Hi,
This is Clara.
Thanks for joining me for this meditation for releasing grief and bringing in the positive.
In times of grief it can be helpful to allow what's there to be and open into a space of wonder and gratitude.
You may ask how do you let what's there to be there?
When you feel very challenged by something all we can do sometimes is to wait it out,
To be with our actual feelings as they happen,
To experience them in the body and let them flow.
Often it means allowing yourself to cry,
To express yourself to a friend and to allow yourself to grieve with all the complex emotions that want to present themselves in a safe,
Protected place with loving people by your side.
It can be very healing to allow yourself to fall apart,
To sense the humility in yourself knowing that many terrible things have happened in the past and will happen in the future and that you have the courage to acknowledge your losses,
To know it's the cycle of life,
That we're all imperfect.
You ride the waves of grief with mindfulness and self-compassion over and over,
Breath by breath.
There is no way to know when grief will end but with the caring presence it will it's also important to remember that what's moving through the mind is part of a vast,
Complex physical and mental process with many sources.
As you know grief has its way of unfolding.
No one can plan it or get rid of it but sooner or later it can feel appropriate to want to let go,
To release those heavy feelings.
Sometimes the grief might be so heavy that we have to set it down for a while,
Take a walk outside,
Eat some healthy food,
Talk with a friend,
Watch something funny,
Play with an animal,
Something,
Anything positive that doesn't remind you of your sadness.
Being a friend to yourself will give you the energy you need to come back to process your grief.
After that it can become possible to bring awareness to some of the positive aspects of life which can empower you to see more of your mental experience more clearly and also to feel your bodily sensations more viscerally.
All the while if it's meaningful there can be an underlying sense of the unknown,
The uncertain,
The mystery of life in which we find ourselves in the middle with a sense of wonder and gratitude.
It's essential to be loving in ways large and small like a balm to your own heart and to reflect on and receive the caring support of others.
So with all that in mind let's do a guided mindfulness exercise.
Begin by finding a posture that feels relaxed and alert and now see if you can observe your mind and your body from a small distance allowing the sensations to be however they are.
Try not to be negative about anything that doesn't feel good and after a while shift into gently releasing the negative and then really open up to and encourage the positive and remember that you can bring attention to feeling positive even when sadness or other feelings are also present.
Opening to wonder and gratitude for the mysterious ways that life unfolds as we allow our grief to grow alongside our kind awareness.
So to recap,
In times of grief it can be helpful to allow what's there to be there.
Try to limit what's painful or harmful.
Try to do what's more enjoyable and beneficial and open into a space of wonder and gratitude.
Thank you for your courage to be with your grief,
With caring awareness that is mindfulness.
So thank you for your mindfulness practice.
