Mindfulness Audios Download: Feeling Helpless

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 Helpless

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 helplessness.
However, the actual practice of mindfulness is to allow yourself to be fully aware of your experience when feeling helpless. Although trying to create the emotion of helplessness would not be mindful, it may be possible to create the conditions that might cause you to feel helpless. If it is not reasonable to create the conditions for helplessness to occur, you need to be aware of when you might feel helpless so as to practice mindfully experiencing it.

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Transcript of Audio: Feeling Helpless

Allow yourself to fully experience the feeling of helplessness. But instead of trying to get rid of this feeling by doing something, just let yourself “be” with the experience of helplessness. When thoughts about the helplessness come into your mind, refocus yourself to the actual experience of the sensations associated with helplessness. Notice how you experience helplessness. What does it feel like it? Where do you experience it in your body? Does your body feel tired/fatigued? Do you feel agitated? Is your breathing faster or slower? Do your muscles feel tense or heavy? Allow yourself to fully experience whatever the sensations might be for you. When thoughts of demanding things should be different or blaming yourself or others come into your mind, allow those thoughts to be and refocus back to the sensations you experience with helplessness. Let the sensation of helplessness flow over you without the demands or blame. Let yourself “be” with the feeling of helplessness however you might experience them.