How to Expand vs. Contract

Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, I want to share a quote by Maya Angelou. She says, "I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it." I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it. Now this one lands, I think what I really like about this quote is it acknowledges that experiences have impact on us. But what if experiences didn't need to make us smaller, but instead could expand our sense of self? What if a difficult experience could deepen our empathy, deepen our own inner understanding, our own inner acceptance, forgiveness, resilience? What if they can make us bigger, to hold more dimensions of us, or they brought us into corners of our being that we wouldn't otherwise be able to touch when we're in something more comfortable? Again, I'm not saying to ask hardship on yourself, but if it is something that has arisen, you know you can take different perspectives to it.

We could let it reduce us, or we can use this as an opportunity for expansion. And so if you're engaging in something that's difficult right now, or, you know, you might in the future and we all will, at some point, instead of letting it become something that has to roll over you and you just have to take, and on the other side, it's like, I'm going to be smaller. Instead, feel a sense of empowerment in it and notice the ways that it is asking more of you and view that as a form of expanding yourself rather than being reduced by it. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.