I have been sick for a couple of days, and experienced a lot of discomfort yesterday. I let go of any attempt at working with what’s here and just slept. Sometimes, that’s a wise course of action.
Otherwise, I am exploring ways to relate to suffering and discomfort.
It’s a reminder that suffering is universal. What I am experiencing now, is what innumerable other beings are experiencing at this same moment, and in the past. I can use my own discomfort as a reminder that we are all in the same boat, and deepen my empathy with myself and others.
How is it to meet my experience with kindness? How would a good parent relate to a child experiencing this discomfort? What self-talk is supportive?
What are the painful thoughts behind the discomfort? What’s genuinely more true for me? (The Work or Byron Katie.)
I can dialogue with the suffering parts of me. What do they have to say? How do they want me to relate to them? How can we be a better team?
How does the suffering appear in my sense fields? In physical sensation? Mental words and images? How is it to rest in noticing the physical sensations? How is it to notice the mental words and images as mental words and images?
How is it to notice that all happens within and as what I am? Within the field of experience? How is it to find myself as headless? (Headless Way.)
How is it to use tonglen or ho’oponopono with myself? With the suffering parts of me? With others suffering in this way? With all beings?