Tara Brach - The Blessings of "Enough" - Discovering Contentment in Daily Life (Part 1)

Episode Date: August 20, 2021

The Blessings of "Enough" - Discovering Contentment in Daily Life (Part 1) - One of the great gifts of mindful awareness is access to true contentment. These two talks look at the universal blocks to contentment—habits of fixating on what's wrong and what's missing. We then explore the practices of presence that awaken us from wanting life to be different, reveal our intrinsic wholeness and offer a profound sense of well-being.

Greetings. We offer these podcasts freely and your support really makes a difference. To make a donation, please visit tarabrock.com. Greetings, friends. The following talk and reflections are on the pathway to inner contentment and well-being. And before formally beginning, I want to name that I'm offering this at a time when many of us and many around the globe are experiencing real challenges of uncertainty and loss. And for some, it's extreme. Today, as I speak, I am grieving for friends in Afghanistan who are terrorized by the takeover of the Taliban and have much heartbreak for those in Haiti who are experiencing the devastation of earthquake and storm, and I'm sure many of you feel just the same.

And what I want to share is that even in the midst of grief and heartbreak and fear, even when we're feeling a storm of anger or passion, or, you know, even when we're facing the loss of our own life, we can know an inner freedom. It's a timeless space of stillness and acceptance and okayness. And really, this is the intrinsic well-being that's the gift of spiritual practice, that we can ride the waves of life with an inner refuge that gives us peace and contentment and well-being in the midst. So it's in that spirit, that I really hope you find these talks helpful. Thank you. Welcome and Namaste. It is good to be with you. It's nice to be recording again from home. I thought I'd start by saying that I saw

a cartoon a while ago with two mice and each is on its own spinning wheel and one is running furiously, you know, just wheels in motion. The other is just sitting there's just sitting at the bottom of the wheel looking deeply relaxed and happy and at peace. And the caption says, I had an epiphany. And so the question is, what did that mouse realize? Can we see in our own lives, you know, the ways that we're kind of on that spinning wheel, that we're addicted to running away from discomfort, from pain, from whatever is bothering us, how we're, addicted to spinning and chasing after the next fix of pleasure or approval or accumulation. And mostly can we sense how rare it is the moments that are really just purely contented,

you know, that we're fine with the life of the moment just as it is. And I heard a story that speaks to this. There's a researcher, Daniel Cardaro. I want to make sure I've got his name right. And he did a, in 2014, he went with his team to study one of the last three uncontacted villages on planet Earth. And this is 200 families who have been living as nomads in the Himalayas and who knows how long. But it was part of this five-year study to identify the human emotions that are universal across all cultures. And it included a long list from shame to joy to embarrassment and they wanted to see if these emotions could be recognized by people at absolutely no experience with the outside world,

no electricity, no internet, no cell phones, etc. So when they showed the villagers dozens of facial and vocal expressions, they recognized a majority of the emotions but there was one emotion that stood out from all the others, that emotion was contentment. And the guide who is translating said that in our culture, this knowledge of enough is considered very special. It's the highest achievement of human well-being. The knowledge of enough, this moment, is enough just as it is. So it really means contentment is this capacity to rest in the moment as it is, really sensing that it's okay. It's like the purity of okayness, regardless of what's going on outside us.

And for Daniel Cordaro, he said it gave him chills when contentment was flagged because in all the cultures he had studied, they all revered contentment as one of the highest states to cultivate in life. And this comes to our developed world now, we know how few people experience any real stretch or depth of contentment. You know, it's pretty well understood now that our economies, our technologies are all about expanding, continual growth, consuming more and more producing and consuming. And the most sophisticated science in the world is directed at capturing your attention online and making you want more. You know, more products, more friends, more information, more entertainment. So it creates a kind of restlessness. I think that's why the word FOMO,

the fear of missing out, has such relevance to so many of us because there's this restlessness and the sense that there's something more that we don't have, something around the corner that we need to experience. So we're spinning. We're always moving towards something else. And we can see it in our economy. There's that classic wisdom from Henny Youngman who says, what's the use of happiness? It can't buy you money. So, you know, for many in our daily life, if we look honestly, we can sense how we're hooked on that wheel on our way to something else, on some level, wanting the next moment to contain what this moment does not, how little there is that sense of enough.

