In times of difficulty and change, it is important to orient to what doesn't change, what is deathless. This talk gives you some tools/reminders on how to access the one unchanging thing. The talk also offers ways to unhook from your story and the mind's constant narrative.
Contemplating the internal experience of “me” and the way “me” reacts with external phenomena reveals how our identity is constantly manufactured by our reactions. Widening and relaxing supports a heart that is modest, clear and open, without stress and without identity; a heart that can comfortably meet and deal with what arises.
Tonglen is a guided meditation of Tibetan origin that is a reparative response to pain. It is a meditation that actually helps create connection in the midst of suffering. Tenzin Choedrak, during his time of torture, made a daily dedication, "May some human greatness be accomplished through this suffering."
Who or what you think you are is not your fundamental home. Learning to contemplate the citta/ mind/ heart and the five aggregates (form, consciousness, perceptions, feelings and mental formations) reveals a way to dismantle the driven ego and liberate the citta from aging, sickness and death.