Hello,
I'm Nicole Bayliss and welcome to this talk and meditation on finding hope and strength in challenging times.
Perhaps you've found this talk at just the right time.
You may be going through a personal challenge or overwhelmed by the state of the world right now,
Or perhaps both.
You may be going through grief,
Sadness or loss,
Or worried.
It's not unusual when you're going through a challenge that you find yourself feeling alone.
Laugh and the world laughs with you as the old saying goes,
Cry and you cry alone.
I want you to take a moment to contemplate what brought you here.
What is the problem,
The situation or the feelings?
Take a moment now.
And now acknowledge how you feel.
Take a moment to feel your feelings and see if you can name these feelings.
Every feeling wants to be acknowledged.
Now sense where you feel these feelings in your body.
Acknowledging the sensations.
And now take a deep and cleansing breath in and out and say to those feelings,
I feel you.
I acknowledge you.
I accept you.
And taking another deep and cleansing breath in and out.
A breath of acceptance.
The universal law of acceptance deems that whatever we accept has the power to change.
But whatever we resist will persist.
When we are going through challenging times,
It's more important than ever that we are kind and compassionate with ourselves.
It's time to give yourself the love and kindness that perhaps you're not seeing or feeling from the outside world.
Take a minute now just to cross your arms over each other in a self-hug.
Stroking your upper arms in self-soothing acknowledgement.
And now feel into your heart and send kindness to yourself.
And if you find that hard to do,
Just ask yourself,
What would a kind person say to me right now?
And say that to yourself.
Nobody escapes challenges in life,
Whether it be our own personal challenges,
Our own or witnessing the pain and problems experienced by other people or creatures or the planet.
So even if it's not our own personal problem that we're concerned about,
Being a witness to injustice or cruelty can be just as painful,
If not worse,
Because we can feel so helpless and powerless in these situations.
Whether you're concerned for yourself,
Someone else,
Or about a situation or the world,
It's wise to remember the words of the first verse of the Serenity Prayer.
God,
Give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Let's take a minute to unpack that.
What are the things in your current situation that you cannot change?
Take a moment to consider that.
What can't I change?
And graciously accept what you cannot change.
Is there anything that you can do to change the situation?
And do you have the courage to do so?
So take another moment to consider that.
What can I change?
And do I have the courage to do it?
And lovingly acknowledge whatever comes up,
There is no right or wrong answer here.
When you're going through difficult times,
It's a good opportunity to become present and to live one day at a time,
Putting one foot in front of the other.
Our mind can make a problem worse by overreaching into a future that hasn't happened yet,
Envisioning things getting worse,
Feeding us catastrophic thoughts,
And projecting all our worst fears into the future.
Often our worst moments in the now are created by the mind feeding us these fearful thoughts about the future that are not necessarily true.
So just take a minute to consider whether you've been having fearful thoughts about the future.
And coming back to meeting yourself with love and compassion,
Take a deep and cleansing breath in and out.
Bring yourself back to the here and now.
Feel into your body.
Feel the ground beneath your feet or just notice what you can touch around you.
Acknowledge now.
And say,
I live in the now and I allow the future to take care of itself.
Feel yourself once again in the here and now.
Feel and sense the spaciousness around you and within you.
Spaciousness like the sky.
Your thoughts and feelings are like clouds in the sky,
But they're not the sky.
Take a minute to feel the quiet,
Still spaciousness.
The second verse of the Serenity Prayer reads,
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.
That's an interesting concept,
Hardships as a pathway to peace.
And what this is saying is that challenges can actually lead us to peace.
The Czech playwright Vaclav Havel wrote,
Isn't it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties?
Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope.
Perhaps one could never find sense in life without first experiencing its absurdity.
Acknowledge now what you're going through.
And say,
I trust that this is leading me to peace.
Taking another deep and cleansing breath in and out.
The 13th century mystic Meister Eckhart wrote,
Truly it is in darkness that one finds the light.
So when we are in sorrow,
Then this light is nearest of all to us.
Take another minute now to connect with the silent spaciousness within you.
The light exists here.
Connect with the light.
And surrender now.
Surrender to the light,
Your problem,
Your fears.
Your feelings.
Surrender any sense of hopelessness,
Powerlessness,
Helplessness.
Ask for peace.
Ask for all to be put right in divine and perfect timing.
Teresa of Avila wrote,
Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing frighten you.
For all things are passing away.
God is unchanging.
Patience obtains all things.
Nothing is lacking to those who have God.
God alone is sufficient.
And whether you believe in God or universe or the source of all things,
Choose now to have faith.
Faith in the process of life.
Choose to believe it's all going to be okay ultimately.
And that all is unfolding as it should for your highest good and the highest good of all.
And take another deep and cleansing breath in and out.
Once again,
Feeling into your body.
Acknowledging you in this present moment.
Feel yourself present in the here and now.
Know that you are deeply loved.
And today I wish you love and a peaceful heart.
Namaste.
