A Meditation Created by Jack Kornfield for When Times are Tough

I picked up a book called “A Lamp in the Darkness; Illuminating the Path through Difficult Times” written by Jack Kornfield.  The book came with a CD with guided meditations.  I was going through a really difficult time at work, and I would like to share with you the meditation and chapter of the book I found comforting.

At the time, I was in the middle of a storm at work.  I am sure everyone has been through the same suffering called “office politics.”   I felt my co-workers didn’t like me and my boss was only listening to his favourites.  Sound familiar?  Anyways, this whole situation sent me into a tailspin with my anxiety and depression.  I was fortunate enough to order this wonderful book by Jack Kornfield that contained a CD full of guided meditations. Jack was trained as a Buddhist Monk and his books reflect that.  I was also taking a meditation class at a Buddhist meditation centre so it fit in very well with what I was learning and practicing.

Jack Kornfield has a beautiful, calm, gentle voice that soothes your soul.  The first meditation was about that we are not alone in our suffering.  A quote that is in both the meditation and the book is:

One of the most difficult things about hard times is that we often feel that we are going through them alone.  But we are not alone.  In face, your life itself is only possible because of the thousands of generations before you, survivors who have carried the lamp of humanity through difficult times from one generation to another. 

Feel the survival of a thousand years of ancestors in your muscles and your blood.  You have all the support you need in your bones.[1]

I remember practicing the meditation one morning and felt peace afterwards.  It was just for a fleeting time but was the respite I needed.  There is something about that quote I found very calming.  The fact that I had ancestors made me feel less alone and made me feel that I will survive this.

I hope you find a book and a meditation that gives you peace.

[1] Taken from the book “A Lamp in the Darkness;  Illuminating the Path Through Difficult Times”, by Jack Kornfield, Sounds True, Boulder, Colorado, 2011, page 3,5