A three-part meditation for difficult emotions.
To begin,
Find a comfortable seated position.
Place your hands on your knees or simply rest them in your lap.
Sit up tall.
Close the eyes.
To begin this meditation,
Bring one hand to the center of your chest.
Feel the warmth of your hand and allow your heart center to soften.
Come into the felt sense of this emotion.
Where does it live?
What does it actually feel like?
And as you begin to become aware of the sensation of this emotion,
See if you can relax your body around it.
See if you can deepen your breathing with it.
Although the emotion may be in contraction,
The rest of your body doesn't have to be.
For the second part of this meditation,
Just silently tell yourself how difficult it is when you feel this way.
Let this be an honest reflection on how much this particular emotion brings you suffering.
Don't add any judgments.
We're not saying,
I hate this stupid emotion.
But we're just being honest that yes,
This particular emotion is very difficult for me.
It brings me a tremendous amount of suffering in my life.
Try and hold this suffering with great compassion.
From here,
We move into part three,
Cultivating compassion.
We can remind ourselves that we're not alone in this feeling.
That there are probably hundreds if not thousands of others right now experiencing this very same thing.
Let your heart open.
Let's send out a wish of loving kindness and compassion that all of us can be free from this feeling.
That we can find peace and joy in our hearts and minds.
May we all be free from this difficult emotion.
May we all feel calm and relaxed.
From here,
Bring your hand back down to your lap.
Together,
Let's take one deep breath in the nose.
Slowly out the mouth.
And when you're ready,
Gently open the eyes.
