Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about our relationship to drama. So here's a question. In what ways are you addicted to drama? How would your mind fare in the absence of drama and the stillness you find in its place? Do you know what it's like to experience fulfillment separate from the contraction and release that day-to-day drama creates? You know, we say we hate drama, but do we really? We hate the drama of politics. But is there not also a part of us that likes having someone to resent? A provocative tweet that makes us gasp in shock and awe.

We hate the drama of maybe our relationship. But is there not also a part of us that kind of likes being righteous or angry and activated, followed by the connection and resolution and ease that can ensue after those moments? We hate the drama of our workplace. But is there not also a part of us that finds some satisfaction in gossiping about our out- of- touch coworker or secretly getting excited watching the tense dynamic between two colleagues play out? Is it possible that the thing we most announce, drama, the thing we most hate is also the thing we're most addicted to? The thing we subconsciously crave. Who would we be without this drama? What would we need to face in our life? Is there a boredom in stillness that actually terrifies us? Do we know what peace looks like beyond the momentary satisfaction of tension and release? We say we want freedom and contentment, but on another level, do we really? Have we really looked closely at what we need to let go of? There is of course fulfillment beyond the drama, but to get there requires first having an honest conversation about our relationship to the drama of our life, and to see that many of us are complicit in a very innocent way in perpetuating a dynamic that we simultaneously condemn. I certainly know I am.

Perhaps a first step is enjoying our relationship to drama. If we're doing it anyway, might as well having an honest relationship to it. Let ourselves relish it. Mmm tension or excitement or chaos or uncertainty, or what are they going to say next. The release that comes with it when there is resolution.

Letting ourselves just like actually indulge in it. What this does is it, it brings our shadow into the light. It lets it dance where it can be seen, lets it play out this number until something in it completes and it's ready for a new song, a new dance. That's how we actually move into feeling a healthy relationship to fulfillment and ease and contentment rather than telling us a story that we don't actually like something that we might actually still like. And for some of us, maybe we are truly ready to move beyond drama.

But I think a lot of us, it's still an interesting relationship and it's nothing to have shame around. But to continue to have an honest conversation toward it which is really at the heart of this practice of mindfulness, waking up to all the different truths and layers that come with being a human being. So thank you for your practice. Thanks for having this inquiry with yourself. And let's settle in for today's meditation.