So I've been reflecting on this and really sensing how one of the greatest gifts of mindful awareness is it helps us to step off the wheel, to stop that habitual spinning, and it gives us access to a profound sense of contentment, of wholeness, of completeness in the moment, and this non-reactive presence with what's right here. So in this talk and the next, I'd like to reflect together on the blessings of contentment. And as I often do, there'll be several elements. I'll look at what blocks contentment, the misunderstandings around contentment, and how we cultivate it. In Buddhism, the Buddha said that contentment is the greatest wealth.

And there's a Sanskrit word, Sintosha, and it means contentment also the flavors of happiness and satisfaction that come when we really open to this one. moment, just as it is. And it's helpful to have the lens of Buddhist psychology, and it posits two kinds of happiness, and it juxtaposes them, I think, in a really helpful way. And one is described as worldly happiness, and this is the happiness most of us are familiar with pursuing and experiencing some of. And those are the moments of passing pleasure that's experienced through the senses, The word is pamoja. And pleasantness gets linked to life being a certain way. We get a great massage or getting approval or feeling intimate with someone or a particular accomplishment. So this is happiness with a cause. The second kind of happiness is called sukkha.

Yeah. This is happiness that's not dependent on anything. It's sometimes called happy for no reason. And I love that phrase, happy for no reason. And it's considered a domain of freedom. And this is the flavor of happiness that really is woven into contentment. It's a liberating happiness that includes acceptance of this ever-changing life. So it's contentment's not hitched to the world being a certain way.

And it's found right here in the present moment. I remember the Dalai Lama had just come out with a book on happiness. And the news networks were interviewing him. And one interviewer said, we'd like you to describe your happiest moment. And the Dalai Lama thought for Ben, he had a mischievous look. he often does. And he said, I think now. And it's so true that the only place we can experience contentment is when we're not spinning the wheel on our way to the future. It's when we're able to open our heart, rest our heart in what's right here and now. So I want to be

clear when I talk about worldly happiness that there's nothing wrong with happiness. It's based on causes, based on things that come and go. I mean, it's completely natural for us to delight in pleasant experience in a beautiful sunset or professional success or the thrill of a new relationship. And it's natural to want life to go our way, to seek out experiences that are pleasant and and meaningful to us. The challenge is, and here's where suffering comes in, the challenge is that when we have to have experiences, external experiences, a certain way to feel happy, then we get in trouble. When we're dependent on that approval to be okay, or when we're dependent on getting that bonus, or finding that partner, or even having a child, or

looking young, whatever, whatever it is we're dependent on to feel happy. That's the setup for suffering because the basic truth of life is it doesn't cooperate, at least some of the time, and everything that arises passes. We can't hold on. So true happiness, a stable happiness of contentment means being at peace with the changing flow. Some of you may be familiar with Krishna-Merti, very respected spiritual teacher. And he points towards the freedom of true happiness. He said when he was at the end of his life, he was surrounded by some of his closest followers. And he said, I'm going to tell you the secret to my well-being. Of course, everybody got very, very quiet and very, very attentive. You know, they've been

following him for decades. This was kind of a... a moment, and he then said, I don't mind what happens. I don't mind what happens. That was the secret to his well-being, that whatever was arising, there wasn't resistance, there wasn't aversion, there wasn't grasping. He wasn't chasing around on a spinning wheel. Now, some of you might be thinking, well, if I haven't met my, wants or goals, let's say for finding a partner or career success, won't being contented undercut motivation. You might wonder that. Or let's say you might wonder, well, if we haven't collectively met our aspirations for societal change, you know, in terms of having a democracy or, you know,

dealing with climate change or racism. You know, if we accept the world as it is, how will we work for change. And I think it's a really important question, a one to look at closely. And just to ask ourselves, is it true that those who are inwardly feeling a sense of happiness, acceptance, and wholeness won't be motivated to work for healing and change? And I'll just speak from my own observation and experience with myself and others is that inward contentment, acceptance, doesn't translate to passivity. I know in my life that acceptance has grown. I just, I just have more space for life as it is. But the urge in me to be creative, to help, to serve, hasn't gotten less the more I've gotten accepting. What I've seen is, first of all, our nature's

