Bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell bell You might even feel the flow here,
The skeleton itself.
Still breathing and settling.
As you're ready,
I'd like to invite you to think of some recurring fear in your life.
And allow it,
If you can,
To be seen.
You might even imagine that you're inviting it to tea,
Like the Buddha did with Mara.
Because this is a short,
Long,
Long time,
Because this is a shorter meditation,
You might not want to conjure up your deepest fear.
You know,
Maybe choose something a little less triggering.
Although it's really your choice.
Whatever you are willing to take a good look at and be honest with yourself about.
So take a look at your own willingness and use that for your choice.
And as you continue to think about this recurring fear,
You might start by going right to the body and noticing what's happening.
And as you continue to think about this recurring fear,
You might start by going right to the body and noticing what's happening.
So you might ask yourself,
How does the breath feel right now in the body?
Can you sense areas of heat or even coolness?
Maybe heaviness,
Lightness,
Or the feeling of emptiness?
Any sense of movement or energy or tightening or hardening?
Just notice what's happening in the body.
When I think about this fear,
Really allow it to show you what's happening in the body.
As you continue,
You might ask yourself,
How does my heart feel right now when I think about this recurring fear?
How does my heart feel as I think about this recurring fear?
As you're ready,
You might now ask,
What am I believing about this fear?
What is my belief that's creating this fear?
Maybe what is the story that I've been telling myself?
Or what have I been saying to myself about this?
Just allow yourself to hear your own thoughts about the fear.
Or you might imagine the fear across from you and ask it what it's been saying.
If you're ready and willing now,
You might even ask,
What might be the deeper fear underneath this story about what's happening?
Is there a deeper fear underneath this story?
See if you can allow that to arise.
Noticing what happens in the body,
Remembering to offer yourself a lot of compassion and kindness as you consider this question.
Now,
As you're ready,
See if you can try on some of those Zen phrases that I mentioned.
And notice what happens when you apply these to your story about the fear.
So what if you were to say to yourself,
For instance,
Maybe so,
Maybe not?
Just consider that.
Maybe so,
Maybe not.
What about not always so?
Not always so.
Consider that phrase,
Not always so.
One of the questions you can ask yourself is,
Are you sure?
Are you sure?
Another question that you can ask yourself might be,
But what if?
And then fill in perhaps maybe the opposite belief.
What would that be?
But what if?
Just consider that.
You might even consider now,
Could this be false evidence appearing real?
And finally,
You might even consider the phrase,
What if nothing's wrong?
There's no right or wrong answer here.
It's just something to consider.
What if nothing's wrong?
So for the next few minutes,
See if you can simply sit with some of these phrases and questions And finally,
With the eyes still closed,
I invite you to listen to these words from a poet that I love from Oregon,
Julia Ferenbacher,
Who writes,
Now,
Without words,
We sit in quiet.
Stillness wraps around us in its soft,
Electric way.
There is no wanting or needing to know what comes next.
No questions or places to get to.
We are not tangled in yesterdays or turning towards tomorrow.
Just us and something that will remain through births and deaths and lifetimes.
Infinite nows from now.
Infinite nows from then.
Namaste and blessings.
I hope you enjoyed this talk.
These talks are always offered freely so that no one is ever denied access to these teachings.
And your support really makes a difference.
Donna is an ancient Pali word meaning spontaneous generosity of heart.
If you feel inspired to offer Donna,
You can do so by visiting my website at www.
Mindfulvalley.
Com.
Thank you so much.
