So this is a mindfulness for resourcing exploration if you like.
How do we resource ourselves?
How do we invite resilience?
We can't always guarantee a calm ocean.
No one can.
Sometimes the waves are going to be a bit big.
And as Jon Kabat-Zinn said from the world of MBSR,
We may not be able to swim very well but we can learn to surf.
So sometimes something in us gets overwhelmed,
Upset,
A bit anxious maybe,
Or a bit down,
Or despairing sometimes,
Or we hear the inner critic comes up and it goes oh you're not good enough or you should be more perfect like everyone else.
You know that kind of thing.
We've all got versions of the inner critic telling us how we should be or indeed telling others how they should be.
One way of resourcing in a very practical doable way,
Not just when we're in the storm but even on calmer waters,
Is to learn how to earth and ground and rest in the grounding.
If we do this,
This embodied grounded sense of yourself will contain and hold and act as a kind of safe haven for being,
Where then you can have a relationship with those parts that have arisen in you,
Rather than being overwhelmed by them.
And if one does get overwhelmed that's okay too.
We can learn how to hold them too.
Not a big deal.
So we always pause,
Always available at all times,
Just pausing right now and then becoming receptive and curious.
Receptive and curious.
What is it I don't know that I don't know?
Well of course you can't kind of know it like that.
But you can be available.
It brings us into availability.
A kind of a curiosity,
An openness.
As we drop down to where our feet meet the ground,
Really sensing contact,
Resting here.
Feeling the feet and feeling the body on the seat perhaps or bed or however the body is meeting the ground.
Just enjoying this simplicity of contact.
Sensing the sensations.
What's it like?
Is it even?
Varied?
Is there tingling?
Is there not?
A sense of pressure?
Earthing and grounding.
And from these points of contact you can sense the whole body sensing.
Closing on your skin here and there,
Right?
Soft fabric,
Warm maybe.
So resourcing.
One hallmark is becoming embodied and whole.
And coming alive to the sensing.
And what happens?
In time the thinking mind begins to become clearer.
In its own time.
Keep on entertaining contact,
Touch.
You can always use listening.
Listening out to sounds,
To my voice,
To the birds around here.
Or if you're listening to this recording,
Whatever's present with you now.
We're anchoring into the sensing.
This is a primary resource.
Inviting balance and evenness,
Centering.
And we're inviting patience.
A being with a sense of kindness.
A sense of understanding.
And we can invite here a quality of warm awareness,
Kindly awareness.
A sense of compassion even for what's here in us.
Something could be here.
And here's another resource.
Learning to say hello to whatever is within us.
Something here,
Tired.
Something here,
Sad.
Something in here that's joyful and spacious even.
So it helps sometimes to put your hand on that part.
I often put my hand on my chest or my tummy.
And I just say welcome,
Whatever's here,
From this grounded,
Spacious sense of myself.
Sensing your feet on the ground.
Sensing the space around the body.
And we're just saying hello to the part within.
Now it's not a literal part,
But it's like an energy or a feeling tone or a mood.
It's like that.
So we're just keeping it company,
Like a friend.
Like a friend would keep us company or we would keep them company.
We're being our own best friend.
And as we notice the feeling tone,
We know that feelings are telling us we have met needs or unmet needs.
Needs for safety and security.
Needs for peace.
Needs for care.
For love.
For freedom.
For play and fun.
Humour.
For learning and growth.
For appreciation.
For care.
For closeness.
For ease.
For healing and wellbeing.
For friendship.
For companionship.
For unity.
And something might resonate within you as it hears these needs.
This is another resource.
Asking yourself,
What are my needs right now?
So the feeling tone's in the body.
And with compassion and kindness,
We just lean in from this grounded,
Spacious sense of ourselves.
Offering space and time.
Resting here.