expressed in activity. And the question is, does it come from fear and anger, you know, from the survival brain? Or does our activity arise naturally out of presence? Is it guided by our intelligence, by our compassion? And what I've seen is that when there's an inner quality of acceptance in the moment, how we respond to life will be far more helpful than when we're reacting out of fear or anger. There's a quote that I often share from Carl Rogers and this has to do with if we accept, you know, how we are right now, will we ever change? And he says, it wasn't until I accepted myself just as I was that I was free to change. In other words, that inner kind of being at peace or contented with what's here

is really the grounds of true transformation. On a more collective level, the example I love is from Gandhi, who put aside a day each week for meditation and prayer so his actions would come from that inner wholeness, from spirit, from an awake heart, not from anger or hatred. And I can say when all the activists I've known who've been fighting the good fight out of anger have gotten burned out and less effective. And those I know who know how to ground and stay connected with that inner sense of acceptance and wholeness, they can sustain their energy. because the point is to serve our world out of love, not out of hatred, not out of anger. Okay, so we're going to look together at what helps us to cultivate this inner capacity

for well-being, that kind of contentment that was revered by the nomads and the Himalayas and in so many cultures including Buddhism that happy for no reason. And maybe we'll start with a reflection. Just invite you, you've been listening to me for a few minutes now just to check in for yourself and you might pause here and take a few breaths and feel yourself bringing your attention and awareness right here into your own body, feeling this breathing body. And I invite you to bring your curiosity, your honesty and without any judgment. just to notice and sense, what is my contentment level in life?

Notice if you feel like you experience that kind of deeper well-being where there's a sense of enough in many of your moments, a sense of okayness. You might look at the last few days or today. Did you experience that sense of inner contentment? If you notice moments of happiness, what do you sense gave rise to them? It's quite natural if you felt happy because of somebody else's feedback or even feeling physically good or you saw something beautiful, an accomplishment. But also notice if there were moments of happiness that just came out of simple presence

where you weren't really desiring anything or resisting anything. And as you scan and sense degree of contentment, you'll also notice that you're scanning and sensing degree of discontent, degree to which you have in some way been spinning and trying to get somewhere else, have life be different, resist something unpleasant that's been here. again, without judgment, just to notice the balance, the domains of contentment, discontent. And if you find it helpful to journal, you might write down a bit of what you notice. Now, in looking at our own level of contentment, it's helpful to know that we all tend to have

a happiness or well-being set point. And that's how generally happy we feel. And good things that happen will temporarily lift us up past that point and bad things that happen, unpleasant things will lower it. But we'll come back to that set point. That's generally how we operate. And that's the reason that the things we expect to make us even happier, this will be the thing that makes me happy this life don't sustain because we do have these happiness set points. And there are different forces that influence these set points. Some are genetic for many, it's our early life experience, our biography, and it's for all of us to some degree impacted by the culture that we're embedded in. But what's most important and empowering to know is that this

set point is sustained by the way you pay attention, by your mental habits of attention, and it can be changed by changing how you pay attention, which is of course, what meditation is doing. So how you attend and what you pay attention to is going to determine the level of sense of well-being. And keep in mind, whatever you practice grows stronger. So if you shift how you pay attention and you practice that, it changes the neural pathways in your brain. It changes your set point. And it can lead to higher levels of contentment. And there are two major ways that we pay attention that block contentment that are important to bring really into the light of awareness.

And hopefully you're familiar with them and that this helps to crystallize your attention on them. And one of them is the well-known negativity bias, which is the habit of our mind to seek out and fixate on what is wrong or what will go wrong. And it's important to notice, well, how often is our attention and our sense of self organized around a problem mentality that life is a problem? This is the survival brain and it's trying to avoid pain or loss, but it creates a kind of fundamental contraction of resisting life.

