Hi and welcome to the Three Golden Circles meditation on difficult emotions.
In this exercise we'll be learning about how to approach difficult emotions in a mindful way.
Emotions are much like a radar system.
They help us to understand the world around us.
To get a better understanding of ourselves.
Difficult emotions in particular can be one of the more difficult things to understand.
Mindfulness can be really difficult to practice when we're going through a whirlwind of really difficult and heavy emotions.
So even though this exercise might not be so relevant in the moment,
Because you might not be experiencing any difficult emotions,
Maybe it's something you might like to come back to later on in the week.
Or when you're feeling some heaviness or dealing with something more difficult.
So to begin,
I'll invite you to close down your eyes and take a comfortable seat.
Somewhere where you'll be able to reflect and won't be distracted.
And just take a couple of breaths to come back into the body and settle into the moment.
So firstly when we're looking at emotions,
It's important that we become aware of which emotions we're feeling.
So going inwards.
Keeping the eyes closed and just identifying.
Such emotion we're feeling.
And just mindfully labeling the emotion.
And instead of saying for example,
I am angry.
Maybe just saying to yourself,
This is anger.
So acknowledging the presence of the emotion.
But not feeling overly attached to it.
And you can do the labeling exercise for all the emotions that you're feeling,
Because you might not be feeling just one emotion.
And next,
Identifying how that emotion feels in the body.
So you might feel a tightness in your chest,
A tightness in your jaw or your throat.
A pounding of your heart.
Attention anywhere else.
So I invite you to just sit with this.
Noticing where the emotion sits in the body.
And how it feels for you.
And now having acceptance of the emotion.
So acknowledging and accepting that the emotion is present.
That's what you're experiencing in this moment.
Not denying yourself.
Just allowing yourself to acknowledge whatever it is that you're feeling.
And now I invite you to realize the impermanence of emotions.
Every one of our emotions is impermanent.
Our emotions arise and they reside.
And if we give them some time,
They may even disappear.
So if we give ourselves some time and space,
Our emotions will morph and in many cases even evaporate.
So just reminding ourselves that this too shall pass.
And lastly letting go of the need to control our emotions.
And instead being open to the outcome and whatever unfolds.
When we try to control our emotions,
It can create anxiety and feeling of desperation within us.
So just doing your best to let go of the need to control and allowing the situation to unfold.
And lastly once this exercise is finished,
I invite you to do some self-inquiry.
So once you've calmed and soothed yourself from the impact of the emotion,
Take a few minutes and you might like to journal.
To delve deeply and explore what actually happened.
You might like to ask yourself the following questions.
What was it that triggered me?
What is actually causing me to feel this way?
What is the discomfort I'm experiencing?
Was it a result of my critical mind?
Or was it a reaction to something someone else did or said?
That concludes our practice today.
I'd like to gently open up the eyes and if you have some time to do the reflection journal exercise.
I encourage you to do that now and thank you for taking this practice with me.
