Using the Body Scan to Connect to Unconditional Love (Advent Meditation #2)

Good morning meditators! Meditations for the advent season continue...In today's practice, we respond to some participant questions about "why do I get so stressed out at this time of year?" I see it with my students, my friends, family and colleagues, and myself personally. I get pretty overworked by December and find it harder and harder to unwind. If anyone in my professional and personal spheres are in crisis, and usually at least 3-5 people are, I am deeply affected and find I can't turn off by the time December rolls around. Time for a holiday.

But what can we do to unwind day by day in the moment so we don't get too worked up and strung out? When speaking with a friend who is an ER psychiatric nurse, she reminded me that truly we cannot offer anything to others except our energy aligned with unconditional love. This allows us to be of maximum support. These are big fluffy words, a really lofty principle. So let's bring in down to earth. What does this actually mean for our thoughts and actions in each moment?

It means being securely grounded, even when we're struggling or frustrated, in the perception that all our brothers and sisters may face inner and outer battles we don't understand, that they are all companions on this journey through this moment in time even if they are strangers, that they are our equals worthy of respect, love and forgiveness, and we are worthy of the same.

It means also taking the time and actions it takes to reconnect with these goals. Why? Because human life in these bodies requires us to constantly face challenges, big and small. It is not normal for us to bask in the ease of all the time; life's troubles show us contrast and challenges that require skillful response.

It is not realistic to expect to meditate and align with unconditional love in order to have an easy life with fewer problems. It works differently; when we make the commitment to the alignment with unconditional love as a guiding principle for all thought and action, then we are enabled to have more skillful, more joyful responses to even bigger problems.

Today's class uses the anchor of the body scan with a visualization to practice developing and connecting to this flow of unconditional love, as an antidote to December stress!

To join our class live, please email Calgary Mindfulness @ Gmail.com and visit our website at http://CalgaryMindfulness.ca Have a wonderful week! Rosanna D'Agnillo