Creating Space To Care About Ourselves And Others

In that crucial moment - fire, hurricane, inauguration – contrary to the Lord of the Flies scenario in pretty much every disaster film ever, actually, we come together. We’re there for each other. We do what’s needed. We care. When I do that, I feel better about myself, too. I wonder if it’s a kind of collective self-care, or collective liberation…

Transcript

So,

Finding your,

Your posture,

The most supportive posture for you right now,

Upright,

Or lying down,

Or standing,

Or walking,

And just bring the attention to the body,

And a lot of times when I do that,

I,

I bring my attention to this body and it's kind of inside of an outline or inside of a boundary,

And so see what's possible for you right now to bring your attention to the body as just part of a big,

Wide space,

You know,

Open,

Porous,

See,

See if that kind of physical spaciousness is available to you.

Maybe attending to the breath is helpful because the breath is neither internal nor external,

It's both,

Right?

See if there's something that comes to mind in your own life where you could use some,

Some support,

Some care.

And maybe put your hand in your heart space if that's available to you,

If you're not driving.

If you want to,

You can,

You can tap with the heart space and you can just say to yourself,

Yeah,

This is a difficult thing,

And I,

I care about this,

This hard thing that I'm going through.

And this too shall pass,

Or this too shall change.

And see if you,

If you know someone or you have an imagination of someone or some group of people who might be experiencing something similar or some kind of similar level of difficulty,

Even if it's caused by something different.

And see if you can create enough spaciousness just right wherever you are,

Wherever you're sitting or whatever you're doing,

So that,

That person or that group of people can be with you.

And you can care about their sorrow or their suffering,

Invite it and care.

And seeing if you can create enough space to see that your own suffering,

Your own sorrow isn't different or isn't separate from the difficulties and struggles and suffering and sorrow of the person that you call to mind or the people.

Yeah,

And just hold,

Hold it all.

And know that you can hold it all.

And maybe bow to yourself right now for,

For being willing to look at that and do that.