A Mindful Mantra was sent to me by my life coach Tom Fritz. It helped me go through the loss of my mother last month and understand better our sensations, emotions and intentions.
If you are going through challenges, try read this in a quiet place in silence or after your meditation.
‘This Too’
When life presents us with the unpleasant and the unwanted there is a strong tendency of the mind to resist what is happening.
Resistance to pain, though, just creates more suffering. It’s futile. So here we are in this extremely stressful situation. That’s very unpleasant. Feelings of fear, grief and loss naturally arise, and if I let them come and go without suppression, that is healthy and natural.
But if I begin to get into mental resistance patterns like ‘why is this happening to me?’ or ‘it’s not fair’ or ‘this shouldn’t be happening’ or ‘I want this to stop/ change/ go my way’ then I start fighting with reality. I start fighting with the present moment – and that, I know, is completely futile and just creates more layers of suffering.
I will also lose touch with myself and the present moment if I get into resistance.
But the tendency to resist is strong when there is a lot of unpleasantness.
That’s why I have been using my mantra that I always use in difficult times ‘This too.’
‘This too’ is my abbreviation for saying ‘I accept unconditionally the unfolding of this present moment in whatever form it takes – this too is allowed and accepted.’
‘This too’ reminds me to soften my resistance.
It reminds me to stay grounded in presence (as best I can) and connects me to background of ease and peace even in the middle of this pain.
I often repeat it mentally, sometimes out loud.