Inviting In Your Emotions

In this meditation, we are taking a journey to invite our emotions in. You can see emotions as visitors or guests that are just passing through. Usually, we don’t let them in, or we’re not very nice to them, and this makes our relationship with these guests worse. That just pisses off our guests, and they stay there knocking on the door, while we turn our backs on them. Instead, we’re going to invite them in for a cup of tea and welcome them like a friend we haven’t seen in a long time. When we let them in and we're kind, without judging them, we can hear what they have to tell us.

And then when they’re ready, and once you’ve got the message, those emotions will say thanks and head on out.

Transcript

Alright, So we are going to take a journey to invite our emotions in and we'll be looking at our emotions, Seeing them as visitors or guests that are just passing through. Most of the time we don't let them in, Or at least we're not very nice to them. So this actually makes our relationship to these guests worse and they end up staying around bickering with us for much longer than we would like. So instead we're going to imagine that we're having tea with whatever challenging emotion that's coming up, Our situation, And welcome them like a friend and that we haven't seen in a long time and really befriending, Welcoming our emotions without judging them and just listening to what they have to tell us. So go ahead and get comfortable, Whatever you need, Just get settled in, Closing your eyes if you'd like. We're keeping them slightly open with a gaze towards the floor and starting with just a few deep breaths, Breathing in through the nose and slowly out through the mouth and you don't have to push a lot of air, You can just slow down the breath and just getting grounded in the breath and also feeling your body, Feeling the weight of your body on the cushion or chair, Whatever your posture is, And feeling your feet and your hands, Warmth, Coolness, Softness, Whatever it is that you feel and just making the intention here for the next few minutes to open up to your experience fully, Even if it's uncomfortable, Just allowing yourself the time that is necessary for this sort of work. So if you haven't already, Just bring to mind a situation, Something that's going on in your life that's particularly challenging, Could be related to health or relationships or work, Finances, Meeting, Stress, Just noticing whatever is pulling your attention right now, Whatever the first thing that pops up to mind. And if it's a really, Really big challenge in your life with maybe even some trauma around it, Then you might want to put that one aside for now and try that later. For now, Just choose something that's maybe a little more intermediate or medium difficulty for you. So once you've got something in mind, Just recognizing the situation, Noticing, Asking yourself the question, What's the worst part? What is the worst part about this for me that makes it so difficult? And although there might be many emotions, See if you can hone in on one main emotion that you're experiencing. Maybe it's anger, Maybe you feel a lot of anger, Frustration, Maybe there's fear, There's real confusion around the whole situation. Just pain or sadness, Longing, Whatever it is, Just see if you can maybe cycle through some of these emotions and hit on the one that feels closest to the situation and to the pain. And you can just say that emotion, Acknowledge it quietly or even say it out loud if you like. And whatever tension you might feel around this or if you're already starting to get lost in the story, That's okay. We've just started by bringing some awareness to it. And now we're going to invite this emotion in and say hello. So you can just say quietly to yourself, To this emotion, To the situation, Hello, Hello. Or instead of saying no, You can just say yes. Allowing it to simply be there, Like a wave in the ocean, Swelling and receding, Moments it's growing stronger and other moments it's a little bit weaker. Not getting too caught up in the story, Simply allowing this feeling, The situation and all its messiness to simply exist, To acknowledge it without judgment. And letting this be as it is. See if you can just let it be. Perhaps it's even helpful to make some facial expression or some gesture to allow yourself to move your body if that feels right. So how does this emotion really want to express itself? Maybe it's not just a thought, It's really something else. You can just see what happens naturally. If something comes to you, That's great. If not, That's also fine. And now really putting aside the storyline here and we're going to move to the body and just to get a felt sense of how this emotion is showing up. So where in my body do I feel this? You might notice the face, The throat, Chest, The belly, And the shoulders. Notice any tightness or heat, Pressure, Or maybe there's numbness or a lack of a feeling and that's totally normal. Feeling whatever it is that you feel, Knowing that this is okay to feel what you're feeling. Allowing yourself to breathe, Taking some deep breaths if you need to. And if your mind starts to slip into storytelling mode, You might just ask yourself the question, You know, What am I believing about myself here? What am I believing about the situation? Perhaps that I'm unworthy or that I'm unlovable or I'll never be close to others or that I made a mistake that I'll never be able to make up for. Whatever belief. I mean, Just notice the belief and really feel the pain of all of that. As counterintuitive as it might seem, Just allow yourself to feel and allow that to expand if it wants to. If you feel anger in your chest or face or whatever else and it wants to move, Then allow it to get bigger. Allow it to expand. No need to stop it or resist it. And you might continue this for some time and pause the recording if you'd like. If not, If you feel like you've got a sense of this feeling, Sensation, Whatever, Tightness, Pulling, Throbbing, Aching. Once you've allowed yourself to just be with this for a little bit, Now turn to offering some compassion and some kindness to this suffering that we're experiencing. You might ask this part of yourself, Specifically this part of your body that you feel, This emotion, What does it want? How does it want you to be with it right now? Does it want acceptance? Does it want forgiveness? Maybe compassion, Simply acknowledgement or love, To be seen, To be heard. And then whatever comes back when you ask this question, Whatever you sort of intuit or whatever pops up that you feel is the right thing to do here, You might just place a hand on your heart or hand on your cheek and offer what's needed right now in this moment. You might just be saying some words like, It's okay, It's okay, I'm here. I'm here. I see you. And if this is too difficult for you to do for yourself, You might call on an ancestor or a figure, A grandmother, Grandfather, Someone you respect, Someone that cares about you, And you can imagine them saying these words, I accept you for who you are. It's okay. I wish you to be free from whatever pain and suffering you have and just offering kind words and intention, Providing this caring space and caring presence to allow for the emotion to soften. And lastly, You can generally let go of any phrases or focusing on this emotion or anything and just notice the quality of presence that has emerged. Now, Maybe you're still feeling like you're in a difficult place or the motion hasn't passed, And that's okay. It's a process. It takes time. You can come back to it. But for now, Just notice if there's been any shift at all in acknowledging the situation, Acknowledging your emotions and body and having given it some space and kindness, Feeling into what that's like. And if there's any openness or spaciousness that's come from that, Then allow yourself to just rest here for as long as you'd like.