So first is finding our bodies here in the chair,
On the cushion,
Wherever we are,
Just getting here first.
Allowing there to be a sense of sort of letting all the scattered flakes of your attention land with your own body.
While you sort of settle in and rest in that rise and fall of the breath wherever it's easiest for you to connect with it.
All right.
So for the moment,
Just sort of letting other things be bookmarked.
Just finding yourself here first.
And then if you like,
Allowing your awareness to move forward.
So that you're specifically aware of the front of the body.
So the Buddha would sometimes talk about mindfulness in front.
One of the things that can be useful for us to know about this,
Even in modern day terms,
Is that where we experience the metabolizing of emotion happens along the front of the body,
Either at the surface of the skin,
Obviously,
Sometimes below that,
But particularly at the cheeks of the face,
The neck and chest,
The belly,
Sometimes even the insides of the arms.
Taking a moment to just experience the effect of the breath as it comes and goes along this front of the body.
Noticing places that feel busy or calm.
That they'll warm or cool,
Constricted or relaxed.
Oh my goodness.
Allowing there to be this awareness that some activity of the body sort of comes and goes easily with each breath.
Other times we may have a system that's sort of working on something bigger.
And so there can be a sense of just sort of a gradual whittling down.
And it can be extremely gradual.
But that progress is still important.
So being in direct contact in this way with the activity of the heart,
Staying aware of your own body,
Allowing yourself to notice what happens to that activity as you sort of widen the aperture of your awareness to some situation or some person or some people where there's a movement toward compassion.
Maybe things that feel upsetting or dysregulating for you or things that you don't allow yourself usually to think about because you're afraid of it upsetting your peace.
What we want to do is practice with letting in that awareness of our unobstructed compassion from a place of being settled,
Grounded in equanimity,
Grounded in the body.
It may be useful to use a simple statement.
As you imagine that person or people,
You may imagine saying something like,
I feel this with you and I know I can't do it for you.
Maybe someone in your own life where your feelings and moods tend to go up and down with theirs.
Just practice saying,
I feel this with you and I know I can't do this for you.
Just noticing what happens in your own body,
Your own heart centered front of the body as you work with that,
Whether you're dealing with people near or far away.
It may be useful to use a simple statement like,
I feel this with you and I know I can't do it for you.
Maybe someone in your own life where your feelings and moods tend to go up and down Okay.
Well,
As we practice this,
We may actually find that allowing ourselves to withdraw some of our,
Our own self centered emotional entanglement actually allows us to bring to mind,
Things that we could do that would be useful.
Not always,
But sometimes they're small contributions we can make to the well being of other people.
Sometimes,
Big more bigger ones,
But we can't see them if we are jumping into the middle of their situation,
Mentally.
So maybe the phrase is I feel this with you.
And I respect your right to face what you have to face.
There may be places where it's also appropriate to say I feel this with you.
And here's this one small thing I can do to offer support to alleviate suffering to meet a need.
Just noticing how that feels in your body as you work with that.
Wow.
Okay.
And then when that feels settled or when you feel like you have some clarity for now.
You don't have to hold yourself to a standard of continuing to try to drum up anything around it.
Just allowing yourself to return to your mindful awareness of your own body,
And particularly the activity of the heart.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
