Hi and welcome.
I've entitled today's meditation,
You Don't Have to Figure It Out Right Now,
And I just want to welcome you here.
Let's dive in.
Take a slow breath in and let it go.
I'm wondering if there's something that you're thinking about that your mind keeps returning to over and over again.
There might be something that feels unfinished or you just urgently feel the need to figure it out.
Maybe you feel the need to find an answer or make sense of something.
And if that's you,
Maybe just think about it for a sec.
And then also,
If nothing comes to mind,
Think about the last few days and the last time that that happened to you.
And as something comes to mind,
I invite you to just recognize what that feels like.
So I'll give you a moment to think about something where you were trying to figure something out,
Feeling a real pull to make sense of it and find an answer,
And then to feel it.
What did it feel like in your body?
And this will be the practice throughout.
We'll identify maybe a thought or a feeling and then we'll gently set it down,
Just for now.
Your mind might tell you that you can't let it go or maybe you will feel some resistance like I don't want to set it down,
I just really need to figure this out.
And I just want to let you know,
And you can let your mind know,
We're not bypassing.
You can pick it up later if you want.
You might want to think of it as a piece of luggage that you set down and you're going to come back and pick it up later.
So for the next few minutes,
You don't have to figure anything out.
We're going to let go of striving,
We're going to let go of the struggle,
And we're going to let go of obsessive thinking.
Let's set aside any feelings of need,
The need to figure it out.
The demand,
Maybe there's a demand,
You sense a demand coming from somewhere else or someone else to figure things out.
Let's let it go.
Were you able to be silent or did your mind reach back in and try to pick up the problem again or maybe it went to some other problem?
That's what the mind does.
There's nothing wrong with that,
There's nothing wrong with you,
I don't want you to feel like we're creating a problem.
It's no problem,
It's human to do that.
Just notice it and gently return.
Gently return to your breath.
For the in-breath,
Say,
I'm breathing in,
And in the out-breath,
Say in your mind,
I'm breathing out.
There's a difference between what's happening in your life and the constant or incessant thinking about it.
Right now,
Just for now,
We're stepping out of the thinking.
Just for a moment,
So that we can see that nothing is lost,
It's okay to relax,
It's okay to let go.
You're simply giving your mind a break,
A chance to rest,
And interestingly enough,
Often,
This type of rest and letting go brings more clarity than force ever could.
Have you noticed that?
Have you ever had the experience where you're trying to figure something out and the answer comes to you when you're not even thinking about it?
Maybe you're in the shower or you just get in the car after work or jump on the bus and you've been struggling with an issue all day,
And the answer or some clarity comes to you.
I walk with a lot of people and ask them about this often,
And this is really common,
That a walk gives them clarity,
And that's what we're talking about here,
Just allowing the mind to rest a little bit.
I want to offer you something from contemplative thinking,
Contemplative writing or contemplative sages and what they teach us,
And they teach us that we don't have to have everything figured out.
They teach us that we can learn and actually become a little more comfortable with living in mystery.
Contemplative teacher Richard Rohr says,
Mystics look out from different eyes that see the grace in all things and the deep connection between all things.
It's a mystery,
And I think Richard Rohr would tell us that you don't have to solve every mystery of your life,
Especially the really big ones,
In a sense to live in the question and to stay in the question.
That's living in mystery.
And the mystical,
Mysterious life is not something distant or unusual either.
So again,
Right now,
See if you can let go,
Let go of the pressure,
The pressure to figure everything out.
Let go of needing clarity.
Let go of the need to be certain about all things.
Maybe by this point,
You're noticing a little more softening,
A little more space,
A little more ease.
And that's because it's calming to not have to solve everything,
To not have to carry the weight of knowing everything.
And I want you to feel safe.
I want you to know that even here in the unknown,
You're not lost.
There's still a quiet and gentle connection,
A sense of being part of something larger than ourselves,
Even larger than our thoughts.
There are things that we don't have the full understanding of,
And we might never have the understanding of,
Or maybe someday the answer will come to us.
I want to invite you to let things be unfinished.
Let things be unknown.
As the serenity prayer says,
Do what you can do and then leave the rest up to your higher power.
That's serenity.
Maybe that's what allows you to rest right here,
Right now,
In the now.
As we begin to wrap up,
Take a deep cleansing breath this time and then let it out through your mouth.
And gently return,
Not with all the answers,
But hopefully with a little more ease,
A little more space around the things that were frustrating you and causing you to obsess.
Hopefully,
A little more trust in your higher power and even in your own ability to do things that can make a difference with no need of figuring everything out,
Just an awareness of what the next best step is.
Thank you for joining me.
I really,
Really do appreciate your time.
I'm aware that it takes time to do these things.
Namaste and take good care.