So when we're in that, we're spinning the wheel, we're running away from what is difficult. shapes our mood. One of the quotes from the Buddha I most like is that whatever you think regularly about will become the habit of your mind. So how often do we think about what is going wrong? And you might pause here again and we'll just reflect again together. You might breathe, come into presence, and just again looking at the last day or two days, How often was your attention fixated on something that felt like a problem, something you were worrying about? For instance, fixated on physical discomfort or pain or illness, maybe fixated on the sense

that you're going to fail in something, that something around the corner you might fall short in. Or maybe it was fixated on something that feels wrong with you, a kind of self-judgment. or maybe you were fixated on what's wrong with others or kind of blame or what's wrong with the world. So it's just going to sense how much was your attention riveted on kind of that survival brain practice of what's going to go wrong. Contrast that as you do with how much today, yesterday, did you open to the goodness that was around you?

Did you savor beauty, attend to loving connectedness, take pleasure in a sense of creativity or other people's goodness, feel a sense of curiosity or care about what's going on around you? So we're looking at what's our habit of attention? Is it fear-based? Coming from the small self, the survival brain? Or is it really arising from that presence, that? awake heart that includes the goodness. You might just to ground this a little, just to sense the

impact of how you pay attention. Take a moment to just reflect on the word trouble and just say it to yourself, trouble, trouble. Just notice what happens to your body, to your heart, when you let your attention organized around trouble. Trouble. There's going to be trouble. I'm in trouble. This is trouble. And what's your sense of self?

When organized around trouble, you like yourself. You might take a few full breaths. And now bring the word kindness. And just say it a few times to yourself. Let your body and heart receive that word. Kindness. And notice the felt experience.

experience. What's that like? Kindness. What happens? What's your sense of self when your attention moves towards kindness? Do you like yourself? And if it helps you to journal or write down what you're noticing on this path towards contentment? Because right now we're looking at the blocks to contentment and a big one is that our attention gets fixated on the negative. This is a poem I love from the poet Hafeis. He says, what's the difference between your experience of existence and that of a saint? The saint knows that the spiritual path is a sublime chess game with God and that the beloved has just made such a fantastic mood that the saint is now continually tripping over joy and bursting out in

and laughter and saying, I surrender. Whereas, my dear, I'm afraid you still think you have a thousand serious moves. There's some power to that that I suspect you can feel with me that I can relate to, that sense of a thousand serious moves, how our survival brain keeps us in a problem mentality. So this is one way of paying attention. We get hijacked by the negativity bias. What's wrong? A thousand serious moves. The second block to contentment is that we get snagged on what's missing in our lives, that

we want something more, something different. And this is the contraction of grasping, trying to hold onto or get more of what we want. And I like the expression if only mind. that part of us that says, well, if only I could have that, then I'd be okay. Then I'd be content. And it can be on a very small level in our day. It can be, if only I could get a nap. So it just kind of fixates on that. If only I could get a nap or maybe if only I could have a piece of chocolate. Or if only I could get this particular thing checked off the list. And that's a big one for me. Then I'll be fine once I have that done.

or if only I could have some time to myself. But of course, if only mind operates in a very powerful way on our psyche in the bigger domains. It's like if only I could have just this much more in my savings, I could feel more secure, or if only I could have the right partner, or if only I could lose weight, or if I could have a child, or get a good approval from that certain person, or the if only might have to do with, you know, I'll be happy once I can retire, or I'll be happy if my child gets into this school or has their chosen career work out. We all have some level if if only's.

Things we expect are really something that's going to give us a much greater level of happiness. And what's sad about if onlys is, first of all, they keep us leaning into the future so we're not in the one place where we can truly feel the blessings of contentment of this moment here is enough. The other thing is they never deliver. We have these set points and we go back to them. I know I'll share with one student, this young woman, 25, all through high school and first years of college, a lot of self-hatred and her if only was if I could only lose weight and if I could only find a partner. And then both of those things, it's, you know, senior year and then after graduating, both of those things actually happen. And then her if only

shifted to career, I'm not worthwhile unless I, you know, make some real movement on the career front. And it was hard in recent years, of course, as you know, to find a job because of the pandemic. About six months ago, she actually found meaningful work, which is amazing and very cool. And her realization was, and this deepening her sense of being a Buddhist, is I'm still discontent. And it's now, she realizes it's a habit, just a habit of not liking herself and finding something to not like about herself. And it creates a lot of anxiety. So, this is just an example of having to face the habit of the ways we keep ourselves discontent. And it comes down to usually something's wrong or something's missing.

