I’ve recently picked up Meditation again. 

These times still feel strange – sort of closer to normal but definitely not quite normal yet.  These days are wearing.  Continuing to navigate through this drawn out period of polarization, division, seclusion, isolation, fear and restrictions certainly takes a toll on each of us in some way.  

A girlfriend of mine had previously directed me to the Insight Timer App which has a lot of great beginner level meditation lessons…I found a teacher, Sarah Blondin, whose poetic style really spoke to me.   Recently, I practiced one of her meditations wherein she coined the phrase, “tenderize your pain” and that spoke volumes to me and really had me examining the things I keep bundled up inside.

Tenderize your pain.

Don’t let it harden you.

Don’t let it create ridges between your dreams and experiences.

Don’t let it create breaks between your past and present.

Don’t let pain compartmentalize or divide your heart.

Don’t let it crystalize gaps between who you are and how you are.

Don’t resist it, don’t control it, don’t stop it, don’t run from it, don’t medicate or numb it.

Tenderize your pain.

Soften it, until it becomes malleable.

Soothe it, until it stops crying out.

Accept it so it doesn’t rage against you.

Let it breathe and float to the surface so it doesn’t bury itself within you.

Tend to it until it loosens, softens, and melts right off of you and away from you.

How?

Pick at it, prod at it and examine it.

Look at it, acknowledge it and sit with it.

Most of all, be okay with not being okay.

Recognize that pain is simply a call back to loving yourself.

Know that at the root of any experience of pain is a reminder for us to go back to ourselves for our true source of love, healing and wholeness.

Know that pain is part of the shared human condition and experience, that no one is exempt from its experience, but remember, it is temporary.

Pain will shift as our lens shifts, it will move as our focus moves and it will decrease as our awareness and space from it increases.

Pain can be a gift.

Pain reroutes us.

Pain makes us recreate, rebirth, reevaluate, remove and reinvest in ourselves when it causes us to pivot back to ourselves.

What is it teaching you? Why is it here? What can you do?

Tenderize your pain so that your spirit and your heart stay tender, and in staying tender you will remain in love… <3