welcome what troubles you

The past few days haven’t been as rosy as I’d expected. Following a short week of steady recovery, my body-and-mind have retreated to a state of fatigue and uneasiness. Friends remind me to be patient and to let healing run its course, but the Inner Critic calls me a lazy whimp: get up already, get on with life, you’ve been weak long enough. 

In quiet desperation I remembered an ancient recipe for just such a situation. It goes like this: ♥ sit quietly ♥ turn inwardly  ♥ locate the “something I don’t like” ♥ and welcome it wholeheartedly. Sound familiar?

To benefit from the guided meditation below, first take a few minutes to reflect: What is it in my life, in my heart, in my relationships, that I wish were different? What bothers, annoys, troubles me? What weighs on my heart at bedtime?

Identify just one item and get set to meditate:

Welcome everything (guided meditation #5, 17:06 mins.)

.

Frank Ostaseski writes, “We can shift our relationship to pain by the way we give our attention to it — by turning toward it rather than trying to bury it or run in the opposite direction. […] We invite in what hurts; we sit down with it and get to know it really well. In his way, we get to understand the nature of the experience and the deeper causes not always evident at first glance. In the end, the only way through suffering is for us to allow what is happening, welcoming the experience and introducing awareness and compassion where denial was predominant.”

~The five invitations, 2017, p.92

2020-04-02T00:40:15-07:00April 2nd, 2020|6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. Nancy McPhee 2 April 2020 at 08:56 - Reply

    thank you for this post Peter
    may you be well with your fatigue
    many blessings

  2. Nancy McPhee 2 April 2020 at 08:57 - Reply

    and may all beings be at ease with
    suffering and fatigue and discomfort

  3. Kim 2 April 2020 at 09:44 - Reply

    Thank you for your words. I’ll take the time today to be with my discomfort. Take care, K

  4. Sue 3 April 2020 at 08:33 - Reply

    Peter, danke

    That was the “balm”, just what i needed, thanks so much.

    Sue

  5. NC 7 April 2020 at 21:52 - Reply

    I found the guided meditation and words really helpful….it helped me go on a journey of resolving some past guilt….really a relief.

  6. lyndel caffrey 16 July 2023 at 09:20 - Reply

    thank you Peter
    you have been nourishing my soul through your teachings for over three years now

Leave A Comment