So again, let's just, let's pause here and invite you to reflect and the reflection, just coming into the present moment here, feeling yourself here, sense your sense, your sense, is awake. So you're listening, feeling your breath, and just gently scanning your life and just ask yourself, what are my if-onlys? What do I hitch my happiness to? If only what? What are you waiting for to really feel content? And again, if it feels supportive to journal, please do. to cultivate contentment, we need to see these habits, the ways that we resist the moment or grasp for more. In the moments of discontent, when we're wanting life to be different or more, and if you look closely, most moments, there's kind of some sort of a tension against what it's

like right now. We're living in contraction. There's a sense of being incomplete, a sense of a limitation. We're forgetting our innate wholeness because contentment's not somewhere else. It's really in the wholeness that's our being, but we've contracted into a wanting, fearing self. It's not easy to step out of the habits. One of my favorite essays, some of you might remember this. If you can start the day without caffeine or pills, if you're cheerful, ignoring aches and pains, if you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles. If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time. If you can overlook when people take things out on you and through no fault of yours, something goes wrong. If you can take criticism

and blame without resentment, if you can face the world without lies or deceit, if you can conquer tension without medical help, if you can relax without liquor, if you can sleep without the aid of drugs, then you are probably a dog. So it's fun and many doubt their capacity to find equanimity, to find inner contentment, inner peace in the midst. I remember one woman I'd given a talk on really being able to find that balance in the midst of all the waves. And she says, is it sane to even think it's possible I can change. I've been like this, depressed, insecure all my life. And she said, I've always scanned for evidence of what's wrong with me. And I share this because so many actually have a very deep fear belief that they can't change. And it can feel very difficult to

imagine, well, how could I ever feel content in a world that's so uncertain as ours? You know, with with multiple pandemics and how could I ever feel content, you know, if I'm facing a terminal illness or somebody I love is sick. But here's the thing. You can feel grief and fear and hurt all the painful emotions and you can experience physical illness. And if you learn how to develop a mindful presence, how to notice what's happening with kindness, there's a space that that can hold what's going on, that can give you tremendous sense of peace and well-being. And I've spoken to my dear friend Sherry Maples, who was social activist, a meditation teacher. She went through a wrenching breakup with a partner and went into a deep depression.

And her life kind of was on halt. And she spent months having to practice, bring everything she had learned over the decades befriending the grief and the sense of failure and the loneliness and really doing it with a lot of self-compassion. And it took some time, but she found space for really the depth of sorrow and loss. And it was a much more stable, vast space than what she had touched before. And it actually gave rise to a lot of creativity and presence in her life. And a few months after she really had discovered that space of presence and contentment, she had a biking accident that almost killed her. And she knew she would never walk again. And she knew she'd be dependent on others. And I visited her

and that same contentment had carried through. She just trusted and rested in the moments knowing, you know, the future was however it looked, but she kept coming into the moment. And she said, I faced the worst loss I could possibly face, which is the loss of her partner. I can be with whatever unfolds. And it gave her a tremendous sense of courage and ease and peace. And I remember talking to her in the week before she died of an infection related to the injury. and she told me she knew she'd be passing soon or thought she might be. And it was with that same spirit, not that this is bad or wrong, something to contract against.

Her inner contentment allowed her to accept this living, dying world. So I share this because we all have the potential for profound well-being in the face of everything. Again, from the Buddha, I would not be teaching this, these practices of awareness, if genuine happiness and freedom were not possible. Okay, so let's look now at the pathway to contentment and really how we shift our attention. And there really are two major domains we're going to cover, one in this talk and the other in future talk. One domain is the power of mindful awareness. And the second domain is intentionally directing our attention in ways that relax and open our hearts. So we're going to look at mindful awareness as the grounds of contentment.

