Letting Struggle Be and Facing What We Avoid
November 27, 2024

Letting Struggle Be and Facing What We Avoid

Dejar Ser la Lucha y Enfrentar lo que Evitamos

This session moves from a guided meditation on meeting struggle without resistance into a series of dialogues about practice falling apart, the pain of rejection, and the fear of actualizing one's deepest callings. Throughout, the teacher emphasizes facing what we habitually avoid—groundlessness, insecurity, and the real fears beneath our limiting narratives—rather than reaching for techniques or stories to manage experience.

meditation struggle groundlessness rejection limiting beliefs fear actualizing potential calling narrative practice without technique living fully journey
Letting the Struggle Be
meditation
Letting the Struggle Be
An invitation to turn toward inner struggle with curiosity, meeting attachment and resistance as fresh sensations rather than problems to solve.
When the Bottom Falls Out of Practice
dialogue
When the Bottom Falls Out of Practice
A student describes a disorienting experience in which familiar meditation techniques stopped working, leading to a confrontation with raw, unmediated experience.
The Pain of Rejection and the Beliefs We Choose
dialogue
The Pain of Rejection and the Beliefs We Choose
A question about the experience of narrowly missing a job opportunity and the old feelings of inadequacy it stirs up.
Choosing the Narrative
dialogue
Choosing the Narrative
A reflection on how we unconsciously choose limiting stories about ourselves, not because we are victims, but because those stories help us avoid the discomfort of facing life's inherent insecurity.
The Fear of Actualizing
dialogue
The Fear of Actualizing
A student describes the emotional highs and lows of a high-stakes interview process, leading to a discussion about the fear of pursuing one's deepest callings and the discomfort inherent in developing one's full potential.
Going the Distance
dialogue
Going the Distance
A student draws a parallel between Rocky's true goal and the teacher's emphasis on discovering what you actually want, leading to a reflection on why fully living matters more than winning.
Arriving Home
dialogue
Arriving Home
A student shares the experience of moving into a first home, reflecting on the journey of disappointments and leaps of faith that led there, and how the group's presence supported the process.
Pessimism, Distrust, and What Lies Beneath
dialogue
Pessimism, Distrust, and What Lies Beneath
A student notices a recurring pattern of pessimistic thinking and distrust, particularly in close relationships, and wonders what drives it.
The Safety of Slowing Down
dialogue
The Safety of Slowing Down
A student explores the pattern of pushing hard toward goals and feeling depleted, and the teacher points toward the fear underneath the drive, suggesting that true freedom comes not from managing fear but from becoming intimate with it.
The Fear You Haven't Tasted
dialogue
The Fear You Haven't Tasted
A student explores why a particular fear resists their usual practice of turning toward difficult feelings, leading to a wide-ranging conversation about spiritual bypassing, the nature of true safety, and the difference between pursuing an idea of liberation and actually living fully.