Each state, and any content of experience, is an invitation.
It is an invitation in many different ways.
It is an invitation to just experience as I do. Whether attention goes to one facets of experience or another, allow the experience as is or goes into escape, whether there is like or dislike, independent of how experience is reflected in stories, there is awakeness here that it all happens within and as. It is life (reality, God, universe) exploring and experiencing itself in always new ways.
It is an invitation to notice what happens when experience is allowed as it is, or not. What happens when it is allowed as it is, with kindness? What happens when even the resistance to it, or the desire to hold onto it, is noticed and allowed as it is, with kindness? What happens when there is resistance to experience? An attempt to distract myself from it? Hold onto it as it is, even as it changes?
It is an invitation to explore the experience as a tool. If it is a tool, what can it be used for? If there is clarity, I can take the opportunity for inquiry and self-inquiry. If there is resistance to experience, I can take the opportunity to see how it is to allow experience, as it is, with heart. If there is pain, how does it show up in each sense field? What happens when I shift into allowing the pain, as it is?
What are my stories around the experience? Do I like it and want it to stay around? Do I dislike it? Why? What does the experience mean for me? Why is it desirable? Why is it not OK as it is? If I dislike it, what do I fear would happen if this experience stays around? If I like it, what do I fear would happen if it goes away? What stories do I find around it? What do I find when I inquire into those stories, starting with the most juicy ones? Can I know it is true? What happens when I take it as true? Who would I be, here now and in daily life, without it? What is the validity in its turnarounds? What happens when I open my self-image to include it, and its reversals? When I see it, with specific examples, as part of who I am? When I feel it as who I am?
What happens when I allow the experience to unfold? Where does it go? What does it have to show me? I follow a sense of tiredness, heaviness and dullness, and find that it is an invitation to just be who I am. I don’t have to try to live up to expectations or images. I can be as I am, with myself and others. I follow a sense of jitteriness and distraction, and find that it leads into movement and a dance, and the joy of moving the body. I follow a sense of sadness, and find that it leads into a deep relaxation and allowing experience as it is, with genuine warmth, kindness and appreciation.
What happens when I dialog with it? What does it have to tell me? What does it ask of me? What can I learn from it? How can we create an alliance? How can I bring it into daily life?
As a final touch, I can explore the gifts in the experience? What are the genuine and specific gifts in it for me? If this is the greatest gift I could possibly receive here and now, in what way is it a gift? (This can be especially helpful after allowing experience as is, inquiring into beliefs, and some of the other ones mentioned above – so there is already some distance to it.)
…………..
…………..
outline….
- each state is an invitation
- clarity : noticing, inquiry
- no-self: noticing, inquiry
- sleepiness: find support in, allow deep relaxation, explore how is when combined with awake/alertness
- distraction: notice what is distracting, what is there for me? what beliefs do i have around it? can i find it in myself?
- woke up w. sense of heaviness, dullness > allow, welcome, feel into, open self-image to include, find support in (let go of pretending, trying to live up to images, simplicity etc.)
- ways to explore
- what can use for?
- any beliefs around it? can open self-image to include? what find when inquire into beliefs around it?
- what happens when allow it to unfold? where does it go? what does it have to show me?
- what does it have to tell me? what does it say when i dialog with it? what can I learn from it? how can i bring it into daily life?
– greatest gift, find specific examples of how that is genuinely true for me. A way to balance it out if I initially dislike the experience. And it is also good to (a) allow any experiences coming up around the dislike, and (b) inquire into stories around it.
If this experience is the greatest gift I could possibly receive here and now, in what way is it a gift? What are the genuine and specific gifts in it for me?
…………..
If I initially dislike the experience, what happens when I explore the gifts in it? If this is the greatest gift I could possibly receive here and now, in what way is it a gift? What are the genuine and specific gifts in it for me? (This can be helpful if it doesn’t feel too heavy and overwhelming, and there is some distance there already. It is also good to do after the experience has been allowed as is for a while, and feels comfortable and familiar. And also alongside with inquiring into beliefs around it.)