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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.
Today, I'm going to talk about how
compassion turns pain into strength.
So one of the things that I think
we all realize as we grow up is
that no matter how fortunate we
happen to be, we all face suffering.
And although we may wish to be able
to control all the circumstances
in our lives, we're all going to
endure things like loss, illness,
pain and personal struggles.
And when pain and suffering inevitably
arise in the flow of our lives,
often our first instinct is to fight
with it, push it away or run away.
But when we fight with pain
and suffering, we actually only
prolong it and make it worse.
In fact, fighting suffering is a
lot like struggling in quicksand.
So you might remember those
old Western movies, right?
With the cowboys, and in those
movies, the cowboys never wanted to
fall in quicksand, but when you're
a cowboy, sometimes it just happens.
So when a cowboy used to fall in
the quicksand, of course, he would
always have that first instinct
to struggle in the quick sand.
But then of course he realizes
that the struggle is futile
and only makes things worse.
In fact, he knows he's going to
completely be swallowed up by
the quicksand if he struggles.
So he gathers himself and remembers
that the best thing to do in
quicksand is just relax and float
there on top until help arrives.
In the same way we never choose
suffering, but it just happens in life.
And we too will probably have that
first instinct to resist or run from it.
But if we can gather ourselves
and become present, we can meet
our suffering with compassionate,
accepting, and kindly awareness.
And therefore we end the struggle with it.
And in this way, we can learn to
gently be with our pain and work
through whatever's causing us distress.
And when we can face pain and suffering
with compassion, we can move through it.
We can learn from it.
And our hardship can actually be
a source of incredible personal
transformation and growth.
There's an old proverb,
no dirt, no flower.
And what this points to is the
fact that although it's hard to
recognize when we're in the midst of
our painful moments, the adversity
actually offers often our greatest
opportunities for deeper wisdom, higher
awareness and greater inner strength.
As William Butler Yeats once said,
"Every trial injured and weathered in
the right spirit makes a soul nobler
and stronger than it was before."
So in the days ahead, see if you
can meet your pain with compassion,
courage, and gentleness, so it can
transform your pain into strength.
So we're going to practice this
skill in today's meditation.
So I invite you to settle in for that.
And as always, thank you for your
practice and your presence here with us.
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