04:02

Attending To Difficulty

by Trauma expert Dr Dowtin, PhD, LCPC, NCSP, RPT-S, PlayfulLeigh Psyched

Rated
4.6
Type
guided
Activity
Meditation
Suitable for
Everyone
Plays
2.3k

Bring gentle awareness to what you are feeling with this short lesson on sitting with challenging emotions, thoughts, and experiences in order to respond with compassion and let them go. Equipped with guiding phrases that will help you attending to whatever difficulty you are feeling.

Emotional AwarenessSelf CompassionVagus NerveMindfulnessRepetitionCompassionAwarenessEmotionsThoughtsVagus Nerve StimulationMindful ReflectionHand On HeartPhrase RepetitionsExperience

Transcript

Welcome to this meditation allowing you to attend to difficult emotions and thoughts and experiences.

I'm Dr.

Doutzen of Playfully Psyched.

Thank you for joining.

To begin this meditation,

Please bring gentle awareness to why you chose this topic.

Attend to how your belly,

Chest and head each feel as you reflect.

Bring a gentle awareness to the emotions that you can associate with these visceral feelings that come up for you.

Attend to the positive and negative impact of any stories you believe regarding this topic.

The fact that many others are feeling similarly about this topic,

Allow that to resonate with you.

Pay close attention to when you can apply increased mindfulness to this topic in your day to day life.

Begin to begin by caring for the difficulty.

This stimulates the vagus nerve activating the parasympathetic nervous system.

Recognizing the pain and keeping your hand on your heart,

Offer yourself a few phrases.

These phrases will help you recognize the difficulty,

Turn toward it and respond with compassion.

Here are the phrases.

This is a moment of pain,

Discomfort or difficulty.

I cannot avoid all the pain in my life.

This is not healthy for me to avoid pain.

I care about this suffering.

Repeat these phrases to yourself with intention of caring for the difficulty.

If the mind tries to fix the pain or solve the problem,

Just return to the phrases and self compassion.

This is a moment of pain,

Discomfort,

Difficulty.

I cannot avoid all the pain in my life.

It is not healthy for me to avoid pain.

I care about this suffering.

This is a moment of pain,

Discomfort,

Difficulty.

I cannot avoid all the pain in my life.

It is not healthy for me to avoid pain.

I care about this suffering.

This is a moment of pain,

Discomfort,

Difficulty.

I cannot avoid all the pain in my life.

It is not healthy for me to avoid pain.

I care about this suffering.

After 10 minutes,

Let go of the phrases.

Remove the hand from the chest.

The difficulty may not be gone,

But remember the phrases are always accessible throughout your day.

Meet your Teacher

Trauma expert Dr Dowtin, PhD, LCPC, NCSP, RPT-S, PlayfulLeigh PsychedMaryland, USA

4.6 (290)

Recent Reviews

Victoria

October 15, 2022

Thank you for your time, presence and kindness. Asé 🦋

Michele

October 26, 2021

A great reminder, I really like the phrases. Thank you.

Kelly

October 26, 2021

Thank you 🙏

Anna

October 26, 2021

Thank you 🙏💚

Nisha

September 28, 2021

Thank you for this!

Beverly

September 28, 2021

💜

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© 2026 Trauma expert Dr Dowtin, PhD, LCPC, NCSP, RPT-S, PlayfulLeigh Psyched. All rights reserved. All copyright in this work remains with the original creator. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

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