Here are 4 very different techniques for being mindful and staying present in moments of stress or emotional turmoil, yet amazingly similar below the surface:
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Based on the technique to adopt when you are literally on fire!
1 Stop 2 Drop 3 Roll
reacting to the your irritation and with the emotion and
stupid stuff anger stay in the present moment
(Awareness) (Manage yourself) (Be mindful)
Dr. Melva Green, “Breathing Room” —learning to let go of material things
SLICE
1 Stop
2 Listen – to your emotions with compassion for yourself
3 Intend – remind yourself of your intention; what you are trying to do
4 Clear the energy – let go with grace and gratitude
Cynthia Bourgault, “Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening,” the Welcoming Prayer ; from the Christian Contemplative Prayer process
1 Stop – when you are aware of the thoughts but before the emotion rises
2 Focus and sink in – ‘ride’ the building emotional and physical energy in your body
3 Welcome it all, saying: Welcome pain, welcome anger, etc. Don’t let it chase you out of your ‘presence’
4 Let go (surrender as an inner practice, not an outer practice) saying: I let go of my anger or I give my anger to God. And I let go of my desire to change the situation.
Pema Chodron, “Comfortable with Uncertainty,” the Buddhist approach to mindfulness
1 Start where you are, between acting out and repressing; aware
2 Notice your thoughts and the texture of the emotion under the thinking; breathe it in with every breath, don’t resist
3 Contemplate the emotion; look fear in the face, work with your shadow stuff; recognize that this is a fear we all face and breathe out compassion and light and space to yourself and to all of humanity (Tonglen Meditation)
4 Stay where you are, between acting out and repressing
It seems humanity is learning a new (?) consciousness; as long as we all bury our fear and aggression and consequently project it outward onto the world, we will continue to live in a world of fear and aggression. What ever we defend against in life, is what we draw to us… wherever you look, there you are!