Begin by taking a moment to bring your mind back to your body in the present moment.
When we're in pain,
When we face difficulty,
Our mind has a tendency to go off somewhere else to focus on the other person or the problem or the future of the judgments.
Take a moment to breathe,
Take a few breaths and ground yourself in this moment,
Perhaps by feeling yourself sitting here or by feeling the soles of your feet in contact with your shoes or the floor.
Then draw your awareness inwards.
Scan your inner landscape to notice the energy of difficulty,
Struggle or pain,
Whatever is coming up in your body right now.
Begin to practice by gently naming your experience,
Very clearly recognizing that this is a moment of suffering.
This is a moment of difficulty.
You might want to be more specific and say to yourself,
Oh,
I'm feeling overwhelmed or I feel stressed or I'm so tired or this is just too much,
Ouch,
I don't like it.
Just taking a moment to use some words to gently convey to yourself what you are experiencing.
Going on by taking a moment to begin to recognize yourself as a human being and whatever experience you're having as part of being human.
Just taking a moment to say,
Yeah,
Whatever it is I'm feeling,
It's just part of being human.
It doesn't make me different and it doesn't mean I'm broken or defective.
So many other people feel just as I do when they've experienced the same thing or when they're facing the same difficulty.
Other people feel the same way.
And as you recognize this experience as part of being human,
Seeing if you could just for a few moments,
Let it be like this.
Just for a few moments,
Drop the fight or the struggle to push the feeling away.
Breathing in and saying,
Yeah,
This is part of being human at this moment.
Here it is.
A few moments,
Just for these moments to let yourself feel like this.
And then shifting and asking yourself,
When this feeling is coming up,
When I'm feeling this way,
What do I need?
Are there perhaps some kind,
Encouraging words that I need to hear right here,
Right now?
Could you offer those words to yourself?
If no words come to mind,
Could you imagine kind,
Encouraging words you might say to a good friend right now,
Even if you couldn't solve the problem for them?
Just like I believe in you,
I'm here for you,
I know you're going to get through this,
We'll get through this together.
Being creative,
Trying different things and perhaps seeing what connects.
Taking a moment to offer yourself a little bit of soothing,
Connected touch,
Perhaps by placing a hand or a fist over your own heart,
Perhaps by giving yourself a squeeze or using any other gesture or posture that helps you to feel solid,
Connected,
Safe.
Or perhaps imagining just breathing in some energy you feel you need right now.
Breathing in a little bit of safety,
Breathing in a little bit of peace.
When you feel this way,
What do you need right now?
Could you offer yourself just a little bit of that?
And now letting go of your effort,
Letting go of any anything you're trying to do and just taking a few breaths and allowing yourself to be just as you are right now.
Letting yourself to be just like this.
