Welcome to Wonderball.
How are you doing?
This is day 24 of our mindfulness and isolation course.
Today we're going to work on building patience,
Which is best done by letting go of impatience.
Impatience and frustration are both feelings that come when we think things are not as they should be.
When our expectations don't align with reality.
The line shouldn't be so long.
The work shouldn't be so hard.
Others shouldn't behave like that.
Jon Kabat-Zinn is a researcher from the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine.
He created a program called mindfulness based stress reduction back in 1979.
And he says letting go is the doorway to freedom.
And letting go is also one of his nine foundational attitudes of mindfulness.
He says holding on can be a trap.
And he likes to tell the story of a monkey trap in India made using a coconut tied to a tree with a banana inside.
The monkey reaches his hand in through a hole and grabs the banana.
But as long as the monkey holds on to the banana,
He's trapped.
To get his hand out,
He must let go.
The trap works because most monkeys won't let go of the banana.
Our minds often get caught in a trap like this,
And it stops us from being free.
But with practice,
We can train ourselves to let go.
The breath is a great reminder because every time we take a breath in,
We have to let go.
Otherwise,
There's no room for the next breath.
So let's do a simple breathing exercise for letting go.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and then let go.
Breathe out through your mouth all the way and let go of tension.
Make room for a brand new breath.
Okay,
Now bring your mind to something that's been frustrating you lately.
I'm sure there's plenty.
Frustration with the limits on our lives or the close proximity to our families to something.
And now take a deep breath in through the nose and let it go.
Again,
Breathe in and let it go.
You really can just choose to stop holding on to that frustration.
It's not easy,
But it is possible with practice.
What else can you let go of?
Big deep breath in through your nose and let it go.
Is it working?
Keep trying.
Just as each exhale makes room for a fresh breath,
Each expectation you can let go of makes room for a new possibility.
One day at a time.
Thanks for being here.
You
