Wednesday, December 26, 2007

An exercise in Acceptance: Try telling yourself THIS next time you are experiencing pain, overwhelm, weepyness

Or what Eckhart Tolle calls the 'Pain body'. Whatever. The label is not that important.
This is from his book The New Earth. I think it is pretty cool. It is a conversation he had with a client who as experiencing a LOT of pain and could not 'process' it. 'Release' it. Whatever you like to ? call it.
This is what he said:

"At this moment this is what you feel.

There's nothing you can do about the fact that at this moment, THIS is what you feel.

Now. Instead of wanting this moment to be different from the way it is.

Which adds more pain to the pain that is already there.

Is it possible for you to completely accept, that this is, what you feel right now?

(if there is a rebellious respons of No! I don't want to accept this!)
Who is speaking?
You, or the unhappiness in you?

Can you see that your unhappiness about being unhappy is just another layer of unhappiness?

I'm not asking you to DO anything, all I'm asking is that you find out if it is possible for you to allow those feelings to be there.

In other words. And this may sound strange.
If you don't MIND being unhappy. What happens to the unhappiness?

Don't you want to find out?"

She said. After a few minutes...
"This is weird.
I am still unhappy.
But now there is 'space' around it. It seems to matter less."

By the way. My other 'fave' for 'weepy overwhelm is the Taoist Arch. I have a post about it called Weepy? Overwhelmed? Try the Taoist arch!

Its SUPER cool. Bu that's just my opinion..
I ALWAYS tell new weepy people it to help them cope with dodgy moments during the beginning bit of recovery.

2 comments:

  1. beautiful picture. Wish I were there :) Yup - that's me - weepy today.. difficult emotions - but it is "different" than it used to be.. like, it is difficult - but easier b/c I'm just allowing it to "be", almost welcoming it, if that makes sense. It feels like that "gift of desperation" thing.. causes me to reach out and say - HELP ME. Not so much b/c I want to drink but - gosh, I don't know. And I'm strangely GRATEFUL in the midst of the emotions.. weepy but in a "good" way - like just LET IT GO.

    oh - took my friend to his first AA meeting today. I'm glad he went, but I don't think he is ready. :( Just feel it. But I hope I helped in some way. Sorta feels helpless - I can't "save" him ya know?! powerless over people too!

    anyoldhoo - thanks for sharing this post and for the encouragement on my blog.

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  2. Wow. thats sounds really ! cool. A VERY 'positive' way of processing your emotional states. Cool! Very promising!

    yep. "carry the message not the alcoholic"
    thats all we are asked to do

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