Let's make room for a softer kind of noticing.
Whatever has been happening can be here too.
We don't need to push anything away before we begin.
For these next few minutes,
We're simply here.
The body can settle.
In whatever way.
Feels most supportive.
Sitting.
Leaning back.
Or lying down.
There's no right posture.
We can let the body find its own way.
Of being here.
The eyes can be open or closed.
If they are open.
The gaze may soften a little.
And if they are closed.
The inner seeing may soften too.
Perhaps the softness can spread to the forehead.
The jaw,
The throat.
The shoulders.
And if some places don't want to soften.
That's okay too.
We don't need to force anything.
Today.
We are exploring being with difficulty.
Softly.
We're not going to try to push it away.
Or make it smaller.
We won't try to solve it either.
Instead,
We'll explore.
Whether it might be possible.
For something difficult.
To be here.
Within a field of our experience.
There may be a difficult thought.
Or an uneasy feeling.
That has been asking for attention.
Or perhaps There is a sensation in the body.
That feels uncomfortable.
Tight.
Or unsettled.
If something like this is here.
We don't need to move towards it too quickly.
And we don't need to move away from it.
We can simply notice.
This is here.
Sometimes difficulty pulls attention towards it.
Like a magnet.
The difficulty may then become the center of everything.
The mind may feel pulled to it again and again.
The body may hold it tightly.
The whole moment.
May begin to feel.
As if it is made.
Of this one thing.
And if that is happening,
We can meet that.
With kindness.
This is how things are right now.
And now.
Without leaving the difficulty behind.
Awareness might widen.
Just a little.
What would it be like?
To sense the body resting.
On a chair or the floor.
Being touched by what supports it.
Or hearing sounds in the room.
Or beyond the room.
Or feeling the air on the skin.
Breathing,
Happening in its own way.
The difficulty may still be here.
And also other things.
Are here too.
We don't need to use these other things.
To cover over what feels difficult.
They are not a distraction.
They are all simply part of the same moment.
A difficult thought.
The feeling in the body.
The sounds.
The contact.
The space around us.
All of it included.
For a little while.
We might gently wander.
What is it like?
When difficulty.
Doesn't have to be.
The whole of reality.
Perhaps.
Something softens around the edges.
Or perhaps nothing changes.
Either way.
We can rest in this moment.
Without gripping.
We can allow what is difficult to be here.
And Also allow the moment.
To include more than that.
And now.
We can begin to sense the surroundings a little more.
The sounds around us.
The space where the body is resting.
The contact beneath us that supports us.
When it feels right,
The fingers or the toes might move a little.
Maybe the shoulders move too.
Or a deeper breath happens on its own.
And if the eyes have been closed.
They can open.
In their own time.
And take in what's around.
As we continue with the rest of the day.
Perhaps we can remember.
Difficulty can be here.
Without becoming the whole of who we are.
And we can meet it.
In a gentler way.
