Hello.
I warmly welcome you to Daily Experiments.
I am Tracy Braden,
A mental health counselor,
Meditation teacher,
And success coach.
Daily Experiments is presented in two parts and combines a centering meditation with an active contemplation that you can take with you throughout the day.
Your Daily Experiments allow you to increase your focus and impact.
The more Daily Experiments you do,
The more empowered you become in your life.
For our session today,
You will need a quiet space for meditation and perhaps a way to take notes.
Today's experiment allows you a new way of relating to emotions or feelings that you have perceived as difficult.
In order to be successful with your daily experiment,
Ongoing connection to your higher self is a priority and the key ingredient to your success.
To tap into that connection,
We will come into a centered and resourceful space of meditative awareness.
This space is always there.
We are often distracted from it.
This space is where indestructible power lives.
Now please choose a posture that is supportive of relaxation and attentiveness.
Perhaps sitting cross-legged or laying down.
You can close your eyes if you like or lower your gaze.
Start with taking some nice deep breaths.
Arrive in your body.
Now let's establish a breathing pattern,
Ideally with a longer exhale,
As this can create feelings of tranquility that allow our creative selves to emerge.
A good rhythm to start with is 4 in and 6 out.
Try this breathing pattern counting 2,
3,
4 in,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6 out.
2,
3,
4 in,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Continue to breathe this way,
Provided it is comfortable for you.
Breathing,
Feel your body and the surface supporting you.
There is often more support around us than we realize.
Really arrive here in this nurturing space.
Allow the counting of the breath to bring you into the awareness of the present moment.
Yes,
Breathing so deeply now.
Start to consider your body by sensing it.
Can you feel the air on your skin?
Your clothing touching you?
Can you hear sounds in the room?
Where might you be holding tension in your body?
Finally,
Bring your attention to the top of the head and breathing.
Now into the forehead,
The eyes,
Jaw,
Back of the head.
Imagining you can relax your earlobes.
Breathing your way down to the neck and throat area.
Now releasing any tension there.
Letting go.
Now into the upper back,
Shoulders and chest.
Feeling into these spaces,
Sensing.
When we release tension from the body,
The mind naturally calms and clarity is possible.
Breathing now down your arms into your hands.
Bringing attention to the palms,
The tops of the hands,
The backsides of the hands.
Noticing whatever is there.
Feeling into your fingers.
Breathing deeply,
Slowly.
Imagining the fingertips softening.
Now back up the arms again.
Into the chest.
Letting your breath expand the area.
Flowing downward into your torso,
The mid-back,
Solar plexus.
Breathing,
Releasing tension.
Down into the lower belly.
Letting go of holding.
Letting go.
Releasing tension and strain.
Grounding into a more expansive feeling of self.
Now down into the hips,
The upper thighs,
The knees.
Breathing,
Releasing.
Letting awareness flow into the lower legs.
Letting go.
Letting go.
Breathing now into the feet.
Sensing the tops of the feet,
The soles of the feet.
Imagine your toes are softening.
Breathing and grounding all the energy down.
Releasing tension and letting go.
Now feel both your feet at the same time.
Your lower legs.
Your upper legs.
Torso.
Arms.
Head and neck.
Whole body breathing.
See if you can feel your awareness.
Feel awareness.
Feel the body.
Feel the body and awareness of the body.
Feel the body relaxed,
Resourced.
Feel awareness of the body.
Breathing.
Back and forth between the body and awareness of the body.
Very good.
From this place,
Allow your body to remain in deep relaxation to the greatest extent you can.
Open your eyes and continue to breathe while I tell you about an opportunity to experiment with something today.
At times,
People struggle with their emotions.
Negative feelings can be a barrier to living the way we want.
Painful feelings and emotions can seem out of our control and not what we would choose to experience.
If you have suffered or are suffering from painful feelings,
I want to give you a gift today.
To begin with,
I want you to know that your feelings do matter.
And how you choose to relate to them matters even more.
Self-awareness allows us to realize something amazing.
Our feelings are temporary and in flux.
Subscribers to many contemplative practices realize the fleeting nature of feeling.
While sometimes we can feel stuck in feelings,
Feelings are actually shifting somewhat rapidly.
As you begin to experience your feelings from a place of witnessing them,
You can observe the nature of feelings.
This observing process will put you in a different relationship to your feelings.
You will know you have more choice than you thought.
Witnessing will allow you the space to develop a more principled and controlled approach in relating to your feelings.
Feelings of fleeting should not be discarded entirely.
They give us valuable information about our preferences and can allow us to know what circumstances we benefit from if we look at them through the witnessing lens and allow them to inform us.
You can ask yourself,
What is the message of the difficult feeling in regard to what I can control and what is the best way to respond for myself here?
Through developing your witnessing mind and the ability to relate differently to your feelings,
You will start to see they play a different role in your life.
Through knowing how to use the data they provide you,
You can learn to make better decisions for yourself,
Experience longer periods of contentment,
And success in meeting your goals.
If you are still enjoying a relaxed body,
I'm so glad,
Though I would like you to take some notes now.
In order to conduct your daily experiment today,
You should be intentional about noticing your feelings in relation to whatever is occurring.
Become more aware of what is arising and then watch feelings from a place of curiosity to see what might happen.
Allow yourself to experience the true variation of your feelings.
Really tune in to what your body is doing and your brain is saying.
Sense the body,
Perhaps right thoughts.
Stay with it as it's an unfolding process of discovery.
Try to become aware of your feelings several times today and perhaps take this experiment to a place in your life where you have been struggling with some moderately difficult feelings and see what you can notice if you explore witnessing them.
Later,
You may take this to a place of more difficulty,
But for now try something around a 5 or 6 on a scale of 1 to 10.
As you witness and reflect,
Note that there is perhaps more room than you thought.
There is more creative space within you.
It might be worth journaling what happens here.
I am always delighted to hear if you want to share discoveries.
So go forth.
I wish you a great day and joy in your daily experiment.