And we often use the acronym Reign in bringing mindful awareness to what's difficult. So when you run into a block to contentment, when you ask your yourself, right now, what's between me and contentment? And you find that right now you're feeling anxious about something or angry about something or wanting something to be different. You can bring the recognize, allow, investigate, nurture of rain to help you reconnect with an inner space of contentment. And I'd like to present Rain, especially for those of you that are not familiar,

familiar as four questions you can ask yourself when you feel stuck, when you sense, okay, I'm so far from that sense of enough for contentment, how do I get back there? So we begin by simply asking ourselves, as I mentioned, and you can ask yourself this right now, and we're going to do a practice in just a few minutes, what is between me and contentment right now? this moment or in these current times. And it might be anxiety about something in the future coming up or maybe you have physical discomfort that you're resisting or might be restlessness or maybe you have a project that is on a tight deadline. So that's the context for practicing to come back

to contentment. So rain begins with recognize. And the first question is, what is happening inside me. You know, this is where we start recognizing how we're caught up and the fixation on something's wrong or missing. That's the recognized. And I'm walking you through it. You don't have to do it right now. I'm going to actually guide you through the meditation in a moment. The second question is, can I be with this? So, okay, there's anxiety. Can I just be with this? That's the allow. The third, which is investigate, is what's really happening? This is where we deep presence to have full contact with the life that's here. And the fourth question is, can I be with this with love? That's the nurture. Recognize, allow, investigate, and nurture. And by the way,

during the nurturing part, if you want to come back to contentment, there are several mantras or self-messages that are really helpful that will have to find, kind of undo the reactivity that's going on inside you. I like saying, yes. to the moment, or this to, or this belongs, this will pass. So that's rain and we then go to after the rain, after we've offered those messages, you start noticing there's more space. Get familiar with even a few moments of what contentment is. The more you over the next days and weeks, look for moments when there really is contentment right after you've maybe done rain or that arise spontaneously. Get familiar because the secret is the more familiar you are with

it, the more you'll come back to it again and again. So let me give you an illustration and then we'll practice. I'm going to give you an illustration that's very kind of a real one from my life that has made such a difference for me. if only that for decades was kind of keeping me from this moment is enough was a sense that as long as I had something ahead of me that I had to do that mattered, you know, a teaching that I had to give or whatever, my if only was if only I do this and do this well, then I can feel contented and relaxed. So I always, and of course, because I've kept on being engaged and active, I always

had yet another if only, you know, only this next talk comes off well or only that presentation or this chapter for the book, you know. So I started realizing that I never was really fully just allowing myself to rest in moments and sense enough because there was always this if only I could get this done and do this well, then I can relax. So and I'd see myself on walks where my mind would, instead of being in the nature, I'd be, you know, kind of planning how he was going to get something done or when I'm with Jonathan, you know, just finding myself restless or distracted because I'm like thinking of my to-does. So it actually became a really important place to see the mechanism of discontent,

that I always had something else I was moving towards that was keeping me from right now. So I started practicing rain and I would, you know, see my myself, let's say being distracted on a walk or in a meditation, I'd say, okay, so what's happening? And I'd recognize that I was planning and I was anxious. And then I would allow it. Can I be with this? And I'd just pause and okay, let it be here, let it be here. And then investigate, well, what's really happening?

And when I went underneath it, I could feel that clutch in my chest of anxiety and what went with it was a belief that I need to do well to be liked and therefore to be happy, that I won't be liked if I don't keep performing. If you're familiar with the neagram, this is the three, the performer. So it was if only I perform well enough, then I can be relaxed. So I saw that very clearly with that investigating, familiar clutch in the chest, and then nurturing And nurturing for me, as many of you know, I put my hand or two hands on my heart and with kindness. You know, can I be with this with kindness?

I just offer a really kind presence and I'd often just say this belongs. These ways of anxiety, this conditioned belief, it belongs, it's part of the ocean, but with such kindness that I became more and more the ocean or the space that was happening in. And then I just kind of, after the rain means where you just sense the presence that's here. And I find myself resting in that kind of ocean holding the waves and feeling a lot of peace in those moments that this is enough. There's not somewhere to go, there's not something to accomplish. Well, I want to tell you this was not a one-shot.

