In these surreal, unnerving, uncertain and stressful times, some advice from Jack Kornfield (Clinical Psychologist and one of America’s true pioneers, who helped popularize practices he learned while training as a Buddhist monk).
“The first step is acknowledgement and the willingness to be present. You could almost whisper to yourself, ‘Sadness fear, anxiety, grief, longing,’ as if to bow to that feeling and hold it with respect. That allows the feeling to open — and maybe even intensify for a bit — but eventually to soften. The next step is to bring in a sense of compassion for all the fears and confusion and helplessness. These feelings are all part of the fight-flight-or-freeze instinct in the body and the mind. If I make space for the feelings and they have time to be felt, it’s as if my awareness gets bigger and I can hold all of this with greater ease and compassion and presence and steadiness...Your feelings are your organism trying to handle things... You don’t have to sit and do some formal meditation. In that moment when you’re about to snap, take a breath, turn away. Bring that quality of loving awareness, and name the feeling gently — upset, worried, frightened or whatever it might be — and then, almost as if you could put your hand on your heart, say: ‘ Thank you for trying to protect me. I’m OK.’ That can take 10 seconds and it allows us to reset our consciousness. All the good neuroscience on trauma and its release is based on this kind of caring attention. “
Thank you Jack Kornfield. This is some of the best stress management advice/guidance/how-to I’ve ever read. Just sayin’ :) Hugs. XO
Blessings,
Chatgirl
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