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Four Steps to Work Through Difficult Emotions

A four-step meditation to help you work with strong or difficult emotions. Learn to meet your distress with wisdom, compassion and awareness.

So just beginning by settling into a comfortable position. Gently closing the eyes. And bringing your attention to the flow of your breath in your body. So now inviting you to bring something to mind that's happening in your life that's difficult, challenging, or stressful. And noticing what it's like to bring this to mind.

What emotions and thoughts arise. So starting here with recognition, the R of RAIN, recognizing the thoughts and emotions coming up. So just acknowledging whatever is here for you right now. And now we practice an acceptance of whatever's here. So with unpleasant emotions, we have this habit of resisting difficult emotions, trying to get rid of those experiences, but that only makes us struggle with them more.

So instead, see if you can have a sense of allowing whatever's here to simply be here. Just letting it be. So we're not trying to change or fix theemotion, we're just allowing it to be. And simply meeting the emotions and thoughts with acceptance, curiosity, and gentleness. And now we can begin to investigate them more deeply.

So really leaning in now to a feeling of curiosity about what's alive in you right now. So to investigate, we can mentally inquire with questions like: Why do I feel the way I do? Are there events that have happened that might've led to these feelings? And perhaps asking a question also, like, What do I really need right now? Just taking a few moments to inquire with questions like these, or you might have your own questions you'd like to ask. Just exploring and investigating thepain, distress, whatever the emotion is. And finally now see if you can have a sense of meeting your pain or distress with compassion. So tending to the pain with a kindly awareness.

Rather than denying it or fighting with it. So this is nurturing ourselves with self-compassion. And you might even like to imagine that you're breathing a compassionate and tender breath right into and out from where you feel the sensations of discomfort or distress in the body. Just breathing with the experience moment by moment with a gentle and kindly awareness. And then drawing the focus back to the breath in the belly.

And taking a long, slow, deep breath in. And a steady breath out. And as you breathe out, wriggling the fingers and toes. Noticing how you feel after taking this time out for meditation. And when you're ready, opening the eyes.

Wishing you a great day. Take care.

Meditation

4.5

Four Steps to Work Through Difficult Emotions

A four-step meditation to help you work with strong or difficult emotions. Learn to meet your distress with wisdom, compassion and awareness.

Duration

Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.

So just beginning by settling into a comfortable position. Gently closing the eyes. And bringing your attention to the flow of your breath in your body. So now inviting you to bring something to mind that's happening in your life that's difficult, challenging, or stressful. And noticing what it's like to bring this to mind.

What emotions and thoughts arise. So starting here with recognition, the R of RAIN, recognizing the thoughts and emotions coming up. So just acknowledging whatever is here for you right now. And now we practice an acceptance of whatever's here. So with unpleasant emotions, we have this habit of resisting difficult emotions, trying to get rid of those experiences, but that only makes us struggle with them more.

So instead, see if you can have a sense of allowing whatever's here to simply be here. Just letting it be. So we're not trying to change or fix theemotion, we're just allowing it to be. And simply meeting the emotions and thoughts with acceptance, curiosity, and gentleness. And now we can begin to investigate them more deeply.

So really leaning in now to a feeling of curiosity about what's alive in you right now. So to investigate, we can mentally inquire with questions like: Why do I feel the way I do? Are there events that have happened that might've led to these feelings? And perhaps asking a question also, like, What do I really need right now? Just taking a few moments to inquire with questions like these, or you might have your own questions you'd like to ask. Just exploring and investigating thepain, distress, whatever the emotion is. And finally now see if you can have a sense of meeting your pain or distress with compassion. So tending to the pain with a kindly awareness.

Rather than denying it or fighting with it. So this is nurturing ourselves with self-compassion. And you might even like to imagine that you're breathing a compassionate and tender breath right into and out from where you feel the sensations of discomfort or distress in the body. Just breathing with the experience moment by moment with a gentle and kindly awareness. And then drawing the focus back to the breath in the belly.

And taking a long, slow, deep breath in. And a steady breath out. And as you breathe out, wriggling the fingers and toes. Noticing how you feel after taking this time out for meditation. And when you're ready, opening the eyes.

Wishing you a great day. Take care.

Melli O'Brien

Meditation

4.5

Duration

Melli O'Brien

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