I started doing this probably a decade or so ago. I would just do it over and over. But more and more I found that I would notice more quickly when I was doing that if only, when I was kind of sacrificing the present moment for the sake of getting something done in the future. And I would be able to get off the wheel. I would stop spinning, take a breath and since this moment matters and then sense the enoughness and the fullness in this moment. And I can say it didn't stop me for being motivated to prepare for things and do as creative and good job as I could. But it stopped me from spinning and leaning forward through a lot of moments when actually I wanted to live them

and feel a sense of enough in those moments. I also noticed a lot, you know, that when there were detours, when things got in my way from what I thought I was supposed to be doing, I could flow with them better. I wasn't holding on so tight. And I read somewhere a mem that the sign of a happy person is they enjoy the detours, I was feeling like, wow, okay, I'm more able to enjoy the detours. There's another mem, I want to say, and that is you've survived 100% of your worst days, that ways will keep rolling in. And you might say, well, how can I feel content? Because stuff keeps happening. We survive. You know, you can,

can remember that the waves come and the waves go and there's a wholeness in you. There's a stillness, a vastness, an ocean of beingness that has room. And when you know the way to that inner space of enough, then it can hold the life that comes. It gives you a real confidence. This is a poem I love by David White. He says, enough. These few words are enough, if not these words, this breath, if not this breath, this sitting here, this opening to the life we've refused again and again until now, until now. So my friends, let's practice a little, let's practice coming back home to enough to really cherishing the moment, finding the fullness in the moment. And I invite you as a way to begin this practice,

practice to find a way of sitting or being comfortable, to take a moment to sense what wants to let go in your body, where you might have been unconsciously holding tension. You might let the shoulders relax back and down and soften your hands and let your breath come deep into the torso and asking yourself that inquiry, what's between me and contentment of feeling of enough right here? Just scan this moment or this day, a sense what you might want to bring your attention to. And not to work with trauma right now, but if there's a way that you've been kind of fixated on not feeling well or a concern about another person that stopped you from feeling that

presence, maybe a conflict and relationship, anxiety about the future. Just notice what's between you and contentment. And it's often multiple things, but any place you enter, any portal, can help bring you back home into presence and a sense of that kind of happiness. for no reason. So picking something. And the beginning of rain is that question of what's happening inside me right now? Just to recognize, you know, if it's a conflict or anxiety, just recognize what's happening inside you. This is the beginning of mindful awareness, recognizing. And whatever you recognize, can I let this be right now? Allow it. Recognizing and allowing

whatever's between you and contentment. Then you can begin the investigating or asking yourself, well, what's really happening inside me right now? Just feel where it lives in your body, wherever the anxiety or fear, hurt, upset lives. You might sense with that that there's a belief that you're carrying, that something's going to go wrong. you're missing something that there's more to experience, something's wrong with you. You might sense if there's a belief there as you investigate. Mostly just feel where it is in your body when you're stuck in that place where you're not content, when you're spinning in some way. You might put your hand on your heart now

and just offer some kindness, sometimes simply saying it's okay or it's okay sweetheart. are just saying yes and this belongs. This is part of, is the wave in the ocean, offering some care, loving presence with what's here, and sense that that care, sense that wise heart message and bathing the place of reactivity in you with light, with warmth. It's like a whole flood of warmth and light coming from your awake heart into your contracted heart and sent yourself resting more and more that you're the ocean holding the waves with care. That there's space. There's space for these different ways of your life for conflict, for illness, for fear,

or grasp me. There's room for these waves to come and go. just notice the presence that's here. You might sense in this moment, in this presence, is anything missing? There's anything wrong. These few words are enough. Not these words, this breath, not this breath, this sitting here, this opening to the life we've refused again and again. Until now.

Until now. You might imagine for a moment in the days when we've been. to come more moments of that sense of enough that you can arrive and just let this moment be complete and whole, the sense of your being complete and whole. If you'd like to open your eyes, if your eyes have been closed, you might do so. And I want to encourage you and invite you if you'd like to deepen practice. You want to explore this path of contentment between this in the next talk, you might bring a real curiosity to that question. Just pop it now and then, you know, what's between me and contentment in this moment? There's often we're spinning the wheel

of either running from something to uncomfortable, physical, emotional pain, or we're wanting something different. Then just bring rain to it. See what happens when you bring the mindfulness and compassion of rain to it. And also notice if there are moments of contentment. Even small moments where you just feel like this moment's enough, not wanting anything, not pushing anything away and get familiar with the moments of contentment. It really creates a gravitational field to bring you home over and over and more and more until it really becomes a trait, you know, a natural expression of who you are. Okay, friends, we'll continue in the next talk and I want to thank you for your presence.

Namaste and blessings. For more talks and meditations and to learn about my schedule or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com.