And for now I invite us to close our eyes to go within and just begin to breathe in the very breath of life and allow ourselves to feel that comforting presence,
That love that God is,
That comforts and surrounds and enfolds everything and everyone.
And as we feel that comforting presence we allow to come to mind a situation in our life that feels difficult,
That is causing us stress,
Could be a situation we feel victimized by,
Powerless about.
As we call the situation to mind,
I invite us to see if we can actually feel that stress and emotional discomfort in the body and identify where it might be.
Is it in the lower back or is it in the chest?
Just notice it.
And upon noticing it,
Say to yourself,
This is a moment of suffering.
This is a moment of suffering.
That's what mindfulness is.
It's noticing what we're feeling,
What's so right now.
Other options might include,
This hurts,
This hurts,
Ouch,
This is stress.
And now say to yourself,
Suffering is part of life.
Suffering is a part of life.
It's common humanity.
Other options include,
Other people feel this way.
I'm not alone.
We all struggle in our lives.
Now if you feel comfortable,
Place your hands over your heart and feel the warmth of your hands and gentle touch of your hands on your chest and breathe in as you say to yourself,
May I be kind to myself.
And ask yourself,
What do I need to hear right now to express kindness to myself,
To be free,
To let go.
There might be some phrases that we could use to speak to ourselves in our particular situation,
Such as may I give myself the compassion that I need.
May I learn to accept myself as I am.
May I forgive.
May I be strong.
May I be patient.
So breathing these phrases in and allowing any that come to mind to have their way through us,
We offer ourselves grace.
And we allow ourselves to move forward even just a little bit in our experience of suffering or victimhood.
And I accept and affirm that as we go forth from this place,
This opportunity allows us to fly,
To forgive,
To learn,
To say yes to that comforting presence of the divine and move forward in our lives with great joy.
Being alive,
More and more alive than ever and attracting more and more good to ourselves as we let go of our victimhood and we are victorious,
Spiritually victorious.
Oh what a joy this is and I'm so grateful to see this,
To affirm this,
To accept this.
We let this go.
We let this be because we know that as it has been spoken,
It is done and so it is.
Amen.
