Soothing Overwhelm: A Meditation For Changemakers

This meditation is dedicated to my fellow changemakers and nonprofits. If you feel like you're drinking from a firehouse with all that you're doing, this 18-minute meditation can help you compassionately soothe the overwhelm that's visiting you.

I share for a few minutes in the beginning about how mindfulness supports us in settling the mind and seeing what's here more clearly. During the meditation, I offer techniques that you can use to ground and support yourself at any moment.

Thank you for being here. I welcome you to share your experience with me in the reviews. Sending you so much gratitude and love!

Transcript

So thanks again for being here.

I am inspired to share about soothing overwhelm and settling the mind because I often share the things that I need the most,

Right?

I have been practicing meditation every day for six years and I also work in the non-profit world and I know firsthand what it feels like to be drinking from a fire hose.

That's a common one we say.

Just,

Yeah,

Juggling all the plates and feeling overwhelmed.

And so these practices of mindfulness and self-compassion are ones that I use every day,

Not only to start my day with 10 to 20 minutes,

Also just throughout the day,

We can soothe our overwhelm.

Truly even one conscious breath can take you from being in flight,

Fight,

Freeze,

And literally not being able to think to grounding and recognizing this body is safe.

No matter what's going on,

No matter how difficult it is,

I am safe right now.

So the metaphor that I wanted to share before I get into this practice of soothing overwhelm is the idea that the mind is like a snow globe.

When we feel moments of overwhelm,

It's like that snow globe is shaken up and everything's a blur,

Right?

Like we can't see what's happening in there.

Is there a gingerbread man?

Is there a Santa house?

What's happening in there?

It's just all white,

Right?

And when we're experiencing moments of stress and anxiety,

It often feels like that snow globe where it's impossible to differentiate between the thoughts and the emotions,

And it's just pure chaos.

So when we tune into this simple practice of connecting with our breath and sensing into our body,

It allows that snow globe,

That mind to settle.

It allows us to see what's inside more clearly with a sense of calm and refreshment.

So mindfulness is not about dumping out that snow globe and getting rid of what's inside.

It's really about self-awareness and seeing more clearly what's here right now.

Is this overwhelm?

Is this annoyance?

What is here?

And we're not judging that snow as being good or bad.

It's just the sensations that are moving in our body right now.

So curious if that resonates with folks.

If you've heard that metaphor before,

I just really appreciate it.

So my friends,

I invite you to check in with yourself and think about what position would be most of service to me.

There's really no right or wrong way to meditate.

And if your body is needing movement,

I encourage you to listen and feel free to stretch or walk and listen to my voice.

If you're needing some stillness,

You can close your eyes in your chair or laying down,

Get comfy.

You're also welcome to lower your gaze.

Let's begin by bringing awareness to the breath.

Perhaps stretching up the spine a bit,

Relaxing the shoulders down the back,

Settling in to this window of rest.

We all deserve rest and it doesn't need to be earned.

Whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed,

A quick strategy I like to employ is simply to feel the sensations below.

Perhaps that is the sensations of the soles of your feet on the floor,

The seat in the chair.

Where can you feel truly held?

I always love imagining a beautiful tree trunk or roots of a tree growing down the bottom of my feet,

Down through my toes,

Or roots of a tree growing down the bottom of my feet,

Down through the building,

Cracking through the floor of the earth.

And just to get even more safe and grounded,

Wrapping around the core of the earth three times.

I invite you to become present to the sounds in your environment,

Peeling away any labels,

Just noticing what sounds are here.

I invite you to become aware of the activity in the mind.

How is the mind right now?

Does it feel busy,

Lethargic?

What word comes up for you to describe the activity of the mind?

Inviting you to notice without judgment,

Allowing whatever's here to be here.

Maybe helpful just to say,

I'm having the thought,

And then fill in the blank.

Just remembering that you are not that snow in the snow globe that is shaken up.

You are the one observing the snow globe.

You are not that snow in the snow globe that is shaken up.

You are the one observing the snow globe,

The witness of the flurry,

And you have the power to settle it down,

To place it on the table,

To allow those thoughts to settle even just a little.

