Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.

Today, I'm going to talk about why you

don't have to solve all of your problems.

I like to start with a

quote by Pema Chodron.

She says, "We think that the point is to

pass the test or overcome the problem.

But the truth is, is that

things don't really get solved.

They come together and they fall apart.

They come together again and

then they fall apart again.

It's just like that.

And the healing comes from letting

there be room for all of this

to happen, room for grief, for

relief, for misery and for joy."

So I think something that we often

misunderstand about practicing

mindfulness, you know, is in the

beginning, we might practice mindfulness

feeling like it's going to help us

rise above all the challenges and

problems and all the messiness of

everyday life, or like we're going to

sort of tie a tidy bow around our messy

lives and get it all together finally.

I know that this was

the thinking that I had.

And you know, and the thinking kind

of goes that we're eventually going

to become so wise and so awakened that

we will never again be confronted with

difficult situations, how we're going

to be so at peace that will never again

experience conflict or have misfortunes or

unfinished business or problems, you know.

It's all just going to work itself out

and none of this will matter anymore.

The reality is problems really are just

a part of life in the sense that there

will always be unresolved things that you

haven't quite found a solution to yet.

There'll be things that break and

need fixing, challenges that arise

and obstacles that come up as

you move in a certain direction.

There's going to be times when things

just get messy, unpleasant, or hard,

you know, both in your own immediate

life and in the world as a whole.

And even if there aren't big messes

for now, if there are times when you

actually do kind of get it all together,

it's pretty normal that soon enough,

it's all going to fall apart again.

This is just the nature of human life.

And if we can accept that fact,

then we can find a deeper peace

of mind in the middle of it all.

So mindfulness is not about

trying to control everything or

get rid of all about problems.

But what it does offer us is the

ability to just find peace and

healing in the midst of everything.

As Pema said, "The healing

comes from letting there be

room for all of this to happen."

So the invitation for today and

ongoing is that when problems do

arise in the flow of your life,

whether big or small, see if you can

cultivate an attitude of unconditional

acceptance towards what's arising.

That doesn't mean, of course, that you

have to like it or want it, but simply

waging peace with the way things are.

From there, you can take any action

needed to change things, if that's

needed, but you can do it from a mindset

of acceptance, peace and clarity.

Wishing you well with this practice.

And as always, thank you for your

practice and your presence here with us.

And let's now settle in

for today's meditation.