So,
This is a story.
And the invitation is to either lay down or sit up tall in a seat or walk around outside with your shoes off or be driving,
But to really bring your attention to whatever activity you're doing and to welcome this story into that experience.
And so,
To start off,
Just noticing.
What can you feel in your body right now as you breathe?
You might notice tension in your shoulders.
See if you can just bring some curiosity and acknowledgement even to that tension if it's there.
And just sort of scan gently,
Curiously in your body as you breathe and invite in this story with that same curious energy.
This is a story about stress and space.
There was a man who was very important and serious in the business world.
And there were some major challenges with his business.
And he had some big decisions to make and he did not know what to do.
He was overwhelmed.
And so,
He kept doing more and more and more,
Filling up more time in his calendar,
Talking to more people,
Polling people,
Seeing what they thought he should be doing,
Researching,
Getting more tasks done to see if his busyness would create productivity.
And he was just getting more and more exhausted and feeling more scared and more overwhelmed about this thing that he's just been holding,
Trying to solve and fix.
And so,
He went home and he talked to his wife about this and she implored him to go and visit the spiritual teacher at the monastery.
And so,
Finally,
He did.
He walked up the hill and all the way up to the monastery,
Barged right in,
Went right up to the teacher who was at the far wall and said,
Please,
I need to talk to you.
I need your help.
And he started rambling on about all of the challenges that he was having and the stresses he was experiencing.
And the teacher just gently opened his eyes,
Smiled and nodded and he said,
Yes,
I see.
Go into the kitchen.
The man said,
What?
The kitchen?
The teacher said,
Yes.
Go into the kitchen and get the bag of salt,
A glass of water and a spoon.
The man says,
What?
The teacher just sits there looking at him gently.
And so,
The man walks into the kitchen.
He figures maybe this is like some special salt,
Like some special sort of potion or elixir that's going to make the anxiety that he's feeling in his body go away and give him ultimate clarity.
Okay,
So,
Kitchen,
Salt,
Big bag of salt,
Yes.
Water,
Spoon,
Goes to the teacher and the teacher says,
Good.
Take a spoonful of the salt.
The man says,
Okay.
Spoonful of salt.
The teacher says,
Good.
Put it in the water.
The man says,
Okay.
The teacher says,
Again.
Again?
Okay.
The man takes another spoonful of salt and puts it in the water.
And the man tries to hand the water to the teacher.
The teacher says,
No,
You,
Drink.
The man says,
Drink.
The teacher just looks at him gently.
The man says,
Okay.
He drinks it.
He coughs.
The teacher says,
How is it?
The man says,
Oh,
It's bitter.
It's so salty.
It's hard to even drink.
The teacher says,
Yes,
Good.
Good.
The teacher says,
Now,
Come with me.
Bring the salt and the glass.
The man says,
What?
Come with you where?
But the teacher has already started walking.
So,
The man picks up the salt,
Carries the glass,
And follows the teacher.
The teacher walks all the way down to the lake.
This freshwater lake near the monastery.
And gets onto a canoe.
And waves at the man.
The man shrugs his shoulders and figures,
I don't know what this kooky man is doing to me,
But I'm here.
Might as well follow him.
So,
He gets on the canoe and they push off.
And the teacher rows and rows and then pulls in the oars and looks at the man.
He says,
The salt.
The man says,
Pour the salt.
Pour the salt?
Yes.
Pour the salt,
The teacher says.
The man pours all of the salt into the water.
The teacher says,
Good.
Good.
And now the glass.
Dip the glass into the water.
The man says,
What?
The teacher just looks at him gently.
And the man dips the glass into the water.
The teacher says,
Good.
Now drink.
The man drinks the water.
He downs the whole thing.
The teacher says,
And how is it?
The man says,
Oh,
It's so refreshing.
Ah,
Yes,
The teacher says.
We are not our thoughts and feelings.
We are the canvas upon which they occur.
Rather than getting stuck,
Ruminating,
Problem solving,
We are the canvas of our own problems.
We are the canvas of our own problems.
We are the canvas of our own problems.
We are the canvas of our own problems.
We are the canvas of our own problems.
We are the canvas of our own problems.
We are the canvas of our own problems.
We are the canvas of our own problems.
We are the canvas of our own problems.
We are the canvas which makes our sense of confidence smaller and smaller and our doubt bigger and bigger while keeping us constantly chasing in an activated,
Elevated state.
And so creating a practice of actually slowing down and bringing our attention to our inner world instead of trying to outrun it or conquer it,
Turning toward it.
Not because it is pleasant to do so.
It often isn't.
It's often hard and it hurts.
And when we don't turn toward those emotions,
Our planning does not eliminate them.
They simply just become baggage that we carry that still take a toll on our nervous system and on our energy.
And so it starts to become like glasses that we are wearing.
We see the entire world through these emotions that we are not processing.
It's like we have our nose on a painting and we can't actually see what we are looking at because we are overwhelmed.
But when we bring curiosity and presence toward an experience,
It's like creating a little bit of space.
It expands the context for that experience to exist within.
So it's not about us eliminating our experiences or going to war with them or trying to delete nervousness in favor of calm.
It's about welcoming nervousness in or disappointment or loneliness or fear or whatever the unpleasant emotion is.
And our non-judgment is the freshwater lake that we can expand,
That does the welcoming.
And so in this moment,
As we close,
Just see if there's any intense emotional experience that you're currently holding that maybe you can spot.
That maybe you can bring some curiosity toward,
Some gentleness,
Some compassion.
