Finding Your Grey Area Compassion Meditation

In this meditation you will seek out the gray area in "the black and white". If you feel stuck in an unpleasant ("negative") emotion and/or are struggling with something, then this meditation is especially for you to create inner space in the midst this. I hope you will experience a healing "sit".

Transcript

Welcome to this meditation in which you will explore the grey area between black and white.

I would like to invite you to sit comfortably or perhaps you would like to lie down for the duration of this meditation.

In any case,

Finding a position in which your body can be as relaxed as possible.

And when you have assumed this position,

Seeing if it is comfortable for you to close your eyes.

Or perhaps you would like to focus your gaze in front of you,

On the floor,

Or above you,

On the ceiling or the sky.

Then first,

Directing your attention outwards.

Start by receiving the sounds that are around you.

Maybe the sounds close by.

And sounds from further away.

Natural sounds or sounds from man-made machines for example.

Being aware,

What can you hear,

What can you listen to.

And maybe there is something you can smell.

The smell of flowers,

Of trees,

Or of something from a kitchen.

Or fresh laundry perhaps.

Then also using your sense of touch.

What can you feel on your skin right now?

Maybe the wind gently passing over the bare skin of your hands.

Or fabric or a piece of clothing.

Perhaps the light pressure of the hands in the lap.

Or the sit bones on the chair,

Or bed,

Or other surface.

And from this observation,

Using your various senses,

Seeing if you can also observe the space that you take up within the space around you.

That space around you is infinite,

The cosmos which continues infinitely.

And you have your own place,

Here,

Now,

In this moment.

And then slowly bringing your attention to all parts of your body that make contact with the surface you are sitting or lying on.

And seeing if you can perhaps let yourself be carried a fraction more.

Being a little more relaxed in your posture,

Whatever that means for you at this moment.

Carried by the surface,

Perhaps a mat,

A chair,

A pillow,

A bed.

Carried by the ground underneath a floor.

And ultimately,

Being carried by the earth.

Letting yourself be held or carried as best you can at this moment by the crust of the earth,

Of our planet.

Being in connection with the earth and the cosmos around you.

And if you like,

I would like to invite you to place one or both hands on your chest,

Your heart area,

For the duration of this meditation,

So that you can connect with your heart during the meditation,

With yourself.

Then seeing if you can recall a situation,

Something that happened recently,

Or perhaps from a more distant past.

A situation in which you were very much drawn into the black and white,

Very much into extremes in terms of emotions and or thoughts it brought up.

It could be a situation that made you angry,

A situation that made you sad,

You were hurt,

That you felt rejected,

Not seen,

Not understood,

Maybe angry with yourself,

Angry with the other person or people,

Or both.

A situation that brings up what we could call negative emotions,

Or perhaps it's better to label them as unpleasant emotions.

And seeing if you can recall those emotions that this situation brings up,

Or the feeling you had back then,

If you can recall that.

And perhaps there are a lot of thoughts connected to it as well,

That's also possible.

And then,

If that's the case,

Tuning into the emotion that is connected to those thoughts.

Seeing if you can perceive those emotions in the body.

So,

Exploring for yourself,

Where can I feel this in my body?

Is it a feeling in the hands,

Maybe in the jaws,

In the stomach,

Perhaps in the heart area,

Perhaps in multiple places?

Is it a cramp,

Does it sting,

Is it tight?

How is it for you in this moment?

And trying to stay with this,

And if it helps,

If it's overwhelming,

You can also say to yourself,

It's okay,

It's already there,

I can do this.

Because trust me,

You can do it.

And often times we think that when we are fixed in such a contraction,

In such an unpleasant feeling,

Then we think that this is the only thing there is,

And we can get very stuck in that,

Feeling very lost in that,

And perhaps also anxious,

Being overwhelmed.

But this unpleasantness,

This so-called negativity that you have experienced,

What you are experiencing right now,

That can exist alongside something else,

And that is where you can enter the grey area.

So I invite you to step out of the black and white of the situation with me,

And then starting to look for this grey area.

So while you're still allowing yourself to experience the unpleasantness,

To feel it,

Seeing if you can,

As it were,

Take a step back,

Zoom out,

Even a little bit,

And then exploring what else is there.

Maybe it helps to bring to mind a situation in which you had an emotion that was on the opposite side of the spectrum.

Or maybe it helps that when you feel this unpleasant emotion,

This unpleasantness,

You also bring part of your attention outside for a moment,

And then perhaps hearing a bird whistling,

Or sensing the feeling of fresh grass against your skin,

Or perhaps a nice comfortable duvet,

Or the warmth of the sun,

Or a heated room,

For example.

So then alongside this anger,

Or the sadness,

Or whatever it is for you,

There is also something pleasant,

Something positive.

And if you bring this pleasant situation to mind,

What kind of emotions does that evoke?

Seeing if perhaps you can sense that in the same places in the body,

Or is it present in other places?

Maybe you have a contraction and sting in the heart area,

And at the same time,

Perhaps experiencing softness in your hands,

Or a sense of relaxation,

Where you sense you are being held,

Where your body makes contact with what you are sitting or lying on,

For example.

And let's explore that in silence for ourselves for a while.

Explore both ends of the spectrum,

The unpleasant and the pleasant.

And perhaps it will help you moving your attention back and forth a little to that unpleasant feeling,

And to zoom in on that for a moment,

And then zooming out again,

And then zooming in on what is pleasant.

And if you're completely stuck,

Or you feel that you're fixed on that unpleasantness,

Perhaps it will help placing a hand against your cheek,

For example,

Or to gently caress yourself on an arm or your thigh,

And then taking that as a pleasant feeling,

And then moving back and forth between unpleasant and pleasant.

And seeing if you can also let it be part of your experience of this moment at the same time,

One does not exclude the other,

And as you are moving back and forth between unpleasant and pleasant,

This is the grey area,

The realization that both happen at the same time,

That it's not purely black and white.

And realizing this has a potential to give you space in any given situation,

In any given sensation that you have,

In any given time that you are experiencing sudden,

Strong,

And potentially unpleasant emotions,

Thoughts,

Or sensations.

And now inviting you to slowly let go of your exploration,

And letting the pleasant and unpleasant feelings move to the background,

And focusing your attention again on the surface that's carrying you,

The contact between your body and what you are lying or sitting on,

And breathing in deeply through your nose and out through your mouth a few times,

Letting the attention of the body fan outwards.

Observing one more time what can you sense on your skin,

What can you smell,

What can you hear,

And then ending this meditation in your own way.

Thank you for coming here.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you,

Courageous being.

Reviews

A great safari of the emotions in my body. Thank you