When you begin a meditation practice, should you expect to feel calm all the time–or at least calmer? Well, sure. But life doesn’t always present us with calming situations. In the video above I tell a story about an upsetting experience and what I learned about how meditation can really help.
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Wow…I have come to very same conclusion (being able to readily identify how I feel instead of trying to avoid my feelings) in regards to the journey I am on to stop abusing food and be more compassionate with my body (mind and spirit). So often people use food to stuff, numb, or hide those unpleasant emotions…the ones we think we shouldn’t have, or don’t want to have. I have found that naming it allows me to move through it relatively gracefully (and sometimes not).
When I lived in India and Nepal I seemed to waft through life on an eternal high. After I married a monk ( now an exmonk) and we were forced by complications with the Nepalese governement with either jail or returning to the US…we returned to the US. In the US, my practice seemed to go down the drain. Everything bothered me. I missed India with every fiber of my being. I could not adjust to life in the US. I cannot seem to get my balance back, although I have had severe medical issues which I did not have in India and am 17 years older. I still am $3000 from a ticket back..although I have been back a few times for a month or so, but I miss everything about it…the lack of water, no electricity and the smell….of beautiful flowers in the night air. I cannot seem to be happy where I am, which makes my poor husband unhappy. It’s funny, I want to go back, but none of my monk friends wants to go back…….I must be more compassionate with myself…..You, Susan are helping!
Chimey, I empathize! It is so difficult to long to be elsewhere and when everything you see, smell, and taste emphasizes the longing. Please be gentle with yourself! Practice helps so much in this regard… With love, Susan
Hi Chimey, I read your post and was really touched by what you said. I’ve been to India a few times, and the States a lot… the two couldn’t be more different I don’t think. It feels like there’s more of a spiritual side to India… and an appreciation of simple things that can be really hard to find in the West. So it’s very understandable that you miss this. India’s certainly an inspiring and humbling place -so many people… many with materially very little… still appreciate what’s important – kindness and compassion (to people and animals). I hope you manage to bring what you’ve experience in India to the States… or you find a way to be as happy as you have been in the past.
Sounds great, Karen…
I am in the middle of going through a break up and experiencing a lot of fear. I only started this practice a couple of weeks ago but my emotions are becoming much clearer to me. I am not pushing anything back down. I am just letting it bubble up, naming it and letting it go. Sometimes with a good cry. I have never been able to go through this process without finding another man. I am 52 years young and I finally am becoming free of this obsession.