Hello,
And welcome to another Mindfully Bree meditation.
Today's meditation is on resilience.
Sometimes we need a reminder that we are capable of handling more than we give ourself credit for.
Difficult emotions may sometimes get the better of you,
But they always pass,
And you always make it through them.
By bringing mindfulness to the process of going through hard times,
You can train yourself to recognize your own resilience.
Seeing clearly that you are capable of handling the difficulty,
You will train the mind to know that in this moment,
You are okay.
You can train the mind to reduce the urgency and the intensity of such difficult emotions,
And you can bring yourself back to the present moment.
Let's gently close our eyes,
Sit up in a tall,
Comfortable posture,
Feet firmly placed on the floor or in lotus pose,
Or if you choose to do this lying down,
Bring your heels together,
Allow your feet to fall away from one another,
Arms down by your side,
Palms facing the ceiling.
Find yourself in the body.
Feel the points where your body is meeting a surface,
Whether it be your feet on the floor,
Being seated in a chair or a cushion,
Or your shoulders rested if you're laying down.
Bring your attention to the movement with your breathing,
How your belly rises with each inhale expanding further and further and slowly exhaling as it drops back.
Relax and release.
Repeat that cycle as many times as you need to,
To ground yourself into this moment.
And once you've done so,
I invite you to bring to mind a difficult emotion you've experienced recently.
Don't indulge in the story of how this emotion began to surface for you.
Instead,
Focus on the feeling.
You can do this by first turning to the body.
What does the body feel like when this emotion is present for you?
Seeing the emotion in the body,
Investigate your capacity to be with it.
Maybe it feels overwhelming,
Unmanageable,
Tense,
Or unpleasant.
Ask yourself if you are able to handle the feeling in this single moment.
Be gentle with whatever answer arises for you and continue to tend to the bodily experience right now,
Examining whether you're able to be present with it or not.
After you've spent some time examining the body and the sensations that are arising for you,
I invite you to shift your attention to the mind and mental state.
When this emotion is present,
What is the mind doing?
Notice the thoughts that arise in the general feeling of the mind.
Again,
Asking yourself if anything that is arising for you is too much to handle in this moment.
Extend self-compassion and gentleness your own way because you may be meeting parts of yourself that are new and difficult to face.
If you can be with this emotion,
Invite it without judgment.
Look at this emotion through the eyes of curiosity.
Ask yourself,
What can you learn from this?
What is it here to teach you?
And for these final few moments,
I encourage you to bring your attention to all of the things that you have already overcome through your resilience.
Think of the mindset it took to stand back up again,
The mental strength to try one more time.
The resilient mindset to believe in yourself and to keep pushing through.
As a result of your resilience,
You have survived 100% of all of your bad days.
Through small frustrations and larger experiences of grief,
Tragedy,
Anger,
You have made it to this moment today.
Realize your natural resilience,
Remembering that you are very capable of doing anything you put your mind to.
You can gently begin to wiggle your fingers and your toes,
Maybe moving your neck side to side,
Gently shaking out any tension you may have in your upper body.
And we'll take one last deep breath together.
And in your own time,
You can gently open your eyes and bring that resilient mindset back to your day.
Namaste.
