Bell bell bell bell Wherever you are,
Whatever you're doing,
Take a moment to just gather awareness in the physical body.
Take a moment to settle in.
And notice in your experience in this moment if there's anything whatsoever that you would rather not feel.
This could be very subtle,
Very subtle discomfort in the body,
Very subtle discomfort emotionally,
Mentally.
Or it could be very obvious,
Very overt.
And as we do this practice,
As we scan in awareness through our body,
Mind,
Spirit,
We notice that there's a very deep-seated pattern of seeking pleasure,
Avoiding pain in our making.
If our meditation is feeling pleasant,
Blissful,
We'll tend to cling to it.
We'll tend to want it to be even more blissful and last even longer.
And if there's something uncomfortable about our practice,
We'll tend to want it to be less intense and to pass more quickly.
And so we push against pain and pull more pleasure close to us.
And this is how we create suffering in our lives.
Notice any aspect of your experience in this moment physically,
Emotionally,
Mentally,
That you would rather not be feeling,
Rather not be experiencing in this moment.
And instead of avoiding it,
Instead of choreographing your entire life around not feeling it,
Practice just for a moment doing the opposite.
Practice acknowledging it,
Noting it,
And as much as you can fully opening up to it.
A step I like to add to this process to kind of reinforce the cleansing is when we find a negative experience we'd rather not feel,
We can ask ourselves the question,
Will it do me objective harm to experience this in this moment,
To feel this way in the body?
Most of the time when we ask this question to ourselves the answer is no,
It won't harm us.
We don't like to feel anxious,
We don't like to feel jealous,
We don't like to feel worthless or aimless or any other number of challenging experiences.
But the sensations in and of themselves are more than bearable,
If not pleasant.
So whatever you're able to locate in your body,
Mind,
Spirit,
Experience in this moment,
Something you'd rather avoid,
Something you'd rather not feel,
See if rather than escaping from it,
You can escape into it.
And what might be surprising about this process is that as we do it again and again and again,
Suddenly what seemed totally unmanageable,
Like a bacteria trap in our furnace system,
Suddenly seems much more manageable.
It's not unlike being a child afraid of a monster in a closet,
And instead of avoiding the closet your whole life,
You just gather up the courage to open the door and see if there's actually a boogeyman in there.
Once you finally open the closet door you realize the experience is manageable.
Once we finally open up to the mess that we feel in our lives at times,
We realize that the mess is manageable.
As you practice this way you gain confidence in yourself.
You befriend your entire life on a new level.
No longer do you have to expend energy on avoiding all of the unpleasant experiences we're subject to as human beings.
But rather you start to move through life like a colossus,
Each challenging experience an opportunity to strengthen your presence,
To renew your commitment to yourself and to life,
To fully experience each moment that life serves up.
Thank you for watching!
