Mindfulness Audios Download: Feeling Disappointment

Daily Mindfulness Practice: Free Audio Download

by Monica A. Frank, Ph.D.

The following is part of a series of audios to teach how to practice mindfulness. Developing your ability to focus on the present moment can reduce distress and improve well-being.

Feeling Disappointment

Index for Mindfulness Audios

Additional reading:

Some tips for using these audios:

Start with the Understanding Mindfulness audios to learn about mindfulness.
These short practice exercises are to help train your brain to be more mindful when engaged in daily activities.
The audio format is just for convenience to help learn the material. You can also read the transcript. When you practice, however, you should engage in the behavior mindfully without listening to the audio.
The best way to train your brain to be more mindful is to practice in short sessions throughout the day while engaged in your normal activities.
The descriptions are an artificial way to help you get started. Eventually, the practice of mindfulness is being aware of what is described without using an inner verbal description.
This exercise is to help you develop tolerance of emotions. The audio provides guidance for being mindfully present with disappointment.
However, the actual practice of mindfulness is to allow yourself to be fully aware of your experience when feeling disappointed. It is not reasonable to create the conditions for disappointment to occur. Instead, you need to be aware of when you might feel disappointment so as to practice mindfully experiencing it.

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Transcript of Audio: Feeling Disappointment

Allow yourself to fully experience feeling disappointment. Instead of trying to get rid of the feeling by avoiding or ignoring the circumstances that led to the feeling of disappointment, let yourself just experience the disappointment. Instead of focusing on the demanding or blaming thoughts about the cause of the feeling, just allow yourself to focus on the feeling itself. If any thoughts about the situation come to mind, just allow yourself to refocus to the actual sensation of the disappointment. Notice how you experience it. What exactly do you feel and where do you feel it? What types of physical sensations do you experience when feeling disappointment? How would you describe this experience? For instance, do your muscles feel tense? Or, do you feel a heaviness in your body? Or, do you feel an agitation? Whatever it is that you might feel, just let yourself “be” with that sensation without judgment. If you have thoughts assessing blame, allow yourself to refocus away from those thoughts and back to the actual feeling of disappointment. Let the sensation of disappointment flow over you without focus on demand or blame. Notice the sensations but don't try to judge or get rid of them. Let yourself “be” with the feeling of disappointment, no matter how you might experience it.