Mindfulness without the Bells and Beads

Chapter 13Week 5: Delving into the Difficult

Congratulations on reaching the halfway point in the course! This is a good time to check in with your intention for picking up this book and taking this journey as well as to recognize how far you've come. Making it this far is already further than most people will ever go in service to understanding themselves and their minds with increased clarity.

We continue with the theme of looking at our relationship with difficulties that arise in our lives and begin to see how two people can respond very differently to setbacks, such as losing a job, getting sick, or losing a client. We will also take some concrete steps to delve into difficult situations in an effort to build our ability to grow from life's setbacks and misfortunes to be able to flex to rapidly changing situations and to maintain poise and presence of mind in the midst of high-pressure situations, which are invaluable skills in today's modern world. Before we dive in, let's first look at some setbacks and challenges people have been facing recently.

In the US, as I write this chapter, about 40 million people have lost their jobs in the last 90 days due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only have people lost jobs but also millions more have been infected with the coronavirus or have loved ones fighting, recovering, or who have died from the disease. Some have lost their jobs and are having the disease affect them and/or their family members. The challenges ...