A Sane Reaction

Do you ever wonder if your reaction to something crazy happening is insane? Maybe. But, I wonder if it's just a sane reaction to an insane set of circumstances. Join me in this brief meditation on being grounded in your own body, breath and mind as you work through your own reaction to what might just be an insane set of circumstances.

Transcript

Hi there.

I wanted to come on and do a brief meditation based on what I have been seeing with so many of my clients,

Myself,

Family members,

Friends,

Just at this time of life,

Post-election,

Post-inauguration,

New Year,

And a lot of heavy energy and difficult exchanges and future fears and anxieties.

Many of those might be true.

Many might not be.

I don't know.

But I find myself saying to clients this phrase that seems like a sane reaction to an insane set of circumstances.

And when I say that,

I can feel the visible relief,

The deep breath that is taken,

Like,

Oh,

Maybe I'm not crazy.

Maybe this is a sane reaction to some insane circumstances.

So I just want to offer a brief meditation on this theme.

So if you could just sit down,

Lay down,

Just take a moment to notice your posture,

Feel your spine upright,

Your head on your shoulders,

Have your shoulders back,

Your heart open.

And I'll go ahead and ring the gong,

And we'll just do a brief meditation here.

I'm going to ring the gong.

So again,

Just starting with the body,

That you feel your butt on the cushion,

Your feet either crossed or on the floor,

Your hands loosely on your lap,

Taking stock of how your body feels right this minute.

We're not judging it,

We're just noticing what it is.

You might have been quite busy right before this,

Or just woken up.

So just take stock of where your body is right now,

The places that feel tight,

The places that might feel some pain.

Also acknowledging the places that feel good,

Where there's some blood flow and some flexibility,

Some movement.

And then moving into a few deep breaths,

Allowing for a full inhale,

And that little pause at the top.

A full exhale,

Preferably longer than the inhale,

And that little pause at the bottom before you naturally inhale again.

You can say some words to this if you'd like.

When I inhale,

I feel calm.

When I exhale,

I feel at peace.

Or simply that it feels good to inhale,

And it feels good to exhale,

Because I assume it feels good.

It means you're alive.

And just noticing a bit of the spaciousness around you as you sit,

Because if you're able to do this,

I assume nothing is too chaotic in this one moment.

You're able to sit quietly for a few minutes here,

And breathe,

And allow for your experience.

It doesn't necessarily fix anything,

But in this moment,

You're okay.

And it's okay to let yourself know that you're okay.

Let your nervous system know,

In this moment,

I'm okay.

And then we're taking a peek into our brains and noticing what we've been dealing with,

What we're fearful of,

What we've been struggling with,

What keeps us awake at 2 in the morning.

Just seeing kind of the energy of that.

Maybe you can put a label to your feeling or your thought.

Anxiety for the future.

Worried about a group of people.

Worried about your own finances.

Worried about your children.

Maybe not wanting to repeat mistakes that other people or you have made in the past.

So we're not really fixing anything here.

We're just allowing the energy of the mind to be there.

To see it.

To witness it.

Without judgment.

Just watching the energy of it.

And then allowing this moment of grace that perhaps your thought patterns are a sane reaction to an insane set of circumstances.

And that could be in your own personal life or in our nation.

And there's so much we don't know.

There's so much that is out of our control.

We don't have the bird's-eye perspective on how it all plays out.

We just don't know.

We know how we're feeling.

We know where we are in this moment.

How things are affecting us.

How we're judging ourselves.

Or maybe how we're blaming others.

But we don't know the whole picture.

We don't know how it's all gonna turn out.

So of course there's a bit of fear there.

It taps into our feeling of feeling unsafe.

Just a bit of unsafety.

But in this moment we are safe.

So if you're willing to put your hand on your heart.

Take a deep breath.

Just for this moment I am safe.

In this moment I am safe.

In this moment I'm okay.

Maybe you can even go beyond that.

In this moment I'm grateful.

In this moment I'm at peace or content.

Can you feel your heartbeat?

In this moment I'm grounded.

So now just take a couple moments here and allow yourself to feel grounded.

Find a few things that make you feel that you have what you need.

These could be your material possessions.

The job you have.

If you have any money in your account.

If you've eaten today.

The city you live in.

The weather patterns.

If you have mountains that you can look east where I am.

What feels grounding to you?

What feels open and spacious?

What lets you know that you are rich?

Externally.

Internally.

That you're allowed to be here.

You're allowed to fill up the space that you fill up in this room.

You're allowed to be as tall as you are.

As wide as you are.

As thin as you are.

As short as you are.

Maybe even open up your wingspan and see how much room you take up.

You're allowed to take up that room.

In fact maybe even go a few inches beyond it.

As you wave your arms.

Maybe dance to a song.

Just feeling your body.

Feeling the spaciousness around you.

Just appreciating your mind.

That you're trying to stay safe and look out for potential threats and landmines.

Your brain is trying so hard to protect you in all ways.

Thank you brain.

But we are not only our thoughts.

We are not only our feelings.

There's something else there.

You might call that your soul.

Your spirit.

The witness.

A greater consciousness.

However you want to think about that.

You're not simply your thoughts and your feelings.

But you have thoughts and you have feelings.

So I find it very helpful to take these few minutes throughout the day or maybe once a day to just sit down with yourself.

Notice your body.

Be friends with your breath.

Notice the movement of your mind and the themes that are playing out.

Let them be there.

Just don't take them entirely seriously.

Maybe have a bit of a sense of humor about it if you can.

And a bit of grace and compassion.

Sometimes you're having a sane reaction to an insane set of circumstances.

And when you know better you do better.

And maybe something bubbles up here that tells you what you need to do.

Where you need to put your energy.

Where you need to stop putting your energy.

How can you best serve this body,

This brain,

This soul,

This heart.

So that your cup can be filled up.

So you can treat yourself like your own best friend.

Because it matters.

It matters how you treat yourself.

So again,

Just allowing for that compassion for where you are with whatever you're dealing with,

Whatever your reactions have been.

Allowing for these few moments to settle.

See where your body is,

Where your breath is and where your mind has been.

And perhaps out of that comes your intention,

Your desire,

Your hope,

Your dream,

Your values.

And maybe that informs how you want to spend the rest of your day,

Or how you want to spend tomorrow.

Or if taking a few moments to meditate is worthwhile to you.

To center yourself throughout the day.

Find your grounding,

Find your center and move from that space,

Which is a space of love.

So just a couple more deep breaths.

Feeling yourself in this space now,

After having settled.

Just return to whatever meditations feel good for you,

Whether those are guided or on your own.

Listening to some music,

Just sitting in the sun.

Having some kind of warmth on your face.

Or you can just be okay in your own skin.

Just for moments,

Moments at a time.

They all add up to being your life at the end of the day.

Thank you for taking the time to just settle and be quiet for a moment and allowing me to guide whatever I can do to assist with this.

I have found it very helpful in my own life.

And I wish you well as we embark on the next four years or whatever it is you are currently dealing with.

So just another breath or two and I'll ring the gong again to end.

As you complete your meditation,

Maybe you can take some of this compassion and warmth out to another human being or animal,

If you would like.

So we're both in a mode of giving and receiving.

And I'll now ring the gong.

Thank you so much.