Hi,
I'm Brian Lowell French.
In this meditation,
We focus on resilience through a crisis.
This meditation is intended to address crisis through positive emotion to create resilience.
But if you feel the negative emotions becoming too powerful,
Please be kind to yourself,
Pause and swing out until another time.
Let's focus on resilience.
Resilience overcomes challenge.
Resilience navigates crisis.
Resilience creates opportunity.
Resilience is within each of us.
As we settle into this meditation,
Let's find a comfortable posture that is relaxed yet alert where we're able to fully focus.
We can close our eyes or lower the gaze to lessen distractions and help with focusing.
Using our senses,
Feel where the body is touching the surfaces,
Understanding that this is our connection with the Earth.
And others who are facing crisis are connected to the same Earth in the same way,
As we all can feel the innate support and comfort in this understanding of community.
Let's begin with three deep breaths,
Fully focusing the attention on each aspect of the breath through the inhalation,
The exhalation,
And the pause in between.
Focus on the present moment of each breath and the life-giving attributes as it refreshes the body with clean oxygen,
Giving us strength.
Let's now take three deep breaths.
Now,
Let's rest in a brief time of open awareness to create deeper insight into the situation as thoughts,
Feelings,
And emotions come to mind,
Simply noticing them and accepting them with a gentle sense of non-judgment,
As not being good and not being bad,
But just noting them as being a thought,
A feeling,
An emotion.
It may help to imagine the thoughts,
Feelings,
And emotions as clouds in the sky that can be seen,
That can be noticed,
That can be named,
And that will float away with time.
Let's take a minute for this open awareness.
And if you wish to take longer,
Please pause the meditation and take the time needed.
Labione.
.
Approaching the thoughts,
Feelings,
And emotions that occur during a crisis with this gentle sense of equanimity,
Of just being thoughts that cannot harm us,
Can help us to view the situation with more objectivity.
Instead of feeling that we are in the middle of the crisis and all the pressure is bearing down on us,
We are instead observing the crisis from a distance and able to see things more clearly.
When in times of crisis,
It is very natural for our minds to race through the thoughts of what ifs.
What if this happens or what if that happens?
What if the other thing happens?
This is a natural reaction,
But one that can consume the mind and can cause a spiral into dark areas of thought.
This spiraling can cause the concerns to be overwhelming,
Over-personalizing the situation,
And completely filling the mind with worry.
Let's consider the current concerns and envision them leaving the mind through the out-breath.
With each out-breath,
Another concern is made to be lessened,
Where it does not hold the level of power in the emotions of the mind.
This is not to be considered running away or hiding from the real problems,
But it is a technique for creating objectivity.
Let's take a few deep breaths to let go of the concerns.
During times of crisis,
Our minds can also create elaborate stories that can cause the situation to seem bigger and worse than it actually is.
This triggers the stress centers of our brain and causes the nervous system to create stress in the body.
The stress in the body,
In turn,
Increases the stress in the brain,
Creating a cycle of stress that's hard to step out of.
To help,
Let's now sense the body to learn where we are holding stress and envision replacing the stress with strength.
Starting with the area of the head and neck,
Be aware of any tension or strain and soften it.
Next,
Consider the shoulders and arms,
Loosening them and releasing tension.
Now moving to the abdomen and softening it to release any strain.
Next,
Considering the back down to the gluteal muscles and softening those areas.
And lastly,
Releasing any tension or strain in the legs and feet.
When these muscles are not being used to hold on to stress,
That strength is available to us to use in constructive ways,
In ways that serve to overcome crisis and create hope for us and others.
Now let's attach words of strength to our breath to create an embodied sense of strength.
As we breathe in,
Labeling it with the word strong,
And as we breathe out,
Labeling it with the word resilience to form the phrase strong resilience.
Let's do this labeling for three deep breaths.
As the three breaths are completed,
Use our senses to feel how the body has adopted a position of intention and strength,
Perhaps by sitting up taller,
Perhaps by having a more open and expansive posture,
Perhaps by exhibiting other physical signs of determination.
In the midst of a stressful day,
We can use the simple labeling of the breath technique to create a moment that renews our strength and our belief that we can be resilient,
That we can have hope,
That we can make it through the crisis.
Creating this belief is supported by being compassionate with ourselves and others,
By wishing ourselves and others to be well,
To be safe,
To be happy,
And to be at peace.
Take a moment in your mind to repeat these phrases.
May I be well.
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
And may I be at peace.
Now let's wish this for others who are affected by the crisis.
May they be well.
May they be safe.
May they be happy.
And may they be at peace.
This compassionate response creates the path that we can use to navigate through the crisis and help others to make it through as well.
Creating this intention of wellness,
Safeness,
Happiness,
And peacefulness strengthens our resilience and the resilience of others so that we can reframe the situation as an opportunity for growth and deeper understanding.
For resilience creates opportunity to know our strength,
To see our path clearly,
And to reach a place of hope.
Resilience is within each of us.
And as we now end our time of meditation,
I wish for you to be well,
To be safe,
To be happy,
To be at peace,
And to know the strong resilience that is within you.
Thank you.
