Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to explore how the obstacles in our lives can be the way to greater presence and growth. So we can think of the difficulties in our lives in many different ways, as an unfairness, as a mistake, as a misfortune, as a tragedy, A failure or a personal flaw. Or we can choose to see challenges, setbacks, and struggles as a completely normal part of human life and as grist for the mill for our personal growth. And let's face it.

It's the messy parts of our lives and the hardships that often give us the greatest opportunities to test our metal. It's when we meet our edges, that we're compelled to dig deeper and learn about resilience, about compassion, about humility, patience, and surrender. Stuff happens as they say. You know, sometimes things don't go to plan. People let you down, cars breakdown, we make mistakes, planes are delayed, trains are missed, money is lost, and hearts get broken.

It's inevitable that we're going to have these kinds of experiences over the course of our lives, because it's just part of being a human. So then, instead of wishing things were different, constantly struggling against what is or resigning ourselves to defeat or becoming swallowed by despair in difficult times, mindfulness invites us to gently accept what is and to work with it, to further our development into more self-aware and wise beings. And it really comes down to how we relate to those moments that can end up being the defining factor in whether or not we come out stronger and wiser or whether or not we feel defeated and beaten up by negativity and stress. So my invitation is this. As you go about your day and your life ongoing, just noticing how you relate to the difficulties and challenges when they come.

See if you can honor and accept them. Perhaps even having a mental mantra that you can say to yourself in those moments. Something like, okay, right now, this is how it is. Or you might even just simply say to yourself, okay, as a way of inviting acceptance. And then once you've accepted the situation, seeing if you can work with the experience, rather than against it.

Let your obstacle be a way of practice. Remembering that, although you can't always be in control of your circumstances, you always have the power to choose your response to it. And when you take back the responsibility for your inner world in this way, you pave the way to more peace, freedom, and ease within. Thank you for being willing to practice in this way. It's not always easy.

And I really take my hat off to you for being here and doing this inner work. I wish you well with this practice. Now inviting you to settle in for today's meditation.