wondering about something that we want.

We will practice letting go and letting life have its own wise way with the situation.

The meditation will start with a spoken section and then we will go into a guided meditation and finish with a coaching tool to bring us some peace of mind in these times when we are waiting for something or someone outside of ourselves.

So get comfy and we will begin.

There is a pause place and sometimes we find ourselves betwixt and between,

Waiting for news,

News on a decision,

Waiting to hear on an offer we have made,

Or the results of an application or some paperwork that is being put through some rules and regulations.

At times like these it can be easy to feel that we are at the mercy of something outside of ourselves.

We can feel like life is the villain,

Making us a helpless victim,

With nothing we can do but sit and sweat it out until something outside of us shifts.

In some ways that is true,

We can't control life.

We get to do our best,

To try our hardest,

To put it out there,

To dare,

And then life will do whatever it does.

We are ultimately powerless over people,

Places and things.

And I know that sometimes these times can feel stressful while we wait.

It can be hard to trust in the proverbial process or to give it over to something greater than us to handle it.

Sometimes patience is present and we can wait graciously,

And yet at other times we may find ourselves itching to get somewhere,

To be on our way over there somewhere else some different time.

On some level we all know that worrying won't change anything,

Yet we are human,

We do it anyway.

We somehow feel that by ruminating and running over scenarios time and time again,

Surely we might just change something.

And for sure occasionally we do come up with good solutions,

Yet mostly we just waste our life energy away and cause ourselves a whole heap of stress and suffering.

It is a core truth that our life is still happening,

Even when we are anxiously waiting for something.

We each only have a finite number of days,

And it would be wise to live them all fully,

Even when it feels like we are in a holding pattern until we hear.

How can we drop down into the moment,

To feel our feet on the earth and to walk well through this day?

Even or especially if we are waiting on news outside of us,

Or on something that we can't yet see the outcome of.

In these tricky times we have to learn how to develop trust in ourselves.

We have to figure out for ourselves that we will always find a good way through,

However the outcome goes.

In these moments we get to consciously choose to see that we will find ways to be happy,

However it ends up.

Sometimes getting what we want will be an amazing gift.

Sometimes not getting what we want also turns out to be an amazing gift too,

In some way that we couldn't possibly have seen at the time.

This moment is a mystery.

We don't know how this situation will turn out.

We never really know how our lives will go,

So we get to see that we have done our best,

And we sit and wait patiently,

Graciously,

Switching our attention from waiting to being here now,

To being with the mystery,

To living our lives fully on this day,

To becoming present to what is present here.

It is a peculiar paradox.

We are both immensely powerful.

We can shape our lives,

Train or retrain,

Take action steps,

Make many things happen in our lives and move metaphorical mountains.

And at the same time,

Sometimes reality throws some mighty wondrous wildcards our way,

And we simply can't control the outcomes of it all.

As Rachel Naomi Remen writes,

We have not been raised to cultivate a sense of the mystery.

We may even see the unknown as an insult to our competence,

A personal failing.

Seen this way,

The unknown becomes a challenge to action.

But mystery does not require action.

Mystery requires our attention.

Mystery requires that we lessen and become open.

When we meet with the unknown in this way,

We can be touched by a wisdom that can transform our lives.

When we meet with the unknown in this way,

We can be touched by a wisdom that can transform our lives.

So let's sit together now in this poor's place that we find ourselves.

Let's see what wisdom may we find as we sit and stay still with it all in some moments of meditation.

So come to your meditation posture.

Take a seat.

Settle.

When you're comfortable,

Become still.

Sink into this pose and into this moment.

Get comfortable even amidst this time of uncertainty.

Sit with your hopes and your wanting and your wishing and your not knowing.

Pause for peace.

Feel into this moment.

Where the base of the body touches the surface that you're sitting on.

Feel into the pattern of your breathing.

Drop your gaze down.

Lower your eyes or close them.

Drop your shoulders down.

Drop your jaw.

Drop your hands into your lap.

Drop your awareness down into the body.

Drop your jaw slightly.

Drop your hands into your lap,

Let them rest.

Drop your awareness down into the body.

So your focus is on the physical sensations.

Drop the breath down so that you can feel your belly move a little more than usual.

Drop into this moment.

Drop your impatience.

Drop any way in which you've been taking this waiting and worrying personally.

