Dropping Resistance to What is Here Now

I did an online meditation retreat this week.
On the first day, the Rupert Spira, the teacher asked that we drop our expectations.

Expectations are the antithesis of living here, now... which is what meditation is. I came into the retreat thinking that the 7 days would bring me more expansion, light and peace, and reluctantly let this expectation go.

What the retreat brought was something much different.
​It brought me face to face with the uncomfortable emotions lurking in the deep. Interspersed with spacious presence, I found moments of angst, tiredness, and later, sadness.  Deep sadness.
Sadness I’d held and socked away over the years.

“Embrace the feeling,” he said. “Dive in, hold it close, don’t push it away. The act of resistance perpetuates whatever you don’t want. Make friends and invite it in. Get to the space where you could live with it forever.” 

I asked myself, Would I be willing to live with this forever? Surprisingly, the instant I realized I would, I opened myself fully to the grief. Which caused it to drop away.
In life, each of us craves to be seen. In the same way, those deeply hidden parts, the woundedness and raw vulnerability crave to be acknowledged, met by one who does not reject them or see them as bad.

On being seen and received -in totality- there is no need for them to stick around. You’re the spaciousness of Being. There is nothing to stick to.

You can practice this by saying "I totally and fully accept you. My Being is unaffected- you cannot impact me in any way."    Recognize that it's your rejection of the feeling that makes it unpleasant. Nothing is forcing you to embrace it or reject it, except you.

Say yes to the feeling, be welcoming of the experience and release the need for life to be different.  
​You are the ever-present sky beyond the cloud. This feeling is simply a transitory energy that has no impact on the sky itself.   Meditation is a universal yes to everything. That is the nature of your Self. Something you Be already. Beneath it all.