Meditation in an Emergency

The practice of meditation becomes essential in the face of personal emergencies. No one—regardless of age, wealth, or location—is immune to traumatic events.

Depending on your age and circumstances, the worst day of your life is likely still ahead of you. And all you will have to navigate that experience is your mind. In fact, all we ever have is our mind. There is no better reason to learn to meditate than for managing difficult events.

Recently, one of my closest friends passed away, as well as my grandad. Needless to say, this was very difficult to deal with emotionally. And truthfully, it was the first time in my life that I had actually experienced death.

Physical sensations will become present during these experiences. Rather than avoiding these sensations, meditation encourages you to feel them fully. That anxiety you’re feeling? Sit still and really explore it. Feel it to its full effect: the tingling sensation permeating throughout your body, the elevated heart rate, the tight jaw. Don’t try to change the sensations or tell yourself a story about them. Just feel them.

Most importantly, realise that “you” are not experiencing those sensations; there is no "you" sitting at the center of your mind feeling sad or anxious. Sadness and anxiety simply arise in this field of consciousness. And like all things, they will change and pass away.

By sitting and observing sensations and emotions, we realise that all things, even negative emotions, are impermanent. The sadness you feel today will likely be gone in an hour, next week, or next month. Despite its discomfort, examining your emotions is the best way to learn to let them go.

This holds true with our thoughts. It is easy to become deeply associated with our thoughts. But thoughts simply enter our field of consciousness. How could you know what you were going to think before you thought it? We can’t. A thought just arises in our mind uncontrollably. You have as little control over the next thing you hear as you do over the next thing you think.

So often, we become captured by our thoughts and allow ourselves to ruminate and become angry or sad. Perhaps, for the tenth time in a day, we internally repeat an argument we had with a friend or loved one: “Why did she say that?” “That was so ridiculous; I can’t believe she would do that.” And now, helplessly, we are angry.

With that in mind, we don’t have to become captured by our next thought in a way that dictates our actions and future thoughts. When an unhelpful thought arises, we can simply acknowledge it as part of our experience and watch it disappear.

Traumatic events will bring negative emotions and thoughts. However, true suffering is only caused by incessant rumination about the event. Broken marriages, death, financial distress—all are emotionally distressing. Yet allowing yourself to suffer longer than necessary is deeply detrimental to living a fulfilled life.

For example, you may know what it’s like to forget, even if briefly, that something bad has happened to you. Perhaps you’ve woken up and, for a fleeting moment, forgotten the financial distress or broken relationship that seems to be consuming your life.

In that moment, you are no longer suffering. These moments can become more frequent and longer-lasting through meditation.

Another perspective that may be useful is to imagine how much you would give to be exactly where you are now if things were worse. For example, with any luck, you have not just been given a terminal diagnosis and are now in the process of unwinding your earthly affairs. If that were the case, imagine how much you would crave to just be in the place you are currently in.

Beginning a meditation practice during a traumatic event may not be the most practical time, but it is certainly the most urgent. A meditation practice can help identify and explore the natural arising and falling of thoughts and emotions—their ever-changing nature, uncontrollability, and randomness.

We are continuously focusing our attention on something. In a sense, we are always meditating on something. Learn to recognise what you are focusing your attention on and allow yourself not to be captured by the next thought or emotion that arises.