So we'll start with the compassion break which some of you may well be familiar with.
So just bringing into your mind,
Bringing into your being some aspect of your experience or some situation that causes you some suffering.
Be sensitive in how you do this.
You don't want it to be something overwhelming,
But something where there's definitely some friction of discomfort or dis-ease,
Disappointment,
Stress.
Just bringing it to mind,
Perhaps feeling how it affects your body or perhaps your heart area or your throat,
Your shoulders.
And in the first of three stages,
We just simply acknowledge this is suffering.
This is Dukkha.
And just notice how it feels to acknowledge that really clearly about this aspect of your experience.
And then in the second stage,
Acknowledging that this suffering is part of being human.
It's part of the human condition,
Universal experience.
It's not a mistake.
And then in the third stage,
You say,
What would you most like to hear?
Or say to this part of your experience,
Say to yourself for the rest of your life,
What would you most like to hear?
Particular words that you'd say to yourself for the rest of your life.
And then in the third stage,
You say,
What would you most like to hear?
And then we're going to move on to more open,
Unstructured practice.
And perhaps acknowledging if the body and mind carry a residue of the previous practice.
That's what's happening in experience.
And connecting with sound.
And sight if your eyes are open.
Touch sensations.
Smells or tastes.
Settling back,
Resting within awareness.
What is the mind knowing?
And let this question be an invitation to awareness.
Invitation to notice different objects of experience known by the mind.
And opening up to the mind sense.
Various thoughts,
Images,
Perceptions,
And feelings.
Tuning into how the mind feels.
And remembering not to chase after thoughts.
Lean into them.
But rest back and allow them to come to you.
Come into the space of awareness.
Don't touch them.
Let know them.
If you find that you're getting caught.
And lost in the content of thoughts.
Just recognizing that.
Perhaps even giving the story a short name that sums it up.
Work story.
Family story.
And just recognize how it feels being aware of the story in the mind.
And in the body.
And if it feels helpful really grounding in the body.
Particularly the back of the body or the lower body.
And be open to thoughts and thinking.
From this place of embodiment.
What does a thought feel like from this aspect of experience.
Grounded.
And relaxed.
Notice when you're able to notice thoughts as objects in the mind.
Perhaps other times when you feel that pull to involvement with the story.
Or a pull to identification with what this thought says about me.
Or who I am.
Being curious.
Curious about a thought that perhaps feels quite insubstantial in the mind.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
A lot of control over our lives.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
And relaxing into an awareness different objects through all the senses including the mind sense.
It means that the awareness is becoming more skillful.
It's able to notice more objects happening,
Arising,
Happening again and again.
So be encouraged if you can notice many different objects arising from this relaxed spacious awareness.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
And yet often we give our thoughts a lot of power.
