Find a tall and comfortable seat so that you feel as alert and at ease as possible.
Let the breath release any areas of obvious physical tension in the body.
Often we hold tension in places like the shoulders or the jaw,
Sometimes even the belly or the hands.
So just let each breath invite a state of ease to your body and your experience.
Allow the breath or the physical body or the sounds around you to act as an anchor for whenever the attention strays during this time in meditation.
You can always return back to yourself and your experience.
And then these quiet moments before we go further,
Just allow your breath to settle your body over and over again to invite your attention back to yourself over and over again.
Being tall,
Alert,
Aware and at ease.
Begin to gently recognize or bring to your awareness one or several challenges in your life,
Difficulties.
Wherever you feel stressed or like you're struggling.
It might be a person or a circumstance.
Without doing anything,
Simply allow this challenge or difficulty to be there,
To be there knowing that it can be held with a sense of loving acceptance or simply just space.
And if it's hard to forgive or to feel genuinely loving toward it,
Just know that the effort of leaning toward love is important.
Know that the effort of allowing it to exist without pushing it away is important.
Breathe gently,
Continuing to offer this challenge space to be seen,
Heard,
Witnessed.
Not ignoring the struggle but also knowing that the pain can be held in love.
That it can at least have some space to breathe instead of feeling so stuck or so heavy.
Knowing that you can experience relief in some way,
Even if it is imagining someone who makes you feel safe and grounded sitting beside you or imagining yourself in a place that makes you feel calm.
If you feel comfortable doing so,
You might inquire further,
What is the underlying pain behind this challenge or struggle?
Where do you feel it in your body?
For example,
Do you feel constricted,
Overwhelmed?
Do your muscles feel tight?
Does your heart feel anxious?
Just witnessing your human experience when you allow this challenge to be present and recognized.
Just do your best to be with these sensations,
Offering the breath or the sense of loving acceptance as the space you need to feel safe and supported.
Knowing that if it's too much,
You can always come back to it.
It doesn't all need to be healed right in this moment.
Let yourself return to the breath or the body,
Whatever helps you to land into the present moment.
You might feel the weight of the hands on the legs or the movement of the breath.
Beginning now to nurture yourself,
Your challenge and your experience as a whole.
To do this,
You might ask yourself,
What does this or what do I need most right now?
What does this mean in order to feel like there is a sense of loving awareness,
Holding space for it to exist?
What do I need in order to feel safe,
Supported?
The answer doesn't come naturally,
That's okay.
The inquiry is there.
You might also ask yourself,
How am I proud of myself as I move through this with as much awareness and loving acceptance as possible?
Knowing that the opportunity is available to you to move through it.
You might even bring to mind again the person or the place that makes you feel nurtured,
Loving,
Accepting,
Loving.
With this attitude of nurtured,
Loving acceptance,
Now acknowledge that you feel truly grateful for in your life.
Person,
Place,
Object,
Pet,
Opportunity.
What lights you up that already exists in your life?
Notice how this sensation of gratitude or this simple gratitude practice makes you feel,
For example,
Loved,
Safe,
Calm,
Supported,
At ease,
Warm,
Cozy,
Soft.
Allow yourself to receive and to feel this gratefulness in your body,
Your heart,
Your mind space,
Your head space.
You might even consider,
How might I express this gratitude to someone else?
Perhaps verbally written,
A small token or gift,
A hug,
A smile,
Without expecting anything in return,
Just because you simply feel this joy,
This bright light of gratitude within you.
If that doesn't feel natural,
How might you just continue to guide your attention towards that which you are grateful for?
Over and over again.
And finally,
Acknowledge your resilience to move through life's challenges.
Downside your capacity to practice gratitude.
Acknowledge that this practice of gratitude might be able to assist you when you're navigating life's challenges by cultivating a sense of equanimity,
Light,
Calmness,
Centeredness,
Without ignoring or bypassing the suffering you're facing.
Just from this more equalized state,
After receiving our experience with loving awareness,
Loving acceptance,
We can act more intentionally and consciously instead of reacting out of fear or habit.
We can maybe bounce back with less struggle occasionally and maybe even quicker.
We may be able to live more naturally from a place of brightness rather than consistent darkness.
And even when we experience dark times,
We can learn to cultivate some light in these challenging situations to exist in a state of light or at least bring about more happiness or even just ease into the moment.
Bring the attention back to the breath or the body or the sounds around you,
Whatever your anchor is to land back into the present moment.
Maybe the exhale feels a little bit longer.
Maybe the mind wanders and that's okay too.
Just knowing you always have the opportunity to return.
This is a poem by Mark Nepo.
It reads,
I have been broken and have failed so many times that my sense of identity has sprouted and peeled like an onion.
But because of this,
I have lived more than my share of lives and feel both young and old at once with a sudden heart that cries just to meet the air.
Now I want to stand naked before every wind and though I'm still frightened I will break,
I somehow know it's all apart,
Even the fright of the rhythm of being alive.
You see,
No one ever told me that as snakes shed skin,
As trees snap bark,
The human heart peels,
Crying when forced open,
Singing when loved open.
Take a moment again to return to your breath and thank yourselves for being willing to show up for yourself in this way today.
Namaste.
