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How to Embrace Failure

Cory Muscara

00:00

00:00

Meditation

4.5

Duration

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How to Embrace Failure

In this meditation, we'll practice changing our mindset around failure so that we can move more confidently into the person we're trying to become.

Let's begin by finding

a comfortable posture.

This could be sitting down,

lying down or standing.

If it feels okay to do so,

you can close your eyes.

And we'll take one deep

breath together to settle in.

Breathing in through the nose.

And slowly out through the mouth.

Inviting the jaw to soften and relax.

Letting the shoulders be at ease.

As well as the hands and the belly.

As the body relaxes, the breath can

settle back into its natural rhythm.

Let's take a few moments to anchor

our attention into the present moment

by attuning ourselves to the breath.

So just feeling how the

rhythm of the breath is today.

Is it long?

Is it short?

And meeting it with

curiosity, non-judgment.

Riding each wave of the

breath with your awareness.

In this meditation, we're talking

about how to embrace failure.

Learning to see it as an opportunity.

And this is especially true in meditation.

We typically give ourselves something

to focus on, such as the breath.

And then the mind wanders and when it

wanders, we think, ah, that's a failure.

I'm not doing this well.

But if it didn't wander, we wouldn't

be able to practice bringing it back.

We wouldn't be able to develop

that capacity and that muscle.

So we need the mind to wander, to develop

the muscle of focus and of presence.

So let's continue focusing

on the present moment.

This could be the breath.

If you want to continue as we started,

just feeling the body breathing.

But you could also do a body scan,

feeling different sensations in the

body, or just rest in awareness.

So we're stabilizing our attention

somewhere in the present moment.

And we're happy to be stabilized.

But we're also happy for when

the mind wanders off, because

it means we get to practice.

It's an opportunity.

So just wait for that moment to happen.

When it does, when you notice a

thought, give it a smile and say, great.

Now I get to come back.

And just do this over and over.

Really starting to get excited

when you see the mind get caught up

in thoughts or judgments, because

without it, we couldn't practice.

So we're just changing that

association, embracing what we might

perceive as failure and reframing

it as our only path to growth.

Let's take one more deep breath together.

In through the nose.

And out through the mouth.

Great job today.

As you go about your day, notice other

things that you might perceive as

failures, that you could reframe as a

positive, as something that is leading to

your growth in any dimension of your life.

Thank you for your practice.

And until we talk again, take care.

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