We can’t help it. There are situations that take us out of our boxes, that bother us deeply and seem intolerable to us. When they appear, we feel that internal fire, that agitation from which we want to react. Sometimes we do, creating a chaotic situation that we later possibly regret. Other times we repress that reaction, which can easily become resentment and toxic energy that remains stagnant in our body.
Is there some other way to manage irritation? A guided meditation like the one I present to you in this article can help you.
If you want to delve into the technique of meditation, you may be interested in the Body-Mind School course.
Emotional irritation as an opportunity
Irritation is nothing more than a vulnerable part of us, a wound that has been scratched again. And even if that scratch is slight or involuntary, the unconscious automatic reaction that awakens in us can be very large, sometimes disproportionate.
That reaction is a defense to what we perceive as a great attack. of which we have been victims. We react to that person or situation by unconsciously projecting onto it all the people or experiences that we perceived as causing that injury in the past.
The moment of irritation is, therefore, a door that opens to let us know our vulnerable points and emotional wounds, based on which certain survival strategies that make up our ego or personality have been created in our unconscious.
When we identify with that ego, our only option is to automatically react based on that irritation, whether we show it or not.
However, when we take advantage of irritation to bring awareness to those wounds by welcoming and feeling them, we give them the opportunity to process and heal and, therefore, we give ourselves the opportunity to grow through them. We can then use them to transcend our ego and all the suffering related to it, and thus connect with our inner peace, with our essential being. In this way we turn a moment of irritation into a spiritual practice.
observe without reacting
Observing without reacting is an important lesson that we usually learn through meditation, and that is also very present in my guided meditation today.
When we react we let ourselves be carried away by our ego. However, when we observe from a distance, we de-identify ourselves from that ego and are at our center. Once in it, we can face the external situation freely, acting from our true will instead of reacting. From there we can also set our limits if necessary, but from serenity and harmony with ourselves and with others. From that place nothing and no one has the power to disturb us, so we regain power over ourselves and over our lives.
How to meditate when you feel irritated
- First of all, consciously stop your pace. Sit comfortably and look inside.
- Perhaps you have felt attacked, perhaps someone has behaved that you cannot stand, maybe there is too much noise or something is driving you crazy.
- Observe from a distance the internal turmoil that it has been stimulated by that situation that has just occurred or that perhaps has occurred in the past.
- Observe the thoughts of your mind in relation to that situation that irritates you. Watch how your mind tells you: this should not be happening, it is unacceptable. Feel that resistance in you as a wall against which the irritating situation crashes, creating that irritation.
- Feel how the feeling of irritation manifests in your body. Be aware of the sensations that occur in your body in relation to it, putting all your attention on them.
Give them permission to be there, lovingly welcoming them. Feel them fully, immersing yourself in them.
- Now you can visualize how you become transparent, as if your body ceased to be solid matter, but is empty space.
- Now let that person, those words, that noise or whatever is causing the feeling of irritation and annoyance pass through you. It no longer hits against you, but flows lightly through your body, without touching you, without having an effect on you. Let it happen without resistance and just watch it happen.
- AND become aware of how you feel in this position, note how nothing and no one can hurt or upset you at this time. You are in your power, in your center. Give yourself permission to feel that power.
- When you feel it slowly open your eyes bringing this inner state into the outer situation.