A situation happened recently that felt so uncomfortable that I couldn’t leave it alone. I just had to address it and so I did. It was a very familiar event—having dinner with somebody or a group of people and walking away feeling so unsatisfied, hating every moment of it.
In fact, I realized I could kvetch for days and I would still remain unsatisfied. This time, I did something quite different. I paused and found a safe place to ask my body what was so unsatisfying here? And when I could pause like that, I could feel my body appreciating the question and it felt very present in a different way than the usual chatter of thinking about something I don’t like, and why!
This is what came, being with that kind of ‘background feeling’ at a dinner gathering where I came away feeling so very unsatisfied wondering why, again! What came was a real surprise and left me feeling in a very different place!
Join me here and see what comes for you in this kind of situation where you’re feeling either uncomfortable or more—unsatisfied.
Actually, they might feel slightly different. Feeling unsatisfied often points to the possibility of what it would feel like to feel fully satisfied. Feeling uncomfortable seems more like doing something, like making a list about what to do about it, but not necessarily point to something that could change the body experience, more like a quick fix to get rid of that feeling.
In this recording, I discover something very different as a possibility I never dreamed of.
Enjoy! Kevin
Hi Kevin,
The most important words for me here is “I can stop there.” I don’t have to go into an explanation of why I have this feeling. In fact, going into the explanation makes it my body feel worse. I can just be with the feeling of “unsatisfied” or, in my case, not wanting to be judged by someone else’s needs. There is something so self-affirming that I can have my own feelings about an interaction apart from the other person’s point of view.
For me though, I notice that there is a lot of guilt about having these feelings. When I write this movement comes.
We are so conditioned to feel guilty, like it is our fault, that we come away from a social event feeling unsatisfied… I really like the idea of acknowledging that feeling and being satisfied to feel unsatisfied. There is some recognition of my own rights that I never knew before I had.