And my dear,

Please know that if the thoughts are not settling,

That's okay too.

We're practicing welcoming in whatever's here.

Encourage you to find the breath with your awareness.

This natural medicine that soothes our nervous system.

The mind and the body are always speaking to each other,

They're not separate.

So when you notice that your thoughts wander off,

Or perhaps you think of something that feels charged,

A beautiful way to soothe yourself is to simply bring that awareness to the breath.

Breathing in,

I know I'm breathing in.

Breathing out,

I know I'm breathing out.

Dropping into feeling the sensations.

You may like to imagine that your belly is like a balloon,

Rising and falling.

It may also be soothing to breathe the cool air in.

With loving awareness at the tips of the nostrils.

And breathing out the warm air.

All of this guidance,

All of this mindfulness,

All of this awareness,

All of this awareness,

And breathing out the warm air.

All of this guidance is optional.

And so allow yourself to tune in and follow along with what your body is needing.

When our mind is active,

Bringing attention to the body is a way that we can tell our mind,

I'm okay.

I can relax.

I can let go of this tension.

As much as possible.

Our bodies and our breaths can only be in the present moment.

And so we need to tell our bodies that we're safe.

And telling yourself,

It's okay.

That stressful thing is over.

That's often how we deal with overwhelm.

And it was a light bulb for me to realize that we need to tell our bodies we're safe in a way the body can actually understand.

And that's through the body.

I encourage you to,

If it feels comfortable,

Scan through the body,

Notice what sensations are visiting me.

Like a curious scientist,

Just checking out what's happening here.

It's helpful for me when I am feeling like my mind's really active and I'm just trying to figure it out to drop into the felt sense.

Imagining that you're inside,

Experiencing the rising and falling of the belly from the inside out.

We're not trying to fix anything here or change.

Working with overwhelm,

It often may feel counterintuitive to actually allow that feeling.

It's a sensation.

It's a sensation.

So with so much compassion and grace,

Can you notice,

Where is my attention being called in my body?

Is there a tightness in the shoulders?

And if you're feeling a little challenged with sensing into the body,

Please know that this takes practice and that it's absolutely fine just to revisit the listening or just feeling the sensations of your feet on the ground.

This is a space where you don't need to get it right.

There's no such thing.

I invite you to tune in to one area of the body that feels like it could use a little extra love and attention.

Imagining that you're in a space where you don't need to get it right.

Imagining that you're breathing love,

Breathing ease,

And breathing peace into this part of the body.

Envisioning this love,

Ease,

And peace as a light.

Noticing whatever color is here.

And just imagining that light filling up the entire body.

Noticing how the body responds.

Perhaps even a half-gentle smile comes to the face.

And this practice is of service to not only ourselves.

It has a powerful ripple effect in the world.

So I invite you,

If you'd like,

Just to imagine that light bursting out into the world.

Extending out all around you.

Permeating a sense of ease,

Peace,

And love into the world.

I'll provide just a moment to close this practice however it suits.

I always love to place my hand on my heart.

Offering kindness and gratitude to myself and all beings.

You're welcome to open your eyes at your own pace.

I'm inviting you to just gaze around the room if your eyes were closed.

Just the simple act of looking around the room and noticing.

Maybe there's something that grabs your attention and is pleasant.

To return to that snow globe metaphor,

We often can see what feels chaotic as the majority of our thoughts are negative.

And so it's so helpful just to notice,

What's the joy here?

What's the gratefulness that I can experience?

So thank you so much for practicing with me.

I really welcome you to reach out to me if I can be of support to you in any way.

I'm sending you all the biggest hug and so much love and appreciation.

Take good care.

Reviews

Such a pure and beautifully guided practice - thank you 🙏

Love the snow globe metaphor. Very helpful. Thanks

Such a gentle message. Just what I needed. Loved the snow globe metaphor!

I found this practice really useful today to soothe and calm my anxious, overwhelmed mind. Thank you so much for sharing, Megan and I will practice with this meditation again in between your live sessions on Insight Timer which I love.