Maybe you've been seeing the waiting as life in some way punishing you or making you suffer.

It's what minds may think,

But it's not true.

Things will take as long as they take.

It's not personal.

It's just the way the world sometimes is.

Offer yourself some kindness with your impatience,

With your anxiousness,

With your worrying.

It's normal and natural to have a human heart that hopes and dreams and dares and a mind that thinks.

Extend yourself some kindness for being a human being,

Having a human experience.

Wish yourself well.

Be here with your breath.

Be here with your body.

Come into the subtle sensations of your own aliveness.

Drop whatever worries you've been holding.

Drop the scenarios that you've been running as you wait for an outcome.

Drop the plans you have made in your mind for it going this way or that way.

Once again,

Drop out of the thinking mind and down into the sensations of the body.

You could try some phrases to soothe yourself.

Maybe something like,

Whatever happens,

I know I've got this,

Or I trust that I'll always find a way through,

Or I let go of worry and stress and I know that all will be well.

I know that all will be well.

I have faith in myself.

We all suffer from doubt sometimes in times of stress.

Saying kind things to ourselves can help soothe us,

Reassure us,

Reparent us.

Offer yourself some kind words,

The words that work for you.

The words you need to hear right now.

Cultivate and care for yourself.

You can reflect on how you've always handled whatever life has given you,

However hard it has been.

You can reflect that you've always found a way through to this moment,

Even if sometimes our fear says we should have done it differently.

Drop the worry.

Let this moment be.

Feel your courage and determination to meditate at this time.

And if you feel too gently,

Open your eyes and look around.

This moment matters too.

This day too is your life.

This sitting practice is part of the precious time that you have here.

Your life doesn't start when the thing happens.

Your life is here already.

You can feel it in the body.

Waiting with worry is an important part of life,

Facing our fears is an important part of life.

Learning wise ways to wait is an important part of our life.

Life doesn't just happen over there in some far-flung future.

It's happening here now,

This breath,

This moment.

So find some goodness in this moment.

Make a clear choice to put down worry.

I once worked with a mentor who made me write any specific future fear that I was wrestling with down on a post-it note.

He coached me via a potent technique that taught me to get clear on how much time I was worrying each day.

When I was fretting about how the situation would turn out,

He made me hold the post-it note,

Physically hold it in my hands so as to be clear I was the one holding it and worrying about it.

I was totally allowed to worry all day if I wanted to.

I just had to make sure I was holding the post-it whilst I was worrying.

If instead I decided to trust life to let go for a while,

To trust it would all turn out and unfold and instead focus on fun or joy or something that inspired me,

Then I could put the post-it note down in a special place in my house.

Let something else hold the worry for a while.

By putting it down I was acknowledging that I was trusting life to handle it.

This practice was humbling.

It taught me so much about the habits of the mind and how often it went back towards worrying about the future.

So I invite you to try it too if it calls you.

There's much medicine in knowing how our own mind moves and in choosing to place our attention on what uplifts and inspires us.

So as we prepare to finish this meditation,

Place your hand on your heart,

Say something kind to yourself.

Notice what you have in your life.

Give some thanks for your friends,

For your home,

For the life you've lived,

For your bravery in doing something,

In daring to put yourself out there,

For your bravery in taking time to practice and be with yourself as best you can today.

I thank you for your practice and I support you in putting down the worry.

Put it on a poster or just let it drop.

Come back to what supports you,

What sustains you,

What inspires you,

What uplifts you.

This day is precious to you.

This moment is our lives too.

Go forth and seek what brings you joy.

Things have a way of working themselves out.

Let go and let life.

Reviews

I do love all of your meditations, Tess. Each of them truly speak to what it means to be human and the experiences we go through. You have an amazing way of calmin the soul and shifting to a much wiser and beautiful perspective. Thank you so very much!♥️

Beautiful, thank you! Helped me at a difficult time. Love the recommendation to write down my worry on a post-it and actually hold it when worrying...and the relief of putting it down and not worrying.

I am currently going through this, waiting for an answer that relates to my future. You have no idea how this meditation helped. I will listen to it again tomorrow.🙏📿🧘🏻‍♀️ Thank you!

So very helpful to me in these days of waiting. Thank you for sharing these truths and your loving encouragement ✨🙏✨!

Fantastic! Helping me keep things in perspective as I wait for some news!

Thank you 😊😊💓