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Diary #172 - Cultivating Mindfulness 7# - Leaning into the Difficult

7#  Leaning into the Difficult


Sometimes the more I try to stop a nagging thought the more it comes back to haunt me.  The more I resent the pain the worse it feels.  Sometimes leaning into my difficulty with a 'mindful' attitude can soften its charge.  This isn't logical. But the mind isn’t ‘just logical’ either.

 

Here is a simple example: having a relatively poor memory I get nervous picking up a random client call for fear I will make a fool of myself. Through mindfulness practice I have become aware how my nervous system gets triggered. Leaning into this nervousness, I recognise that it is simply some tension on the forehead, shoulders and a stream of ‘what-if’ thoughts - nothing bad really happens.

 

Experiencing this ‘mindfully’ time and time again over the last 6 months has made the nervousness pretty much disappear.  Those with poor memory will understand the relief!

 

I wonder in what other ways leaning-into-the-difficult could improve my day-to-day life… 

 

  

Author: JD

Image by Gerhard from  Pixabay 



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