Woke up feeling really exhausted (I’ve got a cold) and those typical burnout feelings I thought I’d left behind.
One thing when feeling bad is it’s hard to contemplate feeling good because the feelings are saying it’s not possible.
Especially with the burnout it doesn’t even feel
like feelings it feels more like a “state”, and it’s unpleasant.
So I go back to the basics of the method. Contemplate that it is possible to feel good. Ask myself How Am I Experiencing This Moment of Being Alive, feel the feelings directly without escape, enquire in what these feelings are saying and how they paint my reality, ask myself when I felt good last, trace back to when I felt good.
I encourage myself all the while, being gentle with myself - not fighting bad feelings by catastrophising them or trying to reframe them.
A bit of “inspiration” helps me too. Do I really want to be like this for the rest of my life? I acknowledge the potential for peace on earth, believe in my own potential to realise this for this body, and aim for naïveté.