Recognizing Your Resilience Toward Difficulty

You can handle this.

You are capable of handling more than you give yourself credit for.

Difficult emotions may sometimes get the better of you,

But they always pass,

And you always make it through them.

Now by bringing mindfulness to the process of going through hard times,

You can train yourself to recognize your own resilience.

By seeing clearly just how capable you are of handling the difficulty,

You will begin to train the mind to know you are okay.

Go ahead and close your eyes,

And adjust your posture so that you are very complexed.

Now ground yourself in the body,

Feeling the feet on the floor,

Body in the chair or cushion,

And the movement with the breath.

Bring to mind a difficult emotion you experienced recently.

Do not indulge in the story.

Instead,

Focus on the feeling.

You can do this by tuning in first to the body.

What does the body feel like when this emotion is present?

Feeling the emotion in the body,

Investigate your capacity to be with it.

What feels overwhelming or unmanageable?

Ask yourself if you are able to handle the feeling in this single moment.

Just continue to tend to the bodily experience,

Examining whether you are able to be present with it or not.

It's okay if your mind wanders.

Just bring it back to your body.

Continue to tend to the bodily experience.

Very good.

Now we are going to move our attention to the mind and the mental state.

When this emotion is present,

What is the mind doing?

Notice the thoughts that arise and the general feeling of the mind.

Again,

Ask yourself if anything arising is too much for you to handle.

For the final two minutes,

Reflect on the pains and difficulties you have gone through.

Through small frustrations and larger experiences of grief and tragedy,

You have made it to this moment.

Recognize your natural resiliency,

Capability,

And when you are ready,

Open your eyes.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to do this meditation.

Feel free to return back.

Take care.