Hello,
Friend.
If you've pushed this help button,
Then you have found yourself in a very strong feeling,
A very strong emotion,
Something that's challenging you right now.
Here's what I've learned through my life of work and in myself and with thousands of people.
Every feeling can be held.
Every feeling can be made safe inside of us.
It just takes a little bit of time,
A little bit of focus.
So bring yourself to your breathing right now.
Turn your gaze to whatever is troubling you,
To the sensation of that feeling inside of you.
Look right at it.
Don't let your mind wobble.
If you hear a thought inside of you that says,
When is this going away?
That's a future thought.
Pull your mind back.
Look right at what you're feeling.
If you're feeling despair or fear,
Just look right at it.
Gaze straight at it.
If your mind is telling you you've been here before,
That's a past thought.
The mind is taking you away from the virgin reality,
The newness,
The originality of this feeling that you are now in.
It's trying to make you believe that this is something that's been before,
But that's not possible.
The now is completely new,
Completely original.
So look right at the feeling.
Slow your breathing down.
Your inner gaze is going right toward what you're feeling,
And with that gaze,
Touch the feeling softly,
As if your hand was reaching out quietly to stroke a sleeping baby.
A gaze,
A very,
Very gentle gaze,
But with tremendous strength,
Staying focused on the feeling.
Soften your breath.
Pull your mind back from any stories about the feeling.
Those are you stories.
This is a terrible feeling.
This is a bad feeling.
Those are you stories.
They just poison you more.
Pull your mind back from any me stories.
I shouldn't be feeling this.
I don't want to be feeling this.
Those are me stories.
This is how the mind has been running away from fear and pain all your life.
But now you understand there are only four places you can go,
And don't let your mind go.
Imagine you are a wise,
Totally dedicated mother.
The baby is crying in pain and distress.
That pain and distress is the feeling inside of you now,
And pick it up with your attention.
Hold it.
Look at it.
Talk to it.
Yes,
I see you.
Yes,
I feel you.
Don't be tricked into thinking you've been here before.
It's impossible.
In the now,
Life arises completely new,
Moment by moment.
Be new with this feeling.
Completely present and gentle.
Hold the feeling like you're holding a distressed infant.
Breathe softly.
Don't be tricked into past or future,
Or me or you.
Stay.
Don't think at the feeling.
Be fully present with it,
As you've been learning to be present with your breath,
Present in your hands.
Slow your breathing down.
Notice that the feeling's changing.
It has to change.
If you don't keep reinforcing it by telling yourself the story that it's a feeling you felt before,
A feeling you're afraid to keep feeling,
All sensations change.
It's only the mind that can lock us into a terrible feeling.
Only the thinking can trick us into causing the feeling to keep going.
Start all over right now.
Let your mind settle.
Let the mud quiet and settle.
Who you are starts right now.
You can hold this feeling.
Don't be afraid of what you're feeling.
Breathe softly.
Touch the feeling softly.
Begin to say thank you to life,
Thank you to this moment,
Just as it is.
Softly put a smile right in the middle of your heart and learn to smile toward this feeling.
It is our task as human beings to make safe inside of us the feelings our parents did not know how to make safe.
When we can do that,
We have grown,
Consciousness has evolved and the world becomes an easier place for everyone.
If you're in a difficult feeling now,
Don't imagine that you're alone.
People everywhere,
Every human being faces difficult,
Difficult feeling at times in their lives.
Recognize you're doing work for all people by learning to make this feeling safe in you.
Find the sense of gratitude that you're learning to appease and accept and make safe a feeling that many others may not have been able to do yet and therefore you're helping them,
You're helping everyone.
Stay in the now of yourself.
Say yes and yes and yes.
