| Length | 11:07 |
|---|---|
| Subject | Anxiety & Stress |
| Best time | Any time you are waiting to hear how something turns out |
| Position | Sitting or lying down |
| Style | Guided imagery, a beach and the weather, with three wishes. Music underneath |
Waiting to hear back, and the mind keeps playing out how it might go? A meditation for the fear of not knowing what comes next.
About 11 minutes with Steven Webb's calm voice and music underneath.
The mind hates a gap, so it fills it. One version, then another, then another. Not because it is broken, because it cares. But you can't steady the tide by grabbing hold of it. So we sit on a quiet beach and let the days come and go like the weather. A worry arrives like a wave. You don't judge it and you don't grab a surfboard. You watch it go back out. Then one quiet question: who is doing the watching? The thoughts come and go, and the watcher stays. It has seen every day of your life arrive and pass. Three wishes to finish: may I trust myself with whatever comes, may the not knowing within find a little calm, may I know I am held, even here in uncertainty.
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Thank you for sitting with me.
Steven
Who this is for
You are waiting to hear back. Or you want some certainty in a relationship, or about your own body, or about next week. And the mind will not leave the gap alone. It plays out one ending, then another, then another.
That is not your mind being broken. It is your mind caring. It thinks that if it holds on tight enough and thinks hard enough, it will find the answer and you will be safe. It will not, and you know that already, which is why you are here.
This meditation does not give you certainty. Nobody can. It gives you somewhere to sit while you do not know.
What happens in this meditation
There is nothing to do with your body or your breath. You let the body relax and the mind settle on its own.
Then I ask you to picture a quiet beach, your kind of quiet, with room to sit down. In front of you the days come and go like the weather. Some arrive sunny, some grey, and none of them stay. You do not have to make the weather behave. You are just the one watching the sky. When a worry comes, it comes like a wave. You do not judge it and you do not grab a surfboard. You watch it arrive and you watch it go back out.
Then one quiet question. Who is doing the watching? You do not need an answer. The thoughts come and go, and the watcher stays. We finish with three wishes, said slowly, and a count back from five.
How to get the most from it
Just over eleven minutes, so it fits into the wait itself. Waiting for a phone call, for results, for a reply. That is exactly when to press play.
The line to carry out of it is the one about the tide. You cannot steady the tide by grabbing hold of it. When the mind starts playing out endings again later in the day, you do not have to stop it. Sit back on the beach and watch the wave.
Sitting or lying down are both fine. Lying down before sleep works well if the not knowing is what keeps you awake.
Questions people ask
What is "the watcher"?
The part of you that notices. It is not something you have to become or get right. Every time you catch your mind wandering, that is the watcher doing its job. It has seen every single day of your life arrive and it has watched every one of them pass. That is the part we sit in.
What if I still do not know how things will turn out at the end?
You will not. The meditation says so out loud. You came here not knowing, and you leave not knowing, and you are still breathing and still okay. The difference is that not knowing has stopped being a threat. It is just open sky with room for whatever moves through it.
Is this religious?
No. The three wishes are good wishes, not prayers. May I trust myself with whatever comes. May the not knowing within find a little calm. May I know I am held, even here. Skip any that do not sit right with you.
