Week 3: What Makes Something a Pleasant Experience
Fill out the Unpleasant Events Calendar daily.
EXERCISE: MOVING TOWARD THE UNPLEASANT
As you sit or lie down, gently open your awareness to include any unpleasant or painful sensations. Let them enter your field of awareness with an attitude of tenderness and kindly curiosity. Remember to keep breathing! We commonly tense against pain and hold the breath, but see if you can soften toward the pain with gentle breaths.
Maybe you are more aware of a sense of resistance and tension than of the pain itself. If so, see if you can investigate this resistance a little more directly-turning your attention toward it, like shining a soft light onto something that's hidden in shadow.
Maybe you can "lean into" it with your awareness, as if you were gently 'leaning against a dense, yet, pliant, object. Allow it to soften a little with each in- and out-breath. Maybe you can feel the resistance softening as you let the body settle onto the earth with each out-breath.
As you open to the pain itself, notice what the actual sensations are like and sense how they are always changing. Maybe they feel hard and tight one moment, a little softer the next? Or are they sharp one moment and then tingly?
Can you tell exactly where the pain is located in your body? Be precise about this. You may notice that the pain is more localized than you thought. This may be the first time you've investigated your pain directly, so be patient with any disturbed thoughts or feelings of fear and anxiety that may arise. Notice how these are also constantly changing. See if you can relax a little around whatever unpleasant experiences you notice, and remember to let the weight of your body settle down onto the earth beneath you and soften your breath each time you notice you're tensing.
You can either view the information here on line, or download the Week 3 lesson pages