Approaching Difficulty

Before you start, select a minor difficulty to work with. When invited, approach your difficulty with openness and curiosity.

Transcript

Approaching difficulty.

Settle yourself into your chair.

Adopt an open,

Upright,

Confident posture,

Embodying your intention to practice mindfulness.

Spend a few moments letting go of any tension that you may be holding in your body.

And just starting this exercise by spending a few moments reconnecting with the sensations in your body.

Directing your attention to any sensations that you may be experiencing in your feet.

Just simply direct your attention to your feet and see what you can notice in this moment in time.

And then shifting the spotlight of your attention to your legs.

What sensations can you notice in your legs at this moment in time?

Shifting the focus of your attention,

This time to your torso.

What can you feel in your torso at this moment in time?

How's your chest feeling?

What sensations,

If any,

Can you notice in your spine?

And again shifting the spotlight of your attention,

This time to your shoulders.

How are your shoulders feeling in this moment?

How are your arms feeling?

How are your hands feeling?

How is your neck feeling?

Tuning into your jaw,

Lips,

Nose,

Your eyes,

And your forehead.

How does your whole body feel in this moment in time?

And refocusing your attention now to the present moment sensations of breathing.

Feeling the breath coming in and the breath going out.

No need to change your breathing in any way because how you're breathing right now is just fine.

Feeling the breath coming in,

Your lungs expanding,

And the breath going out,

And your lungs contracting.

And if your mind has wandered,

That's fine.

Just remember that it's just what minds do.

Just kindly and gently escort it back to focusing on the present moment sensations of breathing.

Feeling the breath coming in and the breath going out.

And now if you're happy to do so,

Invite in the difficulty that you've chosen to explore.

Place your chosen difficulty on the workbench of the mind.

Remember that if you wish to,

You can let go of the difficulty at any moment that you choose to do so and simply observe it disappearing off into the distance and refocus your attention back on your breath.

And just starting off this exercise by standing some distance away from your chosen difficulty and just observing it for a distance as a scientist might.

Does the difficulty have any visual appearance?

It may,

It may not.

If it does have a visual appearance,

What colour is it?

Is it solid?

Is it stationary or is it moving?

Noticing if any thoughts arise as you observe your difficulty sitting on the workbench of your mind.

And just walking at a distance around the workbench of your mind,

Just checking in to see any emotions that you may or may not be experiencing.

And if you are,

What are the emotions?

Try to be as specific as possible.

And remember that if at any time you wish to step away from the difficulty,

You can do so by just letting the difficulty go and returning your focus to the breath.

Can you notice any sensations in your body as you observe the difficulty from a distance?

Just looking with a sense of openness and curiosity to see what you can notice as you observe the difficulty on the workbench of the mind.

And if you're happy to do so,

Move a little closer to your selected difficulty.

And again,

Just explore the visual appearance of the difficulty if it has one,

Perhaps playing out like a movie or perhaps more like a random object or perhaps for you it's just a sense of the difficulty.

But just tuning in to see what you can notice.

If you have got a visual appearance for the difficulty,

Just observing if as you've got a little closer it's changed,

Got bigger or smaller or remained the same.

Checking in to see what you can notice.

Remembering that you can let the difficulty go at any moment that you wish.

Does the difficulty look the same at the top and the bottom?

What thoughts,

If any,

Do you notice as you observe the difficulty sitting on the workbench of the mind?

Are you experiencing any emotions as you observe and explore your selected difficulty?

Can you detect any sensations as you explore your difficulty?

And finally,

Just moving as close as you wish to your selected difficulty sitting on the workbench of your mind.

And again,

Explore its felt sense or its visual appearance if it has one.

And check in to see if the visual appearance remains the same or if it's changed subtly.

If it has changed,

How has it changed?

And again,

Exploring any thoughts it may trigger or any emotions,

Any bodily sensations.

And finally,

Let go of your chosen difficulty and observe it disappearing off into the distance,

Floating away on a cloud or scrolling away like the credits at the end of a film.

And now refocusing your attention on the present moment sensations of breathing,

Feeling the breath coming in and the breath going out,

Resting your attention on the natural rhythm of your breathing,

Feeling the breath coming in and the breath going out.

Now redirect the focus of your attention back to your body,

Noticing how your feet feel in contact with the ground,

How your buttocks feel in contact with the chair base,

How your hands feel resting in your lap.

And ending this exercise by tuning into your body and getting a sense of how the whole body feels as you sit in this chair,

In this room,

In this moment in time.

And when you're ready to do so,

Open your eyes.

Ready for the rest of the day ahead.

Reviews

A good way to acknowledge & examine difficult feelings an the way to calming down. 🙏🏽

Very helpful meditation, thank you

I really like this one. Starts & ends with a brief body scan. Middle portion is working with a difficulty on the workbench of your mind.

Really enjoyed it. Unlike any other meditation I've heard. A great way to start a day that is bringing on some difficulty. Very comforting!

Loved your voice! Felt like I was doing a one-on-one session with Mrs. Patmore from Downton Abbey! Certainly I can come back to this one again and again! Thanks!