Hey, welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

Today, we're going to talk about

getting through difficult moments.

You know, a lot of the conversations

we have in these Daily Mindfulness

sessions are about cultivating a quality

of peace, joy, optimizing the goodness

in your life, or mitigating discomfort,

developing the skills to experience

life a little more fully and gracefully.

But there are other times in life,

other experiences we might grow through

when we're just in survival mode.

Moments of intense pain,

trauma, and grieving.

These are often experiences where we're

just trying to keep our head above

water and we're just trying to survive.

There's not going to be much peace per se.

And we might lose some of our access

to our mindfulness skills or even our

ability to ground ourselves cause the

pain and the emotions are so overwhelming.

And this is okay.

It's a natural part of

the human experience.

And it's helpful to remember that you

come from a long lineage of humans who

for thousands of years have endured great

suffering and have made it through it.

It's very much within your DNA and your

wiring to experience these things and be

able to move through to the other side.

I think that's a helpful reminder.

And I also think it's helpful to

remember that you don't need to

be super present, more peaceful or

grounded or mindful in these moments.

It's okay to cry, to feel, to

be confused, to be angry, to

wail, to just want to run away.

All of this is very much a part of

processing difficult experiences.

So while we may not be able to find peace

in these moments, we may be able to do

some things to minimize the suffering.

Or at least create a container that

can hold it in such a way that we're

not adding another layer of suffering.

I do find that the breath is a great

way to do this since soft, relaxed

breathing is directly related to

a more settled nervous system.

So if you find yourself in these

moments now or in the future,

perhaps place your hand on your

belly and one hand on your heart.

Kind of like this.

And we could do this together right now.

Feeling the beating of your heart

and the movement of the breath.

Letting it be your

reminder that you're alive.

And there's still more right

with you than wrong with you.

Allowing this hold, hand on the

heart, the hand on the belly to be a

gentle crade, cradling, a nurturing

that you're offering to yourself.

You can let the abdomen soften.

Feeling as though you're breathing

deeply down into the belly.

The shoulders relaxed.

The face at ease.

And on each exhale, letting

some of that extra tension and

gripping just soften and settle.

So this won't make the pain go

away, but like a warm, caring

embrace, it might help soothe you.

And sometimes when we're in these deeper

places of despair, this kind of self

kindness and compassion is one of the

greatest gifts we can give to ourselves.

So if you're going through

something difficult in this

moment, I hope this helps.

If you're going through something

difficult in the future.

I hope you can refer back to this.

And if you know someone who's going

through something difficult right now,

maybe you can share this with them.

I'll talk to you more about

this in the meditation, and

thank you for your practice.

Talk soon and take care.